I talk (rant) a lot about using full-pocket shims when shimming a guitar neck. And, while you can certainly buy some for an easy life, if you’ve access to a 3D printer, it seems you can now print some.
Read MorePaper or cardboard is usually a terrible, tone-sucking material to use as a shim. Unless you learn this one cool trick that Big Nut doesn’t want you to know. You won’t believe what happens next! 😉
Nah, seriously… It’s good.
Read MoreA nut with a low slot (or slots) is a pain. It buzzes when you play the open string and sounds generally awful. You could replace it with a nice new nut but, sometimes you’re in a hurry or on a budget.
Enter the shim…
Read MoreCan you reverse a shim to give your guitar a forward neck angle? Should you do this? Is there a benefit. Are some builders using this secret trick to improve their guitars?
Read MoreWhy do some guitars have necks that angle back towards the player while some don’t? What’s the reason for this angled neck? Do we even need it?
Read MoreGuitar and bass neck sometimes get ski jump deformations. Turns out it’s important how you define your ski jump. Avoid confusion and check this out…
Read MoreWhile not completely irrefutable yet, I find the correlation of poor shimming practice and ski jump deformations in instrument necks to be compelling. I strongly recommend using a full-pocket (wedge-shaped) shim if you ever need to shim your bolt-on guitar or bass.
Please read my reasoning…
Read MoreWhat we generally refer to as the ‘offset’ Fenders (Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Mustang, Jag-Stang) can sometimes be a quirky bunch and one of their more common annoyances is the bridge.
Often, notes can suffer from a lack of focus and sustain. Strings can ‘jump’ from their slots if played even a little too hard, and the bridge itself can be buzzy and rattly. Sometimes you’ll even have saddle height screws vibrating loose and rattling, or even falling out.
Read MoreYes, Gerry's going on about neck shimming again.
But it's important, you see. I'm on a quest. A quest to stamp out bad shimming.
Join me…
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