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Would a Gotoh 201 require a neck shim?


Jono Bolton
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I put a Gotoh 201 on my Jazz recently and the action seems a little high. For example, I've got the E's bridge saddle pretty much as far down as it'll go but the height of the string is not as low as I'd like it, and this is the case across all strings. Checking the relief, the neck's nice and straight, so I don't know what else could be causing it, other than the angle of the neck.
Would anything go wrong if I stuck a shim in the neck? I can always take it out if it doesn't work, couldn't I?

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I fitted a 201 to an old SX some time ago and noticed the same, the action would go as low as the old bridge. I didnt shim the neck, just used some old Trace strings that didnt have the windings that go to the ball end, just the string core goes over the bridge. That lowered the action enough. Sold the SX on, so now longer a problem.

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I had a similar problem with the 201 on my Warmoth P and the Badass II on my Allparts J.

The neck pocket on both has a shim of thick card over the whole area just to raise the neck a touch paralell to the body, not to angle it.

It's worked beautifully well on both and isn't noticeable if done neatly.

Peter

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Cheers GreeneKing! The footy's on the telly tonight and I [i]was[/i] planning to sand down the neck of my P and clean the fretboard while keeping one eye on the TV, but my Lemon Oil didn't turn up today so I'll give your suggestion a go. How thick do you reckon the card should be? I've got a bunch of old boxes kicking about at the minute. It's odd because I had a Badass II on it before and had no problems, other than it was bloody ugly.

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Business card thickness is good but I got a bigger bit of card and used my thumb to crease the shape of the pocket onto the card before cutting it out so that it neatly fills the whole pocket. I cut the holes with nail scissors after marking them out in the same way.

It's a bit more secure than a business card though maybe not quite as cool :)

Peter

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Shimmed it folks! I street teamed for a terrible Canadian punk'n'roll band called Sound and Fury a few months ago so I could see Reuben for free, and one of the things I had to hand out were cards with a code for free downloads. Anyway, they were about right to fit in the pocket, just some slight trimming and the difference is noticeable straight away. Need to adjust the height of the strings but I think it'll be fine. Decided to combine the removal of the neck with sanding it down and cleaning the fretboard. A couple of hours work and it's a completely different instrument. Thanks for all your help guys! One very happy Basschatter here!

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