discreet Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 2 minutes ago, FinnDave said: Should you use a red or a black suite playing card to shim a bass with a through neck? Enquiring on a behalf of an acquaintance. Depends entirely on what's trumps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 2 minutes ago, discreet said: Depends entirely on what's trumps. There's no need to bring politics into what had been a civilised discussion up til now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 I took a shim out of a neck pocket once and it was the ace of spades 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 1 minute ago, Reggaebass said: I took a shim out of a neck pocket once and it was the ace of spades Must have been one of Lemmy's old Rickies. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 3 hours ago, Bridgehouse said: Like I said, they look neat. End of. I wasn't replying in respect of the neatness. You chipped in a response to a comment I made to a wholly different post and I replied to that. And moving along: 3 hours ago, Bridgehouse said: Oh, and thanks for the sneering and patronising comment. Naturally, you know me so well that you’ll know exactly when I’ll be none the wiser. As it happens they were given to be by a well respected repairer for free. So yeah - duped. I miss the good old days when people could be civil and polite and pay a little respect to each other. Sneering and patronising? Good grief, I'm not even warmed up yet. I'm tired of all the snowflakery that exists nowadays; 'Oh, he doesn't like my wedges. He said I wouldn't be able tell the difference between those and an old playing card.' This isn't about being peremptory, it's an opinion borne from several experiences. Why do we have to do this merry little dance to skirt around things for fear of constantly upsetting someone? Man alive. For the love of god, it's a shim. Have some perspective, eh? And of course, my apologies; I actually had my clairvoyance tuned down earlier this evening, otherwise I'd clearly have known the wedgie transaction hadn't involved the exchange of money. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 Just now, NancyJohnson said: I wasn't replying in respect of the neatness. You chipped in a response to a comment I made to a wholly different post and I replied to that. And moving along: Sneering and patronising? Good grief, I'm not even warmed up yet. I'm tired of all the snowflakery that exists nowadays; 'Oh, he doesn't like my wedges. He said I wouldn't be able tell the difference between those and an old playing card.' This isn't about being peremptory, it's an opinion borne from several experiences. Why do we have to do this merry little dance to skirt around things for fear of constantly upsetting someone? Man alive. For the love of god, it's a shim. Have some perspective, eh? And of course, my apologies; I actually had my clairvoyance tuned down earlier this evening, otherwise I'd clearly have known the wedgie transaction hadn't involved the exchange of money. You assumed. And we all know what that does... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 Oh, and it wasn’t snowflakery. Frankly I don’t really care if anyone does or doesn’t like the wedges or shims or whatever. It was the tone of the post. That’s not snowflakery, it just came across as rude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Bored now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Actually, I’ve re read my reply to your post that you refer to above. You’ve missed the point I was making. It was suggested that you could recreate the full length StewMac shims at home with aplaying card. I said you couldn’t recreate them or make your own version with a playing card. Yes, you can create the same effect - if you look back through this thread you will see that at no point did I suggest that the StewMac shims are a better solution - or in fact that a normal shim doesn’t do the job. I’ve shimmed many a neck with a bit of card, or fibreboard, or a bit of sandpaper. The point I was making is that you can’t make the StewMac shims at home as they are a wedge which is less than half a mm at one end - up to a maximum of a mm at the other. Good luck trying to do that with a playing card. And before you say anything - no, you don’t need to do that. The shims do a neat job. I have a set. They were given to me. Would I buy them and import them from the US? No. No doubt I’ll get called a pedant, but I think it’s an important point for anyone reading this thread to realise that the StewMac shims aren’t just a massively expensive bag of bits of wood that are exactly the same as a card shim. To be honest, I have neither a positive nor negative view on their effectiveness or whether they are better or worse than a piece of card. They do however *look* better - is that worth the dollar? That’s up to the individual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Just now, NancyJohnson said: Bored now. I was bored by the debate right from the start - it’s been raging on guitar forums for years and years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 Have I accidentally joined TB? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 If you do a lot of Steve Miller songs then I think a 'Joker' shim would be best.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 14 hours ago, Reggaebass said: I took a shim out of a neck pocket once and it was the ace of spades Was it one of mine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 10 hours ago, NancyJohnson said: Why do we have to do this merry little dance to skirt around things for fear of constantly upsetting someone? Man alive. For the love of god, it's a shim. Have some perspective, eh? So shims don't have feelings? Shims don't have rights? If we cut a shim, does it not bleed? As you were, bit early for this sort of thinking, I'll go and play some bass instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 42 minutes ago, discreet said: Was it one of mine? Maybe it was a 2007 us fender jazz bass. Did you want the card back 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 6 minutes ago, Reggaebass said: Maybe it was a 2007 us fender jazz bass. Did you want the card back 😀 Ha! Not mine. Keep the card, my pack has at least five aces in it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted October 31, 2018 Share Posted October 31, 2018 1 minute ago, discreet said: Ha! Not mine. Keep the card, my pack has at least five aces in it... I’m not playing poker with you then 😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky 4000 Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 On 29/10/2018 at 13:08, Jono Bolton said: I finally got round to adjusting the action on my P Bass on Friday, and have managed to get the action reasonably low (2-3mm at the 12th fret), however the G string could stand to be a little lower still but the saddle is currently sitting on the bridge plate. The neck is straight with a little relief. Is a shim the only way to get the action lower than it is at the moment? On 29/10/2018 at 16:56, Manton Customs said: It’s not the only fix, but it’s the easiest. Other fixes would be milling an angle in the pocket or neck heel, recessing the bridge. Or a different (lower) bridge/saddles. So a shim is probably your best bet. Veneer works well for this. Ideally the saddles shouldn’t bottom out until the string are resting on the fret tops (just so you know what to aim for) I was wondering how the OP got on with the modification 👍? I have exactly the same problem with my (otherwise superb), "Westfield" P bass. 😁 Being a total novice at fettling guitars, I was thinking: As it's a standard "Fender type" bridge, and it's only the "G" that needs to go a bit lower, the easiest fix might be to simply file the groove in the "G" saddle a little deeper? (That's assuming there's enough pickup height adjustment to account for the lowered string). 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mybass Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 I would try a shim first before radically altering with a file! I always think there is a better string tension if the bridge saddles are higher rather than flat to surface and I’m sure you will benefit from the feel too. So filing the saddle may leave the saddle still quite flat and you don’t want to file the saddle away too much? Maybe put a narrow width shim wood under the top end of the neck slot. ( Old story....years ago we used to put an ice cream stick ‘shim’ in Fender bass slots). There are full size shims made by Stewmac (USA), some argue too costly or not necessary against a simple narrow width shim just across the top end etc but thats down to how you feel about it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 (edited) 5 minutes ago, mybass said: I would try a shim first before radically altering with a file! I agree with this. There are better ways to sort this that would leave the bass unadulterated. Always more difficult to sell a bass that's been messed about with and not in its original state. Assuming you might want to sell it, of course. But in any case mybass's comments on string tension are valid. You want a good break angle at the bridge as well as at the nut, ideally. Edited December 4, 2018 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky 4000 Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Interesting, thank you fellows. Yup, the saddles are all set pretty low, so bearing in mind what you say about saddle height / break angle, I might try some experiments with shims and/or wedges. 👍 The most I have to lose (financially) with this "Westy" project, would be the £60. I paid for it. 😁 Not wanting to stir up any hornets - but If it were an expensive bass, to be honest, there's no way I'd want to wedge it... from an engineering point of view - introducing any kind of a wedge between the body and neck can't be ideal, because (for one thing) it won't allow the screws to go back in straight. But, as I said above - this is a novice talking! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan63 Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 with screws and wood 'straight' is slightly relative thing it's not like machined metal and threads and high tensile bolts so a shim is perfectly acceptable modification, well tested method and completely reversible or variable - you are only adjusting the variance that is inherent in the materials and the manufacturing process, some high end acoustic guitars have shimmed or adjustable necks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 (edited) My old Fender Precision Lyte had a screw in the neck plate that pushed against a plate within the neck pocket and acted like a shim as a neck tilt mechanism. I believe other basses have similar arrangements. Clearly it isn't a problem. Edited December 5, 2018 by Paul S grammah an spellin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 19 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said: Not wanting to stir up any hornets - but If it were an expensive bass, to be honest, there's no way I'd want to wedge it... from an engineering point of view - introducing any kind of a wedge between the body and neck can't be ideal, because (for one thing) it won't allow the screws to go back in straight. For most situations a business card about 1/4 the length of the neck pocket is sufficient to give a big enough change of angle of the neck to sort out most problems. The average business card is between 0.333mm and 0.5mm thick (and will compress slightly when the neck screws are tightened up). The only bass I have with a bolt-on neck has a pocket 90mm long. My back of an envelope calculations give an angle of between 0.2° and 0.3°. IME there is far more play in the holes going through the body than that so I wouldn't worry about changing the neck angle with a shim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky 4000 Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 Thanks for bearing with me, fellows - that all makes good sense. 👍 I'm conscious of not wanting to hijack the OP's thread with my "thoughts" (it's just that we seen to be in the same last known position). In readiness - I've cut up some pieces of modern 0.3mm PTFE shim material (from a Lidl 4pt milk container). Wish me luck, I'll be back in time for tea and medals! 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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