Would Full Neck Pocket Credit Card Shim Kill Tone and Sustain?

[NancyJohnson]

39 minutes ago, itu said:

Do you think that changing the screws from mild steel to acid proof or brass would make any difference? After all the sound will use the bolts, too, to transfer the sound from neck to body and backwards. The key thing here is tight connection.

 

Come on, I really would worry about say, climate over a credit card shim. 

 

Screws made of lard are my favourite.

[Stub Mandrel]

I'm launching a range of laser-cut 'tone cards' made from a wide selection of carefully chosen boutique materials from 1990s Amex Gold Cards to original 1960s Kelloggs Cornflake packets. By choosing the correct shim your bass will immediately benefit form greater spaciousness and reactivity. It's possible to achieve longetivity and vibrance shifts so any quality bass can have its tone transformed to anything from a Hofner violin bass with 50 year old flats to an Aerodyne with gold plated  strings, just by a careful choice of tone card.

 

Our patented QR neck clamp allows between song tone card changes with no retuning and minimal interference to access beyond the 12th fret.

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

19 hours ago, itu said:

Do you think that changing the screws from mild steel to acid proof or brass would make any difference? After all the sound will use the bolts, too, to transfer the sound from neck to body and backwards. The key thing here is tight connection.

 

Come on, I really would worry about say, climate over a credit card shim. 

Given the choice to worry either about tone transfer or climate change, tone transfer certainly would be to prefer.

 

Seems like you chose to chose worrying about me choosing to worry about credit card shims, over say war and hunger.

 

And can't say I blame you, the alternative is simply too depressing.

 

Cause we all know you can only worry about one thing, so chose wisely.

 

That would be my advice. 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[itu]

In short: if it sounds good, don't worry. There are too many useless tonewood discussions already. And to measure the changes, where's the equipment and test environment needed? Exactly: nowhere.

[Andyjr1515]

Yup - I use slices of credit card for my personal bolt-on guitars and basses.  I don't use paper-based card as I feel that, even after an initial crushing, there could be slight continuing crush happening over time that would slightly loosen the bond.  Although the latter is no problem if you occasionally check that the screws are still tight. 

And, for my own instruments, to add a touch of extra neck angle then I am happy to put a 20mm length at the appropriate end because I don't think you can hear the difference.  That said, although I generally don't make bolt-ons, for a customer I would usually use 1/64" or similar plywood, filling the whole pocket and sanded into a wedge because they may think that they can hear a difference.  And maybe they can   

Edited November 5, 2023 by Andyjr1515

[mybass]

Many of us ‘maturer’ bass players would put a piece of an icecream flat stick across the top underside of neck slot to get around the problem you’ve described. These days I route neck slots on a slight angle, trying to copy the through neck design much like an old Aria bass I have, where the neck is angled to the body wings. I’ve also wondered if placing that piece of flat stick under the top end of the neck slot left a gap where there was no contact for some of the neck underside to body neck slot and would that have a possible effect, in which case I concluded it’s best to have all contact with neck to body….in which case  there are dedicated neck shims on EBay……as seen in the link below from Stewmac’s Ebay page.
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193920362130?hash=item2d268de692:g:lWwAAOSwLf9gOOmP&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0PytYeEOqWw52Nw9P0ZATbovGdcO0IZHwiyv17ICStHtBTmgoyIJVgYI1kpqijuKFreZEFpRaJesPnrkx7%2Bg7OvVrrCuM6z83lgYLtiSPUI6UnCnp6wJ79WZf19chWs29ZlleZkHMdfIsJMmR%2Ba1xO4nXzH1MOlLBdiP0k4Hgov434woZS5%2Fa%2Fe6gFfgKXKSKDsZDE2nsTdICd%2FwtBCmWhaaFzeX6pFceNtBbkV3Gaszbr%2FBCRjo1ba%2BdyeriGxs5%2BdihrncvrKAVyfxa1%2FUY7k%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR57fvPTzYg

[Stub Mandrel]

I have a microtilt neck on my Fender Performer. Never had the need to make use of it. Irony is that a three-point approach is an excellent engineering solution if the mating faces are  not great. But wood has enough compliance to compensate for inaccuracies.

 

[NancyJohnson]

On 04/11/2023 at 13:03, Stub Mandrel said:

I'm launching a range of laser-cut 'tone cards' made from a wide selection of carefully chosen boutique materials from 1990s Amex Gold Cards to original 1960s Kelloggs Cornflake packets. By choosing the correct shim your bass will immediately benefit form greater spaciousness and reactivity. It's possible to achieve longetivity and vibrance shifts so any quality bass can have its tone transformed to anything from a Hofner violin bass with 50 year old flats to an Aerodyne with gold plated  strings, just by a careful choice of tone card.

 

Our patented QR neck clamp allows between song tone card changes with no retuning and minimal interference to access beyond the 12th fret.

 

 

The irony here is that there would actually be someone who would buy these if they were available to purchase.  By someone, I actually mean, lots of people.

 

Time to fire up the computer and set up a Kickstarter campaign.  😂

[bassbiscuits]

I upgraded the regular HSBC bank card I used as a shim, for their Advance debit card.
 

The bass sounds more expensive now, and works brilliantly with my Boss Overdraft Pedal.  

Edited November 5, 2023 by bassbiscuits

[BigRedX]

The best thing you can do to increase the "fit" of a bolt-on neck is the following.

 

Attach the neck to the body along with any shims required to get the correct neck angle and saddle height. Don't tighten the screws/bolts up all the way, you want the neck to be fixed in place but still able to move very slightly under force. Then re-string, bringing all the strings slowly up to pitch at the same time. Leave until the tuning has settled down and then apply the final tightening to the neck screws. What this does is to use the force of the strings to pull the neck as tightly as possible into the pocket, giving you the maximum contact area and pressure, and best amount of contact possible with bolt-on neck construction.

[tauzero]

On 04/11/2023 at 12:28, NancyJohnson said:

 

Screws made of lard are my favourite.

 

Plays like butter.

[Andyjr1515]

On 06/11/2023 at 09:27, BigRedX said:

The best thing you can do to increase the "fit" of a bolt-on neck is the following.

 

Attach the neck to the body along with any shims required to get the correct neck angle and saddle height. Don't tighten the screws/bolts up all the way, you want the neck to be fixed in place but still able to move very slightly under force. Then re-string, bringing all the strings slowly up to pitch at the same time. Leave until the tuning has settled down and then apply the final tightening to the neck screws. What this does is to use the force of the strings to pull the neck as tightly as possible into the pocket, giving you the maximum contact area and pressure, and best amount of contact possible with bolt-on neck construction.

Hmmm...I'd never considered that but I like it!  Well explained too, @BigRedX