I’m going to apply my experience shimming door hinges here and see if the logic transfers to shimming a bass neck.
In commercial jobs I sometimes install steel door and steel door frames. You screw the hinges to the door and then screw the hinges to the door frame. I then close the door and look at the gap between the door and the door frame (the reveal).
If the reveal between the door and frame to too tight I will shim the door hinge. I’ll place a small strip of cardboard (usually the manufacturer provides these strips in the hinge box) at the back of the hinge and then tighten down the screws.
The shim at the back creates a wedge and the barrel of the door then pivots away from the strike side (the side with the handle) of the frame. This increases the gap between the door and the frame. I’m using a shim to create a ‘see-saw’ effect and move the pivot point of the door hinge.
So far, so dull.
But If i apply this experience to only shimming part of the neck pocket I think the same thing will happen.
If the neck is currently parallel to the body of the guitar If I place a partial shim at the base of the neck pocket and then tighten the screws will I not tilt the head stock of the neck away from the parallel plane of the body.
If this is what I want to achieve then good. But if not then I don’t see why I wouldn’t shim the whole neck pocket to keep the neck parallel with the body of the bass.
It does, but also changing the plane “could” put more pressure on the neck/truss rod when you try to straighten it, since strings are pulling more? And possibly messing up intonation, cause you might add a bit to the length of the strings?
No one is arguing if a full shim is more proper than a partial shim (it is). The argument is that a partial shim is not sufficient to fix a problem for the time being on a mid range bass (it is). Saying you shouldn’t do something that is not permanent and doesn’t even cost anything in the effort to learn and create an interim solution doesn’t make any sense
Yes. A quick calculation I just did, figuring a 1mm shim (small) and a 10cm neck pocket (large) looks to me like it will move the nut down by nearly a centimeter in your drawing.
Because it will raise the plane of the saddles following the plane of the frets. If your saddles are bottomed out and your action is still way too high, the neck angle is incorrect
That’s not necessarily true, though. One would seem to have little to do with the other. Raising the entire neck at the same angle by shimming it all would be as or more effective without changing the angle.
They’re doing the exact same thing. A full size shim still terminates into practically nothing at the headstock side of the neck pocket. Creating too much of an angle might also run you out of pickup height. The only part of the neck pocket that would counteract the fulcrum of the string tension on the neck is the ledge against the pickguard, and the neck screws are still threaded enough to exert max clamping force
Edit: unless you mean raise the entire neck up at 0 angle, which would likely run into issues. The neck needs some angle, as the action needs to be getting higher as you get down the fretboard. As the frets are closer together at the neck, the angle of the string needs to be more aggressive (higher) when fretting to avoid buzzing
So, I finally had time to make some shims for the Ibanez and the results are excellent.
I bought small sheets of 0,5mm brass to make them, the neck to body joint was complex enough that I decided to make a template rather than draw it by measurements (top & bottom not parallel, a large radius on the most visible edge etc.)
The resulting 1mm raise does not look out of place even though the neck was contoured into the body. I actually like that golden decor strip at the back lol
After checking neck relief (I went back to roundwounds on this bass and needed to back it off 1/6of a turn) I set up my E string to 2,5mm and G to 2,0mm (this is a 3-point bridge set as a whole - middle strings sit somewhere between those values)
I used it mostly because its easily workable, doesn’t corrode easily and is pliable (in case it didn’t turn out perfectly flat), but that’s good to know
Yeah, brass is commonly used in bridges and trems for this reason - it’s excellent at conducting the resonating vibrations from the strings. Warwick uses it in nuts too.
My MIJ Fender has a brass toneplate underneath its bridge as well, between it and the body. It’s… a tone metal
Hey everyone, jumping in on this thread so I do not create a new one. I have a similar issue and cannot get low enough action.
The minimum I can get without buzzing around 15th to 22nd fret is around 7 to 8 mm, which is pretty high according to everywhere on internet. I followed Josh’s youtube setup video and I must be missing something. I have exactly the same bass as Josh is using in that video, Fender Jazz and even the same color.
I managed to have my trussrod exactly like it said with a bit of a forward bow. I am not sure how can I measure my neck precisely but when I press the 1st and 13th fret I seem to have 2 business cards of space between the neck and 7th fret string like Josh says in the video. Then I measure the action on 12th fret to string which is around 7mm to 8mm.
After that I try to lower strings on the bridge for even just a quarter and I get fret buzz after 15th fret on E A D strings, G string seems to be fine however I put it.
I am not sure if I am missing something, I ordered the bass from Thomman and I did not know they do not do a setup so the bass came in pretty randomly set up. I managed to play for a few months but while learning everything around the bass I figured I have pretty high action. I would like to learn to perform the setup by myself so if anyone has any idea, I would be very grateful.
It may be possible to shim the neck which raises the neck up in the pocket in relation to the height of the strings. I had to do it to both of my Warmoth builds to get the action to the point that I liked it. It could also be possible that you have a high fret that can be remedied by tapping the fret and seating it a little deeper in the groove. Of course you can take it to a luthier/guitar tech and he can do it for you. Might be worth it to get a professional to do it the first time.
Or, you get buzzing because the action is still so high that you simply can’t fret it correctly because of the necessary amount of force. 7-8 mm is HUGE and pretty much unplayable, how are you measuring it? If you are measuring correctly between the string and fret crown, then I suspect the neck is still too much curved to get this kind of action, or at a weird angle to the body for some reason.
When setting the neck curvature, I check it this way: press on 1st fret and the one where the neck gets thick and joins the body (the flexing essentially ends there), in my basses it’s around fret 17, and check the clearance halfway, 7-8-9 fret. I aim for a small clearance of 0,3-0,4mm.
Then I set the action & intonation, I go for low action, no more than 2,5mm on E and 2,0mm on G. This way the bass is super soft and easy to play.
