How many of you shim your Tele necks?

[Bill Beck]

Are you satisfied with the results= lower action??

[chrome red]

in my 00 AmSe chrome red Tele. i was after lower string height after changing 0.009 => 0.010. I did truss rod and bridge height adjustments first. Then much later i decided to try micro tilt thing, tweaked it first too much => heavy fret buzz. after second set up it is very close to situation before micro tilt adjust. I should try a minor adjustment to lower just a bit but i am close to annoying fret buzz. the operation is matter of very slight shimming/adjustment in my experience. i did not hear any changes in tone after adjustments.

By the experience from my Hagstrom Viking semiacoustic is that if you have narrow frets and low action (and 0.011 strings) string bending is different/harder than with higher string height.

dang, I have replayed almost all my tdpri time this night that Greg Kochs Spank it 8 min 21 sec mp3 via headphones continuosly, when it gets to stairway to theme I still get the shivers, hair raise or how it is properly said. that major chicken picking is also fantastic but so beyond my skills ever it brings me down quite a bit.

[jeffhigh]

to my lack of tele experience (bits for the partscaster are ordered but all I have so far is a peghead logo),
but shimming the neck(at the pickup end) will adjust neck angle only.
This will only be beneficial if you have adjusted the bridge saddles all the way down, and the string height (Action ) is still too high.
Jeff

[Kevin]

Actually, a lot of people shim the neck purposely -- so that they can raise the saddles to get more downward pressure. That's totally different than a lot of Les Paul guys, who swear that you get better harmonics with less string angle...

You can also shim the other end of the neck pocket if you can't get the strings high enough.

Erlewine has a small blurb about shimming in one of his books. Seems that some people think that you get better tone if you shim.

I don't know... I shim 'em if I have to and don't think twice about it.

[Andy B]

I agree with Kevin's post. I shim mine only when necessary to get correct height of the bridge saddles. I usually use brass shim stock of different thicknesses to make an angled shim. No loss of sustain or tone to my ears.

[Rick J]

The other point of shimming is to raise the strings relative to the guitar body, while maintaining your preferred string height from the fingerboard. Have a look at a tele from side, and see where the strings are relative to the sides of the bridge. Viewed directly from the side, the strings will probably be about level with the top of the lip of the bridge, or slightly higher. The higher they are, the higher the string saddles will be, with greater break over them, which many people think creates more twang or snap to the tone. But apart from tone, which is debatable anyway, some people particularly fingerpickers, like the strings a particular height from the front of the body to give the right clearance for their picking style.

So if you want to change the string height relative to the body, but not relative to the fingerboard, thats where the shimming thing come in. Put a small shim in the body end of the neckpocket, and this will initially bring the strings closer to the fingerboard. You can then raise the strings at the bridge, and further away from the body, to restore the original action over the fingerboard. The reverse also works, of course, if you want to lower the body clearance with the same fingerboard action.

I'm sure I could have written this a little clearer, but I hope you get my drift!

Rick J