Success in my first Fret leveling and Neck shimming

[musicmatty]

One of my Teles had some buzz and rattle issues on the Bass E string. After a grand set-up I had given it...still it was a problem child. I viewed some instructional video about fret leveling on Youtube..and so I had to try it.

I filed 6 or 7 frets..mostly in the lower register and sure enough..all is good.

Also...I noticed my new SX Thinline Tele, has saddles sitting much closer to the bridge plate than my Fender Tele's, and the action is very true all the way up the neck with a straight neck, just .5/64 relief at the 7th fret..thats pretty straight I think. The strings are 3/64 accross the 17th fret...This SX is such a nice axe for sure.

For my 3 Fender Teles, I cut 3 shims made out of some kind of plastic fiber that is used for a counter top cutting board. It measures just under 1/64 in thickness..paper thin for sure. I cut them the width of being able to slide right in between the 2 Top neck bolts, the length was about a half inch or so down into the neck pocket. I inserted them just inside the front end of the neck pocket where the neck just starts to slide into the body cavity.
This gives it a 'reversed angle effect' and shifts the neck upwards and now allows you to lower your saddles to compensate. My saddles use to look like they had stilts under them and now they have very short legs like they should.

That little 1/64 shim made such a huge difference. The action is now true up the neck like it is on the SX model...easy fingering all the way up..what a huge difference! I had to re-adjust the pickups also for this big change in string height, and the sound of the guitar is the same...just much nicer to play.

If your saddles have very little head screw up top compared to the bottoms which look like stilts...then you may want to shim your necks and feel the difference it makes.
Just wanted to share some of these findings, hoping it may help others out.

[KokoTele]

Good for you! Fret leveling is one of the rudimentary things you need to learn on the way to learning how to do full blown guitar surgery!

Having the saddles way high like that isn't a problem, really, though I believe that the sharper break angle causes the action to feel more stiff. I do that reverse neck angle thing on my guitars to soften the action.

Shimming won't affect the action, though, unless you've run out of room to adjust the saddles to get the action you want.

[musicmatty]

You have said that it seems to soften the action when reversing the angle and I would agree. Im not convinced that a steep angle is needed, which requires the saddles to sit up so high. Reversing the angle hasn't presented a problem in regards to sound or tuning trouble...yet, it has made the guitar feel much more playable in my hands the further I go up the register.

One of my Tele's I did this too, is a Top loader and allready from the start, it did not have the steep string angle that the string thru bodies have since it is loaded thru the back of the bridge. However, lowering those saddles to where the bottom of the barrel is to the bridge plate is around 3 or 4/32 in height, and still no issues of any sort.

Surprising, I guess, my new SX thinline came this way obviously having the neck pocket cut for less of an angle. Someone on that end, see's this as a preferable way to set a bolt on neck from the start.

[pengipete]

Well done that man.

The off-putter for me is buying the tools - so expensive in the UK when I may only use them a few times.

[musicmatty]

Pengipete, I've collected some tools in a box I keep near my gear. No specialty tools really...and I bought a 3 piece file set at Home Depot over here in the States for about $6. bucs.

Last year I brought home a new Tele and within minutes, I took it all apart and started making mods...and I havent stopped since. I believe, I have become a good Tele mechanic..but just on Tele's. Between Dan Erlewine's book and all the free instruction videos on Youtubube, It's not hard to become a Tele-Meister.

[SimpleOne]

Originally Posted by musicmatty

Pengipete, I've collected some tools in a box I keep near my gear. No specialty tools really...and I bought a 3 piece file set at Home Depot over here in the States for about $6. bucs.

Last year I brought home a new Tele and within minutes, I took it all apart and started making mods...and I havent stopped since. I believe, I have become a good Tele mechanic..but just on Tele's. Between Dan Erlewine's book and all the free instruction videos on Youtubube, It's not hard to become a Tele-Meister.

Very cool. Thanks for the inspiration.

[KokoTele]

Originally Posted by musicmatty

You have said that it seems to soften the action when reversing the angle and I would agree. Im not convinced that a steep angle is needed, which requires the saddles to sit up so high. Reversing the angle hasn't presented a problem in regards to sound or tuning trouble...yet, it has made the guitar feel much more playable in my hands the further I go up the register.

It should also be said that a sharper break angle also increases the sustain and twanginess, so I guess you gotta find the happiest medium you can.

I recently leveled & crowned my Baja and shimmed it at the front of the pocket to reduce the break angle. The guy I bought it from said "I don't remember it playing this well," which is because it didn't :-)