can't lower my action, saddles sitting on the bridge plate!

[Cyberi4n]

Stewmac do full-pocket shims to .25 and .50 degree angles. Well worth the money, I’ve used a few in my time. Easiest job in the world, and can even be done with the strings on provided they’re slackened right off first.

 

[mrblanche]

++ Funny - I bought plastic shims online, but found them too thick. A piece of packaging cardboard worked perfectly.

I thought the Joker from a deck of cards was the traditional choice.

 

[Collin D Plonker]

+1 on the Stew Mac shim. Or make one yourself if you have the skills. Crimson Custom Guitars has a YouTube tutorial.

 

[TeleTubby]

I thought the Joker from a deck of cards was the traditional choice.

Only the Queen of Hearts in my builds.

To the OP’s concerns, shimming is easy, lots of ways to do it (many good suggestions already and more to come, I’m sure), and it works. Give it a shot and let us know how it works for you.

 

[Sea Devil]

I can only repeat what I said before with slightly different wording: the luthier is certainly right in theory; a shim does have the potential to deform the neck heel. In practice, it usually either doesn't happen or happens to such a tiny degree that it's not noticeable. If you want to play it safe, use a full neck-pocket shim, but you're not tempting fate if you use a smaller one. It will almost certainly be fine.

A straighter neck (tighter truss rod) will further reduce the already infinitesimal chance of a ski-jump or hump at the neck heel.

 

[Arfage]

I have a question about my tele (62 reissue, made in Japan). I currently have the action set at 4/64, measured at the 12th fret, for all 6 strings. I have a modern tele bridge, with 6 individual saddles. My problem is, the saddles for the low and high E strings are practically sitting on the bridge plate! Is this normal? I can't experiment with lower action (say, on the b and e strings) because of this limitation. The picture below is the type of saddles I have. Is this normal? Dan

View attachment 900254

I stay away from shimming at all costs, however it sounds like yours is a case where it's needed. If your bridge is bottomed out your neck needs to be tilted back some.

 

[Orson Cart]

Nobody so far (I think) has mentioned that the baseplate on the OP’s replacement bridge is 1-2mm thicker than the traditional ashtray bridge it would have come from the factory with. This could be where your problem originated. I’m a fan of traditional bridges and would change back to one which would also solve the action issue.

 

[chucker]

what would leo do? not order stewmac shims. they must be superb but are for the very demanding. common packaging is very good, e.g. cereal box cardboard. you can have a selection of thickness and also use business cards. the ones in my guitar tool box are 1/2" x 2" and are made from a string package. they will need to be notched around the neck screw holes when being installed.
i personally believe that shim compression is not an issue with the relatively low torque the neck is installed at.

 

[turfdoc]

I recommend a thin, wood shim. Using wood continues the natural joining of the wood neck to wood pocket. A thin piece of clarinet reed or similar works well.
This is often done with acoustic guitar saddles, as well.

 

[Big_Vig]

Raise (shim) the guitar neck with a hard, full contact shim. It is simple to shim your guitar. You can refer to my post dated July 23, 2018,"Make Your Own Guitar Shims".

 

[MatsEriksson]

It's the design of too much radius of the neck as it is just the outer strings. Get a flatter radiused neck, like 12 or 16.

 

[stepvan]

Shim the neck at the bridge end of the pocket, a piece of Card stock should do the trick.

 

[MatsEriksson]

tele (62 reissue, made in Japan).
View attachment 900254

That's the tell tale. 62' reissue with 6 individual saddles? You must be kidding me. It's someone who put on that bridge later on, and found out the hard way that it doesn't fit with year 62s 7'5 or 9'5 radius necks...

 

[Whitebeard]

Once again sorry if my post is redundant. Stewmac makes/sells maple shims. They offer various degrees of taper and also flat. - StewMac Neck Shims for Guitar - StewMac

 

[itsGiusto]

I suggest dropping the $8+/- on the StewMac tapered wood shims. When your done you can't even really see....

I really like those StewMac shims, but man, I hate hate having to pay like $10 shipping to get a single or a couple shims. And I've had to do this and order them twice so far.

 

[Texicaster]

I really like those StewMac shims, but man, I hate hate having to pay like $10 shipping to get a single or a couple shims. And I've had to do this and order them twice so far.

Call them!

I complained about this and they were happy to ship 1st Class for ~$3. Their shipping profile doesn't adjust for small items.

 

[Jakedog]

Many are calling for shims. I'd agree with them. Someone here suggested years ago that an aluminum drink can provides stable, non-rotting or compressing shim material. Easy to shape with scissors. I've used this trick several times.

Aluminum cans make awesome shims. I’ve used them in the neck pocket, under acoustic saddles, under the nut, they’re great. And you are right- they don’t compress or deteriorate.

 

[Tjeppen]

Only the Queen of Hearts in my builds.



If you have to use the whole set of spades, there's something seriously wrong with yer guitar

 

[Rooster-p]

If you're too cheap to pay 20 or 30 dollars for proper shims and shipping you don't deserve good action. J.S.

 

[jrblue]

Recess the bridge.

Not a good alternative unless you want your strings really close to the body, which no one does as it seriously limits your picking movement, can get strongs too close to the PU bodies, etc. Ick. Shim instead, and it sounds like you need an angled shim which is easy to do.