Guitar upgrades and surprising shim results

Music&Chaos

Music&Chaos

Well-known member
Hello all,


Did a bunch of wiring upgrades and stuff to my main, beloved partscaster - Zed. When I say "A bunch" I mean I swapped out all of the pots, and wiring, and swapped the cap, etc.

The guitar sounded better after the change - more detailed and warm in areas - but the same general voice - which i have liked all of these years.

Well, I decided to do an experiment after building a tele and experiencing some odd tonal variance when swapping from my Stew mac full pocket shims and trying just some cardstock.

I had swapped out the full pocket wooden shim for the paper stacked up and made into a full pocket sized piece of paper, and the change was small, but still there. Nothing crazy and I could have liked either for their very slightly different nature.

Then I tried something else - I did some calculation and realized I did not really need the lift of a full neck pocket shim, just the slightest angle it provides.

I then put a smaller paper shim. Still as wide as the entire pocket and rounded corners at the base, but not as tall/long to provide full coverage like before. Maybe a 1/4 or 1/3 height at most. This makes it so the guitar for the first time in it's life, the wood base of the neck is primarily against the base of the neck pocket as opposed to any shim.

I adjusted all of the pickups to make sure if there was any change, they were the exact same measurement from the strings as they were before.

Acoustically, it was apparent immediately to me that there was a different vibration/feel. I know it could have just been me, so I flipped on the amp to play a bit and compare it to a little sound clip I had taken before.

I did not need to do any comparison to check myself.

My wife happened to walk into my office/room when i first started playing, who had no idea at all I was doing a shim experiment, but is very familiar with Zed's sound and said: "Zed sounds different. More mature. I like it. What happened?"

That is the exact way I would describe it. Almost like the voice was slightly muted/strangled/choked before and now the guitar is really speaking and singing.

Tripped me out!

The wood shim gave me a more direct, flat, modern type of sound, whereas the paper/neck direct to body brings out the mids heavily and extends the bass. It also softened up the harshness of the top end in my case.


This guitar has custom pickups that adapt really well and are crazy dynamic. Great for experiments like this.

YMMV greatly.
 
I have noticed with a couple guitars, adding a slight neck angle with a small shim and raising the bridge up so the action is the same (and adjusting pickups up so they are the same height) does give a different tone. More punchy and forward in my case. I’ve done it on 3 guitars now that were a bit too warm/soft sounding. Pretty sure it’s not in my head.
 
dstroud said:
Good to know! I’ve never used the full neck pocket shims, always just a bit at the front of the pocket to get a slight angle.
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I did the usual online sleuthing before installing any type of shim, which is why I pretty much just started with the SM ones.

I used the .25 degree and .5 on a couple of guitars. The StewMac ones are the best full cover shims of the 4 or 5 I have gotten to check out, the rest are way too thick.

When I stumbled across this on my tele, I thought I was crazy or it was some weird fluke, but now I highly prefer it on my Strat as well.

The sound with them may be preferred by some, you know how everything is guitar/setup specific.

On this certain guitar - there is no going back.
 
Also, I highly recommend Atlantic Custom Guitars - at least their parts. I really, really like the pots they use. They measure and ensure you can get 275k and 525k pots. They also will measure the highest rating of the set and mark it for you for Volumes in the case you get like 3 for a strat or 4 for a LP.
 
Every little thing makes a difference.

It's generally just a matter of what percentage - every guitar and player reacts to these tweaks differently.

For example, I'm such a heavy hitter that there's almost no noticeable difference in sound when I change the pickup height until it gets really, really extreme. For most people this is going to be a mind blowing, WOWWWW difference; for me it changes absolutely nothing.

I've gotten the best results with emery cloth for shims - TBH though, i only dabble in bolt-on guitars in general though, I'm way more of a les paul guy.

But I do like busting out a tele from time to time, and at least for me, the shim thing does change the sound as well. I don't know how much of that is the setup being closer to "ideal" and how much of it actually is changing the tone, but it changes nonetheless.
 
DanTravis62 said:
Every little thing makes a difference.

It's generally just a matter of what percentage - every guitar and player reacts to these tweaks differently.

For example, I'm such a heavy hitter that there's almost no noticeable difference in sound when I change the pickup height until it gets really, really extreme. For most people this is going to be a mind blowing, WOWWWW difference; for me it changes absolutely nothing.

I've gotten the best results with emery cloth for shims - TBH though, i only dabble in bolt-on guitars in general though, I'm way more of a les paul guy.

But I do like busting out a tele from time to time, and at least for me, the shim thing does change the sound as well. I don't know how much of that is the setup being closer to "ideal" and how much of it actually is changing the tone, but it changes nonetheless.
Click to expand...
You are spot on!

I have way more bolt on neck guitars than any other type in the stable as far as ratio goes.

In my case, the setup was exactly the same with either shim material in the initial swap. At least I used the wooden shim as the template for the paper full coverage one. The first material run/swap did not make as much of a difference as the latter one where I greatly reduced the surface area of the shim.
 
Music&Chaos said:
You are spot on!

I have way more bolt on neck guitars than any other type in the stable as far as ratio goes.

In my case, the setup was exactly the same with either shim material in the initial swap. At least I used the wooden shim as the template for the paper full coverage one. The first material run/swap did not make as much of a difference as the latter one where I greatly reduced the surface area of the shim.
Click to expand...

Interesting, same strings? I would love to hear a really high definition recording to hear the differences and try to hear what is going on with this, because i've experienced it too
 
DanTravis62 said:
Interesting, same strings? I would love to hear a really high definition recording to hear the differences and try to hear what is going on with this, because i've experienced it too
Click to expand...
Oh yeah man only takes a bit to swap between the two and triple check everything.

I have to get to doing my sound recordings now, I have pretty much the perfect environment gear wise since it is so sensitive.

Hell, my dad, who is quite literally half deaf and also has frequency loss and light tinitis could hear the difference between me changing which guitar instrument cable was between Zed and my amp.

Same length cables, no issues/flaws or anything.

I have several friends who told me they won't be able to hear the difference between this and that, and maybe in their rig they can't. On my little marshal 2x12, it isn't as apparent either, but through my squeaky clean almost hifi Rivera, NOS setup .... Everyone hears the changes.

I have done blindfold testing with people and they can tell me when I swap picks, cables, etc.
 
It's so hard to get neck pocket angles perfect, shims are essential. I've shimmed so many necks for people, most of the time without even mentioning it and they almost always mention how great the guitar plays now. I usually add a single strip of thin 3M Sandpaper either to the front or back of the heel, sometimes I double it. I think the biggest difference is towards the back of the heel, it gives you a tiny bit of clearance off those frets.
 
Timely post because I’ve been curious how a shim would affect the action of a Player2 Strat I acquired about a yr ago (first strat). My action's really good as is, but the tinkerer-er in me wants to try a small shim at some point, just because. The idea of using a strip of sandpaper or emory cloth is a good one. If so inclined I have to believe the wooden shims could be cut to fit vs using a full sized shim if that’s preferred. Business cards seem a popular matl as well.
 
Music&Chaos said:
Hello all,


Did a bunch of wiring upgrades and stuff to my main, beloved partscaster - Zed. When I say "A bunch" I mean I swapped out all of the pots, and wiring, and swapped the cap, etc.

The guitar sounded better after the change - more detailed and warm in areas - but the same general voice - which i have liked all of these years.

Well, I decided to do an experiment after building a tele and experiencing some odd tonal variance when swapping from my Stew mac full pocket shims and trying just some cardstock.

I had swapped out the full pocket wooden shim for the paper stacked up and made into a full pocket sized piece of paper, and the change was small, but still there. Nothing crazy and I could have liked either for their very slightly different nature.

Then I tried something else - I did some calculation and realized I did not really need the lift of a full neck pocket shim, just the slightest angle it provides.

I then put a smaller paper shim. Still as wide as the entire pocket and rounded corners at the base, but not as tall/long to provide full coverage like before. Maybe a 1/4 or 1/3 height at most. This makes it so the guitar for the first time in it's life, the wood base of the neck is primarily against the base of the neck pocket as opposed to any shim.

I adjusted all of the pickups to make sure if there was any change, they were the exact same measurement from the strings as they were before.

Acoustically, it was apparent immediately to me that there was a different vibration/feel. I know it could have just been me, so I flipped on the amp to play a bit and compare it to a little sound clip I had taken before.

I did not need to do any comparison to check myself.

My wife happened to walk into my office/room when i first started playing, who had no idea at all I was doing a shim experiment, but is very familiar with Zed's sound and said: "Zed sounds different. More mature. I like it. What happened?"

That is the exact way I would describe it. Almost like the voice was slightly muted/strangled/choked before and now the guitar is really speaking and singing.

Tripped me out!

The wood shim gave me a more direct, flat, modern type of sound, whereas the paper/neck direct to body brings out the mids heavily and extends the bass. It also softened up the harshness of the top end in my case.


This guitar has custom pickups that adapt really well and are crazy dynamic. Great for experiments like this.
Click to expand...
Wife bein
Music&Chaos said:
Hello all,


Did a bunch of wiring upgrades and stuff to my main, beloved partscaster - Zed. When I say "A bunch" I mean I swapped out all of the pots, and wiring, and swapped the cap, etc.

The guitar sounded better after the change - more detailed and warm in areas - but the same general voice - which i have liked all of these years.

Well, I decided to do an experiment after building a tele and experiencing some odd tonal variance when swapping from my Stew mac full pocket shims and trying just some cardstock.

I had swapped out the full pocket wooden shim for the paper stacked up and made into a full pocket sized piece of paper, and the change was small, but still there. Nothing crazy and I could have liked either for their very slightly different nature.

Then I tried something else - I did some calculation and realized I did not really need the lift of a full neck pocket shim, just the slightest angle it provides.

I then put a smaller paper shim. Still as wide as the entire pocket and rounded corners at the base, but not as tall/long to provide full coverage like before. Maybe a 1/4 or 1/3 height at most. This makes it so the guitar for the first time in it's life, the wood base of the neck is primarily against the base of the neck pocket as opposed to any shim.

I adjusted all of the pickups to make sure if there was any change, they were the exact same measurement from the strings as they were before.

Acoustically, it was apparent immediately to me that there was a different vibration/feel. I know it could have just been me, so I flipped on the amp to play a bit and compare it to a little sound clip I had taken before.

I did not need to do any comparison to check myself.

My wife happened to walk into my office/room when i first started playing, who had no idea at all I was doing a shim experiment, but is very familiar with Zed's sound and said: "Zed sounds different. More mature. I like it. What happened?"

That is the exact way I would describe it. Almost like the voice was slightly muted/strangled/choked before and now the guitar is really speaking and singing.

Tripped me out!

The wood shim gave me a more direct, flat, modern type of sound, whereas the paper/neck direct to body brings out the mids heavily and extends the bass. It also softened up the harshness of the top end in my case.


This guitar has custom pickups that adapt really well and are crazy dynamic. Great for experiments like this.

YMMV greatly.
Click to expand...

Wife knowing your guitar tone and appreciating changes you make to it…..priceless😎
 
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