Shimming a p bass

[Delamitri79]

Hey folks

 

I need to shim my p bass but I'm worried about causing a ski jump. Ive read loads about it and it varies depending on what forum you read . 

I was gonna use the old business card trick and curious to know have any of ye done this and what were the results 

 

Much appreciated 

Derek 

[SurroundedByManatees]

You can buy full pocket angled (different angled available) shim veneers. These are fine to use and won't case any trouble.

Edited yesterday at 13:46 by SurroundedByManatees

[SurroundedByManatees]

 

This kind of stuff

[spacecowboy]

49 minutes ago, Delamitri79 said:

Hey folks

 

I need to shim my p bass but I'm worried about causing a ski jump. Ive read loads about it and it varies depending on what forum you read . 

I was gonna use the old business card trick and curious to know have any of ye done this and what were the results 

 

Much appreciated 

Derek 

Hey mate, 

 

I think I have a few shims from my old P Bass that worked a treat if you want them? 
 

just cover postage and I’ll send them out?
 

Cheers

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I always use card from whatever packaging I have saved for this purpose sitting amongst the pile of junk on my desk. I do not believe this can possibly cause a ski jump and have never experienced this although I've shimmed well over a dozen of my basses and guitars.

[RogerDodger]

I've shimmed mine previously with just a narrow piece of business card or similar.

You need it to be as long az the width of the neck and about 5 or 6mm wide is fine.

 

Loosen your strungs and then unscrew the neck. Put the card at the end of the neck pocket and screw the neck back in. Re-tune and adjust the height of the bridge to suit your preferences.

 

If your actuon was too low to start with and you can't get it high enough, then you'll need to put the shim at the other end of the neck pocket.

 

Have a fiddle to see what works. You won't break it.

Edited yesterday at 15:11 by RogerDodger

[Delamitri79]

1 hour ago, spacecowboy said:

Hey mate, 

 

I think I have a few shims from my old P Bass that worked a treat if you want them? 
 

just cover postage and I’ll send them out?
 

Cheers

 

 

Appreciate the offer mate but I'll prob be using some sandpaper or a business card. 

 

Was just curious if I needed to worry about potential neck issues 

[Burns-bass]

Before the internet existing you’d just give things a try and see what happens. Nowadays we all spend ages posting about it.

 

Agree with the rest of the posters here. Give it a try and report back.

[Lozz196]

A mate of mine used a playing card on one of mine - very decently used the Ace of Spades ♠️ 🤘

[Reggaebass]

I’ve always used a strip of business card with no problems whatsoever, that very thin shim can make a big difference to your setup, I wouldn’t go any thicker 

[Delamitri79]

Ive just finished putting in a double strip of very fine grade sandpaper and so far it's absolutely perfect for what I wanted to achieve. 

 

Ill report back in a couple of weeks 

 

Thanks so much for all the great tips and advice 

 

BTW this is my 2011 US american standard precision bass 

[Inga]

i've used tooth picks cotton ear buds birthday cake candles and all manner of things in between i think you'll get on fine mate dont stress

[NancyJohnson]

21 hours ago, SurroundedByManatees said:

 

This kind of stuff

 

Or not that kind of stuff.  😄

[Reggaebass]

13 hours ago, Inga said:

ear buds birthday cake candles

Can’t say I’ve ever heard that one before 😁

[NancyJohnson]

There's this allusion that you need to buy these angled shims for £££, because anything else will have an adverse effect on tone (chortle) and sustain (chortle, again).  

 

Just make sure the neck is straight, then pop in a bit of playing card, business card, sandpaper, cornflake box into the back of the neck pocket, screw the neck back on and continue the set up. 

 

There's probably hundreds/thousands of vintage Fenders that have never had the neck off that are harbouring all manner of horrors in the pocket, and nobody is complaining about those not housing $30 StewMac shims.

 

[SurroundedByManatees]

Of course most necks will be fine with a shim made of whatever. But a poorly placed shim and overtightened neck screws can contribute to ski-jump.

 

Those full pocket shims don't have to be expensive. I've bought a few sets of 3 pieces for around £4 a set. 

 

 

[BigRedX]

Can someone post a photo of the "ski jump" and demonstrate conclusively that it has been caused by a non-angled shim?

[Joe Nation]

Ski-jumps are a much bigger problem on hollow-bodies, because the fingerboard extension has much less support under the upper frets (where the neck isn't). As string tension pulls on the headstock, the guitar wants to fold in half right around the neck-body joint, causing the upper end of the fingerboard to effectively bend upwards. On your 1950s Martin, you'll need to take significant steps to remedy this.

 

On solid-bodies with bolt-on necks, the problem is either the neck has bent in the same way as above, or the frets/board were dressed with the truss rod incorrectly set (ie with the neck not straight). In the latter case, you can either dress some fallaway into the upper frets or do a full fret dress with the neck straight (make sure the FINGERBOARD is straight, not the fret tops, get that notched straightedge out).

 

If you have to shim a neck, you need to understand how much ramp or fallaway your frets have, when the neck is set with the correct relief. Depending on the truss rod location and neck shaping/stiffness, sometimes the truss rod doesn't have any effect (or much less effect) across the upper frets, so you get a flat spot at the heel followed by a curve through the main portion of the neck (as opposed to a nice uniform curve from nut right down to the second octave). In the right circumstances, when you lower your relief and action down to where they should be, the strings can contact the upper frets as they vibrate - you'll need to shim the neck forwards to lift the strings above the upper frets and give them room to swing. On that 50s Martin above, you'll likely need to reset ("shim") the neck backwards to account for the folding, then add some fallaway to the upper frets to account for the fingerboard going out of shape - so the same effective presentation requires opposite solutions.

[prowla]

I use cutouts from aluminium food trays - you can do folds to make a (stepped) slope and build up a shallow wedge to the desired height.

[Geek99]

I used packaging from Next socks - doesn’t shrink or squash 

… unlike the socks …

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, Joe Nation said:

Ski-jumps are a much bigger problem on hollow-bodies, because the fingerboard extension has much less support under the upper frets (where the neck isn't). As string tension pulls on the headstock, the guitar wants to fold in half right around the neck-body joint, causing the upper end of the fingerboard to effectively bend upwards. On your 1950s Martin, you'll need to take significant steps to remedy this.

 

On solid-bodies with bolt-on necks, the problem is either the neck has bent in the same way as above, or the frets/board were dressed with the truss rod incorrectly set (ie with the neck not straight). In the latter case, you can either dress some fallaway into the upper frets or do a full fret dress with the neck straight (make sure the FINGERBOARD is straight, not the fret tops, get that notched straightedge out).

 

If you have to shim a neck, you need to understand how much ramp or fallaway your frets have, when the neck is set with the correct relief. Depending on the truss rod location and neck shaping/stiffness, sometimes the truss rod doesn't have any effect (or much less effect) across the upper frets, so you get a flat spot at the heel followed by a curve through the main portion of the neck (as opposed to a nice uniform curve from nut right down to the second octave). In the right circumstances, when you lower your relief and action down to where they should be, the strings can contact the upper frets as they vibrate - you'll need to shim the neck forwards to lift the strings above the upper frets and give them room to swing. On that 50s Martin above, you'll likely need to reset ("shim") the neck backwards to account for the folding, then add some fallaway to the upper frets to account for the fingerboard going out of shape - so the same effective presentation requires opposite solutions.

 

Thanks, but I still don't see it and I think your physics is flawed in regards to how a shim will exaggerate this problem. I'd also like to see a photograph actually showing this, so I can see it has definitely been caused solely by the presence of as shim and not in any way related to poor construction of the neck or incorrect application of the truss rod.