https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 23:24:37 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272669 Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:30:10 +0000
After "overshimming" the neck, I had to take the bridge saddles way up, which changed the angle and started the trem tilting up...

Bit of a screw-up, really. So I was thinking about adding a spring to the trem, but it was looking like a lot of repairs to correct a bad repair. So last night I took the neck off again, sanded down the shim, and put it all back together. Action great, bridge back to normal, and the trem is right! SWEET!

Thanks for all your help- I'll be moving over to the thread on tone pots as soon as I figure out where I can buy some.


Ande


PS- does it make sense for each tone control to be wired to only one pickup? THat seems to be how it is...]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Ande https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272669 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272494 Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:27:55 +0000 Guitar Repair and Maintenance dogbite https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272494 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272484 Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:27:58 +0000
I'm not sure whether to add a spring, re-do the shim (so the bridge isn't quite so high), or just block the trem. (I rarely use it, and kind of suck at it when I do. Still, I might learn.)

Another strat query. This may sound dumb, but what are the tone controls supposed to do? Cause at the moment, they don't do anything...


Best,
Ande]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Ande https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272484 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272346 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 19:47:17 +0000 Guitar Repair and Maintenance dogbite https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272346 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272327 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:53:33 +0000
When I shimmed the neck, I took it a little too far- and had to raise the bridge saddles quite a lot to compensate. Oops.

But once the saddles were up- the action is quite nice. ONly one problem. Raising the saddles so much seems to have change the tension/angle of string pressure on the bridge, causing the tremolo to rise. (I didn't notice until I had the whole thing set up, was playing, and found that my trem can go both directions now.) Surprisingly, it stays in tune; works a little like a floating bridge assembly for the moment, but doesn't seem quite right. Don't have time to do anything with it till next weekend, so I'll be playing it throughout this week and let you all know how it develops!


Best,
Ande]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Ande https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272327 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272316 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:08:26 +0000 maybe check out a jeweler's supply house.]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance dogbite https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272316 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272283 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 05:51:05 +0000 Guitar Repair and Maintenance Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272283 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272269 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 04:32:39 +0000
http://www.stewmac.com/]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance tinsmith https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272269 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272238 Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:02:14 +0000
I was having trouble getting the nut just right- had almost the exact height, but the grooved were wobbly, as I didn't have a file quite the right size for each string. Had a minor flash of intelligence when I was destringing to shim the neck, and used the old strings themselves to re-cut the grooves. Perfect!

RE-shimming the neck. Found no material online for exactly how much shim would give the desired result- eventually decided to just have a try, using a piece of my old insurance card. (Resembles a credit card, no raised lettering, not quite as thick- slightly thinner than a dunlop 0.71 pick.) Put a strip of the card (3/8 of an inch wide) across the bottom (body) end of the neck pocket. When I re-attached, and re-strung, it was buzz city. (Strings running way too close to the neck for the entire length- buzzed absolutely everywhere.) I thought HEY I didn't really want the action THAT low, but slightly loosened the truss rod to get a little bow in the neck, raised the saddles at the bridge, and GREAT. Low action, smooth, not buzzing...

If you've got a straight neck (easy to check) and yet the action gets too high as you play closer to the body, a little tiny shim (smaller than I used, in my opinion) might be just the thing!


Best,

Ande

PS- think carefully before you lower your action too far, though. I have a pretty heavy pick style, kinda like to really HIT it- and am having to adjust that- the lower the action, the less forgiving it is of really heavy picking. Still, it's FAST as hell when you're this close to the fretboard!]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Ande https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272238 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272151 Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:41:54 +0000
Any idea about how much one should shim? My neck is very nearly straight, and action is good (maybe between a 32nd and a 16th of an inch) at the first fret. More like a quarter inch at the frets closest to the body.

RE the switch- no intention of resoldering, but could easily take it out and turn it around. Thing is, it doesn't matter. I'm used to switching it the wrong way now...

Thanks again,


Ande]]> Guitar Repair and Maintenance Ande https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-repair-and-maintenance/strat-help-nuts-shims-and-switches/#post-272151