# Bolt on neck shims



## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Hello--just wondering what people here think of this column from Premier Guitar's latest issue, on neck shims.
Bolt on neck shims
I especially wondering about the section on Dos & don'ts.
My LP copy has a bolt on neck and it came with a plastic shim.
Now given the age of the guitar and the number of years it's had a partial pocket plastic shim, with no issues like the ski jump described, do you htink that could still happen?
I'm hopeless with tools so I'd have to get someone else to make a wood shim if I decided to do that, and it would be a real shallow angle.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.


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## LydianGuitars (Apr 18, 2013)

The shim is not a determining factor in the so called ski jump. Most guitars, even set necks, with time, will develop a hump aka "ski jump" at the end of the neck. 

I recently finished an '80's bass refurbish that needed the neck to be planed because of a hump at the end of the neck and *there was never a shim in the pocket*.
http://www.lydian.ca/Blog/Entries/2...hump,_Japanese_Vintage_Bass_Restoration..html

If you must shim the neck, a full length, full width shim is the way to go. I definitely agree with the article's author. I've just recently done this on an '86 Japanese Squier. This guitar had a small hump at the neck joint but *never had a shim in the neck pocket* (Original owner and the neck was never taken off). I fixed the hump and made a small birdseye maple shim to correct the neck angle.


DSCF5835 by 86Squier


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

For my opinion on shims causing a neck hump check my siggy.

If anyone thinks that 1" thick maple will contort because there's a 2" long gap in the pocket, they're sadly mistaken, especially if the body is ash or alder - there's reasons for the classic neck hump and a shim isn't one of them.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

I agree that a full size shim is the way to go. When I built my S type, I pared the bottom of the mortise to get everything to line up right.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Thanks for the answers.

But so far I haven't seen a problem on the guitar so I'm inclined to leave it as is.
If the neck does go off, I have another neck I bought for a project that never happened--it's the same scale and it will work on the guitar.

But if I do decide on a different shim, I'll check the article out again.


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

Thanks for the heads up Zontar. need to build a shim myself, so the article will be well read & advised.


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