Is it safe to sand the base of the neck?

[rstiltskin]

Hi all. I'm back to update my situation. The Stewmac shims are made at an angle to raise the end of the neck (i.e. the last fret) and they don't make shims that do the opposite. And they are shaped so you can't turn them around. I tried a 1mm shim at the front of the neck pocket and clamped the neck gently in place and that wasn't enough to get the strings off the frets with the saddles at a normal height. I'm using a Hipshot hardtail bridge and luckily they sell shims that fit this bridge. After measuring, I've determined the bridge needs to come up 3/16" so the bridge saddles will be in a normal position. The shims are on the way. I will post pictures once everything is in order.

 

[Cagey]

Just so you know, while most of them are designed to fit "Fender" pockets, they do sell them with no holes drilled. Basically, just wedges, so you can shape/drill them to fit any pocket in any orientation.

 

[rstiltskin]

Just so you know, while most of them are designed to fit "Fender" pockets, they do sell them with no holes drilled. Basically, just wedges, so you can shape/drill them to fit any pocket in any orientation.

If you're talking about Stewmac shims, I didn't see what you're talking about on their website.

 

[Cagey]

They're listed out here if you're still interested.

 

[rstiltskin]

They're listed out here if you're still interested.

Ok. I guess I missed those. Anyway, a neck shim wouldn't have worked for me. Can you imagine a neck at an angle that would have made up for a bridge raised up 3/16"?

 

[Cagey]

That is quite a variation - a LOT more than I'd expect - but, due to the angles/lengths involved, it's surprising the multiplying factor shims can bring into play.