Shimming Question (or ARRRGH!!!!!)

pallopenna

I'm an unsuccessful shimmer.

When I shim my quitar (mostly in winter), the tone goes from being warm (and buzzy) to being a bit brittle and harsh (to my ears). Is this a common experience? Is there a trick to shimming (I'm not sure how there could be)? How much does the material that you use for shims matter?

Another question that I have about shims and string height (which is borne from my hopless naivete about guitar set up). It seems to me that the height of the strings, the neck relief and the neck angle must all matter, both in terms of intonation and tone. Is this correct? If so, it seems easy enough to shim the bridge and adjust the neck (if need be), but what about the neck angle?

Okay, enough questions. I've got to go and learn how to write with using so many parentheses (if I can).

vince

I recently shimmed my guitar and it went from buzzy and metallic to warm... so I'm curious what other people have to say about this as well. I've noticed a new set of Argentines sounds really metallic on my guitar when I first get them and it takes about 30 minutes of playing to get them to calm down a bit and sound warm... but maybe that's just be. I sort of like the broken in string sound. So maybe try playing the strings in a bit.

cheers,
V

Josh Hegg

Don't shim. Get a Dupont bridge that fits your style of playing. He offers #1 - #4 for all action needs. Read my post on bridge fitting and you will be set and have a great sound.

Cheers,
Josh