does NOBODY make a full pocket brass neck shim for a guitar?!?

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reignman454

reignman454

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Seriously, you would think that's a no brainer.... Can't believe that I'm missing it but the stew mac tapered ones are meh.
 
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griff10672 said:
brass ?? I've always used the wood ones from Stew Mac ....
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Back in the day, there was a "luthier to the stars" named Rod Schoepfer... had a shop for a while. Long story short he custom made brass inserts and the tone was to DIE for. Many of samboras main axes were done by him with parts from Neptune (Kramer).

He also built Ritchies famous non les paul with the Kahler.

The stew mac ones are good but honestly, they're not the best at transmitting vibration, tone etc. Ended up using some of those I had in a pinch.
 

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It seems like manufacturing angled brass shims would be difficult/expensive and fitting them would be a whole nuther adventure. The Stew Mac angled shims are easy on both counts (altho the 1/4 degree ones are easily split).

It seems I need a reverse shim (to bring the strings closer to body) as often as I need a regular shim and that requires a lot of custom fitting because AFAIK they only make pre-shaped angled shims for raising the strings off of the body. Some of these partscaster parts put the strings too high off of the body so a reverse shim is needed to make the guitar feel right and not have the saddles at max height.
 
SpiderWars said:
It seems like manufacturing angled brass shims would be difficult/expensive and fitting them would be a whole nuther adventure. The Stew Mac angled shims are easy on both counts (altho the 1/4 degree ones are easily split).

It seems I need a reverse shim (to bring the strings closer to body) as often as I need a regular shim and that requires a lot of custom fitting because AFAIK they only make pre-shaped angled shims for raising the strings off of the body. Some of these partscaster parts put the strings too high off of the body so a reverse shim is needed to make the guitar feel right and not have the saddles at max height.
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I had to do this on my Partscaster! I got the shim set from SM, as I was not sure which one I needed, flipped it around and it worked like a charm. The one I needed was super thin. I wanted something will full coverage. Guitar sounds great and resonates fine. You definitely nailed the exact reason I needed them.
 
Brass sounds amazing. I have various brass replacement parts (locking nuts, saddle inserts, big blocks and even a complete Tune o matic bridge/tailpiece set) implemented across a few guitars. There's a well earned reputation of brass being called a "musical metal". It's just very rich sounding and pronounced in the upper mids without being spikey.
 
GuitarGuy08 said:
I had to do this on my Partscaster! I got the shim set from SM, as I was not sure which one I needed, flipped it around and it worked like a charm. The one I needed was super thin. I wanted something will full coverage. Guitar sounds great and resonates fine. You definitely nailed the exact reason I needed them.
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Yep it does work but if you think about it, a shim raises the neck off the body when we wanted the strings closer to the body. So thin angled shims work here but if you start putting thick reverse shims in there it doesn't really work that well.
 
SpiderWars said:
It seems like manufacturing angled brass shims would be difficult/expensive and fitting them would be a whole nuther adventure. The Stew Mac angled shims are easy on both counts (altho the 1/4 degree ones are easily split).

It seems I need a reverse shim (to bring the strings closer to body) as often as I need a regular shim and that requires a lot of custom fitting because AFAIK they only make pre-shaped angled shims for raising the strings off of the body. Some of these partscaster parts put the strings too high off of the body so a reverse shim is needed to make the guitar feel right and not have the saddles at max height.
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the "China bombs" on amazon have flat .25.50.1.00 graduations
 
thegame said:
Brass sounds amazing. I have various brass replacement parts (locking nuts, saddle inserts, big blocks and even a complete Tune o matic bridge/tailpiece set) implemented across a few guitars. There's a well earned reputation of brass being called a "musical metal". It's just very rich sounding and pronounced in the upper mids without being spikey.
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Fat pro 42mm Floyd block alone made the natural harmonics just sing on this one.... Sometimes they honestly make them too fat and boomy
 
A lot of talking, but he claims full pocket shims kill resonance.
 
Why not use a full size piece? It would be easy to make. Then drill for the mounting screws. Or am I missing something obvious?
Edit- my question was in reference to the above picture with the small piece of brass.
 
VH1R2 said:
I could make you one, just give dimension and shim thickness, I'll make you some.
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This is something I would be seriously interested in for my partscaster. The smallest shim I used from SM has cracked, but it still doing the thing well enough overall. I would prefer brass 1000%.
 
I would be interested in one if it were cut accurate. I have little doubt that lots of people would use a brass full pocket shim.
 
I highly doubt that it being brass makes any perceivable tonal different. As long as your shim is the right size and doesn't collapse under the pressure of the neck being screwed back on, you'll be fine.

If you absolutely have to have brass you could probably contact a local machine shop and have some made for you. That's probably your only option.
 
NotThatBrightCap said:
I highly doubt that it being brass makes any perceivable tonal different. As long as your shim is the right size and doesn't collapse under the pressure of the neck being screwed back on, you'll be fine.

If you absolutely have to have brass you could probably contact a local machine shop and have some made for you. That's probably your only option.
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People make that same argument for many components of the guitar. I think the amalgamation of everything affects everything in some way, no matter how slight. The brass shim seems like a neat idea. I agree that it may not really make much of a tonal difference at all, but the structure of the material itself may be a bit more sturdy than wood, especially for the extremely thin shims, which break easily under pressure, especially if you have to remove the neck to adjust the truss rod (Like on mine).
 
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