Can I shim my Axis by myself using wood ?

[Brazilian Dude]

Hello guys,

Can I use wood foils to shim my guitar?

Are tiny pieces os wood, measure 0.6mm, totally straight, have no angle.

If I need a bigger shimm, I can put more than one piece I think, just to have the angle if I need.

My guitar have shims but the work looks terrible, I think the guy uses plastic.


Thanks

 

[beej]

Sure- you can use whatever you want for the shim.

 

[jayjayjay]

FYI, MM sells shims specifically for the Axis in their online store. Both for the nut and for the neck.

 

[Brazilian Dude]

you

I need to think about it.

 

[Brazilian Dude]

FYI, MM sells shims specifically for the Axis in their online store. Both for the nut and for the neck.

I gonna try to put some photos from the materials that I want to use. For the nut too. Maybe, for the nut, I try some razor blades.


I'm thinking about the setup including remove all the shims, Floyd Rose base plate and put the neck dead straight. This will be the first time I setup my guitar, I'm a little scared.

 

[tbonesullivan]

I'm thinking about the setup including remove all the shims, Floyd Rose base plate and put the neck dead straight. This will be the first time I setup my guitar, I'm a little scared.

Shims are a normal part of a bolt on guitar setup. Shims for the neck, shims for the locking nut, and sometimes even shims for other things.

The shims that EBMM uses are plastic, and measure 0.254mm, 0.381mm, and 0.508mm. The 0.6mm shim you suggest would be larger than the largest EBMM shims.

Can you see the shims that the tech put in? It really sounds like you should read up on how to properly set up a guitar before attempting anything further. I don't think razor blades would be the best thing to use for a shim.

What is the current action on the guitar? Factory string setting for standard tuning starts at the bass side 2/32" (1.59 mm) to 5/64" (1.98 mm) and the treble side is 3/64" (1.19 mm) to 2/32" (1.59 mm) measured from the 12th fret to the bottom of the strings. If you are looking for an action lower than that, the guitars really aren't designed to go much lower.

 

[Brazilian Dude]

Shims are a normal part of a bolt on guitar setup. Shims for the neck, shims for the locking nut, and sometimes even shims for other things.

The shims that EBMM uses are plastic, and measure 0.254mm, 0.381mm, and 0.508mm. The 0.6mm shim you suggest would be larger than the largest EBMM shims.

Can you see the shims that the tech put in? It really sounds like you should read up on how to properly set up a guitar before attempting anything further. I don't think razor blades would be the best thing to use for a shim.

What is the current action on the guitar? Factory string setting for standard tuning starts at the bass side 2/32" (1.59 mm) to 5/64" (1.98 mm) and the treble side is 3/64" (1.19 mm) to 2/32" (1.59 mm) measured from the 12th fret to the bottom of the strings. If you are looking for an action lower than that, the guitars really aren't designed to go much lower.

The razor blades was just a glimpse. I can get a piece of wood as thin as a razor blade for the nut.
I'll try to measure the tension but the question is just esthetic, the neck is totally straight, the tension are very comfortable, but the pieces of plastic used to shim really bother me.

I don't need some super low string tension, the setup in my Axis are great, I think I can make the same work, but more "cleaner" the actual one. And wood sounds and looks better than plastic pieces if I need to explain that to somebody.

Shimming are news to me (since 2019), and I don't imagine how important that is to setup the Axis, for people like me, who don't know nothing about this until some time ago, sounds bad.
I don't care a lot about shim anymore and I got the point of it.

But, just to think about:

If you have two Axis, same year, same color, same everything, but one have shims and another didn't, which one do you choose?

 

[jayjayjay]

I gonna try to put some photos from the materials that I want to use. For the nut too. Maybe, for the nut, I try some razor blades.


I'm thinking about the setup including remove all the shims, Floyd Rose base plate and put the neck dead straight. This will be the first time I setup my guitar, I'm a little scared.

In case you haven't seen it, MM has a whole write-up in the FAQ section of their website that details the steps for setting up an Axis w/ the Floyd Rose.

 

[Astrofreq]

Business cards make for great neck pocket shims. Usually the business card's shorter dimension is great for the neck pocket width. Then cut a 1/4" strip off the business card and you'll have a skinny rectangle. I shim ALL my guitars, because it helps me get consistency in my setups. My favorite shim material is NYC Metrocards.