Angled Wood Shims On Sale

[Steadyriot.]

The reason isn't for tone, it's so that the pressure is equalized on the neck and part of the neck doesn't start bulging up from the rest of it.

"Ski jump" they call it.

I know thats part of it but having done shims the old way for more years than I want to admit I have never had that happen to any guitar. I just don't care for the visible piece of wood lifting the front as well as the back.

I’ve had it happen. I’m team full pocket shim now.

[jorri]

The reason isn't for tone, it's so that the pressure is equalized on the neck and part of the neck doesn't start bulging up from the rest of it.

"Ski jump" they call it.

I know thats part of it but having done shims the old way for more years than I want to admit I have never had that happen to any guitar. I just don't care for the visible piece of wood lifting the front as well as the back.

I’ve had it happen. I’m team full pocket shim now.

I didn't notice too much ski jump on a current guitar but it has less buzz up there after changing. Its a wenge neck though.
A previous one, the shim needed was very thick, like 4 card layers, so its especially great to use a full pocket one if there is a massive break angle.
Bear minimum card thickness could be fine

[muffonrat]

So I received the Muspor shims yesterday and are ok with accurate angles and thicknesses.
For refrence I used a 0,5 degree shim for my japanese jazzmaster and 1 + 0,25 degree for my 62 AVRI jaguar.
Still have more guitars to shim so probably will be ordering more.
The neck pocket in my jazzmaster had a ''print'' where the shim was sitting and that was from almost 10 years of shim use.
The neck looked fine with no visual change in shape.
I guess I am team full pocket shim too..

[N0_Camping4U]

Does this new-found access to cheap shims mean I have to abandon my decades-old technique of putting a plectrum or Pokémon card in the neck pocket?

I've done that too. I cut up some old Pokemon card... It's name was like charyzard, and it had a weird 1st edition stamp. idk. Made a great shim.

[GilmourD]

Does this new-found access to cheap shims mean I have to abandon my decades-old technique of putting a plectrum or Pokémon card in the neck pocket?

I've done that too. I cut up some old Pokemon card... It's name was like charyzard, and it had a weird 1st edition stamp. idk. Made a great shim.

Bet the tone on that guitar is straight fire, now.

[timtam]

After my experience with the cheap no-brand shims that turned out to be fake (no taper), I next tried an ebay Chinese seller (there are dozens) showing the Muspor branded shims in their pics (given reports that that brand's shims actually do have the angles specified).

However what actually arrived was another set of unbranded shims, which again were fakes. I got a full refund and got to keep the 'shims' (having gone to the trouble of sending pics with digital caliper showing the lack of any end-to-end taper).

So this whole inexpensive shim process is not proving to be smooth !

Next test will probably be an alipexpress seller who actually specifies the Muspor part number: it seems to be MX0360D. And one who also has reviews showing that Muspor angled shims actually arrived.

[timtam]

Next test will probably be an alipexpress seller who actually specifies the Muspor part number: it seems to be MX0360D. And one who also has reviews showing that Muspor angled shims actually arrived.

Well the apparently-legit Muspor shims arrived. The 3 shims had the Muspor name stamped on them, and came in the little cardboard box with the Muspor name on it. When I opened them they obviously had a taper (unlike the 2 sets of unbranded fakes I had received previously). So I put them aside and only just got around to actually measuring them.

And the verdict ? I guess 2 out of 3 in a pack ain't bad ?!

The 0.25 deg and 0.5 deg shim are basically spot on. But the "1 deg" shim is only 0.75 deg. That's being picky I know, but it would just be nice if these shims were what they say they are. But the price per shim (shipped) is a third of Stewmac's per shim price (before shipping).

Below are the measurements with digital calipers, compared to the Stewmac specs.

Muspor
0.25 deg shim tapers from 0.7mm to 0.4mm, ie 0.3mm, which over the 76mm length works out to 0.23 deg.
0.5 deg shim tapers from 1.0mm to 0.4mm, ie 0.6mm, which works out to 0.45 deg.
1.0 deg shim tapers from 1.5mm to 0.5mm, ie 1.0mm, which works out to 0.75 deg.

I guess I could put the 0.25 deg and the "1.0" deg shims together if I want a 1 deg shim. Those would yield 0.98 deg (with a 0.9mm base offset).

Stewmac
0.25-degree shim tapers from 0.030" to 0.019" (0.76mm to 0.48mm) .. taper 0.28mm ... which calculates at 0.21 deg (over 76mm length).
0.5-degree shim tapers from 0.028" to 0.008" (0.71mm to 0.20mm) ... taper 0.51mm ... calculates at 0.38 deg.
1-degree shim tapers from 0.060" to 0.010" (1.52mm to 0.25mm) ... taper 1.27mm ... calculates at 0.98 deg.

We can also see from the numbers that the base offset thicknesses (that will also influence final bridge height by a little bit) are slightly different ...
Muspor
0.25 deg: 0.4mm
0.5 deg: 0.4mm
1.0 deg: 0.5mm

Stewmac specs
0.25 deg: 0.48mm
0.5 deg: 0.20mm
1.0 deg: 0.25mm

[GilmourD]

OK, so my ultra-cheap unbranded Chinese shims have just arrived. Having shopped around before I bought, I found that the prices had got very low from some sellers. I got the pack of 3 shims for around US3.50. And the news is .... they are fake ! At least as far as the taper is concerned. They 'look' legit ... until you measure them with calipers - when you find there is no taper.

Measure thicknesses:
"0.25deg": 0.41 to 0.46 ... basically random minor thickness variation across the shim (no consistent end to end difference)
"0.5deg": 1.1 to 1.1mm end to end
"1.0deg:" 1.46 to 1.46mm end to end

By comparison, here are Stewmac's quoted specs:
"Taper specs (approximate)
0.25-degree shim tapers from 0.030" to 0.019" (0.76mm to 0.48mm)
0.5-degree shim tapers from 0.028" to 0.008" (0.71mm to 0.20mm)
1-degree shim tapers from 0.060" to 0.010" (1.52mm to 0.25mm)"
https://www.stewmac.com/tonewoods/shop- ... or-guitar/

I do have a 0.5deg Stewmac shim lying around. And it doesn't fully match the SM spec, although it is tapered ...
0.93 to 0.34mm, ie 0.59mm difference (cf SM spec of 0.71 to 0.20mm, with 0.51mm difference)
If you do the trig, with its ~75mm length, that comes out at about 0.45 degs. So the actual angle on the SM shim is about right despite the thickness variation from spec.


Has anyone here bought/measured the Tosicam/Muspoor ?

I bought the Tosicam shims from Amazon. These are good.

Here are the measurements:
0.25° shim tapers from (0.84mm to 0.53mm) - Actual angle 0.235°
0.5° shim tapers from (0.82mm to 0.32mm) - Actual angle 0.379°
1° shim tapers from (1.68mm to 0.36mm) - Actual angle 0.985°

Compare these to the Stewmac specs, pretty darn close.

That's the pack that I had purchased. Now, I didn't measure them but I did find that the 1.0° one set the neck back too much for the bridge height I wanted on the CV Jazzmaster I put together, so I went with the 0.5° shim. I think I might buy a set of three 0.25° and a set of three 0.5° shims and leave the 1.0° out of the equation.

[DeathJag]

Muspor
0.25 deg shim tapers from 0.7mm to 0.4mm, ie 0.3mm, which over the 76mm length works out to 0.23 deg.
0.5 deg shim tapers from 1.0mm to 0.4mm, ie 0.6mm, which works out to 0.45 deg.
1.0 deg shim tapers from 1.5mm to 0.5mm, ie 1.0mm, which works out to 0.75 deg.

I guess I could put the 0.25 deg and the "1.0" deg shims together if I want a 1 deg shim. Those would yield 0.98 deg (with a 0.9mm base offset).

Stewmac
0.25-degree shim tapers from 0.030" to 0.019" (0.76mm to 0.48mm) .. taper 0.28mm ... which calculates at 0.21 deg (over 76mm length).
0.5-degree shim tapers from 0.028" to 0.008" (0.71mm to 0.20mm) ... taper 0.51mm ... calculates at 0.38 deg.
1-degree shim tapers from 0.060" to 0.010" (1.52mm to 0.25mm) ... taper 1.27mm ... calculates at 0.98 deg.

We can also see from the numbers that the base offset thicknesses (that will also influence final bridge height by a little bit) are slightly different ...
Muspor
0.25 deg: 0.4mm
0.5 deg: 0.4mm
1.0 deg: 0.5mm

Stewmac specs
0.25 deg: 0.48mm
0.5 deg: 0.20mm
1.0 deg: 0.25mm

Thank you so much for posting this. I appreciate and intensely read all of your posts.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Thank you timtam! I followed this thread and really appreciate your measurements. I bought two packs of the Muspor (with the parts number) from eBay after your review. I also tried to work with them which was a bit tougher than I thought - as they are a bit to wide (spec sheet reads 55,56 mm/2,19“ to 76,12mm/3“) for both my Rosser and Rexter made JM bodies and the new Northwest Guitars Jag Body - while it would have been a perfect fit on my now sold VM Jag body.

I tried cutting it down with scissors (losing a bit of the taper and from one side) - but is this really the (only) way to go? Or are there more different models available?

Looking a bit like the treble side doesn‘t have „full contact“ and I can‘t turn the neck screws any tighter.
0,5“ btw.




On the Rosser it worked alright with alright with the 1“ (but this one still needs the nut filed and a proper setup).

[quote=timtam post_id=<a href="tel:1780776">1780776</a> time=<a href="tel:1685073296">1685073296</a> user_id=23948]
Next test will probably be an alipexpress seller who actually specifies the Muspor part number: it seems to be MX0360D. And one who also has reviews showing that Muspor angled shims actually arrived.

Well the apparently-legit Muspor shims arrived. The 3 shims had the Muspor name stamped on them, and came in the little cardboard box with the Muspor name on it. When I opened them they obviously had a taper (unlike the 2 sets of unbranded fakes I had received previously). So I put them aside and only just got around to actually measuring them.

And the verdict ? I guess 2 out of 3 in a pack ain't bad ?!

The 0.25 deg and 0.5 deg shim are basically spot on. But the "1 deg" shim is only 0.75 deg. That's being picky I know, but it would just be nice if these shims were what they say they are. But the price per shim (shipped) is a third of Stewmac's per shim price (before shipping).

Below are the measurements with digital calipers, compared to the Stewmac specs.

Muspor
0.25 deg shim tapers from 0.7mm to 0.4mm, ie 0.3mm, which over the 76mm length works out to 0.23 deg.
0.5 deg shim tapers from 1.0mm to 0.4mm, ie 0.6mm, which works out to 0.45 deg.
1.0 deg shim tapers from 1.5mm to 0.5mm, ie 1.0mm, which works out to 0.75 deg.

I guess I could put the 0.25 deg and the "1.0" deg shims together if I want a 1 deg shim. Those would yield 0.98 deg (with a 0.9mm base offset).

Stewmac
0.25-degree shim tapers from 0.030" to 0.019" (0.76mm to 0.48mm) .. taper 0.28mm ... which calculates at 0.21 deg (over 76mm length).
0.5-degree shim tapers from 0.028" to 0.008" (0.71mm to 0.20mm) ... taper 0.51mm ... calculates at 0.38 deg.
1-degree shim tapers from 0.060" to 0.010" (1.52mm to 0.25mm) ... taper 1.27mm ... calculates at 0.98 deg.

We can also see from the numbers that the base offset thicknesses (that will also influence final bridge height by a little bit) are slightly different ...
Muspor
0.25 deg: 0.4mm
0.5 deg: 0.4mm
1.0 deg: 0.5mm

Stewmac specs
0.25 deg: 0.48mm
0.5 deg: 0.20mm
1.0 deg: 0.25mm
[/quote]

[ShortyMedlock]

I will have a fresh supply of neck shims once I spend the money I got on Christmas gift cards.... they work great