prlgmnr
...that kind of idea
it's BEEBBBE
Wes Hauch/Aaron Marshall "secret setup"
- Thread starter jco5055
- Start date
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NoodleFace
Delicious Noodles
Setting up a guitar isn't magic. I have my own methods.
The best playing Ibanez I ever owned I put neck shim in and no one could believe how low the action was. I guess that was a secret or something.
Wes plays great. But his tone is shit and I've heard he's an asshole.
The best playing Ibanez I ever owned I put neck shim in and no one could believe how low the action was. I guess that was a secret or something.
Wes plays great. But his tone is shit and I've heard he's an asshole.
Shask
Well-Known Member
I find pretty much every bolt on guitar benefits from a shim.
NoodleFace
Delicious Noodles
Yeah the only one that doesn't really need one is my kiesel
Small piece of maple veneer from Home Depot. You can get a massive sheet for like $30 and it won't compress like cardboard might.
Shask
Well-Known Member
That is interesting. That seems like that would work well.
I just use strips of masking tape. Works well, and you can adjust the height easy by adding more strips.
eoinbmorg
Well-Known Member
I've never had a bolt-on guitar where the bridge couldn't be adjusted low enough and needed a shim to create more space between the strings and the body. How are shims helping with your bolt-ons?
Shask
Well-Known Member
I generally find I can get the strings closer to the frets across the entire neck easier with the type of relief I like. Sometimes without the shims I can get them low on part of the neck, but not the other. Like, they might be higher on frets 12-24 vs 1-12.
Also, this sounds crazy, but I also find it can make the feel a little more slinky. They play less stiff than without a shim.
A lot of bolt on can benefit from a shim (when it comes to bold on Ibanez from the 90's and early 00' my experience is "all of them"). They are usually built that way, as it is easier to shim a neck than to correct the tilt the other way (sanding the neck heel, or use longer posts or screws for a bridge which often makes it really uncomfortable).
I'm trying out some shims right now, pretty hefty pieces of an old matchbox. It's an experiment as I've always lived with more buzz on the higher registers, while having comfortable low action playing power chords/rhythm. There are gaps between the neck and body, and my bolts seem unreasonably tight. Yet I would call it a success lol
I'm on lead mode lately just noodling mostly. One of the shimmed guitars is an rg7421xl tuned to A#D#G#A#D#G#A# with gauges I already had. The strings are about equal low tension. It's a lot of fun. Also changed the whole bridge to the 7621 non "jr." gotoh. I'd have to really want this guitar to play poorly for it to disappoint my cat and I. So that's my secret sauce, felt cute might delete later!!
I'm on lead mode lately just noodling mostly. One of the shimmed guitars is an rg7421xl tuned to A#D#G#A#D#G#A# with gauges I already had. The strings are about equal low tension. It's a lot of fun. Also changed the whole bridge to the 7621 non "jr." gotoh. I'd have to really want this guitar to play poorly for it to disappoint my cat and I. So that's my secret sauce, felt cute might delete later!!
devastone
Well-Known Member
I find that if my guitars have a decent setup, the tone problems are because I haven't been putting in the practice time.
TheWarAgainstTime
"TWAT" for short
They're expensive for what they are, but I put one of the StewMac angled neck shims in a parts Tele and it's been a lot easier to get an even, low action across the board. It also gave me more usable range of the bridge saddle and pickup heights since I had to have them all pretty close to the maximum depth originally.
Big_taco
Well-Known Member
Couple of dorks. Enjoy your "secret". Recently, I watched Wes Hauch have a mini-meltdown on his instragram story regarding setups that made me really buy the stories that have been shared here. Dude came off like an ass and someone I don't care to learn from.
cardinal
Buys guitars, sometimes plays them
I'm not sure why shimming matters if there's still range to adjust the bridge up or down. If you're having trouble getting the action right without the strings too low to the upper frets, I would think that means the nut is too high.
Northfall
Established Djentleman
- Joined
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G# Std?
I wish, haven't pushed the 7th string saddle back. Always intended to keep this is A standard cause of the piezo/double edge "limitations". I went with AEADEAD cause I had the gauges and wanted to try something new.
I really like G#C#G#C#F#G#C# / "open G#" and
G# standard. More than one guitar tuned to each of those already. Someone said their Rg2127x sounded "dead" I'm tryna know what they mean... TBH I love when my guitar (unplugged) sounds like it hasn't had its coffee, is hungover, and needs to take a shit.
Edit:Working on a long thread
Legion
Slightly cynical, mostly okay, completely drunk.
This is why you never meet your heroes.
Damn shame lol. He's an amazing once in a generation kinda player. Too bad he's a dick.
Side note: there's this interview of him floating around somewhere where he talks about how he's read a lot of Noam Chomsky and goes "duuuuuuude it's incredible Chomsky predicted EVERYTHING dude, like the shit state of the world and whatever"
Sounded like a baked college kid whose takeaway from reading Chomsky was that he's clairvoyant. Fucking funny lol.
wheresthefbomb
Well-Known Member
Jonathan20022
Engineer
In terms of a flat shim, sure but theres degrees to all things in a setup. Angled shims compensate for keeping your string straight from the nut to the bridge across the fretboard. If you are particular about setup on a bolt on guitar, shims are the key to honing in your setup and perfecting it once all other factors are taken care of.
IE: Bottoming out your saddles decreases the distance from the string to the 24th fret relative to the distance of the string to the 1st fret. A minor shim closer to the end of the neck pocket that gets thinner as it approaches the body evens this out.
