Making wooden neck shims?

[thisSNsucks]

probably a silly question but what tool do you use to make a neck shim out of wood? I'm thinking of just getting a block plane and shaving a thin veneer of alder to make the shim.

Right now I'm using a sliver of an old credit card but I was reading an article by Dan Erlewine ( I probably spelled that wrong) and he said something about having the shim angled slightly otherwise there is a gap between the neck and the neck pocket that negatively effects the tone. I figure angled wood of the same stuff the body is made out of would be the best. Thanks!

[Mon Rominee]

Yeah, I've posted this in a similar thread here. I take the neck off, trace the heel, retrace a border in a smidge, and then mark where the drill holes are and make oversize holes.

Take this template to a piece of good veneer (say .03"-.05 thick) And trace. Cut out with an exacto knife and break away piece from the scorelines, and then hand drill the holes marked.

When that is done, use some manner of sanding apparatus to stick the shim to (I used a block and a standing belt sander, carefully and slowly sanding and rechecking) to sand the shim at an angle, so the shim is same thickness as start on the body and, and to thin as possible on the end towards the headstock.

I've done it a couple times now, and it's better having a full contact piece.

[Pilgrim]

If you have a table-saw disc sander, you can sand down a shim pretty easily. Here's the disc sander of a Shopsmith like mine in use....although one has to be careful not to sacrifice fingerprints or entire fingers. Rubbing the wood across sandpaper glued to a marble slab or plate glass is safer, but takes much longer.



But - is wood really needed? Whatever material is in there will be under heavy compression. One friend of mine swears by masking tape. He can add layers of it, trimming each one to make a nicely angled shim...and he can fine-tune the depth down to a single layer of tape.