shiming/neck pitch question

[pfschim]

I have a few weeks off from band rehearsals and gigs, so I thought I would address the pesky issue I'm having with the action on my Rick Turner Renaissance 4 string fretless.

The deal is that the action is low (good) from frets 1 thru about 8. 9 and 10 are ok, but after that 10 up to the end of the neck it gets quite high. Not unplayable, but not what I want either.

So... so far I dropped the bone bridge saddle a couple of mm by flat sanding it and that helped a bit. I contacted Turner's shop and they suggested further sanding of the bridge saddle. Someone here suggested I shim the neck a little (say a business cards thickness) to change the neck pitch.

Here is my question. Right now the action is quite low on the 1st fret ..on the A string in particular. So much so that I really have to watch my articulation of B flat there, or I can get unwanted FB buzz. So, if I shim the neck pocket just a tad, will I add to my low fret buzzing problem ??

If so, what else can be done ? Its a great instrument and really not in an unplayable condition, I'd just like to make it a bit better if possible.

Thanks for your thoughts

[pfschim]

Joshua - what do recommend shimming with ? .. I read that a plain business card is fine, also read something about shimming with coarse sandpaper (??). Also, this bass is a Turner and so the neck and neck pocket are not symmetrical .. kind of an oval radius. So I was just going to cut the shim to fit the curve. Does this sound right to you ?

Thanks

Paul

[pfschim]

Hey just thought I'd stop back in this old thread to say thanks for th advice on shimming the neck of my Turner Ren 4.

I finally got the time, and worked up the courage, to look into this repair. I am not a tech by any measure and am a bit reticent to take guitars apart. After a bit of trial and error with shimming material and thickness, I got the action just about where I want it.

Thanks again

Paul

[Scottgun]

Yep. A little goes a loooong way with a shim. When I did mine I said, "Business card?! No way will that be enough, I better double-business card it." Of course it was too much and I had to pull the neck off again and go back to one card.



Scott