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G&L Club Part 7

If you're handy it's probably best to get the blank so you can custom shape and drill it. If not, you'll have to drill one or two holes depending on whether it's a 3 or 6 bolt neck.
I personally use business card stock and make my own shims for cheap.

I'm with bdgotoh, the simple and cheap business card shim works best for me. After many years of playing many basses, I have a pretty discriminating ear, and I absolutely positively never encountered any loss of tone or sustain using one. I bought a half dozen of the StewMac shims. For most Fenders you can buy pre-drilled and cut shims. For a G&L, you have to buy the blanks, then cut and drill them yourself. The wood is hard, brittle, and thin, so unless you have specific tools for working with that kind of material, it's a pain. I've done a lot of woodworking in my time, and I destroyed two of the shims before I got one cut and driilled correctly. If you're a modeler who carves ships in a bottle, then those StewMac shims are for you. If not, save yourself the headache. And the effect you're talking about is just as likely to happen with a shim as when using the neck tilt. The key with either one is just adjust it enough--don't overdo it--and don't overtighten the neck attachment screws afterwards. Like the Beatles said, "All you need is snug." Isn't that what they said?
 
Hmm, that hasn't been my experience at all. My shims support the wood around the attachment screws, the microtilt adjusting screw is a good distance away from the attachment screw which gives that bad leverage.

My apologies. Apparently I misspoke. I have never owned a G&L with microtilt and was only going on info I heard from others. Perhaps I misinterpreted it. I own four G&Ls currently and have owned two others in the past, all with 6-bolt necks. If my memory is right--and the last time that happened was during the Eisenhower administration--3 or 4 of my G&Ls actually benefited from a shim, and like bdgotoh, I found the business card shim worked the best, was the simplest, and the cheapest. That checks off three important boxes. Again, I apologize for inadvertently passing on bad information.
 
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My apologies. Apparently I misspoke. I have never owned a G&L with microtilt and was only going on info I heard from others. Perhaps I misinterpreted it. I own four G&Ls currently and have owned two others in the past, all with 6-bolt necks. If my memory is right--and the last time that happened was during the Eisenhower administration--3 or 4 of my G&Ls actually benefited from a shim, and like bdgotoh, I found the business card shim worked the best, was the simplest, and the cheapest. That checks off three important boxes. Again, I apologize for inadvertently passing on bad information.

You're quite right about lots of G&L basses benefiting from having the neck shimmed. I did that recently to my new JB-5 and found the proverbial business card already shimmed in there, presumably at G&L's factory. (Not the most professional approach me-thinks—no offence @jglunt.) I've now shimmed that neck with one of the lovely maple shims that you can get from StewMac, cut or blank at 0.25-1° angles. I recommend those highly to anyone seeking to do that fix, and haven't found them that difficult to shape and install. A bit of a fiddle, yes, but not too challenging. I like that the neck pocket is fully supported, so no local stress concentration that could damage the structure when those neck screws are tightened down. [EDIT: Oh, and when I put that maple shim in—replacing the business card—the difference in tone/sustain was immediately noticeable.]
 
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and, just to my amazement, another vintage L-1K was posted to the TB classifieds today (no affiliation with this one).
I'm very happy with what I bought, but that's one fine bass as well.
it's as if it was my density, I mean my destiny to buy a bass today

That bass you bought wasn't blue by chance, was it? LOL

GC had one listed from 1981 and i called them to get the serial number to verify if it was really an 81. By the time I called them back, it had sold so if you were the one that got it, I am glad :)

I already have this killer one seen here with my Matador. Both of these basses are just stellar!

IMG_3327.JPG
 
That bass you bought wasn't blue by chance, was it? LOL

GC had one listed from 1981 and i called them to get the serial number to verify if it was really an 81. By the time I called them back, it had sold so if you were the one that got it, I am glad :)

I already have this killer one seen here with my Matador. Both of these basses are just stellar!

View attachment 4333007



ok

what the heck are both of those?


especially the double p?

and how to get?
 
That bass you bought wasn't blue by chance, was it? LOL

GC had one listed from 1981 and i called them to get the serial number to verify if it was really an 81. By the time I called them back, it had sold so if you were the one that got it, I am glad :)

I already have this killer one seen here with my Matador. Both of these basses are just stellar!

View attachment 4333007
Nice! So the Matador is sporting MFDs? Curious what the controls do? Is it VVT with a pup selector?
 
ok

what the heck are both of those?


especially the double p?

and how to get?

The red double P is a Matador. Both of these were done through the Custom Shop which is why the L-1000 has a color you probably don't see as often. G&L calls it "Black Ice."

Nice! So the Matador is sporting MFDs? Curious what the controls do? Is it VVT with a pup selector?

Yes, the Matador has MFD's and the controls are VVT like you mentioned. I am not the original owner so the switch is normally a series/parallel switch but my buddy who originally bought this had it wired as a kill switch since series on these MFD's may have been a bit too much :-)
 
The red double P is a Matador. Both of these were done through the Custom Shop which is why the L-1000 has a color you probably don't see as often. G&L calls it "Black Ice."



Yes, the Matador has MFD's and the controls are VVT like you mentioned. I am not the original owner so the switch is normally a series/parallel switch but my buddy who originally bought this had it wired as a kill switch since series on these MFD's may have been a bit too much :)

Series on any pair of MFDs makes speakers melt. Nice bass though!