New USA Fender Needs A Neck Shim?

The shim won't twist your neck, and the rest of it is not unheard of for Fender at any price.

 

There might already be a shim in there. Might need to go a bit thicker.

 

That seems very odd that a brand new bass would need a neck shim. With that many issues, I would take it back and have it replaced. But, if you like it and can live with the neck shim, and the other issues, than you can do your own shim job. There are a lot of videos tutorials.

But really, I would get that one replaced. If the bass has that many problems brand new, I wonder what else will come to light in the future. For a new $1500 I would expect it to be set up and ready to play.

 

Pics?

The nut slot spacing is hard to understand given the way they are cut. The jack plate is easy to understand given the plate is a standard part and fits different body curvatures differently often requiring a little bending.

 

Well if you got it for a good price, other than the neck issue everything should work out. Neck shim is a way to angle the neck back on the fulcrum which is your neck joint. Adding some height to the rear area between the neck and the body will solve the problem. How much to angle depends on how high you want your saddles. There are some tutorials on the YouTube to guide you. Here's one that's simple and to the point

It's a guitar, but the same concept crosses over to bass.

 

It's not at all uncommon for a bolt on to need a shim. It's not because a manufacturer failed and made a poor build. It is a personal setup preference. To fine tune the setup that instrument requires a shim. It's standard practice

 

make sure the neck relief is right before you take the neck off to shim it

by that I mean that getting the relief right might solve your problem & preclude needing a shim

 

It's those crap badass style bridges - poor ability to go low; have one on my Steve Harris p.

I am not buying a dimension until they ditch these bridges.

 

I have a shim on my 2011 am standard jazz v. It's a great playing bass, I just like the action a little closer that how it came stock. After putting the shim in, she plays like a dream. You shouldn't have any issues. I've shimmed quite a few necks before.

Stew Mac makes some wooden wedge plates that are a little pricey, but probably are the best for the job. I've always used wet/dry sandpaper in the past, but if I might picks up some of those someday just to mess with. I'm not sure if they are made for your bass though.

 

Buy a Squier LOL.

 

Yup. Search eBay, you can get vintage, factory original neck shims. Sometimes they got lazy and just used cardboard, sandpaper....Whatever they had around to get the neck angle right.

 

It depends on many different things - the bridge is one item that is not optimal.

I'd get rid of the dimension budge and do the same as per the pbasses.

 

Did you see/play this bass before you bought it?

 

I wonder if he means the nut slots are on center instead of equal distance between each string. That's normal for Fender.

 

This was exactly my experience with these basses. I tried a dozen different ones on my quest to acquire one; the common complaint was the saddles running out of travel- unacceptable at that price point. I gave up on them. Too bad because I loved the necks on the fivers

 

With the design of the American Standard Dimension Bass V neck attachment, rather than a normal shim in the front of the neck pocket to tilt the neck, I'd probably go with a full size shim to lift the neck. I too would be worried about issues in the future. It's not like it would simply be tilting the neck like with a rectangular neck pocket. I'm happy to be corrected by those with much more knowledge than me.