I took the neck off an Ibanez this weekend and found a little piece of sandpaper. I assume its a shim, but if it is, its not a very good one. I also saw this on a Squier I had a few years ago. I left it where it was. Its interesting that it was fine grit sandpaper in both cases. I guess if you're making guitars you have a bunch of scrap sandpaper? I did a cursory search and all I found was stuff about sandpapering the neck pocket. The picture invokes a bit of pareidolia, which is one of those words that looks like it ought to be illegal, but it isn't. {}
I just shimmed my Spector bass with some thick card paper. Works great. I've seen it on some new basses, if it makes for a better playing bass, I realize that sometimes they have to shim a little to make the action just right - I don't have too much of a problem with a minor shim as long as it isn't a thicker shim which means a bigger adjustment to fix a bigger error in the manufacturing process. That though, uh.....it's not even on straight, looks like it was shoved underneath quickly.
It's interesting the stuff you can find in these neck pockets - sometimes even right off the shelves of some reputable manufacturers. This one also seems slightly asymmetric. I wonder if this is intentional and they tried to right some sideways slant in the neck, or just sloppy installation. If it were mine, I'd try to re-install the neck without this if it looks like it would work, or replace with a more decent shim, but that's just my perfectionism - probably not strictly necessary.
A. Thanks for the expansion of my vocabulary! B. Sandpaper or other light abrasive would keep the wood and shim from moving in relationship to each other. Not uncommon to find it in Fenders with the poly "Thick Skin" finishes. C. The screw hole only goes through one side in the photo, so it may have been straight when installed (and possibly right up until the neck came off for the photo). Was it folded do the grit surfaces was in contact with both the neck pocket and the neck? Or was the grit only touching one piece of wood with the plain paper side touching the other?
Very common to find a sandpaper shim in the neck pocket of a Fender. It's nothing to be concerned about. If it bothers you, replace it with the material of your choice, but there will be no effective difference if you do.
Sandpaper shim prevents neck shifting. Shifting caused by factory inAsia to warehouse via forklift, to container to truck, to crane to ship, overseas journey, to ship to crane, to truck, to warehouse, to truck to fedex, to store to home. Cheap. Easy. Effective. Imagine that.
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