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December 2003
Posts: 1071
Location: Carle Place, NY | For those in need of shims here's a suggestion. I was at a local hobby shop this past weekend and found that they had 1/4" X 12" stips of solid brass in thicknesses of .016", .025", .032" and .064". I bought all four for about $3.00. Although 1/4" is a little narrower than the stock plastic shims for the six element piezo saddle, once cut to the proper length they fit very nicely into the stock saddle slot. With the varying thicknesses, I was able to customize the action of my 1619CL to perfection. The thin ones are easy to cut, but I used a jeweler's saw to cut the thicker ones. I also put a very light coating of machine oil on them to make them stick together. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | another suggestion is to cut from a plastic milk bottle... |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15678
Location: SoCal | Or cut up your credit cards. Benefits you in more ways than one. |
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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 1071
Location: Carle Place, NY | I always thought that you would want a dense material for the shims so that all of the vibrations are transmitted efficiently to the top of th guitar. Brass is a whole lot denser than plastic. My guitar sounded fine with the factory shims and I haven't noticed a real sound difference with the brass. What I like is the ability to really customize the action with precision and you just can't achieve that with shims that are all the same thickness. |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1300
Location: Madison, Wisconsin | My 1769 had a strip of the "Ace of Clubs" under one of the stock phenolic shims. |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | IMHO, the best material is still at a hobby shop...Evergreen StripStyrene. The 0.188" width appears to be correct for the width of the shim I removed from my 2002 Collectors, and you can get it in .010", .015", .020" and .030" thicknesses. All you need to do is cut the strip to the proper length.
Roger |
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Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 1900
| roger, what material is StripStyrene made out of?..
steve |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | styrene.
(the plastic they make model cars out of) |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Yes, it is polystyrene....meant for scratchbuilding model parts.
Roger |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | . . . and giving pre-pubescent young lads their first healthy "buzz" . . . . |
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Joined:
May 2004
Posts: 2850
Location: Midland, MI | No, cliff, that was the glue, not the styrene. But, I thought they changed the formulation so you couldn't get buzzed anymore. Or maybe that's just urban legend.... |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | cruster, there are TWO formulations.....one smells like citrus and won't hold much of anything, and then there is the "nasty smelly" stuff that actually WORKS.
Roger |
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Joined:
May 2004
Posts: 2850
Location: Midland, MI | IIRC, the active ingredient was toluene, no? Or maybe it was one of the others. I think I burned those brain cells out putting together models. ;) I hated planes the most...the canopies always got stringy glue stuck on them. =( |
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Got Shims?