Jazzmaster - finally got round to reversing the screws on the tremolo plate (then changed my mind)

Philtre

stickyfiddle said:

Philtre said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

Raise the bridge a bit?

Not really, the whole point of this is to keep a relatively low action and clear the screws. But experiments are still ongoing.

Yes, but that's the point of the shim. The extra neck angle means you can have the bridge set higher for the same action (i.e string-to-fret distance).

Yes, it is set higher for the same action.

francer

Philtre said:

I put a shim in the Jazzmaster.

I used a business card cut to just fit the neck pocket and the two inner screw holes. At first I thought no way is this going to make much difference so I put two in to make it thicker. I was wrong. The strings were touching the neck, no action at all! So took one out and put it all back together, you don't need much thickness. Then I raised the bridge to compensate. The high E string now clears the screw, but the low E is just a smidge away from the top of the screw.

I'll see how it all beds in. At this stage not sure if this is an improvement or not.

One downside is that bending the high E string above the 12th fret frets out sooner than before I guess because of the increased neck angle.

I don't think the increased neck angle should make any difference here. You've tilted (shimmed) the neck very slightly and raised the bridge to compensate, on playing side of the bridge nothing should have changed geometrically, scale length action etc.  Is it possible you've not raised both sides evenly? I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't play exactly the same after shimming. If you like to keep the bridge exactly centered in the holes, then I guess you will need to re-intonate as your string length has increased a little bit and maybe the change in tension for the extra string length could cause it to fret out more easily but it must be a very small effect for such a subtle change.

Just some thoughts to consider from a fellow offsetter no idea if any of it is useful. If it's any consolation, the bridge on my AV65 Jag which has a very steep neck pocket angle is visibly higher on the bass side for some reason, just can't fathom out why or if it's important, action is fine across the neck, it plays great, the neck is definitely not twisted or on the wonk but bugs it me when I look at it.

Gotta love them offsets

ICBM

francer said:

I don't think the increased neck angle should make any difference here. You've tilted (shimmed) the neck very slightly and raised the bridge to compensate, on playing side of the bridge nothing should have changed geometrically, scale length action etc.

The break angle over the bridge has been increased which changes both the tone and the feel.

francer said:

If it's any consolation, the bridge on my AV65 Jag which has a very steep neck pocket angle is visibly higher on the bass side for some reason, just can't fathom out why or if it's important, action is fine across the neck, it plays great, the neck is definitely not twisted or on the wonk but bugs it me when I look at it.

That sounds like the shim is possibly not correctly fitted. It can sometimes fall out of place after you've put it in, when you turn the guitar over to tighten the screws.

francer

ICBM said:

That sounds like the shim is possibly not correctly fitted. It can sometimes fall out of place after you've put it in, when you turn the guitar over to tighten the screws.

It's not shimmed, I think Fender increased neck pocket angle sometime in the middle of the AV65 run, possibly for some of the FSRs (it's one of those Sonic Blue ones), my later model AV JM is the same. I really don't think it's an issue with the neck, I've had the calipers out and it's exactly centered and correctly seated in the pocket. 

I think it's more likely related to me preferring as low an action as I can get away without buzzing and that's not actually that low on the bass side (with 10s) so I've got the saddles lowish and raised the action via the bridge height.

Like I said, it only bothers me when I look at it closely, it plays absolutely fine, fully in tune, intonates well etc, but I guess it is a smell that something might be off. Be interesting to see what it's like with a Staytrem then I can eliminate saddle height adjustments from the equation.

Cheers for responding.

Philtre

@francer I bought 10 of these:

https://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/UNC-Bolts-Screws/Phillips-Truss-Head-Machine-Scr-UNC-8-32x1-4-inch-A2-Stainless.html

Turns out they are pretty much exactly like the ones already on the Jazzmaster. But that's OK because I took the originals out and put them to one side in case I ever sell the guitar and filed the tops of these ones flat. Lovely clearance now!

francer

Philtre said:

@francer I bought 10 of these:

https://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/UNC-Bolts-Screws/Phillips-Truss-Head-Machine-Scr-UNC-8-32x1-4-inch-A2-Stainless.html

Turns out they are pretty much exactly like the ones already on the Jazzmaster. But that's OK because I took the originals out and put them to one side in case I ever sell the guitar and filed the tops of these ones flat. Lovely clearance now!

Good news! They probably look a bit nicer than my half countersunk jobs, glad it's all worked out