Baby Taylor Shim Source or Alternatives

[pukematrix]

Afternoon, gang,

I picked up an older El Cajon built Baby Taylor on CL about a year back. Action is a bit high on it, owing to the neck angle, and the neck rests with a slight tilt toward the bass side. Neck removal revealed that the original shim has a quarter size scoop that was sanded out of it on the bass side corner.

The nearest Taylor tech is almost two hours out and a call to Taylor to try and get a shim or two sent out was unsuccessful. I'd hate to go the old business card/credit card route to kick the angle back a touch and level things out.

Any suggestions on where to acquire a wooden shim (Taylor or reasonable substitute) that would meet the need?

Best,
Austin

[redir]

I just make the shims out of wood. The thing is if you have no experience with this then you will find that a little bit makes a HUGE difference. Credit cards are actually pretty thick in this consideration. Business cards might be better but then the paper fibers may crush over time.

But on a Baby T IMHO I'd just do what ever you can to make it work. If you double stick tape a credit card to a flat board then you can sand a wedge profile in it and install it in place, string up to pitch and test, repeat as often as necessary.

[B. Howard]

Sorry, Taylor only provides shims to authorized service persons. So it's either see one of us or go the paper shim route.

[fazool]

make your own shims accurately

[pukematrix]

Thanks, all, for your input and suggestions. I have been in contact with an authorized service tech, but he is almost two hours out. I will try to get a feel from him on the cost before committing to the time and effort for what has, thus far, been a relatively inexpensive guitar.

If that doesn't pan out, I may give Fazool's suggestion a shot.

Thanks again, folks!

[bnjp]

I have a few Baby Taylor shims. Do you know which one you need?

[pukematrix]

Originally Posted by bnjp

I have a few Baby Taylor shims. Do you know which one you need?

Bryan -

Thanks for the offer! Very kind of you. At the moment, I'm not sure what I'd need to kick the neck back enough to lower the action by a good 2/64". Right now, if I recall correctly, it has a poorly fitted 16 shim in it.

I'll do a little research to see if I can figure out what I need to make it work. If I can, and you've got something to work, I may take you up on that.

Gotta love the AGF - thanks again.

Austin

[John Arnold]

I just make my own shims. It is not that difficult.....it just requires some trial and error to get them right.

[bnjp]

Originally Posted by pukematrix

Bryan -

Thanks for the offer! Very kind of you. At the moment, I'm not sure what I'd need to kick the neck back enough to lower the action by a good 2/64". Right now, if I recall correctly, it has a poorly fitted 16 shim in it.

I'll do a little research to see if I can figure out what I need to make it work. If I can, and you've got something to work, I may take you up on that.

Gotta love the AGF - thanks again.

Austin

As I recall you need a higher number for a steeper neck angle. Been a long time since I've worked on one. If yours looks like the one in this photo, I might have something that will work. I've got several and the numbers range from 12 to 24 I think. Maybe 28.

[goog64]

Originally Posted by bnjp

As I recall you need a higher number for a steeper neck angle. Been a long time since I've worked on one. If yours looks like the one in this photo, I might have something that will work. I've got several and the numbers range from 12 to 24 I think. Maybe 28.

I know it's 6 years later, but do you still have any of these shims lying around please Bryan? I just bought a Baby Taylor and the action is very high.

[mirwa]

That baby taylor only uses one shim, so its pretty simple to do a neck reset even without access to shims.

First go the taylor route and ask for a shim, you would be surprised how good they are to deal with.

Alternatively, glue a piece of wood veneer to one side, razor blade it to shape when dry, flat sand one end as required to achieve desired neck set

Dont try and sand original shim only as the guitars have a small shelf in them that the shim sits in, sanding just the shim will take one edge below that shelf which makes the shim useless

[goog64]

Originally Posted by mirwa

That baby taylor only uses one shim, so its pretty simple to do a neck reset even without access to shims.

First go the taylor route and ask for a shim, you would be surprised how good they are to deal with.

Alternatively, glue a piece of wood veneer to one side, razor blade it to shape when dry, flat sand one end as required to achieve desired neck set

Dont try and sand original shim only as the guitars have a small shelf in them that the shim sits in, sanding just the shim will take one edge below that shelf which makes the shim useless

Thanks mirwa, that's very helpful information.