NGD - Fender Tele. Not too impressed so far....

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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71958
    Some do need a shim - it depends largely on the bridge. Anything with a Jaguar/Jazzmaster/Mustang-type bridge (including a Bigsby Tele) will, and some Strats do if you want the bridge floating. A standard Tele shouldn't though - or not unless something odd is going on like the body has been refinished too thickly and the bridge is then too high.

    I don't believe shims are bad or ruin the tone as so many people seem to think, either - and the material makes no difference either, card or fibreboard is fine - just that they usually aren't necessary.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • goatgoat Frets: 98
    Yikes. Hadn’t seen this thread and ordered a Tele from Hickies yesterday. Now consumed with , hopefully irrational, visions of a guitar that’s been knocking around the store room for 6 years and purchased and returned as a lemon several times.
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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26753
    I have a small shim in my Strat to get the saddle high enough that the grub screws don't shred my hand. And I have a big one in my JM to get the bridge nice and high. 

    It's not a big deal though, as said, not always necessary. 
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    I dunno what you're worried about re:shims. Back in the seventies Fender used to use a door stop to shim some of their necks...


    ;)
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  • Jack_Jack_ Frets: 3175
    I have a small shim in my Strat to get the saddle high enough that the grub screws don't shred my hand. And I have a big one in my JM to get the bridge nice and high. 

    It's not a big deal though, as said, not always necessary. 
    I do this too if required, I can't live with low saddles and sharp screws.
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  • ParkerParker Frets: 960
    I personally don't have an issue with a shim - It was just not needed and begs the question why / who thought it did need one and how did a bonafide Fender Tele (albeit a well priced one) get sent out with an action higher than a '90's Encore that made it unplayable! I haven't made a fuss with Hickies as I have properly set it up myself, and I recognise that I would struggle to match the guitar price-wise. Played it last night - all night. Sounds and plays like a beast now, so all's well...  
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  • goat said:
    Yikes. Hadn’t seen this thread and ordered a Tele from Hickies yesterday. Now consumed with , hopefully irrational, visions of a guitar that’s been knocking around the store room for 6 years and purchased and returned as a lemon several times.
    As someone who has visited their store several times; they always had plenty of guitars hanging up on a well-maintained display, but I can only imagine that since a huge Dawsons opened up just down the road (complete with private, free car park), most of the guitar browsers went to Dawsons and Hickies continued to trade mostly in orchestral instruments.
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  • SteveRobinsonSteveRobinson Frets: 6914
    edited January 2017 tFB Trader
    Jack_ said:
    I do this too if required, I can't live with low saddles and sharp screws.
    In that case, just fit shorter screws
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  • I have had a lot of experience with Tele's having owned 30plus, also having worked on countless others. Some have definitely needed shims, some have not. 
    Quite often the 3 long screws intonating saddles are so long they can stick up between strings, with shim removed the angle can be reduced but still keep same action. But it depends on saddle screws for height adjustment and the original angle of neck plus also whether body has been refinished, type of bridge. 
    Its rarer on new guitars but certainly not unheard of. 
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  • Strat54Strat54 Frets: 2331
    There were quite a few Custom Shop Fender's that left the factory with shims too....so fear not.
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  • ESBlondeESBlonde Frets: 3576
    My 76 strat is a hard tail and to get the neck angle flat I shimmed the neck with the back of a matchbox (the old wooden type). It's been solidly wedged in there now for over 35 years without a problem. Done more gigs than I care to remember and stable tuning, even in my yoof when I lept about like a demented new wave thing!

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  • goatgoat Frets: 98
    Mine arrived yesterday. It’s a 2014, possibly ex-display. The bridge saddles are pretty tarnished, few marks on the protective plastic on the pickguard. The packaging was not good, just the guitar in its flimsy gigback stuck in a tiny sigma guitars box with zero padding or other protection. Really lucky it made it to me in one piece. No “case candy” or even an invoice/receipt. The guitar seems to be fine though which is the main thing, I’ll give it a restring and proper setup tonight. Worth bearing all this in mind if anyone is considering picking something up from Hickies sale.
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