Lefty setup :: 2006 Gretsch Duo Jet G6128TLH [7.6 lbs]

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Here is a left handed Gretsch Duo Jet with a Bigsby.  The tailpiece was mounted slightly off so it pulled the strings towards the bass side of the fingerboard.  The floating bridge was double stick taped down, but had shifted over.  I ended up shimming the Bigsby tailpiece to better center the strings down the neck and the bridge was remounted as well.

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Full contact neck shim :: 2015 Squire Jaguar [8.6 lbs]

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The owner of this Jag was playing around with the setup and found the bridge height he liked that would allow enough down pressure to hold the strings on the saddle.  At this height, the action was sky high making it tough to play.  He brought it by the shop and I made a tapered full-contact shim to increase the neck angle over the body.  These shims are much more involved to fabricate when compared to the common simple shim in the back of the neck pocket.  Being a full contact shim, it eliminates any empty space in the neck joint and theoretically improves sustain.  A full shim also better supports the neck and helps prevent the common fingerboard rise over the body (aka "ski jump") that can be caused by smaller step shims.

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Also note that I had to add foam under the pickups in order to raise them up to the new neck set.

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Full assembly & setup :: Warmoth Stratocaster HH [7.1 lbs]

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The second of two Warmoth Strat's in for assembly.  This one also has a roasted maple neck (though with an ebony fingerboard) but was routed for no pickguard and humbuckers (Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II).  The guitar needed the electronics to be installed and wired up.  A request of the player was to thin down the bridge's plastic humbucker mounting ring to lower it's profile.  The Sperzel locking tuners required the blind pins to be drilled before installation.  Similar to the player's other Warmoth Strat, the saddle set screws were swapped out to account for a higher neck angle.

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Finish up assembly & setup :: Warmoth Stratocaster SSS [7.3 lbs]

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Here's one of two Warmoth Strats a customer brought in for assembly.  Check out the unfinished roasted maple neck!  This one was partially assembled with the pickguard (wired up with Bill Lawrence L280 / L290 pickups) and locking tuners pre-installed.  I mounted the output jack, double checked the wiring and set up the guitar with D'Addario XL 10s.  I also had to swap out the saddle set screws for longer ones to account for a high neck angle.  The original set screws were only a thread or two away from maxing out.  I could have adjusted the neck angle but the shim would have been on the visible end of the neckpocket.

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Hipshot to fix a 2 point leaner :: 1970s Gibson EB-3

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Ah, more on the heavily modified 1970s Gibson EB-3.  A combination of a low neck angle and poor design of the original 2 point bridge made it the ideal candidate for a modern upgrade.  As you can see from the photo above, the two maple wedges were an attempt to keep the bridge from leaning forward.  But leaning issues aside, the action could not be lowered any further.  In comes a Hipshot 2 point Supertone bridge to help out.  It has a lower profile and it's machined with far greater tolerances to maximize sustain and allow for proper action and intonation.  I agree that it does change the vintage vibe of the bass, but if you value playabilty over vintage-correctness, this is the way to go.