Fixing Taylor Big Baby guitar action with clarinet reed shims
Channel: LuckyJ
Date: 17/05/2020

I am not a professional guitar repair tech, but I decided to try my hand at resetting the neck of a 2016 Taylor Big Baby guitar. It had an upward angled neck (which lead to some up-bowing also) I used 1.5 cm from the thin tips of clarinet reeds. A sliver of credit card would work too as is discussed on various guitar forums.


I was most inspired by this video from a pro:
https://youtu.be/dsY53UMkTsk


He had more tools and experience than myself so he didn't mind planing down the neck ~1+ mm to get a taper that would compensate the neck mounting angle. Adding a shim is easy enough for an amateur like me and also works great! I decided to upload my experience as it might help others.


Corrections: I mentioned spruce as a "hardwood", and I just googled it and it is not. Also the bridge is probably made of ebony or something other than rosewood as I mentioned. I don't really know my woods. I also refer to the white piece in the bridge (the saddle) as the "bridge" a few times, but I know it's called a saddle. Sorry.


Hope this helps a person or two. God bless everybody. And stay home if you can (in 2020). Play your self-fixed guitar!


P.S. Please, don't break your guitar and sue me. You do have to have a slight bit of guitar neck adjusting experience (and luck) to pull this off on the first try as I did. Only try it if you feel comfortable, and are willing to alter your shim a few times to get it right. Do NOT over-tighten your wood screws.

EDIT: Months later I reattached the neck once more not shown in the video. Clarinet reed material was ultimately only used in the gully behind the factory shim to bring it up to the height of that factory shim. It plays even better ever since. I am seeimg 400+ views (wow, never expected) so I felt obligated to add this edit. If I were to advise on anyone's particular guitar I'd have to look at it but would probably lean toward just filling that gully behind the factory shim and not add above the factory shim itself resulting in a slightly Les Paulian angled neck.