Does 'Shimming' The Neck Ruin A Guitar...? (Cardboard & @stewmac)

This is about as nerdy as things get around here....so even by my standards, this is a geeky one :P My Fender Telecaster has long had a problem with notes choking out higher up the neck, which - for full disclosure - I solved using a cardboard shim many years ago, as the only other option was to have the action jacked up unplayably high. But I've read a lot of things on forums over the years about the dangers of using shims...and, most importantly, people repeatedly say that shimming a neck destroys the fundamental tone of the instrument. But......does it? Today we'll be finding out - by comparing the un-shimmed guitar sound to both a cardboard shim and a professional wooden shim from StewMac. Is the proper one worth the extra money, or can you get away with a bit of chopped up Cornflake packet? What do you think? Aside from solving my note-choke problem, did the shims make a tonal difference? Which did you prefer? Comment below! Guitar recorded through a Dr Z Z-Wreck (Celestion AlNiCo Gold; Aston Spirit Condenser, '70s Sennheiser MD441 and sE RNR1 ribbon) with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic. 0:00 Intro 4:56 The StewMac Shim 6:26 Playing Comparison 8:46 Outro [email protected] Vector images by freepik.com