He gave me the old transducer back, it's not in there.I don't suppose that "shim" is the original piezo transducer that wasn't removed, for whatever reason ... maybe it's glued in too heavily to get out without risking damage?
... just a thought ...
I think this is one of the first threads with pics that shoe a MiSi being replaced with a non-UST pickup.
If I were to guess, either the saddle was fit with the UST in place initially, then when the UST was removed, it needed a shim; or, the saddle was too short to begin with, and needed a shim. Either way, the correct fix would've been a new saddle.
At this point, I think you have the answer to your question, and you already know what to do.
It looks like bad work to me. I wouldn't accept it. In fact, I've brought much better work than that back to a luthier in the past.
If you have a 20 year history with this fellow I would hope that you could show him what you are not happy with and he will do it over again and do it to your satisfaction. Seems kind of cowardly to just walk away after that long without giving him a chance, unless there is something else going on here.I agree, I didn't notice the work until later. At this point it's not worth my time to take it back, I just won't use him anymore. It's a shame, I been using him for 20 years. On an Ovation Mando he did a nice job on a cracked bridge, he re-fretted my 12 string acoustic nicely, done all kinds of work on my "Lucy" Airline Mandola turned 8-string uke. He IS getting older, maybe he's loosing his touch or eyesight like me.
Anyway I do have a fall back, Grumpy's that sells Ukes. I know that's no guarantee but I'll at least go talk to him.
If you have a 20 year history with this fellow I would hope that you could show him what you are not happy with and he will do it over again and do it to your satisfaction. Seems kind of cowardly to just walk away after that long without giving him a chance, unless there is something else going on here.