i will take a shot.
by removing one shim, the spring strength of the shim stack will be lesser and as consequence the damping will be lesser.
depending on which shim is removed, this will either decrease low or high speed compression.
now, back to the 2 stage.
the first part of the stack bends (LSC), it then bends past the crossover and contacts the shims that control the HSC which then bend. this is the part i dont quite get, but here is my take. becuase the LSC shims are bent further to contact the second stage, they essentially have more preload on them and as consequense this makes the second stage of the stack stiffer, thus we will still expect plushness with the first stage and the second stage will deal the big hits/fast impacts, so this might be a good thing for a heavier rider that is not that fast, plushness when needed, but the big weight off a jump is taken care of also.
so imagine this basevalve stack, a bigger guy, not that fast, likes the feel/ride, but on a good day he is riding better and the suspension isnt dealing with the bigger/faster hits
24.1(5)
22.1
20.1
18.1
16.1
14.1
12.25(clamp)
my guess would be 12.1 inbetween the 22.1 and the 20.1
where would we put the crossover and what shim would we use? (i suppose that is the million dollar question, and if you told me then you would have to kill me right?)