fretboard radius

[Tim Mace]

Just curious as to what is the criteria for selecting a particular fretboard radius..advantages ?

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

Personal taste is the only input I would consider, trying not to get under 9.5" to avoid the 7.25" bend problems.

[Tim Mace]

Does a radiused setup affect/matter whether one plays fingerstyle &/or pick? 

[Grahame Myers]

I don't really know if it makes a big difference, apart from the good point that Pierre-Antoine made about the "vintage Fender" 7.25" radius, which causes problems when doing extreme bendings, and sometimes other problems when trying to get the action really low.  Most of the electrics I get to play or repair are 9.5" or 12", and the acoustics 16" or 20".  I'm supposing that 16" is a good compromise for acoustic instruments, and is the reason that Martin and Taylor (and many others) use it. Concert guitars usually have flat fingerboards and seem more uncomfortable to me to play, but that could be because of my skill level as a player :-)

If I was building a guitar from scratch, I'd use 9.5" for electrics, and 16" for acoustics, as these are the radii that most players I know prefer, and they can all play much better than me, so they must know :-)

 

Grahame

[Jeff Highland]

Tradition, Tradition, etc.

If you are building a fender style electric, things like polepiece staggering may tend to push you towards a tighter radius as well as the players expectations,

If using a gibson style post mounted bridge, you are generally stuck with 12" to match the available bridges unless you start notching the saddles..

I build my acoustics with 16" cause I have that radius block.

 

[Tim Mace]

Thanks for the replies and making radii a bit more understandable   I may do one on my next mandola.

[Grahame Myers]

Oh, how could I forget the 12" radius as used by Gibson, PRS etc? ..It was late, the red wine was good etc.

Another one of my senior moments :-)

 

grahame

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

Senior moments rules! Even when you're young!

[Tim Mace]

It's not alcohol abuse,it's fermented fruit love.

[Russell Vance]

A bottle of good red wine is much cheaper than any therapist I can name. R.

[Kerry Krishna]

Tim, my ex is now call all wine "tolerance juice"!

[Tim Mace]

Add yet another to the ExFiles.My wifey has a high tolerance for wine,low tolerance for me.Perhaps when the polar shift occurs things will turn in my favor.