What does guitar neck radius mean

Meaning that in the days of everything being done by hand, tolerances were exceptionally loose, especially compared to today's CNC Standards. The Blackguard Book the Bible for early Tele enthusiasts has also shown some early Tele's were closer to a 9.

When refretting guitars with our Plek Machine , we get multiple measurements of the fingerboard radius up and down the board and have seen the radius be off from spec by multiple inches sometimes, with Vintage Guitars being some of the worst offenders! With considerable arc on the fret with a 7. Check a look at the 7. Gibson has used 10" and 12" radius throughout the years, and some 16" on acoustics, giving them a flatter feel than most Fender Guitars.

The radius, teamed with the shorter In other words, bending on a Gibson can usually be done with a lighter touch and is met with less resistance on the way up the bend. While Gibson continues to use the 10"" on most electrics, Fender has long since acknowledged that modifying the fingerboard radius will change the left-hand experience.

We have been ordering Fender Custom Shop guitars with radius ranging from 7. An easy to understand drawing of a compound fingerboard radius A Compound Radius is the perfect choice for the player who explores the entire fingerboard with large bends, vibrato, open chords, bar chords, literally every position on every fret. Many brands like Charvel , Jackson , Ibanez , and other Super Strat Style manufacturers have been hip to the added playability a flatter-than-rounder-radius provides for decades.

Add some big frets, or a Compound Radius into the mix and large bends don't choke out, vibrato is achieved with a light touch, and the guitar just feels faster.

Even Vintage-Minded-Players are blown away with the Fender Ultra Series and how easy the necks plays thanks to the fret size and compound radius.

Some players still prefer a 7. This more curved fingerboard seems to be a natural fit for the more chordal player, however playing above the 5th to 7th frets on these guitars can prove tough, especially when it comes time to solo. Without a perfect setup and well-adjusted neck, bending on these guitars can be frustrating, with them choking out, getting buzzy, or not producing any pitch.

Fender's image for describing radius sure makes it easy to understand! Check out their article on Fretboard Radius for another perspective. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 9. Today, we don't just play in one position and need our guitars to perform equally well above and below the 12th fret.

And that's where a Compound Radius dominates the conversation. The compound radius allows for next-level performance and is something you'll experience on instruments made for more demanding players. I have found a compound radius to almost always, barring setup and personal preferences guarantee a better playing experience. In fact, if you hold your fretting hand in the playing position, the amount of curve is quite significant.

This is why during the manufacturing process much care is taken in order to sand a fretboard to a certain radius as well as press the frets in order to have them adhere to this radius. It is actually a pretty involved process when you think about it, but completely worthwhile when you consider the impact it has on how the guitar plays. Feel really is king when it comes to guitars. The Effect of Radius on Playability Each manufacturer has a different standard fretboard radius and some even differ by model.

Many vintage Fender guitars have a radius of 7. The reason for this is that there are advantages and disadvantages to each of the different types of fretboard radius, though to what extent is pretty subjective.

As a general rule, a more curved fretboard tends to be a bit more comfortable for barring or chording than a flatter one. The idea is that the curvature of the board adheres a bit closer to the curvature of the fingers in the playing position, though the effect is going to be pretty unique to each player.

One downside to a more curved board is it does make bending notes a bit more difficult. When a string is bent, it is drawn toward the center of the fret which is higher than the edges and can often buzz on a more curved board. This is what may make a flatter board a bit more appealing to the guitarist that tends to bend more in their playing. The flatter board does diminish this effect, allowing for lower action without fret buzz and a bit easier bending. Speaking in a very general sense, a more curved board is better for chording and a flatter board is better for single notes.

This is just a generalization, you really should try a variety of guitars to find the one that is most comfortable for you. It should also be noted that a good setup has a much more significant impact on playability than fretboard radius alone in our experience.

Please see our quick setup tip at the end of the article, as it relates to fretboard radius. Compound Radius One great way that some manufacturers have addressed the strengths and weaknesses of the different fretboard radiuses is by creating boards with compound radiuses. This is an idea that definitely seems to be gaining some popularity as more players experience the advantages.

It never really went away completely, but its prevalence was superseded in the modern era by the slightly more flattened 9. Diagram illustrating the concept of fingerboard radius. Other fingerboard radii are seen on current Fender electric instruments far less often.

About three dozen currently available Fender electric instruments feature a compound-radius fingerboard in which the degree of curvature gradually changes along the length of the neck, with the arc greatest near the headstock and gradually but not completely flattening toward the body end of the fingerboard. Such a fingerboard, for example, may have a 9. The advantage of a compound-radius fingerboard is that some guitarists find the more rounded radius near the headstock preferable for chording and the more flattened radius near the body preferable for soloing.

The height of the strings above the fingerboard or the action is typically set at the bridge to match the curvature of the fingerboard radius more or less exactly, although players can easily adjust individual string height to personal preference. On instruments with compound-radius fingerboards, string height is typically set to match the fingerboard radius basically in the middle of the scale length; i.

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