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Post subject: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 8:45 am
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I've been playing for almost two years now. I have put an Ash-body Strat on my "someday" list, researching options. Seems that there are necks available with 7.25", 9.5" and 12" fretboard radii-What are the relative merits of each?


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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:15 am
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Really a matter of preference and what feels good for you. You get used to a radius and you stick with it, I'm rather partial to 7.25 myself cause I'm old.


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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:46 am
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9.25 is my favorite .Fender the modern one .

7.25 vintage , not easy to bend

12, I don't like

Try them few hours before . You won't loose if you choose 9.25


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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 1:13 am
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To sum up (generally speaking); the smaller radius (7.25) is typically more comfortable for chording, not as good as a larger radius for string bending, and typically needs the action a bit higher for bending. The larger radius (12, 14) is typically more conducive to string bending with lower action, but not as comfortable for chording. A good compromise is the in-between radius of 9.5, or the compound radius that starts at 9.5 at the headstock and tapers to a 12 or 14 at the body.

Individual preference is of course the main factor for choosing, to each his own.

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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 3:25 am
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I prefer 9.5 with 6105 frets and low (3-4/64ths ) action on my guitars. I can make do with the others ,but the 9.5 with the 6105s are easy to bend on . My least favorite is the 7.25 with vintage frets, but for those who cut their teeth on them it is everything a strat should be.


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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 6:30 am
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Thanks Guys, good answers-all. I have a MIM Tele with 9.5 fretboard and that seems to work for me. I was just curious about the pros/cons of the others.


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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 1:21 pm
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Personally I find the neck shape to be more influential to me than neck radius. On saying that though, I find both 7.25 an 9.5 to be the best to play on. No matter how many times I try it, 12 just feels off to me.


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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 1:57 pm
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martynrss2 wrote:
Personally I find the neck shape to be more influential to me than neck radius. On saying that though, I find both 7.25 an 9.5 to be the best to play on. No matter how many times I try it, 12 just feels off to me.
I can play on a 9.5 a 12 or a 16 thats on my Martin acoustic with no problem , but I dont really care for the 7.25 . I had a SRV that had a 12 that I really liked .


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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 4:16 pm
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I prefer flat, I have several guitars with 12" - 14" radius. But, if given the option, I'd choose a compound radius of 9.5" to 14".

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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 6:11 pm
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Don't really have a preference - only takes a few seconds to adjust when switching guitars. Have MIA, MIM, some Squiers, some acoustics, so seems like within a few hours might play quite a few different necks. The only one that I don't really like is the Les Paul. Maybe if I played it more I would get more used to it but it spends most of its time in the case.


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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 8:02 am
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atolleter wrote:
Really a matter of preference and what feels good for you.



I think that just about says it all. There's not a real right or wrong here as much as what simply feels best to the individual.

Unlike others here, I can't really say that one radius works better under a given situation....there's just waaaaaaaaaaay to many people who play "whatever" to suggest this really has any merit at all. Take the comment about bending strings for example...plenty of folks out there who do this on Strats and Teles and plenty who do it on Les Pauls, SG's, ES-335's and other instruments. Does a more curved radius make this easier? For some it does, for some it doesn't....personal preference.

I will say that as a lot of us get older, yea...sometimes we do get rather set in our ways. Of the 30 years I've been playing, the last 20 have been on Strats almost exclusively (with electrics at least...I also do a lot of acoustic work). As such, yes, I do tend to favor my mid-90's Latina Strat necks (MIM). That said however, I recently picked up an Ibanez Artcore that I'm really have a ball with. After having played her for a couple of weeks now, I'm -still- not really used to her...still feels really odd playing a semi-hollow, but sometimes it's good to shake things up a bit and get outside of your "comfort zone".

So with that, my suggestion...as always...is to play AS MANY as you can get your hands on and simply go with what feels best to YOUR hands. As atolleter there said, it's really just a matter of what feels good to you...and only YOU can decide that.


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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 9:01 am
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Having tried 7.25, 9.5 and 12 in the past, I found that I couldn't handle a 12" at all, but 7.25 and 9.5 (both with C necks) were very comfortable for me. Unfortunately I couldn't decide on which to buy so I ended up with both!!

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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 9:51 am
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While I personally think that anything higher than a 9.5 radius just seems too flat at first feel, I've found that with time I can get used to almost any fretboard radius, other factors being equal. More important to me are fret size, and neck feel and shape.
I just can't get used to the jumbo and super jumbo fret sizes that have become so popular, maybe because I started playing before they were a widely available option. I find they slow me down, make sliding up and down the board more difficult, and chording a chore. Give me the vintage thin, or medium frets, certainly nothing larger than the "medium jumbo" on modern AmStd Strats, tops!
I personally like slightly wider necks-I have thick fingers-that are not too thick, not too flat, nor too sharp. I find the V-shape tires my fingers and makes it difficult for me to chord easily (same reason I have a problem with many Martin acoustics), and the U-shape ballbats are just too deep to get my hands around. Give me something between a D and a deep C-shape, and that's perfect.


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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 3:11 am
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shimmilou wrote:
To sum up (generally speaking); the smaller radius (7.25) is typically more comfortable for chording, not as good as a larger radius for string bending, and typically needs the action a bit higher for bending. The larger radius (12, 14) is typically more conducive to string bending with lower action, but not as comfortable for chording. A good compromise is the in-between radius of 9.5, or the compound radius that starts at 9.5 at the headstock and tapers to a 12 or 14 at the body.

Individual preference is of course the main factor for choosing, to each his own.


^^^^^
^That.^
The flatter the radius, the lower that you're able to set the action without buzz or rattle. you'll find most metal players are using a flatter radius neck, pretty much for the reasons Shimmilou is giving.

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Post subject: Re: Fingerboard radius: Pros/Cons
Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 11:05 pm
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12 is very flat and I don't like it. 7.25 is very round ... I have a Thinline Tele with a 7.25 and is good for blues. 9.5 is the perfect medium to me.

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