Double Bass fingerboard radius

[Daniel Martin]

I am setting up a older bass. The fingerboard has a flat area under the E string. Which seems to done right (11mm at the nut and 25mm at the end) and at about 60 degrees.

This will be used for bluegrass, not with gut strings.

There is plent of board left to plane it all.

Should I leave the flat area, or not, and put the fingerboard at a 95 redius even with no flat area?

 

[ctregan]

Leave the flat area. You may have to remove too much material from the fingerboard to round over the bevel. Keep the fingerboard thick.
The flat area can be better for playing the instrument, making it easier to clamp down on the e string.

 

[toman]

I think that while the beveled fingerboard is kind of old-school, it's pretty harmless and to remove all that wood just to get rid of it would be a waste and depending on how thick the board is, would likely leave it pretty thin. I say leave it.

 

[Jake deVilliers]

The only 'bad' thing about the bevel is that it dictates the string spacing at the nut to a certain extent.

That being said, I like to really round off the peak that defines the edge of the bevel, just to make it less sharp under the fingers.