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Flat vs Radius Finger Board
- Thread starter Gerard Rizzardo
- Start date
Heh. Well as long as this dead one is walking, I'll chime in: the argument that radius is just for bowing is wrong. Having at least a little bit of radius is more ergonomically comfortable for the fretting hand. Bryan R. Tyler's examples were best, particularly bar chords.
Classical guitars have flat fingerboards, but that's because the focus is on the plucking hand, for classical fingerpicking, rather than the fretting hand... as this guy explains:
Anyway... I prefer a radius of 12-16". I owned a Warwick SSI fiver with 20" radius, and realized my fretting hand prefers a little more curvature. (I sold that bass because it sounded too modern for me; playability was not an issue).
If you think of bass as a "bass guitar" and play it like one, then you conceivably might like a flat fingerboard -- though I hate flat fingerboards even on guitar. 
For bass, a flat fingerboard is the only thing I can think of that renders an otherwise functional bass completely unplayable.
For bass, a flat fingerboard is the only thing I can think of that renders an otherwise functional bass completely unplayable.
I don't give a # about fretboard radius or nuth width. Within 30 seconds I am used to another bass.
just 
I seem to prefer about a 9-10" radius. Always hated playing classical guitar. I may play chords more often than the average bassist, though.
Not sure what the radius on my Rickenbacker is, but I tend not to like classical guitars and their flat fretboards.
Gotta throw my vote in on the "radius" side. Maybe it's because I started learning on a curvier neck? (Fender Aerodyne: 7.25") Either way, after only a couple of years of noodling around, I've found I prefer necks with a little more curve to them. I tried a much flatter neck for a couple of months (12" radius Jazz neck), but it just doesn't feel as comfortable in my hands.
To each their own, I suppose.
To each their own, I suppose.
On a guitar I prefer totally flat fingerboards and if they aren't I have to make them so because I like to play with a slide.
But on a bass it's different. When I was putting fingerboards on a couple of my basses to convert them to fretless I had to decide what radius to order. And that made me dig out a bunch of my basses going from flat to about 9" (my Alembic) Well, the great majority were either 12" or 15". Now while I found the high curvature of my Alembic very comfy to play in the end I chose to go with 12" which is the curvature on the necks of my G&L L2500 basses which are my main axes. And that worked out very nicely. I'm sure 15" would have been fine too. But I sort of decided that flat or a high curvature might just have some drawback that I'd find out about later so I went with what I knew.
Seems just fine. Though clearly fingerboard radius wasn't any issue for me until I was forced to think about it. I play all my basses and can't say that none of the curvatures gives me any pause.
I started on cello before picking up a bass, so the radius of my Takamine B10 is quite comfortable. Occasionally I'll take my '67P to a gig with no FB issues. Just different.
I'd say the radius here is ~6"?
I'd say the radius here is ~6"?
My cello has about a 2.25" radius, just checked.
Anyway guitars have a radius for comfort when chording. Basses probable have it because guitars do. Personally I don't play high up on the fingerboard on my bigger string
so if the peak of the radius was between the A and D strings I would never notice the higher action 
that's how I make mine 'cause compound radius is hard to get right but when done correctly is superior to both IMO
Anyway guitars have a radius for comfort when chording. Basses probable have it because guitars do. Personally I don't play high up on the fingerboard on my bigger string
so if the peak of the radius was between the A and D strings I would never notice the higher action that's how I make mine 'cause compound radius is hard to get right but when done correctly is superior to both IMO
I really don't notice radius on electric basses. I don't even know what they are except my Fenders are 7.25". I think the Lakland 4-94s are 10" and the 55-01 is compound, but it's not worth it to go look it up.
I also play guitar and have 7.25" on my Strat and flatter boards on my acoustics and my Guild Starfire. I used to have an inexpensive classical too. Being able to switch to different radii, different scale lengths, etc. is all part of picking up a different instrument- it's no different in my mind switching from the Strat to the the Starfire than it is switching from the Strat to the 55-01. It's a different instrument, it feels different. Just play it.
And action is not dependent on radius unless you're bending strings a long way. Flatter boards facilitate big bends, but my Strat with it's 7.25" and the Starfire (around 10" I think) are just different voices, no need to expect them to feel the same.
I often believe that people way over-think some of these kinds of things.
John
I also play guitar and have 7.25" on my Strat and flatter boards on my acoustics and my Guild Starfire. I used to have an inexpensive classical too. Being able to switch to different radii, different scale lengths, etc. is all part of picking up a different instrument- it's no different in my mind switching from the Strat to the the Starfire than it is switching from the Strat to the 55-01. It's a different instrument, it feels different. Just play it.
And action is not dependent on radius unless you're bending strings a long way. Flatter boards facilitate big bends, but my Strat with it's 7.25" and the Starfire (around 10" I think) are just different voices, no need to expect them to feel the same.
I often believe that people way over-think some of these kinds of things.
John
Radius has a lot to do with fret buzz while bending, especially in the higher registers.
Think about it, the saddles are set to the same radius as the fingerboard. If you bend the G string (somewhere past the 12th fret especially) and you're bending it towards the center of the board, due to the radius the string is now sitting on a higher part of the fret, so it has the effect of the saddle being too low.
This is a well documented issue with setup. You can make kind of a compound set up by setting the radius at the bridge to be flatter than the fingerboard.
Think about it, the saddles are set to the same radius as the fingerboard. If you bend the G string (somewhere past the 12th fret especially) and you're bending it towards the center of the board, due to the radius the string is now sitting on a higher part of the fret, so it has the effect of the saddle being too low.
This is a well documented issue with setup. You can make kind of a compound set up by setting the radius at the bridge to be flatter than the fingerboard.
