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Let's talk radius

#25
Autobody guys like a sheet of glass. It doesn't flex much and you can be fairly certian that it doesn't have many bumps on the surface.

Personally I use a piece of 1/4" plate steel with sandpaper stuck to one side (using two sided tape). It works like a charm, and because of the weight you don't really have to push down at all, just drag it along the grain and let gravity do the work.

A block of wood will work, too. Just check it with a square or level to make sure it's nice and flat.

-Nate
 
#27
A flatter fingerboard (or larger radius, whichever way you want to approach it... is better for bending notes, as the notes won't "fret out" as quickly when bending.

Other than that, what radius fingerboard you like, even flat, is a matter of personal preference, and not much else. It will not affect the tone of the bass, just the feel in your hands.
 
#28
bassteban, you haven't been ignored. Just other stuff comes up. The only small-radius (7.25-9.5") fretboards I like are 4-string, short-scale fretless. The 7.25 reminds me of my cello and the 9" feels like the old Ampeg I sold, like an IDIOT, 30 years ago. With a lot of depth to the center of the neck, your fingers fall to the exact spot every time. You end up playing with the full pad of your finger with a small radius, so it whould get in the way of bending, but I don't bend on a fretless or a fretted. Just never did. 5 or more strings, I am much more comfy with 12"' or greater radius and a thinner neck.
 
#29
Are stock pickups manufactured is such a way that they have the best string to string balance when used with a radiused board? Have makers of basses with flat boards had any issues with this? Also, I would think that a flat board would make it easier to achieve very level frets -- is this true?
 
#31
Marsk, the bridge has a larger effect on the pole-to-string spacing on fretted bass pickups unless, as you ask, consideration has been made for the fretboard radius. You got some pickups with adjustable poles but the rest of them just make you tilt to the average. Some, even Carvin, I believe, compensate by giving you trimmer pots for each string but only on their active systems. And, that is not the perfect solution. I guess that most people making soapbars, for example, just assume you are above a 10" radius and don't worry about it. There really aren't enough small-radius axes out there for them to concern themselves, although they probly should. Food for thought, I guess.
 
#32
nateo said:
Autobody guys like a sheet of glass. It doesn't flex much and you can be fairly certian that it doesn't have many bumps on the surface.

Personally I use a piece of 1/4" plate steel with sandpaper stuck to one side (using two sided tape). It works like a charm, and because of the weight you don't really have to push down at all, just drag it along the grain and let gravity do the work.

A block of wood will work, too. Just check it with a square or level to make sure it's nice and flat.

-Nate
Click to expand...
Thanks man! I think I'm going to go the steel plate route myself, that way I don't have to worry about dropping it.
 

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