Anyone ever re-shaped a fingerboard to a different radius? I have a 12" radius board on a fretless, and I'd like to get it rounder, maybe 9.25" or even vintage Fender spec, which is what, 7.25"? I'm looking for a pretty round radius.
Anyone have experience with this? The only thing is worry about is if the board (it's rosewood on a mahogany set neck) is thick enough to accommodate the curve.
I did it on my L2K this week. It's always had a ski-jump in the fingerboard ever since I bought it new in 2000. I tried to correct it a long time ago with the old sanding block from Ace hardware thing, with predictable results
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I went the other direction, tho, taking the stock 7.5" radius (#6 neck) to 9.5" while doing the levelling at the same time.
I agree with the other guys, the considerations are how much wood you have to remove, the effects of that on the geometry of everything else, etc. And like they said, if it's a set neck, you can't adjust the height of the board later so you have to make sure you'll have enough travel at the bridge and the PU height adjustments when it's done.
With a shorter radius, the outside strings in particular will be lower, so those saddles will really drop. Another consideration is height above the pickup - a shorter radius will make the inside strings a little higher which may make the inner strings sound different and with lower volume.
On my L2K, if I had had enough wood on the fingerboard to do it, I'd have actually gone to 12" because of the string height over the PU issue, but there wasn't enough. Oh well.
Finally, the right tools are in my opinion absolutely mandatory for doing a job like this. A neck jig and long enough radius beams really increase the likelihood of a successful outcome. Unfortunately, all that stuff can cost as much as a good bass if not more by the time you hit the "checkout" button lol.
But it's doable...
LS
