Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi All

What would you say is the most common neck radius is of a steel string acoustic?

J

Do you mean fingerboard radius?
Something around 16" seems common, but really...whatever you want!
Pick a guitar you like and copy the fingerboard...

I checked Cumpiano's book and there is no mention of a specific radius, just take a sharp plane to it and plane !

Seems odd having nothing to work to

John

Martins are 16" (maybe not all of them????, but most of them)
Taylors are 15"
Gibsons are 12" (maybe not all of them?????)
Larrivee's are a compound radius that's pretty flat 15" at the nut, 21" at the other end (????)

_________________
I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

You definitely should make a 'template' of some kind, or use a ''radius sanding block' to make sure you don't leave the middle flat and the edges rounded off too much.
That's a common (and easy) mistake and causes lots of grief when the fret ends won't seat properly.
Steve Senseney has posted some handy radius gauges in a .pdf file over at MIMF:
http://www.mimf.com/library/senseny_radiusgauges.pdf

Cheers
John