Official Luthiers Forum!

hey, i just left a comment on comfyfoots thread,
took a shower, and started thinking about it.
the main reason i started building my own guitars is because i didn't like a narrow nut.
so, i always just made the fretboard wide at the nut,
and shaped the curve of the fretboard (radius?) that i liked and looked good to me.
never used a radius sanding block.
they all came out great. maybe six of them or so.
so why, do most builders put a fixed radius on them?
aren't classicals dead flat?
is it for customers?

I find flat boards uncomfortable to play on a steel string. Most steel strings acoustics will have a 16 inch radius.

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I agree with John. A radius makes fretting a bit easier (the radius certainly makes barring across strings more comfortable).

Now for bottleneck playing, my old Stella guitars have a pretty flat fingerboard and have the strings set-up so they are dead flat as well (so bottle slides across all 6 strings with no radius).

Glenn

I've been giving this a great deal of thought at them moment too, coincidence I guess. I decided to put a 20deg radius on my current classical build. This guitar is for me so if I don't like it then I can always make it flat. It's actually interesting that the classical board is flat to begin with when every other classical stringed instrument is in fact radiused. I suppose the radius on a violin for example helps keep the bow off the strings you don't intend to bow. But if you look at the hand when it's in the position to make a barr chord you see a natural tendency to curve. A flat board can cause dead spots for some people right in the center where as with a radius you would have some push back in the center.

I think it's also a matter of what you are used to. Most electric and steel string accoustic guitars have a radius so if you go from that to classical you may hate it, and vice versa.

thanks for clearing that up.
kind of what i thought. i always just eyed up what looked like a sight radius, and what felt good to me.
i've moved on to lap steel only builds now, because that's all i can play anymore.
no more fretting and fussing, ha!

Flat works pretty well if you're using good (classical) technique, but since I don't always, and don't intend to change my ways (I like fretting with my thumb, I tell ya!), a bit of radius it is! You don't really need a sanding block, but it can sure come in handy.