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Ah I'm seeing what you're getting at now. I think I might do that intuitively as I try and soften that 'upper' edge on the fret board and could see how having a 'V' that continued up to the top of the fret board could be uncomfortable. Thanks for taking the time to clarify.

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Thank You and Best To All

missed that part. I've been making mine straight with slightly rounded corner to soften the edge. I'll try the recurve on my next one.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Ken Jones wrote:
... there MUST be a recurve to the shoulder

With all due respect I'd like to see a drawing of this definition of the word "recurve".

It's not a recurve. It doesn't go back against itself like in a cutaway. You are simply breaking the lower edge of the fingerboard and fairing it along its length into the carve of the neck. Depending upon the neck shape it can be a small break, or fairly significant, but it doesn't go into the upper edge of the fingerboard. You can break the upper edge slightly and this is comfortable and in that instance you might want to widen the board but its probably not necessary unless the client really wants a neck exactly that width.

It's basically the difference between a "D" shape and a "C" shape ....no?
I like to arch the sides (thickness) of the fingerboard, with the crown on the arch being about the centerline of fingerboard thickness. (This is prior to sanding the fingerboard radius)

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Dave
Milton, ON

One thing you have to watch is if you have a bound fingerboard. You don't want to sand through the lower edge of the binding. Been there.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.