Metropoulos Forum

What significance does radius have on a guitars fretboard. Liek Fender have more of a radius and gibsons are rather flat. Is it easier to play chords on one? or play faster on one? thanks

Smaller radius = more comfortable for chording, but the notes can "fret out" if you bend strings.

Larger radius = no fretting out, but you lose a bit of the comfort factor.

Compound radius = best of both worlds.

LArger radius feels better higher up the neck.

I like a 15" radius with a 1 11/16 nut, with a baseball bat back. To me that's way easier to play than a stock strat up and dowmn the neck

I also have a HM Strat with a 16 in/with flattened back

And A Regular 62 RI strat.

the 15 in is the easiest to play for me, for my size hands.

The back is just as important as the radius.

I agree that the back is as important as the radius. A origional Fender radius(7.25) is great for some things, from a "feel" point of view. It seems to add a certain amount of tension, which makes bends harder, but on the other hand that sorta tightness gives bent notes alot of volume and presence. Like Hendrix, to me is easier on a 7.25 origional Fender radius. I find that radius harder,though for e and b string legato licks though, and the higher you go up the neck,the harder it can become. My Warmoth neck is the compound radius, and I would highly recomend those necks.

miguel wrote:Smaller radius = more comfortable for chording, but the notes can "fret out" if you bend strings.

Larger radius = no fretting out, but you lose a bit of the comfort factor.

Compound radius = best of both worlds.

You don't have to fret out on a small radius. Personally, I LOVE a vintage Fender radius of 7 1/4. I never fret out. It all comes down to the setup. If you raise the action and put a slight bit of bow in the neck, you'll have all the clearance you need.

The vintage radius feels natural to me. The neck becomes an extension of my hand instead of something I play on. The 7 1/4 radius is my vote for most ergonomic.

The people who have problems with the vintage radius are the low action players. It's true that with low(er) action and a straight neck, a 7 1/4 radius will fret out on bends.

I went through years of believing what I read in guitar magazines about "fast" thin necks with a flat radius. This combined with light strings gave me little comfort and thin tone. Now, I've seen the light. For me, it's a thick neck (one inch), 7 1/4 radius, high(er) action, thick(er) strings, thick pick and TONE.

WabashCannonball wrote:I went through years of believing what I read in guitar magazines about "fast" thin necks with a flat radius. This combined with light strings gave me little comfort and thin tone. Now, I've seen the light. For me, it's a thick neck (one inch), 7 1/4 radius, high(er) action, thick(er) strings, thick pick and TONE.

Well, that depends of your touch and how you attack the guitar. We've all heard plenty of stories about famous guitarists using high action, heavy strings and all getting great tone. But there's a lot of great players using light strings and low action getting big tone too.

If you have a light touch, using heavy strings and/or high action can result in a dull, choked sound and you'll be probably fighting your instrument unnecessarily. I think it's a matter of matching string gauge, set up, radius, etc. with your touch.

mayrandp wrote:

WabashCannonball wrote:I went through years of believing what I read in guitar magazines about "fast" thin necks with a flat radius. This combined with light strings gave me little comfort and thin tone. Now, I've seen the light. For me, it's a thick neck (one inch), 7 1/4 radius, high(er) action, thick(er) strings, thick pick and TONE.

Well, that depends of your touch and how you attack the guitar. We've all heard plenty of stories about famous guitarists using high action, heavy strings and all getting great tone. But there's a lot of great players using light strings and low action getting big tone too.

If you have a light touch, using heavy strings and/or high action can result in a dull, choked sound and you'll be probably fighting your instrument unnecessarily. I think it's a matter of matching string gauge, set up, radius, etc. with your touch.

So true. And, to make things more complicated it depends on the guitar, too.

This is one of those things that you can't take anyone else's advice on, ya gotta go into a store and play with all of them and see what YOU like.

Even then it'll change over time.

I used to absolutely love flat thin necks with monster frets and thin strings. Now I can't stand them, unless my hands are really sore or I haven't played in a long time.

At this point in my playing, the best feel for me is a 9.5 radius maple neck with a fat round back and medium frets with 9 or 10 gauge strings depending on how my hands feel. The necks they put on the standard fender mim strats are damn near perfect actually, I'm a cheap date! I always loosen the necks on fenders and give 'em a pop to cross it in the pocket a little, so the high-e has more realestate and doesn't slide off the fingerboard.