Fretboard radius on fender guitars

[Lt. Bob]

No choking on very low action on a 9" board with step-and-a-half and two-step bends would be VERY surprising to me.

this ..... in fact I simply don't believe it.
I have a LOT of experience with guitar necks both from the viewpoint of playing them and as a builder ..... small radius fretboards fret out when you bend the strings very much unless you have the action quite high.

 

[jimistone]

this ..... in fact I simply don't believe it.
I have a LOT of experience with guitar necks both from the viewpoint of playing them and as a builder ..... small radius fretboards fret out when you bend the strings very much unless you have the action quite high.

Well, mine dosen't fret out and I don't consider my action to be "quite high". I have no reason to lie about it although thats what you're basically accusing me of.
Jimi hendrix did a lot of radical bends and his strat didn't fret out. From everything I've read he liked them brand spanking' new right off the music store shelf. So, I doubt very seriously that those strat would have the frets jerked off, be re-radiused, and re-fretted.
He died in 1970 which would have him playing on Strats that had a 7.25 radius.
Maybe action you consider to be quite high is considered to be low by others I dunno.
I wouldn't want action any lower than what I have on my strat now (aprox. The thickness of a nickle at the 12th fret)

 

[muttley600]

The only way that it will not choke is if you have a higher than normal action and a compound radius on the bridge. The latter is a standard tweak on tighter radius boards just for that reason.

 

[jimistone]

Well, I can't get my strat to fret out....and since I started this thread believe me I have tried. So, I guess what lt boob and mutt consider low action is WAY to low for my liking. I can't understand why anyone would want action lower than the action on my strat but its "different stroke for different folks" i guess.

So, I guess I'll just say that my action is "quite high" and be done with it.

 

[muttley600]

Well, I can't get my strat to fret out....and since I started this thread believe me I have tried. So, I guess what lt boob and mutt consider low action is WAY to low for my liking. I can't understand why anyone would want action lower than the action on my strat but its "different stroke for different folks" i guess.

So, I guess I'll just say that my action is "quite high" and be done with it.

Action isn't the whole story. The radius on the bridge set up makes as much of a difference.

 

[jimistone]

Action isn't the whole story. The radius on the bridge set up makes as much of a difference.

Well I have a set a radius on my bridge saddles but it is flatter than the neck radius. The bottom E has a tad more air under it than the G and D. This is more due to my playing style than it is for trying to prevent a note from choking. I am very heavy handed with my right "picking" hand. I smack the strings pretty hard with the pick sometimes when doing lead work. I also do a lot of percussive funky rythum guitar work that involves palm muting. Extremely low action makes is more difficult to comfortably execute that style. That being said, I have what I consider to be pretty low action. I wouldn't want it lower. I use the Ernie ball regular slinky strings (10 gauge bottom E) by the way. I used to use the set with the 11 gauge E because the tone was better IMO. But, I do a lot of huge Albert King style bends in my blues guitar work and after I quit gigging I got out of playing trim and my fingers aren't as tough as nails as they used to be.

Im working on the chicken pickin' Brent mason/Johnny hiland style of guitar now (old dawg...new tricks) and I'm doing a Tele for the country stuff. I have learned enough to see that these lightning fast 2 and 3 note hammer in's and hammer offs will best be executed with lighter strings (9 ga. E set) and extremely lower action. This is what prompted my discussion of flatter radiuses.

I know it needs to be flatter than 7.25 but I have played guitar that were too flat and IMO sucked in term of feel....just trying to nail down what would strike a happy medium.

 

[Greg_L]

This is a pretty interesting thread. It makes me glad I can't play worth a shit and don't have to worry about this stuff.

 

[jimistone]

This is a pretty interesting thread. It makes me glad I can't play worth a shit and don't have to worry about this stuff.

You're a great guitar player...so That means you need to start worrying about this stuff.
I on the other hand am to clueless to realize I don't need to be bending strings on a fretboard that ain't flat as a pancake

 

[Greg_L]

Lol. I don't know. I've never thought about it before. Not technically anyway. I have noticed that I typically don't like flat, super-skinny, jumbo-fretted necks that you can commonly find on "shred" machines. They're like playing a popsicle stick with giant frets. No thanks. I guess I do prefer a more "vintage" neck? Whatever they use on Les Pauls and SGs is fine with me.

 

[jimistone]

Lol. I don't know. I've never thought about it before. Not technically anyway. I have noticed that I typically don't like flat, super-skinny, jumbo-fretted necks that you can commonly find on "shred" machines. They're like playing a popsicle stick with giant frets. No thanks. I guess I do prefer a more "vintage" neck? Whatever they use on Les Pauls and SGs is fine with me.

Yeah, a more vintage neck (7.25 fretboard radius, small frets) is very comfortable for power chording...because the radius matches the natural curve of your index finger laying across the strings. Doing a lot of that rythum work on a real flat fret board is a chore and kills my hand after 10 minutes.

 

[Greg_L]

Yeah, a more vintage neck (7.25 fretboard radius, small frets) is very comfortable for power chording...because the radius matches the natural curve of your index finger laying across the strings. Doing a lot of that rythum work on a real flat fret board is a chore and kills my hand after 10 minutes.

I was playing with a Malmsteen Strat recently. It had a scalloped fretboard. It was pretty easy to play lead type stuff, but regular ol chords sucked on that thing. It was so weird.