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Permalink Reply by Michael Fred Johnson on January 24, 2013 at 1:07am

This is the radius block I made

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Permalink Reply by Michael Fred Johnson on January 24, 2013 at 1:10am

and this is the fingerboard

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Permalink Reply by David McQueen on January 24, 2013 at 9:49am

I made two sanding blocks, a 12" and a 16" radius out of scrap pieces of 2"x3". Make a convex paper pattern of the radius you want and mark it on the end of both ends of a piece of wood. Then I used a belt sander to make myself a positive. Once I had that, I glued some sandpaper on it, clamped down another piece of wood and used the positive convex to sand out the concave, negative profile. Glue some heavy grade sandpaper on that and Bob's your uncle.

I have used them to do 12" and 16" radius, but I have also made combinations. Start with 12", then go 16" further up. I made some that went 12-16-flat.

Hey, they are not perfect, but the price was pretty good, and they work.

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Permalink Reply by RTZGUITARS on January 24, 2013 at 7:11pm

well we can do whatever we want, radius 4string might be cool. I been thinkin about a stand up bass and a fiddle I will need to make a radius neck for these.

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Permalink Reply by David McQueen on January 25, 2013 at 1:05am

The first cgb I built was a flat and fretted four string. It seemed a little harsh on the hand. That is why I went for the blocks. I am finding I like 16" at the nut going to flat above the octave.

I built a 12 string and used a commercial nut. The nut was radiused at about 12", so I used a 12" right to the top. That also worked well. It seems that the fewer strings, the less radius needed.

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Permalink Reply by Glaze on January 28, 2013 at 1:57am

50's Fender electric guitars had a 7.25" radius fingerboard which was comfortable to play chords on, but would fret out on big string bends with low action.  This is why most modern Fender electric guitars have the 9.5" radius which solves the problem of notes fretting out on big string bends and is still comfortable to play chords on.  Most Gibson guitars have a 12" radius.  Fingerboard radius is a personal preference.  Most of my guitars are between 9.5" to 12".  I am not a big fan of too flat on an electric guitar and something like 16" is getting to flat for me on a six string electric.  A 16" radius feels too flat and is not as comfortable to play chords on for me personally, but some players prefer flatter radius necks because bending notes is easier on flatter radius necks.  I have played guitars with the compound radius on them(Warmoth and a few other companies do this) and that is very nice.  

Does a CBG neck need to be have a radius?  No.  Should it have one?  That is up to you and really depends on what the player is going to do on the CBG.  A slide only CBG does not need a radius at all.  A 9.5" radius on a not as wide three string CBG neck will not be as noticeable as on a six string electric that you will fret complex chords on all night.  Some kind of a radius is going to be more comfortable to play chords on the neck and will feel better than flat.  I have a classical with the almost flat fingerboard and I can play on it just fine, but it just does not feel as good as a guitar with a radius on it.  The classical is uncomfortable to play chords on with the big wide neck and the almost flat fingerboard radius.           

   

 

   

 

 

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Permalink Reply by David McQueen on January 28, 2013 at 2:48am

On guitars a tighter radius is used for ones where a lot of bar chords are going to be used, a la Fender Telecaster. A rythm player can go all night without fatigue.As you get to more and more lead playing, the tendancy for most players is to get closer to a flat surface. Classical guitars mostly are flat. Some of the newer ones have a radius.

I am finding on my cgb's, I am not needing anything tighter than 12". I originally was also going to make a 9.5" block and just never saw the need. I am making predominantly four strings. The tighter the radius, the harder to set and dress the frets without prebending them.

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