Neck Radius

Jam10
Jam10 Posts: 654
edited May 2008 in Musicians and Gearheads
This is probably a stupid question but I am still learning here......my question is what does the radius mean. Some are 9.5" some are 10" and some are 12". Is that the overall thickness of the neck? If I want a really thin neck am I better off getting a 9.5" radius?
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • exhausted
    exhausted Posts: 6,638
    it's the curvature of the actual fretboard surface, not the profile of the back of the neck.
  • Anon
    Anon Posts: 11,175
    simple answer = the bigger the radius, the flatter the fretboard.

    here's a link with more detailed information from the fender site.

    http://www.fender.com/support/faqs.php#q13

    also this

    http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/necks.cfm?fuseaction=radius
  • lucylespian
    lucylespian Posts: 2,403
    Don't get hung up on this stuff to much. Feel a neck. If you like it, cool, if not, well, try the next one.

    All my guitars have dramatically differing neck profiles, and while I notice a big difference, I like em all. Some thing lend themselves more easily to certain tasks. Thick clubby neck tend to play a littel slower, but that only a concern when you are shredding at high speed. At normla playing speeds, it really makes no difference.
    Music is not a competetion.
  • exhausted
    exhausted Posts: 6,638
    lucylespian wrote:
    Are you sure ??

    My impression is that the radius of fretboard curvature would be in the range of several meters at least.
    The side-cut radius on a snow-ski for example, is 8-10 metres.

    http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/images/necks/radius_profile2.gif

    http://www.guitartechcraig.com/techneck/necks.htm
  • lucylespian
    lucylespian Posts: 2,403
    exhausted wrote:
    http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/images/necks/radius_profile2.gif

    http://www.guitartechcraig.com/techneck/necks.htm


    Yeah, I followed the link, and just edited my post. I'm surprised the fretboards have that much curvature.
    Music is not a competetion.
  • who's_pearljam?
    who's_pearljam? Posts: 2,104
    Yup, it's in inches.
    Actually, depending on your playing style and your hands, the radius makes a big difference, to me anyway.
    16 inch radius is fairly flat feeling. Martin uses this for most of its guitars.
    10 to 12 inch radius is pretty versatile to me. You can bend strings and play barre chords pretty comfortably on it.
    7 inch radius is pretty round feeling and really comfortable for barre chords and general chord playing but if you play lead and bend hard the strings tend to "note out" on higher frets. I bend pretty hard so I don't use the 7 inch radius much but if all I was doing was playing barre chords, that would be great for me. You see that mostly on older Strats or reissues.

    It really depends on your hand size and finger length and playing style. You can adapt to a lot of different necks, but for long term comfort and finger health, you want to consider the radius and thickness of the neck along with good form for hand positions for when you get older.



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  • Jam10
    Jam10 Posts: 654
    Thanks for your help guys.
  • All Those Yesterdays
    All Those Yesterdays Posts: 2,723
    lucylespian wrote:
    Don't get hung up on this stuff to much. Feel a neck. If you like it, cool, if not, well, try the next one.quote]

    Exactly!
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