Flat Fretboard

[chunkielad]

I'm making a Tele next and thought about doing a flat fretboard. I enjoy playing on my classical which has a flatty and wondered if there were any pointers you guys could give regarding this. Are there any issues? What about the nut and bridge?

[verhoevenc]

Because of the individual saddle adjustment in a tele bridge you could get the bridge to go to ANY radius, so that's non-issue. Same with the nut if you make your own. Tighter radii are better for chording, flatter radii are going to feel faster and thus good for soloing... voila.

Chris

[mammoth guitars]

Check your classical, it may be between a 16-20 inch radius. If you use a bridge which has individual saddle height, then you can accomodate most any fretboard radius. File your own nut and go.

[chunkielad]

Thanks for the answers guys.

I think my biggest concerns aren't with the making of it more with the 'how will it play?'

I've never seen a totally flat board. As you say mammoth on the classical it's actually slightly curved but very close to flat.

I thought there might me a valid reason for me not coming across one but it seems not.

I've been trying to work out the geometry of it all in my head and I can't think if I'd be better to make the neck thinner (across the fretboard) to accomodate the change.

[Simo]

Have a search on Neal Moser's forum... http://mcs.acidpit.org I know he's a fan of flat fretboards and if my memory serves me correct there should be several topics on the subject

[Setch]

I strongly recommend you put at the very least a tiny, tiny radius on the board. This isn't for feel (you can put a radius so small it's undetectable to the touch) but for appearance - if you go totally flat, as your fretboard dries out over time, the fretboard can start to appear concave, and that looks really bad. You'll see it quite a lot on very old nylon or gut guitars. Sometimes the board actaully goes concave enough to lift the fret a haor in the middle of the fretboard.

[chunkielad]

I strongly recommend you put at the very least a tiny, tiny radius on the board. This isn't for feel (you can put a radius so small it's undetectable to the touch) but for appearance - if you go totally flat, as your fretboard dries out over time, the fretboard can start to appear concave, and that looks really bad. You'll see it quite a lot on very old nylon or gut guitars. Sometimes the board actaully goes concave enough to lift the fret a haor in the middle of the fretboard.

Now that's gold mate! Exactly the type of thing I was worried about.

I'd never have imagined that happening but now you suggest it, it makes sense.

Thanks for the link Simo - I'll pop over there now.

[Xanthus]

So I take it that nobody has ever purposely made a fretboard with a concave radius, then

Hey, if they make convex, flat, compound, and even ergonomical spiral fretboards....

-Xanthus

[Robert Irizarry]

Check out Anatomy of a TK. He makes his guitars with non-radiused fingerboards.

[chunkielad]

Another good link cheers Robert.

[n8rofwyo]

Check out Anatomy of a TK. He makes his guitars with non-radiused fingerboards

After reading all that I just get a gut feeling that most of his BS is marketing. He makes a point of saying that every piece of wood is different and then prescribes his perfect combination... Just a little over the top for me.

On topic, I think that its fair to say that flat radius' are easily played note to note while more extreme radius' are more comfortable for chords. I'm not even getting close to the, " would you prefer bend or slide " argument.

I think most people have developed a style that works for them and building to that style can be a strong point - at least for the amatuer builder ( God bless the pros for having to try to read other people's minds!)

At any rate, good luck with the build. I hope she turns out just as you haven't imagined yet.

Nate Robinson

[j. pierce]

So I take it that nobody has ever purposely made a fretboard with a concave radius, then

Hey, if they make convex, flat, compound, and even ergonomical spiral fretboards....

-Xanthus

Spiral fretboards? I am intrigued. Any info?

[Xanthus]

Yeah, I'll see if I can dig up the website. Really kinda bummed I didn't save the link, but I'm not a bookmark person in general.

In the event I can't find it... This guy built a neck that was actually twisted, from straight at the neck heel to, I dunno, some sort of angle at the headstock. His theory was that playing up on the first few frets twisted your wrist into something awful (a problem for my bassist, who likes to play with the bass around his knees... sigh). So what he did was twist the neck/fretboard away from the player, up at the headstock, and then leveled it out at the end, following the natural motion of a player's wrist. I assumed a special bridge followed.

If anyone else ran across this site, please post it here, but I'll do some searching and try to dig it up.

-Xanthus

::EDIT::

http://www.vintageguitar.com/gear/details.asp?ID=78

It's not the website I was looking for, but it's the same principal and construction. I believe the original website I found was a bass with the same construction.

Edited August 14, 2006 by Xanthus