mistermikev Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 so, was thinking on my way home... what if you did a compound radius fretboard... but on the bass and the treble side you did different starting and ending radius? ie... for gbe - you go 7.25" - 20" and on ead you go 10" -16". at the center they would essentially be a line shooting to the last fret - where the two arcs would join together. bending over that line would actually get easier as you'd reach into a bigger radius so it might make for some unusual feel... but maybe not. as you played to the higher notes the low side - which doesn't get as much use... would get thinner potentially making the thumb wrap around easier. the bass side would end up being thicker. the treble side thinner -so I could see the argument that it might make for uneven pressure when you adjust the truss rod... but then again the strings are putting uneven pressure already... and if anything you'd be compensating a bit for this by strengthening the lower side. further, it couldn't possibly be worse than those 'twist' basses... i dunno how a truss rod even works there(pic below). It would offer a lot of the same benefits as the reach for the lower strings would be lessened. You'd get the extra help for chording lower... but even more help because the bass side would be higher. so benefits: interesting... might make chording/playing more ergonomic. downside: potential for uneven distribution of truss rod pressure, might make fretting and leveling complicated. maybe just a dream... but I'm thinking pretty hard about doing this for my 5 string bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted January 20, 2021 Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 That looks interesting and the ergonomics are a fact. FWIW on some Crimson video Ben answered a question about a warped neck, telling that if the twist is that way it would improve playability. His biggest concern seemed to be that if the twist was caused by instability in the wood there'd be no telling how it might behave in the future. Doesn't that mean that a stable neck should stay stable even if carved to a twist? Speaking about uneven pressure and the power of string pull etc. just think about wooden propellers in aeroplanes. I suppose the Merlin engine of 1300 hp would stress the wooden propeller of the early Hurricanes much more than bass strings! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted January 20, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2021 2 hours ago, Bizman62 said: That looks interesting and the ergonomics are a fact. FWIW on some Crimson video Ben answered a question about a warped neck, telling that if the twist is that way it would improve playability. His biggest concern seemed to be that if the twist was caused by instability in the wood there'd be no telling how it might behave in the future. Doesn't that mean that a stable neck should stay stable even if carved to a twist? Speaking about uneven pressure and the power of string pull etc. just think about wooden propellers in aeroplanes. I suppose the Merlin engine of 1300 hp would stress the wooden propeller of the early Hurricanes much more than bass strings! yes, maybe a hair more!! the twist thing - seems like a truss adjustment there would bring the low strings closer at a rate much dif than the high strings. on the bright side you don't really have to worry about your neck twisting!! the asym fretboard would offer much less ergonomics... but also wouldn't complicate things nearly as much... and would likely strengthen things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.