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PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:46 pm 
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Walnut
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Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 8:41 pm
Posts: 9
First name: Richard
Last Name: Gardner
City: Medford
State: OR
Zip/Postal Code: 97501
Country: United States
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Are radiused finger boards even used on classical guitars? Is there any avantage to playabilty? If I was going to radius a finger board what would be the optimum shape. I had heard of only one builder who offered radiused finger boards as a choice when ordering a classical guitar from him as an option. Also I want to take this chance to tell all who offered their knowledge and advice to me on this forum, I cannot find words to express my gratitude. bliss bliss bliss


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 4:36 pm 
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Contributing Member
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Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2010 11:42 pm
Posts: 1701
First name: John
Last Name: Parchem
City: Seattle
State: Wa
Zip/Postal Code: 98177
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Some Classical guitar builders radius the fret board. I have seen 16" to 32" radiuses called out. I beleive that Trevor Gore calls out a radius on his classical guitar designs, but I can not remember the radius he suggested.

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 6:46 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:43 am
Posts: 1326
Location: chicagoland, illinois
City: chicagoland
State: illinois
Country: usa
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
i have seen more than a few classical fretboards that i swore were actually dished/concave/negatively radiused, but i am sure it was just illusion. i have a cheap Suzuki and it appears to be flat. below is the best info my search found; in part, the guy says
Quote:
" there is no reason that a classical guitar should have a flat fingerboard. This is an unproductive hold-over from the 18th and 19th century when flat fingerboards were the only kind that luthiers made on plucked string instruments. The primary reason for remaining with the flat fingerboard design is one of ease of manufacture and low cost for the luthier. It does not benefit the player in any way.

Regardless of the width of the neck, some curvature in the fingerboard profile, or radius, is always helpful in making the guitar easier to play. I have read about classical guitars with a very slight curvature, 24-inch or 20-inch (610mm or 510mm). Mine has a 15-inch radius, like a Martin steel-string guitar. A greater curvature, say a 10-inch or 7.5-inch radius like on a Strat, would probably be more than a nylon-string player would want.

The late Thomas Humphrey, builder of the Millenium Guitar, championed a slightly radiused fretboard on his traditionally-proportioned instruments with full-width fingerboards. He mentioned that in addition to comfort and playability, it was helpful to increase the curvature under the bass strings to enable a slightly greater string height to correct problems with string buzzing"

http://wheatwilliams.com/wordpress/tag/fretboard/


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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 2:24 pm 
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Cocobolo
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Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:28 pm
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First name: Hugh
Last Name: Evans
Country: USA
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They almost always have at least a very slight radius and this reason for this has been pointed out in another post: Even if the board is made dead flat, it will often appear somewhat concave. With that said, I don't think I've personally seen or played one that was any smaller than 20" radius.


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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 5:00 pm 
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Koa
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Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:08 am
Posts: 534
First name: Pete
Last Name: Liccardello
City: Eden Prairie
State: Minnesota
Many classical builders do, in fact, offer a radiused fretboard. Brian Burns is one that I know for sure and his standard classical and flamencos have a compound radius fretboard; 18" at the nut and 28" at the 19th fret.

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