what difference does a radiused fretboard do-compared to flat

[darylcrisp]

and how much of the mandolin population heads towards which design?

thanks
daryl

[mandroid]

Data point , 1) I have found either OK, I take them as they come ..
1920's A Gibsons are flat,
Peter Mix A5 is radiused,
like them both.

[Mike Bunting]

Of my two modern mandos, one has a radiussed board and the other is flat. Don't make no nevermind to me.

[Mandobart]

I have a radiused fretboard on my Morris. My Jessen OM is flat. My Eastmans 'cello is radiused. Really not that noticable a difference, to me. I notice the neck profile a lot more. I pretty much adapt to whatever I play, don't have enough experience with different mandolins to prefer one over another.

[David Rambo]

My Eastman 805D has a radiused fretboard while my Jessen A, oval, and my Jessen OM are flat. I notice the width of the fretboard much more than anything else. Like Mandobart says, one adapts to what's in your hands. In another thread on radiused fretboards, it was suggested that they could be easier on your hands if you suffered from tendonitis or other repatitive motion types of injuries. I don't know if this is true or not. Perhaps others can comment on that aspect of the fretboard issue.

[Ed Goist]

If I play on a flat board (regardless of the nut width, neck profile, etc) I will develop hand fatigue and tendinitis issues in my fretting index finger very quickly.

On the other hand, I can play on a radiused board mandolin for hours with no problems. I also find barre chords and even melody lines much easier to play on a well radiused boards.

Only radiused boards are welcome here...

YMMV

[Big Joe]

I have just the opposite problem from Ed. I get tendinitis issues from a radius board. I also find the chop a bit weaker on a radiused board than a flat. The pick does not attack the strings equally due to the arch. The D and A strings get hit a bit harder. Not a real problem, but can be noticeable on many mandolins. I have played a number when radiused and then after radius removed and then some that were flat and then radiused. The effect was noticeable in all cases to me. Enough difference to change what you like? Probably not. Radius is just not for me!

[Rick Cadger]

I have a lazy so-and-so's preference for working on flat, unbound boards where maintenance is concerned, but for playing it is no big deal for me. I have mandos with flat and radius boards and like them all just fine.

[300win]

I own both a F-5 radius and an A-9 flat. The F-5 I play 95% of the time but when I first got it it felt strange for a few days. Now the A does but I can still play both without any trouble. The radius does seem to give me less fatigue when played for long periods, but it also has a tad wider nut so that might be some of it. Both have strong chops, the F stronger but it gets played more. I'm sure if I played the A as much as the F the chop would get stronger on it also. They are both really great mandolins.

[mandorando]

I have a pretty strong preferrence for flat boards, my hands feel more comfortable and I can play a little more smoothly. My Lebeda has an extra wide and flat board, and it feels custom made for my long, bass-player fingers.

[Pete Martin]

Flat fingerboards cause me to push slightly harder, which can aggrivate tendonitis. I find larger frets are easier as well. YMMV

[mandobassman]

I also find the chop a bit weaker on a radiused board than a flat. The pick does not attack the strings equally due to the arch. The D and A strings get hit a bit harder

Big Joe, You are the first I have encountered that shares my opinion on this. While my main mandolin has a radiused board I have never understood why people think it is an advantage. Not only do I agree with your view on chopping chords but the arch also makes the distance from the outermost E and G strings even farther because they are not in a straight line. That would make the distance your fingers would have to stretch to form a full G chord even greater. Certainly not a very noticable distance, but a difference none the less. I have a Breedlove Quartz OF and it is VERY easy to play. However, I believe it is because of great build quality and it would be just as easy to play even if it had a flat board. I haven't found it to be a dis-advantage but if this mandolin was available without the radius I probably would have preferred that.

[mandobassman]

One other thing I commonly hear is that the radius is compared to the fiddle and how it parallels the fingering on the fiddle fingerboard. But the fiddle does this not because of the left hand but because the bow needs to be able to hit single strings, which it could not do on a flat board.

[Gary Hedrick]

I have both in my Kimbles. I really have no great feeling about one over the other. I do think that one has to take into account the amount of curve in the board. I've seem some that are quite curved and those really do make a difference to me.

Cross picking on those highly curved boards seems to be easier.

[Steve Ostrander]

I thought I preferred radiused. Then I got my km900. It plays great with a flat FB.

[Salty Dog]

I think this discussion is a simplification of a much broader subject. First, just on the topic of radius, there are different amounts of radius. While I think 9" and 12" are most common there may be other amounts. Secondly, many newer mandolins with radiused fingerboards come with large (banjo) frets and this makes a difference. Then there is the shape of the neck, typically "U" or "V". There is width of the neck at the nut, from a tiny bit more than inch to "Sam Bush" size. Also, I think there are different ways of doing the radius - all the way down the fingerboard which whould be noticed at both the nut and the bridge, and tapered (more pronounced) at the nut and allowed to lessen toward the bridge. Unless you are comparing two mandolins where everything else is exactly the same except for the radius, or (like Big Joe) have played a significant number of the quality mandolins ever produced, I find it difficult to understand how much can be attributed to radius. My two BRWs are both radiused and built to the same specification, but they have a different feel and fatigue factor. The Kentucky is flat and is much different because the neck is "U" compared to "V" on the BRWs. How much difference is due to flat??? I don't know. Is one better or worse than the other - again, I don't know because I feel that my body adapts to what I am playing to get the sound I want to hear. I do prefer the radius and large frets but that may be because they were on the BRWs which I have played loudest and longest.

[DerTiefster]

I've made this opinion publicly before, but it seems to this beginner that I'm less likely to strike unintended strings when picking on a radiused board. My experience on this issue leads me to agree with Joe above about the D/A strings likely getting struck harder than the G/E strings -if- you have a straight pick stroke across the strings. However, there's nothing in my experience that makes my hand follow a dead straight line in space vs. a wavy or curved line. I can't even make a pencil or paintbrush follow a straight line without a guide ruler, so I'd think it shouldn't be -that- much of a problem unless you're trying for maximum volume. But picking the D strings w/o hitting the G or A is -just- a bit easier for me on a radiused board, or is when I'm comparing the Breedlove KO and Epiphone BG-440 mandolins I mostly have been playing.

[Jesse Harmon]

I am a beginner at mandolin, but a long time guitar player. I don't know yet how it's going to work out but I found it was instantly more comfortable when I picked up a radius with the wider neck. I play both but it just seems to feel right with the radius.

[Steevarino]

As a guy who knocks out quite a few mandolin bridges every year, I am always surprised at how many of them are ordered with radiused saddles (to accommodate a radiused fretboard). I seem to recall an event several years ago where David Grisman was developing some issues with his left hand, then he switched to a radiused board, and things got better for him. That event seemed to cause a spike in radiused fretboard popularity. No wonder!

For me, it is whatever I am used to. Both of my current mandolins have somewhat of a radius to them, and are very comfortable to me. I recall a time when I was playing a Rigel mandolin for some length of time. At that time, they had a more severe radius to them. Back then, if someone handed me a flat boarded mandolin to play, it almost felt concave, as opposed to convex.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste, but an easy thing to trick, I suppose!

[Kevin K]

Has anyone tried using a flat saddle with a slightly radius fingerboard?

[trevor]

I can't tell the difference personally but I have customers who prefer one or the other. I wouldn't like to guess the proportions.

[Big Joe]

If you have a radiused fingerboard, you need a radiused saddle as well. Using a flat saddle on a radiused board will give you uneven string height from course to course. It will not play as well, and can deter the tone and volume. Your G and E strings would be too high for the D and A strings and it would also affect intonation because you would have to push farther on the outlying strings than the middles strings. The extra stretch can pull it out of tune with itself. This is actually pretty common, and many people don't check to see that the radius on the saddle is the same as the radius on the fingerboard. That is important as well, for the very same reasons. We have had to correct quite a number of saddles over the years.

[JeffD]

and how much of the mandolin population heads towards which design?


Play them both, see which you like, try again later and change back if you want.

I am not overly concerned with how much the mandolin population heads. Heck if we followed the crowd we would all be playing strum chord guitar badly.

[Bernie Daniel]

I've made this opinion publicly before, but it seems to this beginner that I'm less likely to strike unintended strings when picking on a radiused board. My experience on this issue leads me to agree with Joe above about the D/A strings likely getting struck harder than the G/E strings -if- you have a straight pick stroke across the strings. However, there's nothing in my experience that makes my hand follow a dead straight line in space vs. a wavy or curved line. I can't even make a pencil or paintbrush follow a straight line without a guide ruler, so I'd think it shouldn't be -that- much of a problem unless you're trying for maximum volume. But picking the D strings w/o hitting the G or A is -just- a bit easier for me on a radiused board, or is when I'm comparing the Breedlove KO and Epiphone BG-440 mandolins I mostly have been playing.

Interesting comment. I recently switched my main mando from a Fern to a Sam Bush -- I do think I that I play "cleaner" on the Sam but I had put it down to the wider fingerboard -- maybe some of it is the radiused fretboard and bridge as well.