I don't usually like to discuss my background, but I have been a guitarist for 34 years. I started playing when I was 13. By the time I was 16, I was playing with the likes of Ray Charles, Al Di Meola and Ted Nugent (yes, he was insane back then too). Although I left that path many years ago (no regrets, by the way), I remain an active player with enough street cred to be taken seriously by professionals.
I think that I understand what a fretboard radius is. I also understand that there is a ton of guitar pseudoscience out there on the internet. A flat fretboard is not inherently "faster" than a radiused board. Do some people find that they can play better on a flat board? Yes - just as there are players who feel they play better on a radiused board.
The fretboard is the instrument's User Interface. Choose the one that works for you, and ignore everything else.
In answer to the OP, my current ukuleles all have flat fretboards. I think that 12" is probably what I will go for on my next upgrade.
I am currently building a semihollow steel string uke. I am seriously considering a conical (compound) radiused board - 10" at the nut, out to about 14" at the bridge.
It's great that you have so much street cred, although there is as much of that on the internet as "pseudoscience".
Other than "I'm an expert" and "Some people like radius and some people like flat", is there anything else you can tell us from your exceptionally vast wealth of knowledge on
why people would be drawn to certain types? Isn't that what we're discussing?
Favourite radius. What are we basing "favourite radius" on? Looks? Flavour? Colour?
No matter how important an individual's "feel" towards a certain fretboard is, surely there are some pros and cons we can attribute to different kinds of fretboards and analyse why people prefer them?
I agree that choosing a fretboard that works is the way to go, but I disagree with ignoring the reasons behind the choosing...
-"I prefer 12" radius because .. (reasons)"
-"I prefer flat fretboards because .. (reasons)"
-"NO YOU CAN'T HAVE REASONS! I CALL BS! I AM EXPERT OF 50 YEARS!
ALL IT MATTERS IS THE 'FEEL'! IGNORE ALL REASONS"
This might as well have been a conversation about "Favourite fruit" that went:
-What is your favourite fruit?
-"I like apples"
-"I like lemons"
-"I think the people who like apples like them because they're sweet, whereas the people who like lemons like the sour, citrus flavour"
-"NO! IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE PERSON. SOME PEOPLE CAN EAT APPLES BECAUSE THEY LIKE SOUR THINGS AND SOME PEOPLE PREFER LEMONS FOR THEIR SWEETNESS.
I AM A FRUIT EXPERT OF 30 YEARS PLUS.."
I appreciate and enjoy a good debate where there are differing opinions, but all I'm asking for is a bit more clarity and reasoning in the disagreements than "BS I'm an expert" and "because I said so". Ironically, a majority of the "pseudoscience" on the internet seems to come from people who hype themselves up as "experts".