Flat vs. Radiused Fretboards

sequoia

sequoia

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 22, 2014
Messages
3,358
Reaction score
513
Location
Little River, California
All the ukes I have ever built have had flat freboards. I actually like a flat fretboard. I learned to play long, long ago (almost 50 years now) on a classical guitar so I'm comfortable with a flat fretboard. However, I rarely (never?) see flat fretboards on higher end ukuleles. It seems if it is a "good" ukulele, it has to have a radiused fretboard. So I'm going to bow to the trend and make a radiused fretboard even if it seems to be a lot of extra work and brings in more complications. I have a few questions:

- I'm thinking a 16" or 18" radius would be about right. What is the uke standard?

- I don't have a fret vise and manually hammer my frets in. Is this going to be a problem?

- Obviously the saddle has to match the radius? How about the nut?

- Is a radiused fretboard on the uke a useless carry over from the steel string guitar tradition (all my steel string guitars are radiused) like the cut-out or does it actually serve a purpose?
 
Most radiused boards I have done or encountered are 12". Any less than that and I don't bother, the difference in radiused and flat is so minor. with such a narrow width. You can certainly hammer in the frets as long as you pre bend them to the radius. If you don't they will come up at the ends in time even if glued. You will get all kinds of opinions about the value or lack there of concerning a radiused boards. I find it slightly more pleasurable to play a radiused board but not all that much and it takes a while to get used to. As far as not seeing flat boards on high end ukuleles, I have not observed that.
 
sequoia said:
All the ukes I have ever built have had flat freboards. I actually like a flat fretboard. I learned to play long, long ago (almost 50 years now) on a classical guitar so I'm comfortable with a flat fretboard. However, I rarely (never?) see flat fretboards on higher end ukuleles. It seems if it is a "good" ukulele, it has to have a radiused fretboard.
Click to expand...

Huh? Kanilea, Koaloha, Kamaka, Martin, all flat fretboards. Moore Bettah. Flat fretboards. By a huge margin ukuleles have flat fretboards. Yes Collings and Mya Moe use radius fretboards, and most recent Ko'olau have radius fretboards. But if you look at the most popular brands and you look at most of the customs that come through HMS - I think quality ukes are built with flat fretboards about 10 to 1 to the number of radius fretboards. I don't know how you can say you "never" or even "rarely" see flat fretboards on a higher end ukulele.
 
I dunno. Maybe it is a small sample size, but the ukes I see my uke buddies play are all radioused. Whatever. This is all music to my ears because I really don't want to go there if I don't have too, but I'm gonna just because I want to see how it works...

By the way Michael, I am a really big admirer of your ukes, your craftmanship and your design sense. If you don't mind I would like to attach a few pics of your ukes I think are fabulous. The first one works off a sort of Loar art deco/nouveau theme and the second one is a lovely tribute to Pele, the Hawaiian goddess. I note they all have flat fretboards. This is way off thread. Hope you don't mind.

full_view_1.jpg

goddess_inlay_1_1.jpg
 
sequoia said:
View attachment 81772
Click to expand...
OK. THE nicest headplate I've ever seen. Whoa.

On the boards question, can't add to the build aspects but I prefer flat myself, having played gazillions. No, higher end builders don't go with radius all the time. Think Duane Heilman, Peter Hurney, Allen McFarlen, Gerard Guasch and on and on it goes. They make no difference at all to me on ukes, and seems like a lot of work for little benefit demanded by customers with too much time and money... :p
 
The problem I see with a flat fingerboard is that, through the years, as the board starts to dry out some more, is that the fingerboard will now start to go concave in the center. After doing repairs for so many years on fretted instruments, I've seen this happen to most flat fingerboards. It happens on classicals, mandolins banjos and even ukes. Ukes aren't quite so bad or dramatic a change (I'm assuming because the fingerboard is much smaller) but it does create a problem when trying to dress the frets on these instruments in later years.

The other plus side to a radiused fingerboard is that, people that have trouble with their hands (carpal tunnel, etc.....), a radiused fingerboard is easier for them to play on. I realise on such a small board this may not come into play much, but even David Grisman (mando-player) had his boards radiused because of hand problems.

I know flat boards on these instruments are more tradition but I think some of the newer builders are realizing these problems and correcting (?) these issues. I see it happening on newer classicals, mandos and ukes, where the builder has planned even a 20"radius on new boards (still feels flat to the player but has that small radius) and players are liking it. Sometimes, change is good.
 
When I do a radius fret board it's 12" at the nut and 20" by the time it meets the sound hole. 16" in the middle. It's a compound radius. This allows the side profile of the fret board to be reasonably constant. If it was 12" from end to end, then the nut would have less of the depth removed on the side of the fret board than further up the board where it's wider and that radius will cut more away.

Might sound complicated, but you only have to do one to see what I'm trying to describe.

I press my frets in with some modified fretting pliers that a mate manufactures.
 
I stopped doing radiused boards a few years ago because they didn't add anything to my Ukes as far as playability is concerned. I think proper setup is more important in that regard. BTW I have a couple of my Ukes that are 25 years old and the fret board shape hasn't changed a bit.
 
Neck relief and setup are much more important imo. I think people equate radius as easier playing because the action is too high on a lot of ukes. I was playing a radius fretboard from a highend maker and I commented that the action is a little high and the owner said that's probably one of the lowest action ukes he has and I got spoiled playing a Moore Bettah...soo true! Without the proper neck relief, hard to get "low" action without buzzing.
 
Radiused boards have been around for hundreds of years, so have flat boards. Fran ledoux is right about flat boards though, eventually they go a little concave even if it does take decades. Even my flat fretboards are radiused. . . so little that no one seems to notice.
 
I cannot see the point in radiused fingnerboards - what about all those classical guiatrs that have been made with them? MyaMoe, tho a popular brand do not represent the industry standard, neither does Collings. None of the 670 people who I have made ukulele for have ever asked for it... That's a bigger sample than 'the folks I know...' one.
 
Hippie Dribble said:
OK. THE nicest headplate I've ever seen. Whoa.

On the boards question, can't add to the build aspects but I prefer flat myself, having played gazillions. No, higher end builders don't go with radius all the time. Think Duane Heilman, Peter Hurney, Allen McFarlen, Gerard Guasch and on and on it goes. They make no difference at all to me on ukes, and seems like a lot of work for little benefit demanded by customers with too much time and money... :p
Click to expand...
Yeah I love that headstock
 
I don't think there is much difference. For me, the radius fretboards aesthetically look better and they are easier to fret without getting low spots in the fret. Making the radius is not much extra work. I attempt to do 16". That said, most of us who do radius fretboards, and who don't have a CNC, are fooling ourselves if we think we are actually getting some exact radius by hand. I have definitely seen concave fretboards, especially in very dry climates, so there may be some creedence to the counter warping effect of a radius fretboard as mentioned by other builders. A pro for flat fretboards is that they can make inlay much easier if you are doung some. My first uke back in the 1970's had a flat fretboard, but that was the only one. My building numbers are in the range of Pete's and nobody has ever complained about the radius.
Many have said they really like it.
 
Last edited:
My first uke or two had radiused boards because I simply didn't know any better, having never owned or played any other ukuleles.
At first I did way too much radius. Now I do a pretty mild and hard to detect radius, but to me a small amount of radius feels better and more playable than none at all.
 
The amount of radius makes a big difference.

My aNueNue Moon Bird soprano has a very shallow radius, almost unnoticeable. I honestly can’t detect it when playing.

But my Barron River concert has a compound radius that starts out steep (12”) at the nut and graduates to shallower at the end of the fingerboard, and it’s much easier (for me, anyway) to play.
 
Patty said:
The amount of radius makes a big difference.

My aNueNue Moon Bird soprano has a very shallow radius, almost unnoticeable. I honestly can’t detect it when playing.

But my Barron River concert has a compound radius that starts out steep (12”) at the nut and graduates to shallower at the end of the fingerboard, and it’s much easier (for me, anyway) to play.
Click to expand...
My aNueNue amm3 has a radiused fretboard and allowed me as a new player, to learn and play barre chord. Made a huge difference for me learning to play.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

PhilUSAFRet
Fretboard on a custom Taropatch - radiused or flat?
Replies
3
Views
466
PhilUSAFRet
PhilUSAFRet
H
Does anyone have both a radiused and flat fretboard?
Replies
17
Views
2K
haole
haole
BiosphereDecay
I can't add chords with more than one of the same note on different strings in Flat.
Replies
3
Views
183
Bill Sheehan
Bill Sheehan
groan
Just got the Aquila Flat Spirals! A request for a U-Bass photo
Replies
19
Views
984
Wiggy
Wiggy
Tiki_Jeff
Flat Fret Board or Radius
2 3
Replies
49
Views
2K
Tiki_Jeff
Tiki_Jeff
Top Bottom