I have to be honest, for most of my admittedly limited career with bass I didn’t pay much attention to the neck radius. I started out with Fenders and they tend to be 9.5". I got my stream and fell in love, and started looking around.
I ended up with my Charvel, which has a 12"-16" compound radius. Then my Schecter hollow body which has a 16", both super easy to play. Look back at my Stream, and it’s 400mm, a touch short of 16".
All the necks I love have 16" radiuses. Not something I had looked for.
So what is your take on neck radius, do you have on you prefer and how does it factor for you?
My beloved Sire Marcus Miller M5 has a 12" radius fretboard. Prior to getting this bass, I was prone to prefer classic 9.5" radius fretboards. I still like them a hell of a lot. That said, for me, a 12" fretboard feels faster and more solid somehow. Go figure.
Neck radius will also be (at least it should be on properly set up instrument) mirrored/reflected by the strings.
9.5" radius is more curved than say 12" radius.
When you play guitar it is easier to bend strings (and have better sustain).
Not sure how it impacts bass.
@MikeC “feels faster” is apparently the thing. If you look at all those “shredding machines” they are rather flat… and mostly with a rather thin neck.
All things bring equal I prefer flatter radius feels better on the hand. That said I also love my American deluxe dimension with compound radius but with that neck radius it also features asymmetrical neck making it a fast and very comfortable neck.
I agree. That said, my Sire M5 neck is not shallow like a shredder guitar. It sure ain’t as chunky as a P, or even a Jazz, either. It’s just the most comfortable neck I’ve ever played on a 34". And the fretboard radius plays a big part in that, I’m sure.
I had a Gretsch Junior Jet that had a 12" radius, but, in comparison to my M5, it was crazy shallow. It might have been the combination of its very short scale and shallow neck, but it nonetheless cramped up my fretting hand horribly, so I let it go.
I prefer the 12-16" radii which seem to only be on my 5er and 6-string (on a side note, why isn’t a 6er?).
Flat sure does seem better.
I don’t understand or see the value of 7.5 or 9.5 other than historical considerations honestly.
But the point was: any string can be bent, depending on the player, regardless of fretboard radius. Some combos of gauge/radius and player can do it easier. That’s all.
I’m very sensitive to neck radius. I much prefer 9.5" … probably because I play on Fender guitars and bass since a long time. but I really never liked the old 7.5" radius, at all. also I can play with a flatter radius than 9.5" but I still prefer 9.5". 12" is still OK. 16" would be a bit too flat for me, even still playeable. I have some guitars with a really flat (“infinite”) radius, also still playeable but I find it feels less natural and it’s more tiring.
My Schecters have 16", my Sire is 12", and my Strat is 9.5". My SC-607 is 350mm/13.78", my SR6 is 400mm/15.75". GSRM25 (Mikro 5) is 305mm/12". The Beast is 14".
I mostly listed all of them to show that my instruments are just all over the shop apparently
SIXZ28FDBG is also 400mm/15.75".
Anyway, I guess I tend to prefer the flatter radii you could say, but I also don’t really care about chording and tbh that’s what keeps me from really learning the guitar I think XD - Lessons start on chords almost always But I digress.
Surprisingly, I’ve fallen quite in love with the 9.5" radius neck of my Fender Player Jazz.
This is surprising because when I got back into playing bass two years ago or whatever and decided to take it seriously, I was playing on an Ibanez SR500E which has a 12" radius and a Carvin B4 which had a 15" radius neck.
I thought for sure that the higher radius necks were my cup of tea, but that Jazz neck is just so nice. Plus, I think it has the smoothest finish of them all, which really appeals to me.
”
But I digress.