Neck Radius - does it matter?

Gear
21

Every thing about the neck is everything to me.
That’s the first thing I feel for comfort/playability when I pick up a new bass.

I can get down with different radius curves, but it has to work.
I have a slick, very slim and flat 5 string for ulitmate shredding, and a big fat 50s reissue P bass for deep pocket grooves.

The Jaguar I bought (MIJ reiussue) I got while I worked in a music store.
I played every bass that came in.
I got it because the neck felt perfect.

All 3 have a different neck radius, but the balance and comfort of each one is perfect for its design and purpose… for my hands.

5 Likes
22

But didn’t he also tune down to Eb which would have made it a bit easier?

1 Like
23

Not always. But Stevie did tune down a bit to facilitate his singing pitch.

One time, I got to feel the string gauge, tension and action on his fave Strat and, goddamn, it was fierce!

I’ve lived in Austin all my adult life, and I got to see Stevie play for years, ever since he first formed Double Trouble. A ton of free shows. Then a ton more when the cover charge went up to $1.00. The beers were a buck, too. Great days back then.

In the mid-80s, I was writing and producing a lot of radio spots for an ad agency. One time I showed up at the recording studio for a session, but the previous session was running late. Turned out that another ad agency had been shooting a “Don’t Mess with Texas” TV public service announcement with Stevie as the spokesman.

By this time in the 80s, Stevie had been through rehab and he was clean and sober after years of constant drug use. He looked healthy, smiling and comfortable in his skin — not the hat-down, eye-averting way he always used to.

I had actually met him a few years prior to this, at Austin Productions, where I was Senior Producer, but he had been so strung out at the time, he didn’t remember. Didn’t matter. He was present this time.

We chatted for a bit. I asked him about all the rings he wore. He said he’d buy a new ring in every city he toured. Then after a while, he excused himself to go to the bathroom.

That’s when I got the chance to check out his axe. He left it sitting on a stool in the studio. It was legit road-worn, but it was clean, had new strings, and was obviously well-loved. But the thing that struck me immediately was how high the string action was. Holy shit! They looked to be at least 1/4” over the frets! Crazy high. Then, with no one around, I felt the strings. VERY heavy gauge and damn hard to fret, just about impossible for me.

Made sense.

If you’ve watched any videos of Stevie on stage, he hit those strings like they were a red-headed stepchild. In all the years I saw him play, he never broke a string. Now I knew why.

So, yeah. Any string can be bent. How easily and how well depends on many things - with string gauge and action being important - but with the player being the deciding factor.

5 Likes
24

How many fingers did SRV have?

2 Likes
25

i’m sure it matters to me a lot. that having been said i have no idea at all what my basses measure. tdub can just rattle off things like that, i have no clue.

2 Likes
26

All of ‘em.

1 Like
27

Fretboard radius is typically listed in a bass’s specs, whether from the manufacturer or vendor. A quick Google can often get you that info, too.

2 Likes
28

But according to your story he said he bought a new ring for every city he played in. He’d need way more than 10 digits for the math to work non?

2 Likes
29

He had a massive collection of rings. He wore them in rotation, a few favorites more often than others.

2 Likes
30

Oh i know. I just dont really care enough to look it up. Im more the yeah that feels good type :grin:

2 Likes
31

Cool

2 Likes
32

I have 3 basses that are 9.5 or 10 and 2 5 strings that are 12 and I really don’t think about it much so it probably doesn’t matter too much to me :slight_smile: I don’t do a lot of bends and I only slap on my jazz bass. I think maybe raking feels smoother on a flatter radius?

2 Likes
33

Either I’m not good enough to notice or it doesn’t matter at all to me. If I’m going to design what I want I think maybe the neck would be a spiral so the top of the E string is more level with the top of the A string. It would flatten out as it gets to the higher strings.

2 Likes
34

7 and 6
5 fingers and 2 thumbs on the left and 2 thumbs on the right for POWER, lol. Dude’s awesome.

1 Like
35

I have a fretless that’s dead flat and it plays just as well only when I get to the upper end I do wish there’s some curve there, lol.

2 Likes
36

My current bass has a 16” radius, and I’m looking at a Sire U5 which has a 9.5” radius, in part because I tend to put my thumb on top of the neck. Given all the other things I’ve heard about the U5 it seems like it would be a very comfortable bass to play.

1 Like
37

@MikeC has a U5 I believe, and loves it. I’ve only heard good things about it, and I trust Mike, so let’s go with that.

2 Likes
38

The Sire U5 is a short scale bass, so fretting low frets is not as big a reach as on a long scale. That is a plus for many players. But the U5 is different than a standard 30-inch short scale.

The U5’s body and headstock are scaled down compared to other shorties. Sire designed it this way to make the short scale neck look visually balanced with the rest of the instrument. Even the tuning machines are slightly scaled down compared to a standard long scale.

Given these distinctions, the U5 appeals to guitar players who aren’t/don’t-want -to -get used to a “big, heavy bass.” And, of course, persons of smaller stature like the U5 because it’s relatively more ergonomic for them.

I bought my U5 to take B2B because I came from guitar, plus I had played a short scale in a band years ago. In the middle of studying B2B, I bought a long scale, then several others until I homed in on the very specific ones that are perfect for me.

2 Likes
39

Counterpoint, the scaling down is quite common in shorties. EBMM and Fender both do it for their stingray shorties and Mustangs respectively. Except Fender still gives you a boat paddle for a headstock.

2 Likes
40

I own a StingRay shorty, too. Its body, headstock and tuners are still larger than the U5’s.

Frankly, the U5 feels very much like an electric guitar, especially when playing seated.

1 Like