FretBoard Radius

[Riffmeister]

I know JAcksons have a compund radius, but not sure what the radius is on them, but If I got a guitat with a 12 radius, how is that going to differ from playing a Jackson and what happens if that guitar has a Floyd on it. I thought the Floyds had a 10 radius on them , but could be wrong.

The guitar in Question is a Kramer Pacer if it makes any differnce.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Floyd nut is usually a 10" radius (R2/R3/R4 and most others). The bridge is about a 15" radius without any shims but comes with a shim under the middle 4 saddles when you buy one "aftermarket." The shim is easy to take out. That is how they are on Jacksons - the shim is removed, and the bridge is about a 15" radius.

The Jackson/Charvel compound radius is 12" at he nut to 16" at the heel, so the Kramer will feel more like the first 5 frets of the Jackson. A straight 12" radius is common on Gibson guitars, as well.

[Riffmeister]

So is the 12" Part the flater part?

[Grandturk]

No the 16" is flatter. The neck gets flatter as you go up higher on the fretboard.

[Hellbat]

Radius is literally the size of the circle that the fretboard would be a "slice" of. So the larger the radius of the fretboard pie, the flatter the outside edge of each piece would be. Here is a diagram illustrating it....



Most sane compount radius necks have a smaller radius at the nut for easier chording and a larger radius at the other end for easier soloing/bending. Flatter radii can bend strings a little further without fretting out typically. (On smaller numbers when you bend past mid-fingerboard the string height over the frets starts to drop off.)

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Also FWIW on a "feel" note, back "in the day" I was used to Strats and played a Kramer and I was like "Whoah, now THIS is what I've been looking for!" because of the flatter radius.

The same thing happened again after a few years of playing Kramers and finding my first Charvel, a used red Model 4 with a Kahler. "Whoah... what have I been doing fucking around with Kramers..."

Kramers are great guitars but I think aside from the nostalgia, anything Charvel/Jackson is a better player, at least for my taste.

[Grandturk]

Kramer fretboards and mini frets feel like poop.

[atvdave]

I like the Jackson compound radius neck way more that the Kramer radius necks.

[Riffmeister]

Were those the older Kramer necks you guys are talking about though with the 10" radius? The specks on the newer pacer have it as 12"

[atvdave]

Fret board radius varies widely on Kramer's. I have a 2000 Sustainer with a 16" radius, not sure on my f3000 but defiantly not a 16".

[DonP]

I picked up a fairly uncommon (hard finding much info about) Kramer neck thru that has a flat radius (> 16")and nice big jumbo frets and a thin neck profile.

IMO, they took a soloist, blue printed the neck, and spit out CNC copies in Korea.

The tone is pretty good too, for having very cheap no-name pickups (not the orginal quad-rails).

Lets say it's got me looking at other Kramers. I'm curious about the BIS Infinite Sustaner guitar.

[atvdave]

Just for some helpful info.... I found a link to a radius gauge you can print and use. Maybe it will help some..

http://www.pickguardian.com/pickguar...s%20Gauges.pdf

[DonP]

Just for some helpful info.... I found a link to a radius gauge you can print and use. Maybe it will help some..

http://www.pickguardian.com/pickguar...s%20Gauges.pdf

I have a set from the Dan Erlewine books.

How do you like the Yo Kramer Infinity Sustainer?

[warlok]

^^ me too..

[hunter1970]

Where could I get a neck for a Focus, I recently got one for a real good price just for the Floyd, it's a mutt with a Squier neck on it that someone put a Floyd nut on, needless to say it's got the wrong neck angle all together and i dont think a shim will fix it,so I'm thinking about finding a neck for it , what size is the neck pocket on these.Or should I say the neck heel.