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Hey y'all. I'm narrowing down my search for a decent replacement neck for my Esquire, and I have no idea what a neck radius is.

I know. I should know this, but I don't.

It looks like the stock neck for my guitar (MIM '52 RI Fender Esquire) is a 7.25" radius. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN. I see a bunch online with that radius, but there's also 9-somthing, compound radius…I don't know what I'm doing.

Pleaaaaaase

Haaaaaalp.

The fretboard (and so the frets) is curved a little. The fretboard radius is the radius of a full circle formed with that curve. A smaller radius means the fretboard is curved more. 7.25" is the vintage Fender radius, more curved, and 9.5" is more modern, flatter. I've never played a 7.25; I read that it's supposed to be more comfortable for chord work, but you can fret out easier if you bend notes. Is that right? Someone weigh in here who's used both.

Oh and compound is a little of both. I think usually more curved by the nut, and flattens out as you go up the fretboard. I've seen that offered on Warmoth, whilst lusting over all their options.

Thank you!

Morange already pretty much answered it but warmoth has a little bit about it: http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/Radius.aspx

You can see on the bottom of that page that they have a small chart with common radii from different companies.

The neck I ordered from warmoth was their vintage modern, so it is done with their compound radius. It will be a 10" radius on the lower frets, making it better for chords and it goes up to 16" radius on the higher frets for single note stuff. I figured I would try it out, kinda risky since I have never played on a compound neck before, but what the hell.

everything they said...compound radius is suppose to the be the most comfortable...makes chords easy and good for shredders who play in the late-teen frets. I've tried a few guitars with this compound radius...i never got the benefit of it, that's mainly because i hardly every play any solos, or shred by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm worried that a neck with less mass will alter the sound of the guitar.

Those Warmoth necks get so expensive.

What are your guys' prefs for radius?
I used to love the modern fender 9.5 radius, but recently I picked up an SG and a G&l Fallout - both with 12" radius - and I find myself preferring that size.
anyway, just curious.
I find the 12" compliments my sloppy as fuck playing style.

9.5" is apparently what all of my guitars that I have now use.

horseblanket wrote:What are your guys' prefs for radius?
I used to love the modern fender 9.5 radius, but recently I picked up an SG and a G&l Fallout - both with 12" radius - and I find myself preferring that size.
anyway, just curious.
I find the 12" compliments my sloppy as fuck playing style.

Not sure what the numbers are, but every gibson or gibson type neck has been the most comfortable for me

I', glad I'm not picky about this stuff. One of the things I have liked about switching to 12's though is it seems to slow me down with a fatter neck and more tension, so I focus on what is happening with individual notes and not just playing a ton of them.

Not very helpfull, sorry, just looking at my players, and they are all over the place either with the carve or the radius.

I'm heavily partial to 12" and larger radii. Fender-type fretboards just feel like broom handles to me these days.

So it looks like I'm going to try out a 9.5" radius neck for my Esquire.

I'll report back.