Compound Radius… A Solution In Search Of A Problem?

I’ll go ahead and say it… I’m sick of talking about this! It’s the sort of thing that guitar players geek out about in internet forums. There might not be as much written about this as say… Ford vs. Chevy or 9mm vs. 45 but as you know, these endless (and pointless) debates seem to be more fun for people who like to argue more than they like playing the damn guitar. Here at Texas Toast we have done several videos about the theory behind the compound (or conical radius) and have demonstrated that the largest deviation is insignificant, about 1 100th of an inch for a 10” to 15” compound radius. Now, I didn’t do those demos to be some kind of “Myth Buster”. The real reason I started ranting about compound radius was to talk people out of it. When it comes time to adjust stuff, I am lazy, and I don’t want to reconfigure my radius sander every time I make a guitar neck. Of course, I hate saying NO and I often try to get people to come around to my way of thinking. If that doesn’t work, I try to make the price for doing a job I don’t want to do so high that they acquiesce. I can’t stress this enough, if you like compound radius fretboards than you should get one and don’t stop rockin’ til the cows come home. You might even convince me to make it for you, but I won’t like it. If every guitar I ever made had a compound radius that would be a different story, but I get pissed when someone wants a 12” board because they are “used to their Gibson”. We settled on the 10” radius a long time ago and the fact is, I don’t really remember why? The world hasn’t stopped spinning so we must be doing something right. I’ll tell you this much the players who come into my shop and pick up any of my guitars have never noticed. Finally, I invite you to come by the shop and try out our new for 2019 “Infinity Radius” neck and see what you think. Until then remember that life is short and you might as well have a cool guitar.