Is ignorance bliss?

AlbertC

I've been playing since a kid in the 70s - occasionally in bands but mainly for my own enjoyment and I've owned a fair few guitars in that time. But it wasn't until I started regularly visiting this forum (about 12 months ago or so) that I knew such a thing as a fretboard radius existed.   I know, stupid huh? 

So it's surprising to me that it's something that appears to be big deal for a lot of people - some much preferring X radius or others saying they can’t get on with Y radius.

For 40+ years I've just bought/played guitars without giving a second thought to the fact that fretboards actually might have different curvatures.

 
Is this just a relatively recent thing to get hung up on or have people always been quite choosy about it. 

I can’t help feeling I was better off in blissful ignorance.

RaymondLin

Yup!

Forums is the single biggest driver of GAS.  I mean it is also great for other things but it's no doubt has caused me directly and indirectly spending far more than i otherwise would have. 

Although it can also be argued that it has also saved me money and heartache in buying the wrong thing to begin with.

ICBM

It can be, but it can also mean you spend a lot of time experimenting and making wrong decisions when a small amount of knowledge would make it much easier to go directly to the right solution, or not believe some of the nonsense that often passes for wisdom in the guitar world...

SimpleSimon

AlbertC said:

I've been playing since a kid in the 70s - occasionally in bands but mainly for my own enjoyment and I've owned a fair few guitars in that time. But it wasn't until I started regularly visiting this forum (about 12 months ago or so) that I knew such a thing as a fretboard radius existed.   I know, stupid huh? 

So it's surprising to me that it's something that appears to be big deal for a lot of people - some much preferring X radius or others saying they can’t get on with Y radius.

For 40+ years I've just bought/played guitars without giving a second thought to the fact that fretboards actually might have different curvatures.

 
Is this just a relatively recent thing to get hung up on or have people always been quite choosy about it. 

I can’t help feeling I was better off in blissful ignorance.

Its not just you. I know instantly when i try a guitar if i like it. I would suggest the invention of the internet and certain forums have led to people spending more time debating the merits and myths of certain elements of guitars rather then spending time just playing.

Logie

It's never been something I've thought about when buying a guitar. I think a person can adapt to pretty much any profile. I have had a couple of guitars that felt instantly right ( PRS Custom 24 W/T  and a JEM 7VV to be precise ) but I couldn't tell you the measurements. However, I only have three guitars, a Les Paul, Strat and Tele and none of them have that elusive "just right" radius. They're just the guitars that overall please me the most.

gordiji

I always thought it a good thing to be able to adapt to different guitars with their different neck shapes, action and so on. Obviously one will find their prefered neck shape even if ignorant of the details.

monquixote

I've found radius isn't that big of a deal.

I think it's actually more about frets which tends to correlate with radius.

I've had a 7" radius guitar with jumbo frets and a 12" radius guitar with vintage frets and it was the frets that made the guitar feel vintage and harder to bend.

In general though all the stuff we obsess over is bollocks.

yorkio

As a lefty, I'm just grateful to see *any* guitar that's strung left-handed.

Philly_Q

monquixote said:

In general though all the stuff we obsess over is bollocks.

That's true, but it's kind of the purpose of this forum.

stonevibe

Some people fixate more about guitars rather than actual music making, so they go down the rabbit hole with the minutiae of  the various measurements of an instrument.

Nothing wrong with that.

grappagreen

It's a bit more complicated..

I've got a number of guitars at the moment that I've been setting up. They have slightly different frets, radii etc. and I've been doing a 'standard' setup on each to compare. Same action, relief etc. I've found the one that I 'like' best. I think I play better with that setup.

I believe I only play better with the 'best' one because of the psychological effect of thinking it's better. If I had nothing to compare then it wouldn't matter...

monquixote

Philly_Q said:

monquixote said:

In general though all the stuff we obsess over is bollocks.

That's true, but it's kind of the purpose of this forum.

It's highly entertaining bollocks, but bollocks none the less.

thegummy

I think ignorance can definitely be bliss in lots of places in music.

I think with radius of the fingerboard, it might be that without knowing about it you'd just think "I somehow preferred this guitar's neck for some reason" but no know what it was for. There are definitely things that we read about on forums and become concerned about that would never have been an issue though.

Even with actual music playing, I think that for everything we learn regarding technique or theory, there is benefits as well as downsides.

I think someone who has never learned to play another song could come up with a tune in their head that's different to they would after learning.

scrumhalf

There's a difference between:
- Oh, many of the guitars I have played and liked have a feature in common, and
- I must like this guitar because it has a feature I have liked on other guitars.

Cranky

If "bliss" means mindlessly playing guitar and enjoying yourself, then yes.

If "bliss" means having an excuse to overthink why you're not playing guitar as much or not progressing as a player because you've put all your time into research and procuring preferred neck radii, then no.

TTony

AlbertC said:

Is ignorance bliss?

I don't know.

Slash'N'burn

Yes, for things like long-tenon/short tenon,  and neck thickness or profile. I got on fine with any guitar neck when I was a beginner and didn’t have a clue they differed(or maybe I was lucky and they didn’t make thick necks in the nineties?)

But i’m glad I found out about valve amps and attenuators through forums 20 years ago, otherwise I don’t think electric guitar playing would of been as enjoyable/addictive

Daiganzen

Yes and No.
I have a telecaster HH with Fender standard which is fine util you are trying to shred a but and notes start to choke because of the small radius and I preferer something with a 12" radius

pintspiller

Some feel right. Some wrong. I'm sure the ones that had something not quite right that weren't noticed at purchase got sold quicker, or sit unplayed for longer

guitars4you

AlbertC said:

I've been playing since a kid in the 70s - occasionally in bands but mainly for my own enjoyment and I've owned a fair few guitars in that time. But it wasn't until I started regularly visiting this forum (about 12 months ago or so) that I knew such a thing as a fretboard radius existed.   I know, stupid huh? 

So it's surprising to me that it's something that appears to be big deal for a lot of people - some much preferring X radius or others saying they can’t get on with Y radius.

For 40+ years I've just bought/played guitars without giving a second thought to the fact that fretboards actually might have different curvatures.

 
Is this just a relatively recent thing to get hung up on or have people always been quite choosy about it. 

I can’t help feeling I was better off in blissful ignorance.

I think it shows you buy a guitar with your hands and ears and not via your eyes and/or a spec sheet

To be fair, this format was fine when all the business came through the front door - Now all the business is via the back door, UPS and WWW and as a result we are all trying to gather as much info before we buy, based on the assumption we know, or we think we know what we want 

skunkwerx

When I started it was on a strat copy. 

Played it for years, tuned it to stupid low tunings and riffed along to Korn and Slipknot (.10 strings and all), then bought an Ltd kh-202. 

Massively different in many ways. 

Then I bought an Ibanez Rg. Similar, but still different. 

I never even thought about the differences. They were just 3 guitars to me. I liked playing them all, neither one moreso than the other. 

Skip 10 years down the line when I got into gear. 

Now I do have some preferences. But board radius is not one of them. Its so low on the list its a non issue. 

I still buy primarily what I like the look of, but do like to have some features.. a glossy neck par example. Used to like xj frets, now I couldnt care less.. medium jumbo on my Les Paul Junior feels insanely low and small but its fine. Narrow tall on me Tele is ok, Jumbo on the Ibanez and xj on the Esp. 

No idea what the Gretsch has got! Or what its radius, scale length etc is.. plays nice though!