Rolled fingerboard edges: Types, degrees, pros, cons, preferences, history?

[RoscoeElegante]

Hey, all. I hope this finds you well.

So having just recently realized, after 40 years of making noise, how much I really, really love rolled fingerboard edges, and how much my playing seems "natural" to this feature, I gotta ask:

What types/variances are there, or does Fender produce just one version/degree of roll? Is the greater/lesser degree I've perceived a matter of the neck radius more--that is, rolled fingerboards may seem "more" rolled on a 7.25 vs. a 9.5 or 12 neck?

What are the pros & cons--including, I gather, pulling/pushing the high & low E's off the fretboard?

Given that this seems a minority preference, do you yourself like/dislike this spec? Why? Do you easily move between rolled and unrolled fretboards? How do using/not-using rolled fingerboard affect your playing styles, fluidity, even the types of things you play on respective types of fingerboards?

Finally, why did these go out of style, for the majority of players, given how they were common to Leo's original designs? (Or am I misunderstanding those designs again?)

Thanks!

 

[tweedman2001]

Don't know about specs or specifics, but I definitely prefer rolled fingerboards. To me if feels like a well played and worn in neck that's had a lot of love.

 

[lammie200]

I think that a lot depends on the fingerboard width. At a 1.650" nut width I don't need or want much of a rolled edge because of a less sure feeling at the high and low E strings. At 1-11/16" I like a bit more of a roll but nothing major. Besides my classical guitar I don't prefer nut widths any wider than 1-11/16".

 

[soulman969]

I prefer to roll my own.

Seriously though I have identical necks on three different Teles. One has rolled edges the other two don't. Is there a difference? Yes but not a huge one. I'm a "thumb up" player and the rolled edge is a bit more comfortable but the others are certainly just as playable.

 

[Vizcaster]

Rolled fingerboard edges were introduced on the re-boot of the American Standard series in 2000 (I think that's when they started saying "American Series," I remember having a problem finding a leftover Roadhouse Strat in the Spring of 2000 because they were revamping the line and getting new models in). The same year they eliminated the swimming pool rout and doing HSH pickup routing, and the most visible change at a distance was the elimination of one string tree because the tuning machines were staggered.

Basically I think rolling or softening the fingerboard edge is a step in the hand-finishing process that should always have been done. Whether it's a guitar neck or a piece of furniture you should never leave a knife-edge like that because the finish chips off (it will crawl away and be thinner on the edge when it dries) and it doesn't feel right to the hand. That hard edge on the side of the fretboard is probably the first thing you notice on a really cheaply made guitar.

 

[JohnS]

I have an early 2000 American Series Tele. One of the first with the rolled fingerboard edges. It feels good BUT the finish on the edge of the fingerboard has been raggedly missing from fret 2 to fret 10.

 

[ebb soul]

I like rolled ala Musicman. And now anything else feels 'cold' or something....i'ven't a high e problem, but I could see that as the only concern.

 

[moosie]

I really notice the difference between my 335 (binding, not rolled) and 330 VOS. The 330 has binding applied, even with the little nibs that cover the fret ends, and then they sanded it all down. Lots of rounding, but because of the binding, it doesn't cut into the playing space.

The feel is MUCH nicer on the 330. So much that I've begun gradually rolling the binding edge on the 335. Nothing as dramatic as the VOS.

My Wildwood '52 NOS has a softly rolled edge. I love the neck, but the bass E is prone to sliding off the board. Mostly it's lazy technique. If all my guitars were this way, I'd get out of the habit, I'm sure.

Basically I think rolling or softening the fingerboard edge is a step in the hand-finishing process that should always have been done. Whether it's a guitar neck or a piece of furniture you should never leave a knife-edge like that because the finish chips off (it will crawl away and be thinner on the edge when it dries) and it doesn't feel right to the hand. That hard edge on the side of the fretboard is probably the first thing you notice on a really cheaply made guitar.

Yep.

 

[AndrewG]

My American Special has rolled edges, my FSR MIM BSB Deluxe does not. The rolling has brought the strings perilously close to the fingerboard edges so a little playing technique re-organising was in order, but on the whole both feel so good to play that it really isn't an issue for me.

 

[Vizcaster]

Moosie, is there a difference in the thickness in the binding on the 330 versus the 335? If the binding is too thick it robs some room for the fret and it does affect the playing surface. I notice a Les Paul Std Traditional (GibsonUSA factory) has much thicker binding than my ES-339 and ES-390 (Memphis Custom).

 

[Stingfan73]

Hey, all. I hope this finds you well.

So having just recently realized, after 40 years of making noise, how much I really, really love rolled fingerboard edges, and how much my playing seems "natural" to this feature, I gotta ask:

What types/variances are there, or does Fender produce just one version/degree of roll? Is the greater/lesser degree I've perceived a matter of the neck radius more--that is, rolled fingerboards may seem "more" rolled on a 7.25 vs. a 9.5 or 12 neck?

What are the pros & cons--including, I gather, pulling/pushing the high & low E's off the fretboard?

Given that this seems a minority preference, do you yourself like/dislike this spec? Why? Do you easily move between rolled and unrolled fretboards? How do using/not-using rolled fingerboard affect your playing styles, fluidity, even the types of things you play on respective types of fingerboards?

Finally, why did these go out of style, for the majority of players, given how they were common to Leo's original designs? (Or am I misunderstanding those designs again?)

Thanks!

For *me*, such a small detail may (or may not) be noticeable or have such a marginal effect on the playability and comfort of the guitar, that my immediate impulse here is to say: "just play the dang thing, whatever its edges are or are not." Really trying to not be offensive here. All I know is that in 20+ years of playing all kinds of guitars, I never, ever thought for one second about what the edges were, or were not. I place that kind of detail right down there with thinking, wondering about whether the position marker dots on the side of the fretboard are white, black, pearl, clay, etc... And whether that's good, bad, historically correct, whether one color or another is more discernible to by glance, and would one versus another in the long term make me a better player or not? Etc, etc, etc...

For *me*, I don't need that minutiae, or mental noise.

But hey, to each their own. If that's what makes the guitar right for you, then so be it, and enjoy!

Ps: play the guitar a lot- you'll get rolled edges in the long term whether or not the guitar has them now.

 

[ebb soul]

Anyone who hasn't played a MusicMan, cannot fairly
judge the merits.
Quintessential rolled necks.
These necks are on the skinny width side, and that bothers some, not most players.
It doesn't bother Steve Morris, or Albert Lee, or Keith Richards, Eddie VH.
One thing is certain.
You cannot, not notice it.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

I would think the high E problem would be a function of the frets, not the fret board.

P

 

[moosie]

Moosie, is there a difference in the thickness in the binding on the 330 versus the 335? If the binding is too thick it robs some room for the fret and it does affect the playing surface. I notice a Les Paul Std Traditional (GibsonUSA factory) has much thicker binding than my ES-339 and ES-390 (Memphis Custom).

Both my 330 and 335 were built in 2012. The 335 (cherry) is your standard Memphis gloss dot neck. The 330 (natural) is Historic '59 with VOS treatment.

Since neither have bound headstocks, and both have bound fingerboards, the binding butts into the nut, and therefore the binding thickness does dictate the width of the fingerboard. In each case, the frets are installed before the binding, and the binding is installed 'high', covering the whole height of the frets. Then it's manually scraped down in between the frets, leaving the quirky, beloved 'nibs', which nicely cover the fret ends.

Measured at the nut:

335: total width 1.682; fingerboard 1.537
330: total width 1.717; fingerboard 1.638

So, the 330 has 0.101 more playing area (at the nut). 0.035 of this is simply a wider nut. The remaining 0.066 is thinner binding (0.033 per side). BEFORE the VOS treatment.

The pictures bear this out. Looking in between the frets, the 335 binding is simply thicker. And it's not because of VOS treatment filing it down. They couldn't have done that over the body. It was installed this way.

So, that addresses your point about playing surface. The Historic has a wider nut, AND the binding is thinner, both combined give a lot more room.

Now to look at the VOS rolled edges... That's noticeable mostly by looking at the fret ends, where the binding nibs stick up. The VOS are thinner to begin with, but then they're filed and sanded down to nearly nothing. But they're still there, protecting the fingers from the fret ends.

This 330 neck is right up there with my best-ever neck profiles – more like a '58 LP than the slightly smaller '59. It measures .90 deep at the 1st fret, and 1.03" at the 12th. Full and round.

But when it comes to the feel of the edges – the rolling – the 330 is by far the best I've ever played, Gibson, Fender, anything.

Not to gush, but it's this attention to detail that I think folks often miss in the inevitable Gibson vs Fender threads. Heck, you have to go Fender Custom Shop or Masterbuilt to get even the type of work reflected in my 335's scraped binding (not to mention the finish), and that's "just" a stock instrument.

@Stingfan73, agreed, years of playing will roll the darn thing just as well as anything. But of course, it's nice to have it without waiting 50 years. I don't think about the rolled edge when I'm playing, or when I'm deciding which guitar to play. But it is a nice difference for me. Like putting on a pair of fantastic new shoes, or a pair that perfectly fits your foot, after being worn for years. It's very comfy.