Roy's Guitar, Chapter 20, Fretboard Radius

Shaping the neck is completed. While working on the neck I decided to remove the walnut veneer on the back of the headstock. This has a cleaner look to it (picture). With the neck shaped and sanded it was time to radius the fretboard. This means taking the existing flat surface of the rosewood fretboard and giving it an arch. This can be nerve racking, because of the choice of inlay (the blocks). A radius is a circle measured in inches, fretboards can have a 7.25-20 inch radius. So if I used a tight radius like 7.25, I might sand away the edges of the block inlay, so I chose a 12 inch radius (the choice of many professionals) and all went well. Using the appropriate radius block, sand paper is adhered to the block and used to sand in the radius. This can take some time. This will be sanded with 80, 100, 150, 220, 320, 400 and 600 grit papers. The key is having a nice straight fretboard the entire length of the neck. This will aid in the installation of the frets, meaning the straighter the job radiusing the fretboard the less work will be needed when dressing the frets.