Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center

7.25 radius - thoughts?


Recommended Posts

I have had a Fender strat (9.5) for years.  I also have had  a Les Paul and several 12 inch Hamers and Reverends. I prefer the 9.5 radius to the flatter radius on the latter.

I had a 1990s (?) MIM telecaster for a couple weeks before I traded it for three vintage amps (Epiphone, Sano and big Ampeg (1x15) in need of repair. I t was like a wild ass baseball trade.

I didn’t exactly bond with the MIM tele but I didn’t give it a fair try either.  Maybe it was the radius, the frets, the narrow width at the nut. I find myself passing on a lot of 7.25 radius strats and telecasters.  

Do you have to adjust when you “move down” to the 7.25?   Are the things that you like about the 7.25 radius?  Is this “choking: ting for real?  If Page and Beck lived with them, why not the rest of the world.  Thanks in advance.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m not sure if I have ever played a 7.25” radius fretboard. I’ve got a couple of 9.5” which feel great. Don’t remember what the Mirage/Mirage II have. Could’ve sworn I read the Talladega was 14”. My Charvel is compound. I seem to be able to move seamlessly between all of those. I kinda wonder what a 7.25” would be like...

Just looked it up. couple of sources have the Mirage at 14.5” and the Talladega at 14”.  And my Charvel 650xl is 12”-16” compound  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Pieman said:

I didn’t exactly bond with the MIM tele but I didn’t give it a fair try either.  Maybe it was the radius, the frets, the narrow width at the nut. I find myself passing on a lot of 7.25 radius strats and telecasters.  

Give it another chance. You will probably have to be satisfied with medium to medium-low action unless it has an exceptional fret levelling. I had my '96 AVRI Tele refretted with medium-jumbos/PLEKKed and it plays beautifully with low, even action. Wasn't like that prior to the fretwork, though.

7 minutes ago, Pieman said:

Do you have to adjust when you “move down” to the 7.25?   

I lucked out with my Japan Blackmore Strat. 7.25, vintage frets, etc., but has low action and sounds great with .009s.

7 minutes ago, Pieman said:

Are the things that you like about the 7.25 radius?  Is this “choking: ting for real?  If Page and Beck lived with them, why not the rest of the world.  

Love it for chording, nothing feels more comfortable. Choking is a reality if the action is set too low. Page/Beck either had exceptionally well-setup Fenders, or they just dealt with higher action.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a string bender, I have a late 60's strat 7.25 that I bought used as a young man. I gigged with that guitar for decades...  then I got a Charvel with a 12" radius neck. The Fender got a break. The Charvel played easier and had a better whammy. 

Now it's gotta be 12" or compound.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Never had a guitar that shallow.  My first two guitars had a 12" and 16" radii respectively.  I have some PRS with their 10" radius, but that's pretty much as low as I can go. Probably could have when I was younger only because I played at least 2 hours a day.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All my Telecaster are 7.25 and I love them. I think they are comfy to play and fret out while bending has never been an issue for me. It all depends on what kind of action you like, what style you play. Im more of a vintage kind of guy, you may like to run lots of scales and leads. Sometimes a 7.25 for a player like that is like trying to run up and down stairs.  Your just lucky that this is 2021 and the options are plentiful. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never played anything under a 10" radius that I'm aware of. Just thinking about it, it seems like 7.25 would be really comfortable for chording... Especially for arthritic hands. No?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, DaveH said:

it seems like 7.25 would be really comfortable for chording... Especially for arthritic hands. No?

strictly chording, I suppose. anything else, I'm fine with a straight 12". but, the compounds do throw me off a bit since

I rely on specific finger pressure, attack, pick attack that minimizes pain in joints, wrists, carpol tunnel, ulnerve.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im not good enough to care. Only 7.25 i have feels just fine, same as compound and flat.  I think the shape of the neck matters (a little bit) more to me than the radius, fwiw. 
 

but since i suck take my opinions with a grain of salt 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well setup I can deal with a 7.25 but it's not my favorite, I have to work around it. I had a '59 Jazzmaster that was the exception to this, that guitar played fantastic and I honestly never noticed the radius. I've done just about every radius there is including the compound variants, I'm fine with a 9.5, 10, 12, 14 but a 12 is like home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I played them for decades. now, not so much. feels like my (aging) hands are cramped doing certain things, though that may be more to do with the short nut width many F guitar necks have.  I may also be out my mind

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a youngster in the early 60's, the world was arranged thusly: Fender = 7.25, Gibson = 12.  That was it.  I wasn't sophisticated enough (or good enough) to know or appreciate the difference.  But when the time came for me to get my own instead of borrowing friends' guitars or jamming in their basements, the Gibsons just had gnarlier sounding pickups and I adapted to the 12" radius quickly, not even knowing what a radius was.  For a long time, I loved the way a Strat looked and sounded but couldn't seem to get along with the necks very well.

Today I can get along with a well set-up 7.25 or 9.5 but, like Murkat, a straight 12" or higher is what my aging hands like.  When I found the Hamer 14", I didn't even know what the radius on them was but I just knew I could play them better.  All of my Fenders/Squiers/Frankenstrats have 12" radii.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...