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Comments
I believe this is as a flatter board is less prone to choking bends.
Some makers add fall away into the fingerboard ( you can get a PRS to have super low action without it choking in bends and they have 10" radius, but try that with a Fender) so you can't always compare specs like for like.
I have a few guitars with a 20" radius, and when jumping from the A string to the B string it's nice to not have go over a hill, but my ce24 with the 10" plays just as well.
I would like to try the Shawn Lane Viger without a radius , tho.
the overal action needs to be higher on a tighter radius for bends, but this is seperate to the point in the first paragraph
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The key point here is @Collings’. If the radius is too small then bends on the higher frets will choke. The exact numbers depend on geometry: the radius, how high on the string you’re bending, how far you’re bending, and how high the action is.
On the other hand some people find it harder to hold down chords on flatter fret boards. There are guitars which use compound radius, eg 9.5” at the nut and 12” at the 12th fret, to get the best of both worlds.
I've read that you can get a 1.5mm action on the high e at the 12th fret on a vintage 7.25" radius neck so i presume on a 12" radius vigier you could get it lower.
It's a bit of a pain trying to find a high radius neck guitar with stainless steel frets and a 2 post non locking trem. Seems to be either expensive boutique guitars or kiesel/warmouth customs. None of them cheap!
I can get 1.5mm at the 17th on my P bass - it has a vintage 7.5mm radius board..
I doubt many bend their low Es that regularly, so the action height is about fret rattle. With a low E around .46, it's the same as the high G on a bass (.45 typically)
I can happily have a 105 E on most of my basses sitting at 1.5mm action and have practically no buzz.
Bending aside, the lower strings often have a slightly higher action to cope with buzz. I'm thinking it's more to do with the right hand technique and how much a string vibrates on guitar compared to bass.