Fretboard taper

[Dave Bagwill]

See pic. Is that a taper on the fb, and is it something you do?

[Bob Matthews]

Where on earth did you get that picture from? It looks like a mess to me! :D

The treble/top 'e' is set much too far away from the fretboard edge and the bass/bottom 'E' is floating so high that I had to laugh.

As for the taper - I presume you mean across the fretboard - with the bass side being much thicker than the treble? The only thing I can think of here is that the maker wanted the guitar to sound more bassy by using a greater string height at the bridge over the soundboard at the low E and much less height at the treble e.

Personally, I like to try to create a balance across the strings and would not be happy if the guitar was bass or treble heavy and in an ideal world I would like the volume of the treble strings to match the volume of the bass strings. There are many other ways to create a guitar that accentuates either the bass or treble that would suit the player's requirements.

So to answer your question Dave, no, it's not something I do.

Bob

[Tim Benware]

Not me and if I was to use something like that wouldn't you want it to go the other way so the treble would be close and the bass side higher without having to adjust the saddle?

[John Parchem]

On my classical guitars I taper the bass .5 to 1 mm thinner than the treble. To see the opposite is weird, but I would need to see the whole guitar.

[ken cierp]

Ditto -- John seems backwards?

[Dave Bagwill]

I think the angle of the pic through you - and me- off. This guy knows what he's doing. I'm going to contact him about it.

[Dave Bagwill]

Here is the luthier's reply:
"I think this is just an artifact of the camera angle. Both sides of the
fretboard are the same thickness at the end."


So, sorry to go on the wild-goose chase.