OK this is driving me crazy - Do your strings touch the fretboard?

I don't know who here is on Acoustic Guitar Forum but I would really appreciate anyone to lend light to this. I use the same name there as I do here. The gist of it is I find it hard to believe so many do not perceive themselves to be pressing the string onto the wood.

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=382208&page=5

I have indents worn into my old D-25 rosewood fretboard where all the John Prine songs are, LOL. I'm assuming this will take longer to accomplish on my DV-52 ebony fretboard.

I would guess it depends on a few things: how hard you press on the strings, what gauge you use, and how big the frets are.

I have pretty big divots in my D64 ebony fretboard, so I'm definitely pressing into the wood. Too hard, probably - I wish I had a lighter touch.

walrus

walrus said:

I have pretty big divots in my D64 ebony fretboard, so I'm definitely pressing into the wood. Too hard, probably - I wish I had a lighter touch.

walrus

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On the thread someone said that the wear is from the finger and it is between strings. I looked and can't tell on my guitar. The grime will make a pattern between the strings.

I heard those with longer fingernails can wear done the fret board too.

My 45-year old Yamaha FG-110 (my first and only guitar for about 40 of those years) looks like this. The indents, all in the "cowboy chord" positions, are between the strings.

My opinion is worth very little but I have a co-worker who likes to tell me the latest state of the art ideas for shredders (guitar players, not office equipment) and is tech savvy enough to discuss how and why some work.

If the goal is to produce a note with the minimum of movement by the fretting hand, then the ideal is to press the string just enough to stop on the fret but no further. Pressing any further is in some sense unnecessary or wasted effort and the effort of lifting a finger that has hit the fretboard can cause a delay in reaching the next note. So if the goal is speed and movement efficiency then there is room for improvement if the finger hits the fretboard.

For some people with that goal, a scalloped fretboard is sometimes used because that makes it harder to touch the fingerboard while fretting a note.

All that said, it seems to me that touching the fingerboard is only a concern if you are striving for efficiency of movement or speed and that most acoustic players who focus on strumming and chords are not concerned with speed or efficiency.

Edit: It goes without saying that there are combinations of finger size, "fleshiness" and string gauge which will result in touching the fingerboard. But whether a specific individual notices that they do so, or not, or whether they do so or not have more to to with technique than anything else.

Fretboard wear is between the strings:




Although, to truly never have the string hit the fretboard, (and for speed) is why they have scalloped fretboards:

The flesh of the fingertip will be indented as the guitar string is pressed. The nail of the finger will descend toward the fretboard as the tip deforms around the string. The greater the amount of flesh deformation, the further the fingernail descends - potentially contacting or digging into the fretboard. The fingernail contact can be minimized by developing callouses on the fingertips (calloused flesh creates more string-depressing force per unit of deformation) and by cutting the fingernails extremely short on the fretting hand.

Here is a picture of my 1972 D40-12 fretboard before it was reconditioned. I was told this guitar was played by a woman for many years prior to my acquisition. The divots in the fretboard fall between the strings where the fingernails would land.



Al

I have very short fingernials on my fretting hand - it's not my fingernials. I do, however, press down when chording, etc. pretty aggressively - probably why I can't "shred"!

walrus

My vote is for the string, not the finger nail.

I don't have any finger nails long enough to even pick my nose and given the condition of the fret board on a couple of my older guitars I have to go with string as well.

Not the strings!

Look at the photos previously posted and the following photos.

The wear is between the strings.







Further discussion here: http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html/searchthreadgateway.php?topic_number=751289

well, I am changing my vote to Grot. pretty powerful evidence them photos there...i keep my fret hand fingernails short and they do not touch the board at all. maybe it was the bluegrass dude who owned the guitar for its first 41 years

I agree that the wear is between the strings but the strings, if they touch the board, will remove grime from underneath as well. Which they seem to do, at least on my guitar. I still find it difficult to imagine not taking the string down to the board in playing, probably because of my strings, and playing preferences. This doesn't answer the question of how people bend with the string off the board. Could you stick a sheet of paper under your fretted note or chord? I couldn't come close.

I guess I am really asking, not where the wear is, but: Do you perceive yourself to play without string touching wood? Do you try to do this? To a guitar teacher: is there a virtue in it as the "correct" way to play? It is scarcely mentioned in any resource I have looked at. Even a video telling you how to open the box and take it in your hand for the first time doesn't assume that it needs to say that.
DD

DD, If that's what you are asking, I am answering the same way - I absolutely perceive myself to touch the fretboard wood, because I KNOW I do...

I've also never heard of not touching the wood as the "correct" way, except for particular techniques like "shredding".

walrus

walrus said:

DD, If that's what you are asking, I am answering the same way - I absolutely perceive myself to touch the fretboard wood, because I KNOW I do...

I've also never heard of not touching the wood as the "correct" way, except for particular techniques like "shredding".

walrus

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thanks Walrus. YOU are the walrus.

walrus said:

DD, If that's what you are asking, I am answering the same way - I absolutely perceive myself to touch the fretboard wood, because I KNOW I do...
I've also never heard of not touching the wood as the "correct" way.
walrus

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ME neither, and you know what a stickler for ergonomics I am.. :biggrin-new:
I keep my nails pretty short too so my fretboard's divot-less (although yes it got re-planed by a few thousandths on the second fret job), but it's my frets that get all the wear.
Only takes me around 8 or 900 hours to get 'em looking like Jthrel's 12-string's frets.