Not all guitar fretboards are flat. Classical-style guitars have flat fretboards, too.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say "it's just the way it was done" and no one thought to change it. That is until recently. I have a GoldTone that has a radiused fretboard and would agree that it is an improvement over the flat fretboard on my old instrument.

Radiused boards, although a minority, are from uncommon.

Almost all "premium" banjos these days come with a radius fretboard. So the premise of this question is a bit flawed.

A banjo fretboard is 4 strings and under 2 inches wide. I figure they aren't typically radiused because at that width it's not really all that noticeable. A guitar fretboard is wide enough that it matters more.

Its a very interesting question. AFAIK up until recently (within perhaps 10 years, all banjo fretboards were flat. That was how they were made in the past, especially the sought after ones like Gibson Mastertones.
I am uncertain when banjos started to be made with radiused fretboards. The first I was aware was Bela Fleck played one. There may have been others before this. Thoughts??

Simple …
Flat fretboards are easier to make.

Did Earl have a radiused fingerboard?
So the obvious answer is, it is not needed :-)

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Originally posted by banjonz

AFAIK up until recently (within perhaps 10 years, all banjo fretboards were flat. That was how they were made in the past, especially the sought after ones like Gibson Mastertones.
 

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Gibson's top tension mastertones made from the late '30s to early '40s had radiused fingerboards.

I don't think there is a conclusive answer to the question other than that's just the way it happened.

On new custom-built banjos? Radiused fingerboards are an option if players choose one.
Player preference really determines the ratio of flat to radiused.

In regard to vintage banjos we've simply inherited past norms and players expectation.

Framus made some of their models with radiused necks, the one I have dates from 1973.

Consider that between the beginning of commercial banjo making in the 1840s and the early 20th century, banjos were primarily designed with gut strings in mind. Are there any traditionally gut-strung (or more likely nowadays, nylon) instruments with a radiused fingerboard?* I can't think of any.

1910s/20s plectrum/tenor banjos were designed with metal strings in mind, but they had pretty narrow necks, so there was minimal benefit to radiusing the fingerboard.

Radiusing banjo fingerboards would seem to come from the steel-string/electric guitar world, although I have no definitive evidence where and when the connection occurred.  

*historically, violin/gamba family instruments used gut as well, but those are bowed, not plucked 

I wish I had one.

I make both and there definitely is more work in making a radiused fingerboard with fanned frets.

I'm wandering if there is anyone making a radiused fretless banjo?

Also a consideration is that in the early days of the banjo (and continuing to this day) many instruments were homemade and so by default simplicity in construction was common, ergo a flat board is much easier to make than whittling out a compound radius.

As an aside:
I own several banjos, two of which have radiused boards. I am also a guitar player so my inclination is to gravitate to an instrument with a radiused fretboard.
A while back I was messing with swapping banjo bridges and tried one of my radiused bridges from Mike Smith on a banjo with a flat board. The sound of that bridge was fantastic and so I left that bridge on the banjo. I also found the banjo much easier to play from picking hand perspective and eventually all of my flat fretboard banjos now wear radiused bridges. It also has made switching between instruments seamless. It’s an interesting concept and I know that others have done this as well.

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Originally posted by JimmyBobby

Howdy, why do guitars have a radius neck and nearly all banjos don’t? I’ve been playing lately on a radius neck and it feels like a cheat code once you settle in

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Ease of manufacturing 

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Originally posted by banjoboyd

Consider that between the beginning of commercial banjo making in the 1840s and the early 20th century, banjos were primarily designed with gut strings in mind. Are there any traditionally gut-strung (or more likely nowadays, nylon) instruments with a radiused fingerboard?* I can't think of any.

1910s/20s plectrum/tenor banjos were designed with metal strings in mind, but they had pretty narrow necks, so there was minimal benefit to radiusing the fingerboard.

Radiusing banjo fingerboards would seem to come from the steel-string/electric guitar world, although I have no definitive evidence where and when the connection occurred.  

*historically, violin/gamba family instruments used gut as well, but those are bowed, not plucked 

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American pattern Spanish guitars, like those offered by Stewart & Baur, Washburn, etc, were often radius.   Well, the term used was "convex fingerboard".  These were gut strung. 

Me speaking personally, I cannot see any advantage to a "convex" fingerboard on a banjo.  But I also don't do the thumb over grip. 
 

I once tryed out a Nechville Phantom with radiused fingerboard and thought it the nicest neck that I had played. I do not know how much that radius contributed but I did like that one sample. (also liked that tunneled fifth)

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Originally posted by sunburst

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Originally posted by banjonz

AFAIK up until recently (within perhaps 10 years, all banjo fretboards were flat. That was how they were made in the past, especially the sought after ones like Gibson Mastertones.
 

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Gibson's top tension mastertones made from the late '30s to early '40s had radiused fingerboards.

I don't think there is a conclusive answer to the question other than that's just the way it happened.

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Ahhh, thankyou. I have learnt something new!

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Originally posted by Joel Hooks

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Originally posted by banjoboyd

Consider that between the beginning of commercial banjo making in the 1840s and the early 20th century, banjos were primarily designed with gut strings in mind. Are there any traditionally gut-strung (or more likely nowadays, nylon) instruments with a radiused fingerboard?* I can't think of any.

1910s/20s plectrum/tenor banjos were designed with metal strings in mind, but they had pretty narrow necks, so there was minimal benefit to radiusing the fingerboard.

Radiusing banjo fingerboards would seem to come from the steel-string/electric guitar world, although I have no definitive evidence where and when the connection occurred.  

*historically, violin/gamba family instruments used gut as well, but those are bowed, not plucked 

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American pattern Spanish guitars, like those offered by Stewart & Baur, Washburn, etc, were often radius.   Well, the term used was "convex fingerboard".  These were gut strung. 

 

Me speaking personally, I cannot see any advantage to a "convex" fingerboard on a banjo.  But I also don't do the thumb over grip. 
 

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This is interesting. Do you have a sense of why this was introduced (or at least popularized) in the US? How was it marketed ("makes barre chords easier to play")?

Flat fretboards must have been the default setting in the old days, as all the old banjo capos I’ve seen are for flat necked instruments. Designed in the era when tenor banjo were the rage maybe?

Don’t go with just a radiused board, it needs a compound radius to be most comfortable and useful. Nechville can help.

I have a compound radius wide neck neck on one of mine. It's a toss up for whether I like the RB4 better or not. Depends on the song.

My first experience into radius happened recently, and was completely uneventful. Ive built several banjo necks, flat, but won’t again after I see how it’s nothing magical, nor time consuming, nor difficult. Same radius block does bridges too, you’d just have to clamp your bridge real good. But, before I tried it, I thought it must be difficult. Nope.

In times past, I reckon that mass-producing flat fretboards was ... faster... easier... and CHEAPER.

Probably still works that way.