Scalloping Fretboards...

[Thesuperiorjam]

I was thinking about trying to scallop a cheap neck and see if i like the outcome because i'm a big malmsteen fan and i love the vibrato sound he gets, anyway i've got some questions.

First off I'm alittle confused because I have heard people say it makes it harder to play fast and other people say it makes it easier, is it just opinion? different for different people ect.

secondly, i've not got much experience with files, so is it an impossible task i'm setting myself...

any advise?

[solomon684]

I was thinking about trying to scallop a cheap neck and see if i like the outcome because i'm a big malmsteen fan and i love the vibrato sound he gets, anyway i've got some questions.

First off I'm alittle confused because I have heard people say it makes it harder to play fast and other people say it makes it easier, is it just opinion? different for different people ect.

secondly, i've not got much experience with files, so is it an impossible task i'm setting myself...

any advise?

Its supposed to make it easier, because you dont have to use as much energy to play notes, so its easier to play quicker. The reason people say its harder is because Yngwie Malmsteen once said in an interview that scallops make it harder to play, but thats not true. I scalloped an entire fretboard once and I didnt like it, but some people do, so its partly personal preference

Its not too hard, just take your time and be careful. Take off a little wood at a time, because you can always take off more but you cant add it back. You can draw a line on the side of your fretboard for even depth to help you

If linking to other forums isnt allowed, Ill remove this link, but here's a very helpful scalloping thread

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showt...d.php?t=1059109

[WezV]

it certainly can be harder to play. i am sure guitar greats like SRV would have found it impossible to play on scallops - it takes a very light touch and some people will never be able to play in tune that way

I quite like scalloping past the 15th / 17th fret though... its quite easy to control the pressue in this area and you get more of the benefits of scallops. it can also be easily roughed in with a rat tail file before sanding with sandpaper stuck to dowels

[soapbarstrat]

I've had plenty of fun playing a couple I did, but I hate the way it takes a lot of stiffness away from the neck. Where's fret-wire with a 1/8" high crown when you need it ?

There was also the problem with my being a consistency fanatic. I was so worried one scallop would be deeper than another. Got the best of me and I made a custom Dremel base that had a rail that rode in the fret-slots and then I could set the bit a certain distance from the fret-slot and of course set the depth of the cutter. The bit was one of those carbide spike balls. I'm not sure how much I used that set-up, it was so long ago. Must have been as tedious and slow as it sounds. On the other hand, I remember very well, starting many of the scallops with a drum sander on a drill, sacrificing frets in the process. This was before I ever knew about Petillo triangle frets, but I had triangle frets alright. I pulled 'em and refretted of course.

[Tim37]

i did one once with files and sand paper it's prettyeasy but time consuming, but pretty easy what i did was run a piece of tape down both sides of the neck to set my depth (btw you dont take much off at all) then used diffent sized files and rasp to take off the majority then sanded down to 2000 grit. bam done in no time.

[djobson101]

I've never played a scalloped neck, although I've always wanted to, I've heard it's sort of like a different instrument. It can be harder to play certain chords because if you put too much pressure on your fingers than certain notes can go sharp? But I'm sure it's an easy adjustment to make once you get used to it.

[Tim37]

i have heard people say that it actualy made them a better player because you have to learn to put just the right amount of preasure on the strings.

[DarrenD]

In regards to scallops, I would never scallop the whole neck after my experience. It does make single notes easier to play, but chords are difficult and awkward. Scalloping past the 12th or 15th fret I can see because that's where solos take place, but chording on a scalloped neck tastes extra effort, and it gets quite annoying at times. This is because you don't have the wood for supporting the pressure of your fingers.

I scalloped one of my necks using files -- Took forever and was quite tedious. What tools can be used to scallop fretboard (and work the best)?

[Tim37]

i used a cheap set of rasp and files i got form lowes then sand paper wraped around any thing i could find and tones of masking tape you want ot make sure to put a couple of layer on each fret to start and replace often it really helps to protect the frets. btw i think theres a tut on the main page it gave me a bunch of ideas.

i did the whole neck and it just didnt feel right i ended up useing the pickups and some of the other parts of teh gutiar on other projects btw it was one of those dirt cheap deans you see for like 80 bucks live and learn it was fun and i killed a lot of time doing it.

[solomon684]

I've never played a scalloped neck, although I've always wanted to, I've heard it's sort of like a different instrument. It can be harder to play certain chords because if you put too much pressure on your fingers than certain notes can go sharp? But I'm sure it's an easy adjustment to make once you get used to it.

Yea when I scalloped the whole board, it felt really awkward playing chords, and it was kinda difficult. I was never able to get used to it on the first couple of frets

i used a cheap set of rasp and files i got form lowes then sand paper wraped around any thing i could find and tones of masking tape you want ot make sure to put a couple of layer on each fret to start and replace often it really helps to protect the frets. btw i think theres a tut on the main page it gave me a bunch of ideas.

i did the whole neck and it just didnt feel right i ended up useing the pickups and some of the other parts of teh gutiar on other projects btw it was one of those dirt cheap deans you see for like 80 bucks live and learn it was fun and i killed a lot of time doing it.

Yea i just used one round file, and some 60 grit sandpaper, took a while but wasnt too difficult. Masking tape is definitely important cause it can destroy your frets

[soapbarstrat]

Scalloping past the 12th or 15th fret I can see because that's where solos take place,

Ain't the only part of the neck I solo on, but I have to admit, since I've got a lot of the 80's shred playing out of my system, scalloped necks are more unfavorable for me.

I really feel putting the tallest frets on a neck is the best compromise. The weirdest thing for me on a scalloped neck is how the edges of the neck feel, especially under the High E string. On the B through A strings, there's not much of a different feeling between a scalloped neck and a regular neck with the tallest frets. If your fingers ain't touching the board, doesn't matter if the air-space is 5 thousands, or 1/16 of an inch.

On a scalloped neck, I never had much of a problem with strings going out of tune from fretting pressure, I just know not to press harder than needed, same as on tall frets on a regular neck. I think using the fret-board wood as a "stop" to tell you to stop pressing harder is pretty much bad fretting technique on any neck.

What does happen to me on a scalloped neck is I can sometimes bend strings too easily from side to side and I suppose that could cause tuning problems with chords.

For the final sanding of the scallops, my favorite sanding block was an oval shaped BIC lighter, for most of the scallops.