Scalloped Fretboards

[ToothDecay]

What do they do and how are they different from regular? Does Malmsteen use them just to make himself look cool?

[lazz]

[edit] Scalloping

Scalloped fingerboard of Yngwie Malmsteen StratocasterA fretted fingerboard can be scalloped by "scooping out" the wood between each of the frets to create a shallow "U" shape. The result is a playing surface wherein the players' fingers come into contact with the strings only, and do not touch the fingerboard.

The process of "scalloping" a fingerboard well, if done by hand, is tedious work, usually done by careful filing of wood between the frets, and requires a large investment of time. Consequently, it is relatively expensive to have done. Generally scalloping of fingerboards is done by a special milling machine which has 22 or 24 (according to the neck dimensions and number of frets) wood cutting tools. This equipment saves time to the process and dimensional stability like scalloping the wood in the neck's radius same in all fret spaces.

Scalloped fingerboards are most commonly used by shred guitarists, most notably, Yngwie Malmsteen, who, inspired by Ritchie Blackmore (of Deep Purple fame) in his use of scalloped fret boarded stratocasters, had a signature model of Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster developed with Fender. The famous Ibanez JEM series guitars, designed and played by Steve Vai, come standard with the last 4 frets scalloped. In 2008 Ibanez made available their E-Gen model, a Herman Li signature, which includes four scalloped frets (21st to 24th).

[lazz]

[edit] Advantages and disadvantages
The "scooped out" nature of scalloped fingerboards creates a number of changes in the way the guitar plays.

Most obvious, is that the fingertip only comes into contact with the string, not the fingerboard itself, creating less friction for bends and vibratos, which results in more overall control while playing.

However, that is also one of the main disadvantages. Many players, especially new players, may find a scalloped fingerboard to be too different to play easily — if the strings are light for the player and/or the player has the tendency to press too hard on the fingerboard, it does take practice to play in tune on a scalloped fingerboard. The player must first become accustomed to not actually touching the fingerboard, which may take some time. Playing a scalloped fingerboard requires a careful application of pressure: too much can change the pitch of the fretted note, as during a bend, and too little pressure can cause fret buzz. As a result, the majority of guitar players choose to use a traditional fingerboard on their instruments

[AngryHatter]

You can stretch the strings by just pressing down.
It was adapted from the sitar.
John McLaughlin with Shakti in the 80s.
Dailymotion - Mclaughlin Shakti Guitar Demo - une vidéo Musique

[Mongrel]

I used to play a scalloped neck in the 80's, the feel was cleaner, the notes just sounded better, no fretboard drag, some people had a hard time playing it, you could actually slip off a string if you hit it wrong, an easy way to do a fret board is to scallop a few frets everytime you change strings, of course being on the road we changed strings every three days or so.

I have a strat style body and neck I'm scalloping right now.

[GreaseBox]

Where's K-Speed? He had some really good insight on scalloping.

[MRJ5]

Originally Posted by ToothDecay

Does Malmsteen use them just to make himself look cool?

Some insight to that question might be here: DMS - Yngwie Malmsteen

Check out the fourth paragraph.

[kspeed]

lazz had some good quotes up top. From a player's standpoint, it's not for everyone, with the most extreme example being the YJM strat:



The whole damn board is scalloped! From a player's standpoint it can be heaven or hell, and I wouldn't recommend it for new-ish players. If you're used to playing with jumbo or medium jumbo frets it doesn't really feel any different way up the neck - if you have a light touch or use thick strings it's pretty easy to adjust to for solo or single note riffing. Chording is more difficult, though, since it takes some practice to provide even pressure across a single fret with several fingers. And, in general, it takes practice to play in tune from fret to fret since slight variations in pressure can make a note go sharp pretty easily.

From a tech/luthier standpoint it IS tedious work, for sure. You also don't get a second try if you screw it up! I do it by hand with a couple round files and various grades of sand paper. I work from the uppermost frets down - the narrower the spacing the quicker and easier the job, though it starts getting a little trickier around the 12th fret. You want the scallop to be even across the entire fret, and you want the depth to match from fret to fret without going all the way through the inlays or down to the side markers. Rosewood's not too hard to work with. Maple's density makes it a real pain to scallop by hand, but it's kind of a blessing since it's harder to go too deep in a spot.

[gui524]

Is there a LP with a scalloped fretboard ?? I've never seen one ... that would be interesting

[kspeed]

Never seen a LP with one. I've had people ask me about scalloping theirs but they always back out...unlike a Strat or Ibanez you can't just swap out the neck in a minute Plus most of the players who like scalloped necks tend to play anything but LP's.

[terence_tez]

i just started a thread after being inspired by this one.the reason i am interested is because when i first found out about scalloped necks/boards and what they do,i was intrigued.not so much by the fact that they exist itself but rather,from realizing for the first time,the fact that people actually touch the fret boards when they play!!!guess that is why they are also called 'fingerboards'.now,why is that fascinating to me you may ask?because i don't!and i always thought everyone else doesn't!seriously!so,i have a feeling i would really love a scalloped neck,though i never got to try one out...