scalloped necks

[Charvel3sc]

How the hell do you do that and does it have to be done by a professional?

[usmc50bmgsniper92]

my question is why would you want to do that? what exactly does it do? make it easy to play?

[Cygnus X1]

How the hell do you do that and does it have to be done by a professional?

You should have been in Chat...I just did a whole dissertaion on the subject.
I'm too tired to repeat it now.

Just get one of those knockoff basball bats, and hack away at it.
Stick a piece of concrete reinforcing bar in it for stability.

Seriously, tall jumbo frets work better, and are much more stable.
There are too many downsides to scalloping, in my opinion.

[wanthairspray]

IMO scalloping feels like it kinda "frees you up" when playing. You get no contact with the wood which makes playing feel fun. But aside from feel, your control of vibrato is enchanced, you can bend like crazy.

Here's a scan I made of a small article about it.:

http://nickwellings.bravehost.com/scallop.html

IMO there are zero downsides, and only upsides.


BTW, you CAN do it yourself. I did not have a power tool so I did it by hand. It took two days but it came out OK. Servicable, but not perfect.

pisc here:

http://nickwellings.bravehost.com/scallop2.html

I used this guide:

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/scal1.htm

If I did it again, I would do full depth Yngwie style scallops.

People on Ebay do it for US customers to order.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140166349423

I say, if you are thinking of doing it, find a cheap guitar and go for it!

[Rich#6]

If you get it done only do the lower frets.

[Cygnus X1]

Sorry, I'm biased. I really shouldn't have jumped in.
I haven't done a scallop job, but I have done a lot of neck work.

My advice, if you are going to do it yourself, start with a healthy neck.
It doesn't have to be an expensive one, just make sure it isn't twisted, and the truss works ok. You want your frets to be in good shape, also. A full scallop will compromise the strength a little bit, enough so you might end up doing some fine tuning to the truss after it's done. The joke about a baseball bat is in reference to-I wouldn't do it on a very thin neck.
Rich has a good point. Try it on 12 or 15 through 20+ first. It may be all you need.

[Super_shredder]

IMO scalloping feels like it kinda "frees you up" when playing. You get no contact with the wood which makes playing feel fun. But aside from feel, your control of vibrato is enchanced, you can bend like crazy.

Here's a scan I made of a small article about it.:

http://nickwellings.bravehost.com/scallop.html

IMO there are zero downsides, and only upsides.


BTW, you CAN do it yourself. I did not have a power tool so I did it by hand. It took two days but it came out OK. Servicable, but not perfect.

pisc here:

http://nickwellings.bravehost.com/scallop2.html

I used this guide:

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/scal1.htm

If I did it again, I would do full depth Yngwie style scallops.

People on Ebay do it for US customers to order.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140166349423

I say, if you are thinking of doing it, find a cheap guitar and go for it!

how about chord playing?

[JACKSONFREAK]

with both chord playing and single string runs. You need to be mindfull to not press to hard on the string. Pressing to hard will make you go sharp cus there isnt the finger board there to stop your finger or the string from going farther.
Gil

[Super_shredder]

i play quite lightly so i think i need to try one of these out

[wanthairspray]

how about chord playing?

Chord playing is as normal, I find, although ones with lots of individual string hodling down can be a bit heavy on your fingertips after time, especially starting out. This might be because I did the Rihie Blackmore style scallop, which according to the guide I used makes playing chords not as hard as with a fulll scallop.

Even though I did it to a super cheap guitar I got for £30, I love it, feels great just blazing up and down touching only the strings. I loaded that guitar with HS3s for a Yngwie type tone. Sounds good for a plywood guitar shaped object!

I have to also say that personally I have not had too much of a problem with intonation, but it is true that if you have a heavy touch it might sound bad at first.

Good luck if you decide to convert or try one. Its very satisfying both to play and to do the conversion.

[jwoods986]

Best wishes to you if you want to try it yourself. Here's a guy on the bay that does good work (from the pics and feedback) and is doing it for $99 right now: http://cgi.ebay.com/Scalloped-Guitar...QQcmdZViewItem

Which is a great price for scalloping!

[HiOctane]

I'll just sum up what everyone has said, along with my thoughts:

Scalloped necks allow for easier, smoother and more radical string-bending and vibrato. This is because the wood is basically taken out of the equation; it's more "metal on metal."

The downside is intonation- you have to be more precise, as you can easily pull yourself out of tune if you play too hard. You also lose a bit of the characteristic sound of the fretboard wood.

If you want to check it out, the Fender Yngwie model has a factory-scalloped neck- if you can find one in a store somewhere.

Also, Warmoth offers full-scalloped necks. I have one and it is really nice.

[jwoods986]

Good luck finding an Yngwie model in a store.

Another option is ordering one from MF, music123, etc., and having 30-45 days to try it out. Just an idea.

[thetroy]

Ordering from a place to try it out is the best idea. I think it's silly to have scallops beyond the 15th or 16th fret. The frets are so close together that your fingers never touch the wood when playing that high without scallops...

[toejam]

Rich has a good point. Try it on 12 or 15 through 20+ first. It may be all you need.

Rich said do it on the lower frets, not the higher frets like you're talking about.