Manfred-Klose
whats the odd of this question ever popping up in the forum! this is amazing.
At the moment i am busy scalloping my fretboard, i am first trying it on a crappy guitar, its a win win situation.
"You wont be able to play faster,infact it is hard to play fast at all"-Yngwie Malmsteen.
Scalloping is more about grip, and is hard to get use to, the advantage is that you can get all those wonderful classical sounds an a electric guitar, that ritchie blackmore and yngwie malmsteen vibrato........for example.
i'll post some pics of my scalloped fretboard a bit later.
If you are sceptic about it, get a cheap guitar and try it out, maby it works for you.
Here is a tutorial i followed:
http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/scal1.htm
Manfred-Klose
Here is some pics of my neck i'm busy with, this is a full scallop:
Riaan
Manfred, that's impressive! Yes, Blackmore does have a very distinctive vibrato, I noticed it again earlier this evening while watching the DVD. I imagine playing and getting it right on an axe like this requires perfect control over pressure applied on the fretboard.
Renesongs
Ow, ow, ow, ow - very brave of you Manfred.
AlanRatcliffe
Bugger me. I leave my desk for a few hours and if I don't come back to find this. I should leave my desk more often.
Riaan, I've done two of these for others. Not usually advisable on real skinny necks, as the neck loses a lot of stability.
They are great for bending and vibrato by pushing the strings down into the fingerboard. Blackmore, Malmsteen have been mentioned, but another one is the 13 string acoustic McLaughlin used with Shakti. Also the Ibanez guitars made for Vai are scalloped on the upper frets.
They don't specifically help with speed, but they help you lighten up as you have to to avoid bending every note when you fret it. The lighter playing is conducive to playing faster.
Manfred - Good one. You're braver than most...
Manfred-Klose
It is just an fun experiment i wanted to try.
To think of it, what would the world be like without experiments.........i would call it boring.
Boring people will call it exciting.
So you might as well have fun doing it.
I'll post some pics when i'm finished, i'm constructing a STRAT FROM HELL, i've planned it out in my head, but still need to lay it down.
cain
Looks great. I would like to play on one of these just to feel how it feels man!
Garth-S
Hey Manfred, good one man. I could never puck up the courage to do that. Please do tell how it plays when you are done, I am very keen to know.
Manfred-Klose
cool, i'll record some samples when the guitar is finished, but it is still going to be a while, since work about 30 min a week on the guitar, maby it will be finished before 2010 world cup, just joking, will try my best.
Wessel
Haha you can F@ck up your guitar and then you can help me with my guitar ? If something goes wrong I have another piece of fire place wood laying around(My ritmiller electric) ? I wil donate it to your experiments
Manfred-Klose
Cool i like experimenting with crappy guitars.
Thanks i'll let you know if i wanna try something else.
Malkav
The speed thing is a common misconception, the vibrato thing is true...but the real issue is that once your fretboard is scalloped you have to have a very precise fretting hand if you ever want to play chords in tune again.
Also bear in mind that you don't have to scallop as deeply as malmsteen and blackmore do, a lighter scallop job allows more control of vibrato but also puts less emphisis on fretting technique being perfect and still allows for in tune sounding chords.
AlanRatcliffe
Chad, are you gonna resurrect every older thread on the board all by your lonesome? ?
Malkav
Yes, this is fun ? I'm really enjoying just going over absolutely everything. I mean come on it's a Friday night and I'm sitting here with a cup of coffee, a box of ciggarettes and Neil Zaza's When Gravity Fails album playing in the background, this is officially an addiction ?
deanBailey
Yeah Rusty Cooley Says he chose Dunlop 6000 frets for his signature guitar because it's the biggest frets on the market and obviously raises the strings higher than usual, which in turn is the same/similar as having/to having scalloped frets.
His claim was that when his fingers touched the fret board that it slowed him down, which makes sense in a way.
My friend/Guitar Tech said that scalloped frets also change the sound of a guitar, I've never been fortunate enough to play one but my Brian Fanner custom will have Dunlop 6000 frets and the 20-24 fets scalloped like the 'Jem'.
Malkav
Well 6000 are huge and quite tall and therefore even though the string is higher from the fretboard it is not higher from the frets and in my opinion the higher your action the better your tone so taller frets should allow you to have a nice light action while maintaining a good tone.
However it will be terrible for chord playing so my recommendation would be to go for 6100 (like John Petrucci) in order to achieve a better balance in your technique, or 6105 like Vai and Satch however I find them too thin for my liking...
AlanRatcliffe
I like the width of 6105s, but they are a bit tall for me - I like to feel fingerboard.
I like the tone of thinner frets, but have always been put off by having to refret them every few years. I must try a set of vintage stainless see how they fare.
deanBailey
Yeah I was worried about them being to high, even though I adapt fairly easy, hopefully I'll be able to trial and error these things being a custom ?
Manfred-Klose
cool, i'll record some samples when the guitar is finished, but it is still going to be a while, since work about 30 min a week on the guitar, maby it will be finished before 2010 world cup, just joking, will try my best.
Well seems like i knew myself to well, it is almost the 2010 world cup and i'm still not finished, luckely riaan reminded me in another thread about my unfinished scalloped neck, i finished it know, after not doing much on it for a long time.
Dont have a body for to guitar so i'll construct one out of offcuts.
Really excited to play the damn thing.
Anyway here is the pics:
...a nice sunny day in cape town 8)
arjunmenon
Looks lekker Manfred.
If i may, how did you go about finishing the fretboard after scalloping it?
Thanks.
