Topic: Scalloped neck

Found this ad on my local Craigslist:

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/msg/3199395337.html

The question I have is, how does a scalloped neck give the guitar a sharper sound, as the ad states?

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Re: Scalloped neck

What is a scalloped neck? Do they carve out some of the neck like they do with bracing? Also, I can't picture what a scalloped fret would be like.

Re: Scalloped neck

A scalloped neck is a neck with the fret board concaved between the frets like this...
http://jbwid.com/guitar/scal03.jpg

I don't see it giving a "sharper sound" IMO It would require more control as you'd have to be carefull of the prssure applied when fretting or you'd push it out of tune... However ,on the plus side, you could do some neat wobbles and such by just pressing harder and releasing instead of bending... Overall I don't really see it as a plus but to each his own.....

I don't understand his scalloped fret statement at all.   Maybe he means crowning them?? Scalloping them would throw intonation out the window I'd think... You'd be changing the contact point of the string on the fret....

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Re: Scalloped neck

if you play really, really light the scallops supposedly help reduce finger drag and help ya play faster. Unsure how it would impact tonal quality.

Re: Scalloped neck

IDK, at this point my fingers are so rust and disused, ya probaly wouldn't want me yet.  tongue

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Re: Scalloped neck

That's a strange looking neck alright. I agree with a couple of others that intonation might be a problem, but I can't see how it would give it a sharper sound ... unless the ad means "sharp" literally, i.e., pitching notes upward. One would have to be very careful with their finger pressure. It looks like a fair bit of extra work at the build stage, and I can't imagine why it would have been done?

Re: Scalloped neck

from the picture, it looks like the neck between frets look concave as opposed to flat on a normal fingerboard. i would guess that you would need to press harder or you would get string buzz and any neck misalignment would put it out of tune as soon as you started fingering. probably good for slide playing though?

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Re: Scalloped neck

From what I understand the scalloping makes it easier to play lead in the higher frets as it supposedly requires a lighter touch to get the same tone as you would with a non-scalloped neck. I have never heard about it helping the tone, nor have I heard about it affecting the intonation. You don't press down further with scalloping you just don't have the (theoretical) friction of the fretboard when you are doing lead riffs on a scalloped fret. Most scalloping is done from the 12th fret and up but there are some guitarists out there (Malmsteen is one) that has guitars with all the frets scalloped.

Re: Scalloped neck

M.B.two wrote:

What is a scalloped neck? Do they carve out some of the neck like they do with bracing? Also, I can't picture what a scalloped fret would be like.

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