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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:14 am
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zontar wrote:
They do take some getting used to, and it depends on what you're using them for--personally I like the feel of the fingerboard under my fingers.

Also there were fretted, non scalloped instruments before metal frets. They used tie on frets. Of course the back of the neck was "bumpy"--but it was one way it was done before scalloping.

Many Asian instruments have scalloped fingerboards as well.

Check out this site for more info-

http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/


That's a cool link, some bizarre videos, some quite interesting. Thanks for posting.


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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 8:43 am
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bluestube wrote:
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Strat God

The guitar is a few hundred years old and the lute has been played about twice as long. Before metal frets were developed all of these instruments incorporated a scalloped fingerboard - with the 'point' of wood as the fret. This was the norm for centuries. Obviously, the wood wore out quickly, but while it held it's shape it functioned properly.

Even though most guitarists do not know much about scalloped fingerboards they have been in use far longer than today's flat fretted boards and have been a success far longer than guitars have existed.

At first they will feel wrong and odd, but soon you'll see the merits and huge value of a design that is centuries old. Believe me~ if it sucked nobody would still make them. Once you get comfortable with a scalloped neck, I can almost guarantee you'll never go back to a coventional neck again - really. My main reason is this:

Imagine the control you have when you fret a note and your finger only touches the string as it hovers over the wood like a tight-rope act. Every nuance~ every micro-tonal change from pressure jumps out of your amp. Your level of control is unsurpassed. After you learn how to harness this technique you can play lines and phrases with a style, speed and structure level much higher than you currently play. That means more of "YOU" comes through in your playing.

To me, that's what it's all about - Cool


thats what user Strat God said in another thread....


I've found this old thread about scalloped necks, and read this.

I love reinassance instrument, and what I can say is that they weren't scalloped...at all. They had frets made of guts, and tied at the back of the neck, therefore they could be moved to be intonated. Never seen a lute with scalloped fretboard in all my life and none of the classical luthiers that build lutes today like Anna Radice in Bologna make this.

I know that the story was generated by Malmy, who claimed to have scalloped his Strat after having seen a lute done such a way, but according to my informations actually he took the idea by Blackmore, who took it from some indian instruments.


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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 1:50 pm
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cuthbert wrote:
I love reinassance instrument, and what I can say is that they weren't scalloped...at all. They had frets made of guts, and tied at the back of the neck, therefore they could be moved to be intonated. Never seen a lute with scalloped fretboard in all my life and none of the classical luthiers that build lutes today like Anna Radice in Bologna make this.


Yes, that's what I thought too.

I posted something to that effect on a thread many months ago when Strat God first mentioned scalloped fingerboards on lutes. From his few posts here he comes across as knowledgeable so I'm sure he's got a source for that information. I'd love to know what it is!

Regarding the linked website, http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/ , that's great - thanks for that!

I thought I knew a few off-beat instruments but that site has a shocking/delightful number I've never heard of. My fave is this one:

Image

That's a tanbur from Turkey, apparently. I've been going to Turkey regularly for 25 years yet I've never set eyes on one of those. I bought a (cheap) oud in Istanbul once - which I can't play for toffee. Now I want a tanbur too!

:D - C


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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:33 pm
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Ceri wrote:
cuthbert wrote:
I love reinassance instrument, and what I can say is that they weren't scalloped...at all. They had frets made of guts, and tied at the back of the neck, therefore they could be moved to be intonated. Never seen a lute with scalloped fretboard in all my life and none of the classical luthiers that build lutes today like Anna Radice in Bologna make this.


Yes, that's what I thought too.

I posted something to that effect on a thread many months ago when Strat God first mentioned scalloped fingerboards on lutes. From his few posts here he comes across as knowledgeable so I'm sure he's got a source for that information. I'd love to know what it is!

Regarding the linked website, http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/ , that's great - thanks for that!

I thought I knew a few off-beat instruments but that site has a shocking/delightful number I've never heard of. My fave is this one:

Image

That's a tanbur from Turkey, apparently. I've been going to Turkey regularly for 25 years yet I've never set eyes on one of those. I bought a (cheap) oud in Istanbul once - which I can't play for toffee. Now I want a tanbur too!

:D - C


I personally know Anna Radice, she's a fine luthier in Bologna, makes lutes, 6 double strings until 13:

http://www.annaradice.it/foto/l0609dief1550_85.htm

Very accurate, in Bologna at the Philarmonic Academy they have original instruments and she copied them. As you can see in her website, they all have gut frets.


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Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 4:15 pm
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Ceri wrote:
cuthbert wrote:
I love reinassance instrument, and what I can say is that they weren't scalloped...at all. They had frets made of guts, and tied at the back of the neck, therefore they could be moved to be intonated. Never seen a lute with scalloped fretboard in all my life and none of the classical luthiers that build lutes today like Anna Radice in Bologna make this.


Yes, that's what I thought too.

I posted something to that effect on a thread many months ago when Strat God first mentioned scalloped fingerboards on lutes. From his few posts here he comes across as knowledgeable so I'm sure he's got a source for that information. I'd love to know what it is!

Regarding the linked website, http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/ , that's great - thanks for that!

I thought I knew a few off-beat instruments but that site has a shocking/delightful number I've never heard of. My fave is this one:

Image

That's a tanbur from Turkey, apparently. I've been going to Turkey regularly for 25 years yet I've never set eyes on one of those. I bought a (cheap) oud in Istanbul once - which I can't play for toffee. Now I want a tanbur too!

:D - C


I would be afraid of holding that neck it looks so weak.. it might not be ofcourse but it certainly looks weak :)


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Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:48 pm
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I got the fretboard on my 2002 MIM Strat scalloped for different reasons. Over the years it has become more difficult to do a barre chord. Getting a slight scallop has made it much easier. I also found that it is much easier to eliminate "dead" or buzzing notes. I have rediscovered my love of the guitar and unfortunately haven't gotten my playing abilities in line with my buying.

Have a few photos posted on the guitar portion of our website.
http://www.rickwolf.com/guitar/default.htm
The Scalloped one is the first on the list.
Rick


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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:57 pm
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Strat God wrote:
Before metal frets were developed all of these instruments incorporated a scalloped fingerboard - with the 'point' of wood as the fret.

cuthbert wrote:
I love reinassance instrument, and what I can say is that they weren't scalloped...at all. They had frets made of guts, and tied at the back of the neck, therefore they could be moved to be intonated. Never seen a lute with scalloped fretboard...

Ceri wrote:
Yes, that's what I thought too.


Or that was what I thought - until this evening.

Giving this thread a bump because I've just been re-watching a BBC program about the history of the guitar (in Alan Yentob's Imagine series, for other Britons here) and before my eyes there came on screen a gentleman playing an Elizabethan cittern with a scalloped fingerboard.

The Renaissance cittern was a smallish wire strung instrument (as distinct from the gut strung gittern) and the one on the TV had irregularly spaced frets which obviously would work only for some keys. I couldn't tell what the frets were made of, but the wood in between was definitely scalloped.

Oh we of little faith: Mr Strat God was at least partially right after all.

Mind you, on that Atlas of Plucked Instruments website none of the citterns shown have scalloped fingerboards, so the one I saw is probably quite unusual. And I've seen many lutes and never yet seen a scalloped one.

But the principle has been established! We stand corrected.

Cheers - C


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