What are the advantages of scalloped necks? Forgive my ignorance. I don't know how players even play on a scalloped neck. Do you suppose that someone could tell me how to play on a scalloped neck? Try & take it easy on me. I really don't anything about these necks. Thank You.

Yeah, this is something I would like to know too. I really can't see any advantage to this, it seems the extra effort to play on a scalloped neck would be more trouble than it's worth. Seems like a gimmick more than anything useful.

they are good for high speed tapping but that's about it. I got one on a secondary guitar back around 1986 and it was fun once I got used to it. Very limited application though.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

from my understanding, the scalloped fret board makes it easier to bend strings and control the bending notes. The only player that come to mind using them are Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai (of course Vai plays for Ibanez). I think there are a few modern day shredders usung them as well, and lately, I have been seeing fret boards with scalloping on the upper fret areas only. Other than getting used to the feel, I don't believe there is any special technique to playing them.

Wow. I couldn't have asked for a better group of answers! It's always nice when the feel of a new topic is positive one and nobody tells me how lame I am. There's much that any of us do not know. I (thought) that I read some player discussing his playing only on the frets. This seems almost impossible to be able to do. Again, Thanks. I also think "shred" when I think of these necks. Later.

Forum member, smark, has built and bought several scalloped neck Strats....if you haven't seen his site :


http://marksmitchell.home.mindspring.com/


Blackmore used them too didn't he...and
Zozimo Rech from Astronomusic.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Thanks for the link. Right on.

Scalloped necks take a whole different approach to playing. Playing well with one depends entirely on a feather light touch that I just don't have. I play mostly Blues and Hard Rock and I tend to play with a very heavy hand, both fretting and pick attack. If you can play ultra light strings and lift your fingers no more than 1/8" away from the strings, you might just find them a gift of speed.

Cheers!

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60th Anniversary AD Strat, Deluxe Nashville Tele, Player's P Bass. Mesa/Boogie Mk IV combo, Marshall JCM800, 1960A cab, Genz Benz El Diablo 60, Genz 2x12" cab, too many neat little practice amps and kit projects!

I have never felt comfortable playing a scalloped neck. Just the feel throws me off.

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I love mine to death great for bends and vibrato, much easier to chord bar chords and overall greater control of your strings and sound….Warning if you play very hard kinda style (ala SRV) the scalloped neck is not recommended.


Cheers
Bill

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(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

Ritchie Blackmore has his scalloped which he say's enable's him to get a better grip of the string

http://www.fender.com/news/index.php?di ... rticle=390

I use scalloped necks all the time and you wont find them useful until you use them for a while ... So if you prefer normal necks, use normal necks, if you prefer scalloped fretboards, use scalloped fretboards.

I am not a shredde by any means and I wring my neck (Hehe) like I'm holding a baseball bat ... I play hard, press hard and as Stevie Ray Vaughan said, I play like I'm breaking out of prison ...

You do not need a lighter touch and the only advantage is more string control. Nothing more to it. You can not play faster with it, and unless you use .009's or .008's and press you fingers extremely hard you don't need to have a lighter touch.

Personally I use .011's which are VERY easy to bend on the scalloped fretboard.

ONLY advantage of scalloped fretboard is stringcontrol.
Disadvantages are that you might get you fingers caught/stuck more easily, and that way you can't play any faster than on a normal freboard.

Well .... there is another disadvantage that nobody seems to have pushed yet. Tuning. Scalloped fretboards introduce the possibility of fretted notes being too sharp. I am old school and primarily a blues and classic rock player and I use a heavy hand and I like to really dig in. When I tried a Malmsteen model a few years back I was unable to play in tune except if I played like I didn't care about the music and wasn't putting any feeling into it. I felt that if I played as if I was just going through the motions and not looking for tone (the kind of tone that only comes from hands) then I could play in tune. You know, like an exercise. Like scales. It's hard to put feeling into scales. It's all a matter of opinion and personal choice and I think it's maybe also the chief reason some guitarists hate the tone of your typical shredders. The shredder's tone is typically all in the F/X and little or none in the hands. IMO the hands are what separates the fast players from the great players.

2¢

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

another disadvantage: you also can't use a capo, and at first, Barr chords hurt.

With scalloped fretboards, theres no wood to cause friction with your finger. Hence the ability to bend easier. You must also be accurate when playing.

The only way to determine if a scalloped fretboard is for you is to play one yourself. you can probably pick up a cheap squier and scallop the neck yourself. Don't scallop an expensive guitar because it will make the value decrease substantially.

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1991 MIA Std Strat, Partsocaster, and a Blues Jr.