Anybody Here Have Scalloped Frets?

[Piing]

If your not sure the Warmoth scalloped neck is excellent .

The scalloped Warmoth is absolutely excellent. I borrowed a Fender Yngwie several weeks, and I would never trade my Warmoth for an Yngwie

 

[Devin]

Me and a buddy scalloped the fretboard on his old cheap Ibanez RG

We both found it to be completely pointless lol, but it makes for a cool conversation piece I guess

 

[hemmelight]

The last four frets on my old RG550 were scalloped by the previous owner, to match the JEM I suppose.

It was actually pretty helpful for bending up there, but the frets were already jumbo so not sure if it made a huge difference.

 

[Eagle]

It does help though.

The last four frets on my old RG550 were scalloped by the previous owner, to match the JEM I suppose.

It was actually pretty helpful for bending up there, but the frets were already jumbo so not sure if it made a huge difference.

 

[Eagle]

Me and a buddy scalloped the fretboard on his old cheap Ibanez RG

We both found it to be completely pointless lol, but it makes for a cool conversation piece I guess

I can't understand why 500% better grip on string articulation is pointless?

 

[Speedyone]

I scalloped four of my guitar necks.

It makes bending/vibrato an absolute dream.

BUT,

It feels REALLY weird to do legato and tapping on.

Also, it makes playing “sliding notes” ala Joe Satriani’s “Always With Me, Always With You” difficult.

For these reasons, I no longer do full scallops on my guitars.

I may do just frets 21-24 on my most recent guitar, but I’m undecided.

Contrary to popular belief, a scalloped fretboard does NOT make it easier to play fast. If anything, it makes it harder.

When I’m playing REALLY fast, it helps me to feel the fretboard a tiny bit under my fingers.

There’s a difference between Yngwie level fast and Shawn Lane level fast; to play as fast as humanly possible I think scallops just hinder that ability.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I don't even scallop potatoes

 

[Eagle]

I scalloped four of my guitar necks.

It makes bending/vibrato an absolute dream.

BUT,

It feels REALLY weird to do legato and tapping on.

Also, it makes playing “sliding notes” ala Joe Satriani’s “Always With Me, Always With You” difficult.

For these reasons, I no longer do full scallops on my guitars.

I may do just frets 21-24 on my most recent guitar, but I’m undecided.

Contrary to popular belief, a scalloped fretboard does NOT make it easier to play fast. If anything, it makes it harder.

When I’m playing REALLY fast, it helps me to feel the fretboard a tiny bit under my fingers.

There’s a difference between Yngwie level fast and Shawn Lane level fast; to play as fast as humanly possible I think scallops just hinder that ability.

You get used to playing fast on them.

 

[the-trooper]

You get used to playing fast on them.

Everyone are not the same. What works for you may not work for others, and the other way around.

 

[Eagle]

Everyone are not the same. What works for you may not work for others, and the other way around.

Anyone can get used to them and they have empirical advantages beyond tall frets . I think most are put off because you need to own one and play it non stop for at least a month to give it a try. Remember my job is making these things work for everybody . Often things that people think to be personal preference are actually not, they have just got used to something and stayed with it because they didn't get a proper opportunity with something ergonomically or just functionally better. Because it felt different they stayed with what they where used too. Like small frets, 7.25' radius, relief more than a hair ,all these things are ergonomically and functional inferior .It's not a matter of opinion.

 

[Eagle]

Smooth and fast.

 

[the-trooper]

Anyone can get used to them

Anyone can get used to anything, doesn't mean it's the right thing for them. Objectively.

 

[Blix]

I have a 1988 YJM, a partso with an Allparts scalloped neck, and a couple I’ve scalloped myself. Love the feel! I scalloped my first neck when I was like 15 and been loving it ever since.
And nope 6000 frets doesn’t feel the same at all.
I had 58118’s installed on my Edwards LP but would prefer scalloping too.

 

[Coalface1971]

Smooth and fast.

Thanks Eagle.

Man, he's still got it!

Love the economy picking. People say "oh, he's so effortless". But that's the idea - the pick never has to leave the strings like with alternate picking. Maybe I spent too much time out at Troy Grady's site.

Even when I saw him live years ago, what surprised me was how "softly" he played. Except during the moments with the big chords punctuated with the Karate kicks.

Though even as a fan of his early stuff (man, his tone), I have to get this off my chest:

Yngwie's predominant use of that technique locks his lead playing into a "sameness" often associated with the YJM sound. Economy picking requires everything is prefab. There is never any light and shade - you know what's comin'. The triplet Paganini lick down one string, the diminished triad sweep thing, and the rolling Harmonic Minor/Phrygian Dominant scale runs.

Reckon that's why there were a million clones that could sound just like him - not to say it's easy, but it's technically achievable.

Whereas say, even though anybody could finger-tap with a little practice, there are very few players out there who could cop EVH's feel, timing, swing and phrasing, or rhythm playing (especially). And I might add, write a good song

Frank Gambale comes to my mind here - master of that technique, but also of others. But has musicality - the music transcends the technique.

 

[Eagle]

Your wrong about economy picking because if you wrote your own pieces you would have baked that in and in practice you just add a legato note here and there to make it flow. I play the same way and was doing it long before I even thought about picking. The thing that confused me before I started to analyse it was I couldn’t feel comfortable playing some easy lines that everyone else could but I could play very complex ones picking every note at speed with ease. I know now why but not back in the 80s when I was doing it.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Yngwie's predominant use of that technique locks his lead playing into a "sameness" often associated with the YJM sound. Economy picking requires everything is prefab. There is never any light and shade - you know what's comin'. The triplet Paganini lick down one string, the diminished triad sweep thing, and the rolling Harmonic Minor/Phrygian Dominant scale runs.

UNBELIEVABLE! YJM SLOWS DOWN AND PLAYS BASIC BLUES PENTATONIC RIFFS in a video from NAMM '09!! It actually pleasing to the ears!

WHY OH WHY doesn't he do more of that??? The constant blistering shred just gets so tiresome. To me. YMMV. Yada Yada.

 

[Whizzinby]

I didn’t even realize this was a thing.

 

[AutomationBias]

I'm going to see Shakti this fall for their 50th anniversary tour, and I got curious about the scalloped guitar with drone strings that Abe Wechter made for McLaughlin. Apparently McLaughlin loaned it to someone in the late 70s and it came back in unplayable/unrecoverable condition. About 8 years ago he commissioned Mirko Borghino to make a new one, and Borghino is now making them on a limited basis. The regular model is $13k (which is not totally unheard of for a high-end acoustic), but the "deluxe" model is a whopping $42k.

 

[Coalface1971]

UNBELIEVABLE! YJM SLOWS DOWN AND PLAYS BASIC BLUES PENTATONIC RIFFS in a video from NAMM '09!! It actually pleasing to the ears!

WHY OH WHY doesn't he do more of that??? The constant blistering shred just gets so tiresome. To me. YMMV. Yada Yada.

Still one of the most revolutionary and influential rock guitar players ever. Mentioned earlier that I saw him live, could have been 2006 - he was on fire too - for the first few songs, it was surreal, but I couldn't make it through the whole show. Admit the same with Satriani twice (full show was a bit much). Made it through Vai with G3, all the same.

Like these guys best working within the confines of a normal band.

As the video suggests, these guys are not likely showing everything they've got.

Though at the end of the day everybody has bills to pay, and nobody turns up to watch Yngwie play blues. He knows where his bread is buttered.

 

[Coalface1971]

Sorry for the off-track on the thread, lads.

I've liked every scalloped axe I've tried, but use Wizard necks on everything, so always was worried about effects on stability.

An interesting variation tried once was a semi-scalloped guitar, that had only the treble side done.