Scalloped Fret boards

[DaveH]

These have long piqued my curiosity, never encountered one I could put my hands on though.

To anyone who has one, played one, loves or hates them, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I have a body on the way from Warmoth, and once I decide on this feature I will be ordering a neck. I think I will like a scalloped feet board, but with no experience I’m hesitant to throw out $400-$500 without hearing some first hand thoughts.

[Fast Eddie]

Hey dude, I have two. A Tokai VC75 (27 fret fully scalloped) and a BC Rich ST111 scalloped from the 12th to the 22nd. VV happy with both, it doesn't make any difference to your playing style, if you are light fingered (left hand) then it may be better for you but either way you will feel at home.

[DaveH]

I can see that. I had a similar experience with my first Floyd Rose guitar... I had to adjust my right hand technique to keep from going sharp all the time. So, I'm going to interpret this as being a quirk that I can hopefully integrate into my style.  I went for a Goncalo Alves/Pao Ferro neck, full scallop. Thanks guys!

[DBraz]

I just LOVE scalloped boards.  My Virt plays effortlessly.  

My opinion is the advantage multiplies.  With scallops you have massive grip of the strings allowing crazy vibrato.  This also allows you to set up the strings very low for effortless speed because your fingers don’t slip over the strings for higher register bends.

But...  with heavy hands the advantages apparently disappear and the design can result in notes going sharp as you dig into the scallops.

[Studio Custom]

I have several scalloped fingerboards.  I prefer the first few frets to be non-scalloped such that you can still play cowboy chords without much fear of going out of tune. 

[Studio Custom]

 

Like so.

[DaveH]

Yes. And your for sale ad kills me whenever I see it.