scalloping a neck, it's seems to be working

[Hink]

Okay, taking Greg's wise words and the fact I am a trained machinist I have decided to scallop a neck myself. When I worked in retail the boss gave me this Ibanez guitar...the whammy was micky moused in place, the neck had wood filler on it and he figured it was worth nothing (came in a lot, we often bought lots of used instruments). The body isn't in bad shape, but I have this cool ESP body from back when ESP was just parts (about 20 years old). About 5 years ago I gave an old zoom (one with the real glass on it) processor to a friend. In return he painted he body...so what you see is the Ibanez neck on an ESP body (single humbucker) with a cool thin downed heel joint....so I figure if I try to scallop this neck and screw it up, nothing lost..





the second picture shows the heel joint.

I'm gonna use a dremmel (rotary tool) with sanding barrels using pictures from warmoth, Ritchie Blackmores strat and Malmsteens. To maintain cosistancy I'm gonna us vernier calipers. I figured the valley of the scallop can flat across. I can't say how long I'm gonna take and might stop at the 12th fret (scalloped from 12 up) if it gets too much...for the pic I just slapped the neck on..if I screw it up I'll buy a neck from Warmoth...

[OzoneJunkie]

I scalloped a neck by hand. Sandpaper and dowels. Yes, it takes a while, but it works. Me and my friends use to have neck scallop get togethers. "What you doing tonight? Wanna help me scallop my neck?" Drink beer, and scallop. One person starts at fret 1, other at 12, and work in the same direction. Yep, was the 80s (late), and yep, guitar geeks.

Anyway, my newest guitar is not scalloped, but I still prefer a scalloped neck over a non. I like the feeling of just string under my fingers.

[P.T.]

I could never understand how it could be possible to play in tune with one. I have never tried one.

[OzoneJunkie]

If you press down hard on the strings, you will go out of tune. I prefer lighter gauge strings, low action, and a light touch with minimum finger movement when playing. If you use only enough pressue to press the string against the fret, it won't go out of tune.

[ew]

Yeah, that's always been my problem with scalloped necks. I play hard and like a medium high action, so scalloped necks just don't work for me.

An old friend of mine plays a fretless guitar; he pulled all the frets and epoxied over the board years ago. He's got it set up as a synth controller, and he can play in tune that way . If I play his guitar, I sound like a pterodactyl getting run over by a semi...

ew

[Hink]

I scalloped a neck by hand. Sandpaper and dowels. Yes, it takes a while, but it works. Me and my friends use to have neck scallop get togethers. "What you doing tonight? Wanna help me scallop my neck?" Drink beer, and scallop. One person starts at fret 1, other at 12, and work in the same direction. Yep, was the 80s (late), and yep, guitar geeks.

Anyway, my newest guitar is not scalloped, but I still prefer a scalloped neck over a non. I like the feeling of just string under my fingers.

well basically I'll do it like you but with power tools...I have tons of dremel tools for my dremel and about 5-8 different barrel sizes for sanding barrels, the smallest is about an eigth of an inch...this is more an exercise in can I do it...take an old body, the neck of of a cheap guitar and amke something cool of it...that body got painted in '00 so it's about time I do something with it...if nothing else I'll just get a warmoth neck, which is what it had back in the day...fun winter project...

[OzoneJunkie]

Yeah, man, have fun Don't sweat it, it doesn't have to be perfect, basically just looking to get the wood out of the way (insert anti c@ck-block joke here), and yer good to go.

btw, Hink, how's life? You doing better?

[Hink]

Yeah, man, have fun Don't sweat it, it doesn't have to be perfect, basically just looking to get the wood out of the way (insert anti c@ck-block joke here), and yer good to go.

btw, Hink, how's life? You doing better?

of course, life isn't bad or hasn't been bad, left me with a few hurdles it did, but that's life......my wifes boss realized he made a mistake and she's back to work, I got another grandkid coming in the spring and dad?

Well, the hell with what the rest of the world thinks, it's my call and if no one likes it...tough, it's my name on all the paperwork and I'm the only one left...though my family says that taking dad in and taking care of him would be a ton of stress on me (that I really dont need) I have decided that the stress that the guilt of not being there would cause would be worse...my mom who matters not in this case (my parents split in '72) isn't too happy that I said I would rather die taking care of dad then live with never trying...it's not easy transitioning roles, and it is a complete role reversal. But he is the greatest man I know, I must honor him first and carry on the family tradition so I can live (and die myself oneday) with pride and dignity...so I'm doing great...but thanx for asking...

my biggest wish is that none of you ever have to face this...

[Karbon L. Forms]

Whats this scalloping guys?

Scooping out the wid twix the frets?

For why?

[Hink]

Whats this scalloping guys?

Scooping out the wid twix the frets?

For why?

Faster playing
Smoother note bending
Less stress on fingering hand
Cleaner, clearer notes
More responsive hand-tapping
Easier sweep arpeggios
Better trills and hammer chords
Quicker pull-offs
Opens new sounds and techniques, semi-tones, bending whole chords minor thirds, etc

[Karbon L. Forms]

mental

more of a "wanky" thing then? (no offense )

so do your hingers not touch wood then?

are they manufactured at all?

sounds good for blusey maybe.

[OzoneJunkie]

Cool, Hink, glad things are better, glad your wife is back to work. And, you're an upstanding guy to take your dad in and care for him. Much respect.

@Karbon: for me, a few of the benefits that appeal to me are:
fingers only touch strings (and frets while sliding) - I like that feel. You can get a similar feel with a neck that has high frets. But I prefer low frets like a Les Paul. So, for low profile frets, scalloping is the way to go if you like the feeling of fingers-on-strings-only.
requires lighter touch, so teaches lighter touch
quarter-tones, etc. - playing around with that type of thing

[Hink]

mental

more of a "wanky" thing then? (no offense )

so do your hingers not touch wood then?

are they manufactured at all?

sounds good for blusey maybe.

yes they make scalloped necks, warmoth scallops necks upon request...and two guitarists off the top of my head that use scalloped necks are Malmsteen and Blackmore...I don't see it as a "wanky" thing anymore then switching over to active electronics. I wouldn't want all my guitars scalloped, but after all these years something new and unique like this would be fun. Furthermore as a craftsman I can take extreme pride in a major alteration/modification done well, as well as benefit from the things I will learn along the way...

[Hink]

Okay, so I got out my rotary tool just to give it a quick go, but nothing to serious...just to get a feel. Here's the tool I will use,


if I ever found myself doing this for customers I would use a flexible tool on the end of a goose neck device (a larger version of the dentist drill)

That's the largest drum, so I did a rough cut (about a minute of time tbh, didn't want to go too far)...here's the results of just a test...I figure with my dremel I could do the whole neck in a day.



you see I tried the fret with the putty on it and that's the high side (though it might not look it) so I have room to get rid of the rest. Precision around the frets so I don't affect the integrity of the frets "anchors" will be the hardest part...

[kaden]

Man, getting a consistent,usable result with a dremel is gonna be a challenge. If you can figure out a jigging system for repeatability, it might be possible, but I'd be looking at dowels and sandpaper if I were you...there's not *that* much material to remove. 60 grit should get you in the ballpark in about 5 minutes per fret.

If you have a drillpress, there's useful bodge that would do the job, but a dremel? Cripes...I wouldn't try it, and I likely have more hours logged using a dremel than the rest of KVR put together.

Good luck though... full props for the DIY spirit.

K