fret scalloping?

[tomg666]

ok i have a tele im redoing i know what scalloping is as ive seen ywngie malmsteems strats but ive never playe don a scalloped fretboard first of all what kind of difference does it make and secondly once youve used a file on a rosewood fretboard that is really dark in colour wont there be scratches and how do you return it to its original colour basically would it be worth doing?

[LewsTherin]

scalloping offers a different feel, plus it changes the way you do vibrato/bending.


theres a tutorial here:
http://projectguitar.com/tut/scal1.htm

[moghes69]

just use some lemon oil to get the rosewood to look darker and fuller.

[semi]

scalloping will not make you play faster. it will teach you to press more lightly as pressing hard will make the string go out of tune. this in turn will get you used to pressing for a shorter ammount of time improving your playing and speed. it will allow for better bends and vibrato also. if i were you i would try it out first and see if you like it.

[WindowLedge]

Yeah my first reaction when I played a scalloped board was "OMG how do you slide on this thing". Play a bunch of scalloped guitars to make sure it's what you want before you do it.

[Sir_Robert]

where would i be able to pick up a file to use?

[LewsTherin]

where would i be able to pick up a file to use?

stewmac.com

any decent woodworking shop.

[I_go_by_mikee]

i just recently made my ibanez's frets scalloped towards the end.

i made a thread in the guitar forum.

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=469604

[Sir_Robert]

did you put any type of finish on it when you were done? or just leave it?

[mnemonic]

if your doing a maple fretboard, your supposed to put a finish over it, but you dont have to on rosewood, or ebony

[AG]

I used a rasp with a second level file. I wouldn't recommend using a bastard cut.

[CCR90]

If you are going to do your whole freboard, using a file on the lower frets will take a hella long time. I'm scalloping one of my old gutiar necks and is it ever taking long.

What should I finish the neck with since it's maple?

[LewsTherin]

If you are going to do your whole freboard, using a file on the lower frets will take a hella long time. I'm scalloping one of my old gutiar necks and is it ever taking long.

What should I finish the neck with since it's maple?

i think it says in the tutorial from projectguitar i posted.

[Darsh]

I used a rasp with a second level file. I wouldn't recommend using a bastard cut.

When I scalloped my bass, I used a file with a bastard cut for roughing it out, than finished it with sandpaper. I guess using a finer file would save some time though.

if your doing a maple fretboard, your supposed to put a finish over it, but you dont have to on rosewood, or ebony

On my rosewood fretboard, it drastically lightened the color, so I would definitely put some kind of finish on it.

[CCR90]

Oh, well I'll check projectgutiar again then.

I'm using a big rough bastard file right now to get the lower frets and then I jsut use a smaller finer bastard file and that takes a lot of work out instead of using a small round file lol.

[Peg Dizzler]

Personally, I find that buying a bunch of different sized wood dowels and some sandpaper is better. It seems to be faster that way. Even more so, if you have a good variety of dowel sizes, the scallops will look more even, instead of using a file or two on all of them.

[mnemonic]

On my rosewood fretboard, it drastically lightened the color, so I would definitely put some kind of finish on it.

it might not have been very dark rosewood, it seems to be a comon practice to rub dye into the fretboard to make it darker. gibson does it.

also, if its really dry, lemon oil helps

[CCR90]

Personally, I find that buying a bunch of different sized wood dowels and some sandpaper is better. It seems to be faster that way. Even more so, if you have a good variety of dowel sizes, the scallops will look more even, instead of using a file or two on all of them.


I'm finding that the 2 different files are working fairly well. But I am having a hard tiem trying to keep a certain depth, not that tit really matters on teh neck I'm doing. But hey, for a first timer, it's not as bad as that one pic that floats around.

[CCR90]

Here's an almost finished job. It looks really bad but it's just the lemon oil I put on the fretboard

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/CCR844/DSCI0440.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/CCR844/DSCI0443.jpg

This is what I started with.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/CCR844/1.jpg

[Az_Holl]

Has that got a zero fret?

[Belfast Bassist]

Has that got a zero fret?

Yep.

CCR90: do you find the zero fret makes much difference?

[CCR90]

You know, I don't think it really makes a difference.

[moghes69]

Here's an almost finished job. It looks really bad but it's just the lemon oil I put on the fretboard

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/CCR844/DSCI0440.jpg

This is what I started with.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/CCR844/1.jpg
i can't believe a rosewood fretboard got that light after you sanded it.

[CCR90]

Um ya, not rosewood, maple like markered or soemthing lol with some crappy plastic binding on the neck.

[LewsTherin]

"ebonized" maple, perhaps?

[CCR90]

possible, doubt it but who know's,70's beginner guitar.

[LewsTherin]

its not that uncommon.

alot of lower-end instruments (esp orchestral strings) have maple fingerboards that have been dyed black so they look like the traditional ebony.

[Sir_Robert]

ok so im gunna be scalloping prolly the last 4 or maybe 6 frets on my guitar this weekend. im using a 1/4 file and then some sandpaper to finish it off (maybe 600? i dno how fine i would need to go. can any help me out here?) also then im going to use some lemon oil on the fretboard and polish the frets. so to my question, is there anything else i should be doing to the fretboard once im done with all this? or is it ok to just leave it as is?

[I_go_by_mikee]

i wanna get an eboyn stain for it.

but i dont mind how it is now.

[Akira]

http://www.shredaholic.com/images/m4448307-3012.jpg
[/Mandatory Scallopwn3d pic]

[CCR90]

Took alot longer then I thougt it would for someone to post that pic. Honestly though, how the hell do you do such a bad job unless you use a dremel and are a complete idiot. If you can pick up a file and move it back and forth you should have no problem.

lol, it almost reminds me of like play-doh or something.

[LewsTherin]

Took alot longer then I thougt it would for someone to post that pic. Honestly though, how the hell do you do such a bad job unless you use a dremel and are a complete idiot. If you can pick up a file and move it back and forth you should have no problem.

lol, it almost reminds me of like play-doh or something.


/is using a dremel

/isnt an idiot

/has done a pretty good job of scalloping his frets so far

[CCR90]

What type of bit you using on your dremel? Are you using a rotary tool? The only way with mine is to use a smal sander on it and it's like 1 cm big.

[LewsTherin]

What type of bit you using on your dremel? Are you using a rotary tool? The only way with mine is to use a smal sander on it and it's like 1 cm big.

im using the smallest sanding bit they have, its like .5cm wide. im scalloping my bass, and it fit perfectly in ther 20th fret (the highest one i have).

[CCR90]

Ahh, I see now. Does scalloping really make a diff on bass? I mean most of the time when I play with my bass I'm not really using the higher frets.

[Guitar_fool202]

is there a tutorial to scallop the higher frets on a bass?

[CCR90]

There's a tutorial on project gutiar for the higher frets on an electric but it would be teh same for bass.

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/scalloped.htm

[Sir_Robert]

so i scalloped my fretboard yesterday and just got some pics up. i just used a file and then sandpaper. worked pretty well

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=471430