Easier bending, and because you need to have a light touch, it might improve your speed over time. Not for me though, I find it impossible to play on :P

Theoretically, if your playing technique is correct, a scallop will improve your playing.

Energy is wasted by fretboards. One needs only to get a string to the fret to make a sound. Any further pushing goes to waste.
Also wasteful is the strength it takes to push the soft tissue of your fingertip into a fretboard --- because the string digs into your finger and therefore hits the board first.

1. I don't buy into the easier bending idea.
2. I only scallop the higher frets where speed is more important.
3. If you are going to do it yourself, buy a First Act to practice.
4. If you aren't at Yngwie-level, its not needed. Most people fall into the 'not needed' category.

Thank you very much for the info. I fall into the category that do not need it.

I think this picture
http://jbwid.com/guitar/scal02.jpg
says a mouthful in regards to wasted energy.
And this website is pretty basic but informative: http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/th...d-fingerboard/


My personal feelings are this:
Based on my playing style, I do not like what I call a scoop style of scallop. Which is what you find being done most of the time. Where the scallop is completely even between frets. It looks like someone just scooped it out, like ice cream. Perfectly centered, perfectly even, perfectly smooth.
My playing style may also be why I do not like the scallop on the first dozen frets.

My first guitar with scallops was a used guitar, so I didn't get to custom order anything.
It had scallops that were not centered, the deepest part was more towards the higher of the two frets. Which, through the years, I hypothesize that it is because as you go higher up the fretboard, you tend to play at more of an angle then straight on which means the part that the finger would be hitting is not in the center, it is closer to the fret.
You can take a look at this picture:
http://209.160.33.72/ds_img_direct.p...&l1=701&l2=582
It is not that good of a picture, but you should be able to see that it is off-center and not overly gouged out. That is a Jackson factory scallop.

I have played other scallops, and I didn't understand why I liked some and didn't like others. But, as I said, through the years, I can only determine that my playing style needs the off-center scallop and only 12-24.




BUT WHAT DO I KNOW. MY FAVORITE GUITAR IS A BOLT ON WITH A JT-6 TREMOLO. AND I DO NOT LOATHE KAHLER.
To some, that means I have very odd tastes.

.....and since human beings have a finite amount of energy, and it's simply not "green" to be wasting it.....yeah.

I just don't buy all this "wasted energy" when playing guitar. Surely no one takes this kind of thing seriously?

And the reason frets are scalloped evenly is so there's the same amount of wood holding each fret, though I don't understand the deep scallops. Just enough to get it out of your way should be enough. I guess if you don't trim your nails....

But when playing at Yngwie speeds, every bit helps. Do you want to press on a string farther and harder than you have too?
And the reverse is true too. Not wasting energy (playing scallops) will help you get to Yngwie speeds by correcting your technique, which will allow for improvement.


My GID Frankenstein is not scalloped, and we all know how much I love that thing.

Thank you everyone for the information it's very cool to be able to ask a question and get a real answer not just a lot of BS

The amount you have to press to fret a note for it to ring clear and mostly intone is the same whether or not the fretboard is scalloped.

If you're not a virtuoso touch, everything will be off.

It will remove the friction between your fretted fingertip and fretboard possibly allowing you to articulate and bend better, but you still need to press the string the with the same pressure.

IMHO, it's not exactly the absence of fretboard friction that allows easier bending, it's just that there's no fretboard in the way. I just found it easier to grip around the string and initiate the bend. Hard to explain, lol.
But again, not for me. My touch is too hard so everything I do is sharp.... and I'm too impatient to learn to have a lighter touch :P

Wow I guess not being able to play I would not have thought that the pressure you pressed the string with would change the pitch but thinking about it mechanically tighter string means different sound.
very cool thank you very much for all the input.