Conference napalm::guitar

    Dave,
    
    	Was it a Schecter? I played a Schecter several months ago which
    was made to Malmsteen's spec's. I too noticed the heavier strings,
    great for speed licks. At first it was uncomfortable,but I got use
    to it. I liked it also,but felt it was application dependant and
    I wouldn't use it all the time. I tried again after they put lighter
    gauge strings and found it to be even better. The price was high....
    
    						Rick
    

    No it belonged to the guitar repair guy, he had done the scollaping
    himself the neck was off a G&L, the body was some sort of strat
    copy, two humbucking pickups and a kahler tremelo...
    
    It was a real neat feeling guitar...I'm thinking of building one
    just to have around....as if I need another guitar...I need six
    more or ten...oooorrrr....
    
    dave

    Dan Erlewine(sp)had an article in Guitar Player mag about having
    this done and the pro's and con's. I'll see if I can findout which
    issue(in the last year) it was in. for those interested.....
    
    					Only ten more?

    Is there anyway you could send me a copy?
                             
    ASO/4AC Dave Bottom
               
    thanks
    
    dave

    Hi Dave,
    
    	The check is in the mail...:^) For those who are interested
    it's in the November 86 issue(which features John Abercrombie)
    
    							Rick
    

    Rich, found the article on my desk this morning..many thanks.
                                  
    I played the one I mentioned in the first note again this weekend.
    It's neat but I'm trying to decide if I really want one....since
    it would require the purchase of a new neck I'd be more likely to
    build a kit guitar using a scalloped neck than modify my strat.
    I had inteneded to build a guitar (or six!!) this year anyway....decisions
    decisions...
    
    I do know they are faster and smoother. Some of the other techniques
    he mentions in the article like sweeping arpeggio passages soudn
    interesting....perhaps it's back to try that also...I'm lucky in
    that I have one to try locally.....
                                                 
    dbII

    
    Hmm, all this about scalloped necks has my interest.  Imagine being
    able to play faster!!  I only have guitars with neck thru the body
    design, so I'm a bit leary of doing anything at this moment.  Maybe
    I can find a cheap strat to hack up?!
    
    dbII, where did you say they sold those scalloped necks? (In nowhere,
    Maine, right?? sheeesh!)
    
    wjb

    wjb nope...it's in Ohio, Stewart McDonald's supply house...it's
    in the note on mail order places...seems like they wanted $162.50
    for them....they come in maple or rosewood although I can't imagine
    what difference that makes other than looks..
    
    I'm getting very tempted by one at this time...good thing I'm broke..
    
    dbII

    
    Hey, dbII, I know what cha mean about being broke!  $162.50 isn't
    *that* bad for a neck, if its a *good* neck.  Then again you would
    need tuning gears for the thing which would bring the price up too
    around $190.00.
    
    wjb
    
    ...and hey, no offense on the Nowhere Maine comment.  I go to Maine
    alot . . . just never to play guitar! ;^)
    
    

    Dave,
    
    I seem to remember reading in GP some months ago an aritcle regarding
    an artist referencing Yngwie Malmsteem and his use of a scalloped
    neck. The artist hinted at a possibility of tendonitis when using
    a scalloped neck and switched back to a standard neck. I don't 
    know if this is true, I am just passing along the info. I will try
    to find the article for your reference. Again, I don't know if it
    is true or not, if anyone has an expert opinion or whatever, please
    comment.
    
    Tony

    Hey wjb no sweat...Nowhere Maine is north of here....and it's like
    nowhere man....fishing this time of year is for those who get their
    kicks drilling holes in the ice and waiting for the flag...I have
    trouble getting my fly cast into the hole and even if I do the fish
    never seem to notice....I record in the winter and tie flies...if
    youever want to flyfish with a rocker.... 
    
    yeah 162.50 + ~30.00 for tuners and of course the nutlock.....another
    10.00 or so...
                                             
    I do have plans to build an axe up from kit parts....I'm considering
    the scolloped neck.....
    
    Re: -.1 If you can find the article I'd love to read it, tendonitus??
    Hmm...
    
    dbII
    

    
    I had heard that Malmsteen got his tendonitis from not warming up
    before shows and then going out on stage and playing the stuff he
    does.
    
    Oh well, the price for speed.
    
    wjb

    I'd be really interested in trying out a scalloped neck.  Do any
    of the major companies make one?  I don't know any repair people
    around...so I'd like to find something at the local music store.
    
    I'm located in Colorado Springs so stores in New England that have
    something probably won't be too helpful (no trips out scheduled).
    
    I'm also thinking of building up a nice electric from kit parts and
    hate to spend 162.50 (or whatever) on a neck only to find I can't stand
    it!
    
    Appreciate any info.
    
    Thanks,
    Greg

    To my knowledge no major manufacturer makes guitars that offer the
    scalloped neck as an option, I've never seen a new guitar with one
    on it, but I've only seen one anyway and that was an old strat with
    a g&l neck that had been scalloped out by it's owner...
    
    dbII

    	I have tried Schecter Ym-1 which comes stock with a scalloped
    neck so you might try finding a Schecter Dealer.
    
    
    						Rick
    

    I thought I read in GP a few months ago that Fender was selling
    a "Yngwie Malmsteen" model production strat with a scalloped
    fingerboard. I think its list was considerably over $1000.
    
    -Dave

    
    Ibanez has been producing all sorts of wild prototypes lately and
    a lot of them have scalloped boards on them.  I'd be inclined to
    believe that you could order one from them scalloped.  The only
    production guitar of theirs I know of is the Steve Vai model which
    has the last 4 frets of a 24 fret fingerboard scalloped. 
    
    wjb

    I just got a catalogue from Stewart McDonald's yesterday that lists
    a scalloped neck. I don't remember the price, but I believe it was
    a standard strat replacement.
    
    - Ram

   Ok Ok Ok...
    
    I never heard of such a thing as a Scalloped neck until reading
    this note. Potatos yes, necks no. Could someone please tell me
    what scalloped necks are, why they are good, what one would do
    with it, why they are bad etc.
    
    Dave.
    

     
    Re. 19
    
    Ok, when you scallop a neck, what you do is remove the wood between
    the frets.  A messy but effective way would be to take a curved
    wood file and just file away until their was about 3/32" from the
    top of the fret.  Its basically the same idea as putting really
    high frets on a guitar.  The pros: since your finger never touches
    the wood of the guitar (just to the fret), you can play faster with
    less effort.  Also string bending is easier (for obvious reasons)
    and you can get a wider range of vibrato effects.  The cons:  somewhat
    weakens the strength of the neck from loss of wood.  You have to
    take the inlays out to scallop, and then re-inlay (not a big prob
    with dot inlays, but more of a hassle with gibson/jackson-type inlays).
    Also might be harder on the resale of an instrument. 
    
    wjb

    Re. 20
    
    Would it really lessen the strength of the neck?
    I mean,you're only "scalloping" the fret board,which is adheared
    to the neck right?
    

    
    Re. 21
    
    Well, consider a maple neck...it doesn't have a separate fingerboard.
    Also, I've seen some scallops (Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore) who have
    scallops on their fingerboards that go pretty far down (looked more
    like 1/2").  I don't know what effect the neck would suffer from
    having less wood between the truss rod and the (new) fingerboard.
    
    How bout a scalloped bass Jeff, any interest??
    
    wjb

    That would be interesting....I have a hard enough time coping with
    a standard neck now as it is...

    re. Tendinitis note earlier
    
    I have found the article regarding this subject. Guitar Player June
    of 1987 in an Intro Spot of Vinnie Moore. Guitar Player quotes Moore
    on the following :
    
    The scalloped rosewood fingerboard used during the session has since
    been replaced with a standard one. "I was happy with the way the
    scalloped neck felt, but about five months after I started using
    one, my left hand started getting real weak. Then I read about Yngwie,
    who uses a scalloped neck, getting tendinitis in his left hand [Guitar
    Player, May 1985], and I got scared away from it. Now I'm just using
    real high frets."
    
    For further information you could read the GP May 1985 issue. I
    am going to research this further.
    
    I hope this helps, I know it's a little late, but I had trouble
    finding the article.
    
    To scallop or not ?
    
    Tony

    Could someone explain the difference between a scalloped neck and
    "real high frets"?
    
    The distance between fingerboard and strings would increase as one
    approached the halfway point (assuming a symetrical scallop) between
    2 adjacent frets on a scalloped neck, while high frets would cause
    a uniform increase in board to string distance, yes?
    
    Is this a contributing factor to tendonitis? Is there something
    I'm missing? Could it be snakeoil?
    
    Edd

    I would guess that, with a scalloped neck, you do your bending just
    by pressing downward; and with high frets, you still need some lateral
    movement (?).  ..unless you've got some really tall frets.  In that
    case, I don't understand the difference either.
    
    Either way, *don't strain*!  Tendonitis (Mr. Webster says we can
    spell it either way) is no damn fun!!  I've been out of commission
    for nearly ten months, and still months away from playing again.
    I don't mean to preach, but any guitar player should be aware that
    those tendons lose elasticity and durability as you get older. 
    Tricks that are easy when you're 25 can hurt you when you're 35.
    
    
    Bob