I’ll start by getting your culinary opinion…
What are your thoughts on pineapple on a pizza?
More than likely, you’ve answered that you either love it or hate it. Very few people sit on the fence when it comes to putting pineapple on a pizza; it’s love or hate. And the same goes for scalloped necks on guitars, some guitarists love them and won’t play anything else, lots of guitarists hate them and would never consider buying a guitar that features one.
So, what is causing this great divide between guitarists? Why are they loved by many, including legends of the instrument, and hated by nearly everyone else? It’s time to find out, but before we get to that, let’s start with the basics…
What exactly is a Scalloped Neck?
We all started off playing on a traditional guitar neck, whether it was a classical, acoustic, or an electric guitar that you first got your hands on, the construction of the neck is basically the same.
A traditional neck is either a solid piece of wood that has been shaped to produce the fingerboard, such as the maple necks found on many Telecasters, or the necks of numerous classical guitars. Or it is a solid piece of wood that has been shaped to allow a thin flat strip of a different (or even the same type of wood) to be attached to it, i.e., the fingerboard, as you will find on most acoustic and electric guitars.
Frets are then added, and you end up with…
Scalloped necks are completely different in design. They are usually constructed from a single piece of wood, which is, once again, shaped to produce the fingerboard. But then the spaces between where the frets will go are scalloped out, removing the wood to create concave-shaped grooves. The final result is a neck with a series of scooped out grooves along its length, separated by the frets, as shown below…
Why scallop a neck?
Scalloping a neck reduces friction and increases the amount of clearance between the fingers and the fretboard. This results in the player having less contact with the fretboard, often none at all, and more direct contact with the strings.
Buying a guitar with a scalloped neck or scalloping the neck of a guitar you already own is a consideration that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The saying ‘A Dog is for life, not just for Christmas’ comes to mind, because deciding on a scalloped neck is normally a lifelong commitment. And quite obviously, a scalloped neck can’t be un-scalloped if you decide that you want the stability of a standard fretboard in the future.
So, why do guitarists go for such a radically different fingerboard design?
A scalloped neck gives an added dimension to your string bending and allows you to decide on the intonation of every note you play down to a microtonal level. This is similar to a Sitar, which also has a large gap between the strings, the frets, and the ‘fingerboard’ (as shown below), allowing the player to microtonally vary the note, as is common in Hindustani classical music.
The greater distance between the string and fretboard on a scalloped neck means that you can press your finger to a subtle or not-so-subtle degree. This isn’t possible on a traditional neck because as soon as you hit the fingerboard, you can’t press any further.
However, there is also a downside to all this new, highly creative bending, in that you can’t just press your finger down as usual and expect to get the right note, as you would when playing on a traditional neck. You have to be ultra-conscious of your finger pressure whenever you play a note, especially when fretting chords. This takes a lot of getting used to, and an excellent musical ear; it can take months to get even close to perfecting this skill, even after you’ve already been playing for years.
When you start off learning your basic chords as a beginner, you quickly get used to the amount of pressure needed to get the note to sound right. This will, of course, vary from guitar to guitar, for example, an acoustic with a terrible action will need a lot more pressure to get a crystal clear note than a well set up electric.
However…
A scalloped fingerboard is a completely different animal. It isn’t a case of getting used to the pressure needed to press the string up against the fingerboard to create a great-sounding note. If you do that, the note will be out of tune. You have to learn where to stop applying pressure to get the perfect note, which will be somewhere in mid air between where the string started off and the fretboard. A difficult skill to master.
Lots of players, especially beginners, seem to forget that a fret is solely responsible for producing the note. It sounds obvious, I know, but because of the way we learn, we naturally think that it’s how, where, and the pressure we use to press our finger onto the fretboard that creates the note at the fret.
But imagine that all your frets were 3cm off the fretboard, all of a sudden, creating a note isn’t about the precise positioning of your finger, it’s about how much pressure you apply to the string. You can press the string anywhere, it doesn’t matter. It’s the pressure you use at that precise location that determines if the note will be perfectly in tune or not. And that’s basically what you get when you play a scalloped neck.
A bit of basic Physics…
When you press a string on a scalloped neck, the two fret wires on either side of the note you are playing form a fulcrum. Your finger then presses the string until you hit the correct pitch to create the note. This will be well before you get to the fingerboard.
If you apply too much finger pressure, which is normal for anyone who isn’t used to playing a scalloped neck, you’ll go beyond the in-tune ‘stop point’, therefore subtly raising the pitch, causing the note to be slightly out of tune. However, as mentioned, this does allow you to be far more creative musically, because you can either play the note perfectly in-tune, or slightly out, depending on what’s best for the sonics of the song.
This means that you have to completely re-train your fingers to know how much pressure is needed to get a particular note to sound perfectly in tune. This will, of course, vary depending on which fret you are playing and your exact position between each pair of frets. This is hard enough, but when it comes to playing chords, you are entering a whole new world of complexity, because you have to apply the correct amount of pressure to EVERY finger simultaneously - a nightmare for those new to scalloped necks!
You probably think that I’m trying to put you off playing a scalloped neck guitar. Not at all, I’m just trying to explain…
Why do so few Guitarists play Scalloped necks?
It’s because they are much harder to master than a standard neck. It honestly will take an accomplished guitarist weeks, if not months, to get their hands and head around playing a scalloped neck.
All that work and effort, especially after already spending years learning how to play on a traditional fretboard, there must be some advantages?
Yes, there are, lots in fact, for those willing to make the effort…
What are the advantages of a Scalloped Neck?
Every guitarist is trying to stand out from the crowd. Anything that allows you to play differently from the average guitarist is therefore welcome. You could become the master of the Flanger or Delay pedal (although I think U2’s The Edge has already taken that title), or you could start playing with only upstrokes, but I think you’d get bored with that quite quickly, and the result wouldn’t be very musical.
The other problem is that these ideas are easily copied. However, playing a scalloped neck sets you apart from the crowd, allowing you to play the instrument in a different way.
Scalloped necks give you access to a new way of playing a whole range of techniques, you can vibrato without the friction of pressing the string against the fretboard, making it far smoother and more musical. And you have a greater range and a smoother execution when bending strings. Basically, it’s easier to express yourself musically on a scalloped neck than a traditional one.
Going back to physics - I know it’s boring, but it is necessary - the fact that there is no friction between your fingers and the fretboard, i.e., you are now only pressing the strings themselves, gives you the ability to play faster, in fact, with a lot of pratice, lightening fast, which is why scalloped necks are often favored by shredders.
Which brings us nicely to…
The Master of the Scalloped Neck
Over the course of musical history, there have been players who have caused earth-shattering changes to the way we perceive the electric guitar. Hendrix in the late 60s, Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads in the late 70s, then in the 80s we had Yngwie Malmsteen, with his wall of Marshalls, and his scalloped necked Fender Strat.
Malmsteen changed the way we thought about the electric guitar, how it could be played, and what could be played on it. This was in many ways due to his use of scalloped necks, which gave his pyrotechnical, neo-classical style, not only breakneck speed but also a smoothness that made it seem effortless. You may not like this type of playing, but it’s undeniable that the man was (and still is!) a guitar monster.
Take a look at this YouTube video; it’s a masterclass in technique and shows how he takes advantage of all of the benefits of having scalloped frets on the necks of his Strats.
Wrapping it Up - Should You Play a Scalloped Necked Guitar?
This will depend on what type of music you enjoy playing and your level of commitment. If you have a need for speed, a scalloped neck will most definitely help with that. However, they are not just for shredders; for example, their microtonal abilities could work beautifully in a post-rock or experimental band setting.
So get yourself down to your local guitar store and play one. But bear in mind that it will take you a good while to master the neck, so don’t judge it on that. See how it feels in your hands, is it more natural to play? Does it just seem to feel right? If so, go for it and give it your all for at least a few months. It could be the best guitar decision you ever make!
