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Scalloped fretboards? How do they sound?

eukatheude

eukatheude

Apr 2, 2012
1,777
339
italy, pordenone
#1
IMG_20160108_150850.jpg


This is my Spector Euro (and my cheapo DB).
It was a gift from my late father, and that is why I'm never letting go of this bass.
However...
About 4-5 years ago I fell in love with the fretless bass. Gone through some basses, but I realized that this is the one I want to play. Wanted to convert it to fretless, but the inlay wouldn't work great with it I'm afraid, and besides it would look terrible. So I'd have the fingerboard replaced, but that is costly and not something I wish to invest in ATM.

However... Some time ago I found a couple of scalloped bass samples (no idea where they were) and those sounded great to me, though the tone might have been due to lowered tunings and whatnot.
But it got me thinking... Since this fretboard is going to get replaced anyway sooner or later, I might scallop out the frets and play the heck out of it again.
That brings us to the crux of the question: have you ever had a fully scalloped bass? Are there any downsides I should be aware of? And do you have or know any recordings I can hear to make up my mind?
I might just end up purchasing a cheapo to try it out, at least.
 
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#2
eukatheude said:
scallop out the frets
Click to expand...
This makes no sense. Scalloping is removing wood between each fret to aid getting in under the string.

I would say any tonal difference would be negligible - certainly different pickups or preamp will make substantially more difference -, although neck stability might be compromised into the bargain. They look like fairly large frets anyway, are you doing this for a tonal gains or to change the feel of the bass? One will be much, much greater than the other.

I used to have a guitar which had the fretboard scalloped from the 12th fret up before I bought it. It was irritating.
 
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#4
I got a guitar with a scalloped fretboard. It´s 100% a matter of playability, 0% of the sound

You have to worry about lengthening the strings with each press making notes go sharp.
Click to expand...

what?
I doubt you will ever press down a string so hardly, that it touches the fretboard between the frets. It´s just there for the fingers to go deeper down in between the frets
 
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#5
Doctor J said:
This makes no sense. Scalloping is removing wood between each fret to aid getting in under the string.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know that. But writing "frets" was quicker and you understood anyway.

I would say any tonal difference would be negligible - certainly different pickups or preamp will make substantially more difference -, although neck stability might be compromised into the bargain. They look like fairly large frets anyway, are you doing this for a tonal gains or to change the feel of the bass? One will be much, much greater than the other.

I used to have a guitar which had the fretboard scalloped from the 12th fret up before I bought it. It was irritating.
Click to expand...

I'm mostly after feel and "expressiveness". I want to change its sound too, but that's what pickup swaps are for.
BTW, I removed the pre, put a passive tone in and run the pickups 18v.
 
#7
eukatheude said:
Yes, I know that. But writing "frets" was quicker and you understood anyway.

I'm mostly after feel and "expressiveness". I want to change its sound too, but that's what pickup swaps are for.
BTW, I removed the pre, put a passive tone in and run the pickups 18v.
Click to expand...
I just wanted to make sure we were talking about the same thing. Given you've got large, blocky inlays which go quite close to the upper frets, scalloping them out in a clean, smooth manner is going to be a challenge there.
 
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#10
Doctor J said:
I just wanted to make sure we were talking about the same thing. Given you've got large, blocky inlays which go quite close to the upper frets, scalloping them out in a clean, smooth manner is going to be a challenge there.
Click to expand...
Yeah they do look like a problem. Will I need to remove them completely in order to do a clean job? I was thinking of using needle files... In theory I'd be able to remove just a part of the inlay, but in fact I have zero experience working on that material.

I think the best course of action is getting said cheapo and trying it out. However it'd be great if a scalloped-bass player showed up here!
 
#11
I have done this in my youth on both a Squier guitar and a BC Rich bass neck.

On a bass theres not much of a difference in feel except on the G string you don't feel the edge of the neck.

There's no change in sound. If you are gripping your strings tight enough to hit the fretboard with your finger
on a normal bass you are simultaneously playing out of tune, wearing down your frets prematurely and causing yourself
some future hand problems.

Furthermore, removing material from the neck will weaken it to some extent. That's not good for playability or tone.

If you really want to do it anyway, I'd suggest only scalloping the edge of the neck under the G string.


Also run tape along the edge of the neck to use as a guide to help ensure a uniform depth. If it's uneven and not uniform in every way it's going to look like crap.
 
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#12
Nev375 said:
I have done this in my youth on both a Squier guitar and a BC Rich bass neck.

On a bass theres not much of a difference in feel except on the G string you don't feel the edge of the neck.

There's no change in sound. If you are gripping your strings tight enough to hit the fretboard with your finger
on a normal bass you are simultaneously playing out of tune, wearing down your frets prematurely and causing yourself
some future hand problems.

Furthermore, removing material from the neck will weaken it to some extent. That's not good for playability or tone.

If you really want to do it anyway, I'd suggest only scalloping the edge of the neck under the G string.


Also run tape along the edge of the neck to use as a guide to help ensure a uniform depth. If it's uneven and not uniform in every way it's going to look like crap.
Click to expand...

I actually like having to worry about intonation, it keeps my playing simpler. :D
Thanks for the tip. I'll wait a deal on some cheapo and let y'all know how it turns out.
 
#13
I have the last 6 frets of my Ibanez SRX500 scalloped. Didn't change the tone at all.

Makes bending a little easier, but unless you play up there a ton, it's not really necessary.

But, recently I've thought that it would be nice to pull the frets out of that bass, but the reminder that it's scalloped brings that thought to a cold, hard, stop.

In retrospect, I should have left well enough alone.
 
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#16
spade2you said:
I wouldn't destroy the Spector to experiment. I haven't heard of any bassists utilizing it. Very few guitarists use scalloped frets.
Click to expand...

The upper frets on Billy Sheehan's signature bass are scalloped. I think just the last 4 or 5 under only the G and D strings. All for bending. Doesn't change tone in the least.

Going out of tune is more an issue with scalloping guitar necks, but I guess if you used very very light bass strings it could become an issue.

The only reason to scallop is if you want to bend notes by pushing down instead of bending strings across. That's all you get.
 
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#17
A good friend of mine has a patent on a fully scalloped fretboard. He's a guitar shredder, and designed it for shredders. The idea is that fretting is effortless. You just touch the string and you're basically fretted with minimal effort. I'm not a fast playing solo type, so I can't say how it feels for them, but I've seen some really sick players test it out and say that some complex lines that they'd normally have to do some warm up and exercises to be able to play came nearly instantly on that fully scalloped neck. I won't dive too deep into it, because I've posted it here and gotten lots of people not really understand the "why" of it.... It's really not too beneficial on bass. I asked him to build me one when he starts to make basses but he's trying to refine his guitar necks first. I just wanted something cool and unique to have. I'd probably not play it as my main bass unless the tone is comparable to my Dingwall.

So here's some pics just for reference. Just imagine that you removed the wood that would be the fretboard and replaced it with SUPER JUMBO frets. You're left with a big gap below. You'll rarely press THAT hard to get the string down to the metal.


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#18
I didn't notice much on the one scalloped fret bass I mentioned. As for your spector, it's really not a viable option with those huge inlays. You'd likley have to have the entire fingerboard removed and then a new one put on to be scalloped.

If you really want to play fretless and this is the bass that feels right to you, your current bass is actually not a bad candidate as long as you have the frets replaced with a rigid (wood veneer or plastic) material to keep the neck stable and then epoxy over the fingerboard. A good epoxy job will protect and level virtually any fingerboard regardless of material or inlays. Further because epoxy is so hard and thus contributes so much the the tone, it won't matter tonally whether you're sliding over fingerboard, veneer or inlay.

A veneer and epoxy fretless job should not be a problem for an experienced luthier, but I'm sure there are folks here who can recommend specific luthiers who are known for their epoxy work.
 
#20
lz4005 said:
The upper frets on Billy Sheehan's signature bass are scalloped. I think just the last 4 or 5 under only the G and D strings. All for bending. Doesn't change tone in the least.

Going out of tune is more an issue with scalloping guitar necks, but I guess if you used very very light bass strings it could become an issue.

The only reason to scallop is if you want to bend notes by pushing down instead of bending strings across. That's all you get.
Click to expand...

A few partial scallops in like Billy's bass shouldn't do much. Scalloping the entire fretboard would change things. I'd question if the wood lost could compromise stability. The guitar variants are known to have some tonal change, part of which may because the action is changed and ya play it different.
 

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