• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Scalloped fretboards? How do they sound?

#23
spade2you said:
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.
Click to expand...

You can easily ruin a neck by scalloping it, sure. I'm talking about instruments that are designed with the scallop in mind.

Action doesn't change with scalloping, as long as the neck is still stable. The tops of the frets are in the same place.

The only difference is how far you can bend notes by pushing straight down instead of across.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Honch
#26
lz4005 said:
You can easily ruin a neck by scalloping it, sure. I'm talking about instruments that are designed with the scallop in mind.

Action doesn't change with scalloping, as long as the neck is still stable. The tops of the frets are in the same place.

The only difference is how far you can bend notes by pushing straight down instead of across.
Click to expand...

Technically, the scalloping allows slightly lower action because bending (pressing) allows the string not to travel across the fretboard as far, which is where the notes would have otherwise choked out due to the radius. Flatter radii mostly solves this other than running into the next string(s) while bending.
 
#28
lz4005 said:
You can easily ruin a neck by scalloping it, sure. I'm talking about instruments that are designed with the scallop in mind.

Action doesn't change with scalloping, as long as the neck is still stable. The tops of the frets are in the same place.

The only difference is how far you can bend notes by pushing straight down instead of across.
Click to expand...
Scalloping doesn't work that way on a bass - the strings are too thick.

What it facilitates, is an easier regular bend, because the tip of the finger you are using doesn't touch the fretboard underneath the finger. It is strictly a metal on metal (fret and string) bend. It's basically frictionless. And because of that, you can bend wider and faster.
 
#32
miiitch said:
I got a guitar with a scalloped fretboard. It´s 100% a matter of playability, 0% of the sound



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
Click to expand...

Have a scalloped guitar. Agreed.

Don't need to press that far down to make it pitch sharp. Though it's harder to do on bass than guitar.
 
#33
I'm mostly a guitar player. To me scalloping mainly has to do with vibrato and bending. No friction. That has btw always been Yngwies sales pitch 'The vibrato!'.

I dont think bending by pressing down the string is common though. It just facilitates normal bending better.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Watchootognbout and tfer
#35
eukatheude said:
View attachment 768448

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.
Click to expand...


Hey, I like that you want to try something new. But scalloped frets really only work with guitars. The gauge of bass strings really prohibit all but the strongest players from making a bit of difference. Even then, the strongest players can't keep that intensity up indefinitely. Face it, the best way to be faster is a lighter touch. You'll hear this over and over again, it's your fingers, not the instrument that determines tone. Good luck.
 
#38
Do not ever attempt to do this on any instrument that hasn't been made for this from the start. You may very well, or not may, you do only WEAKEN the neck considerably. A better bet would be to find railroad tracks fretwire, then you just add on top on existing wood of the fretboard. Raised nut or zero fret accordingly. You may have carve so deep that you'll touch the channel where the truss rod goes. But otherwise you'll risk weaken the neck so much that any back-bow or bow will not be sufficient to counter with truss rod adjustment. On such a bass everything seems to be made and designed from ground up with a certain balance and weighing everything on a scale.

On tone, and feel, I don't know what you should gain, really. You have to squeeze and press pretty deep in order to "de-pitch" any note. If you think it will going to sound like fretless in any way because you can do "slides" or pitch bends it's totally out. When playing a fretless you'll just KNOW the importance what the fretboard wood does to any tone. Thinking that the frets are solely the ones behind any note/sound is futile. That the strings bottom are dampened by the wood and not only your fingerpad (which wont be touching the wood anyway because bass strings are too thick) is crucial in making a good bass tone.

Also you may weaken certain notes and induce more deadspots, if there wasn't anyone before. More pronounced deadspots can occur too, when having railroad track frets though. There's a reason Lee Sklar likes small tiny narrow banjo frets on his basses.
 
#39
I've scalloped 2 basses and never had a problem with neck stability. I only did the last 6 frets, under the D and G string, and only removed enough wood to ensure that when I bend the note, that my finger never touched the wood. Removing more would be pointless...

And unless you can find fret wire that sits almost a half an inch high, it's not the same thing.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back