Want to try to scallop a neck..... but how??

[Dr. Scottie C]

I've had scalloped neck strats since the 90's...always had one or two...... usually either had a Malmsteen USA or two hanging around, or I would have Roy at Smooth Grooves do it...(retired now)

So I have a few inexpensive necks laying around....and I want to give scalloping a shot....but how?

I've watched a few Bieber clones on Youtube ruin a few necks...but anyone have a clue what tools are used to do it right? Dremmel? Sandpaper? Sledgehammer? I am literally clueless.

[Gitter]

Spindle sander, or chuck an abrasive spindle into a drill press, or be careful as **** with a Dremel sanding wheel, then finish by hand. Not exactly a mystical process. You're shaping channels into a flat surface.

You could use rasps/files and finish with sandpaper, if you wanted. It all boils down to how patient you are and/or how confident you are with high speed tools that cut fast, but bear in mind something like a Dremel cuts many times faster than a human being can react so the object is to work SLOWLY as possible with it, removing material in passes, not big, deep 'cuts'.

 

Know that you're gutting the value of any neck you do it to, please for the love of god don't do it on something like a 1980's Charvel or the like...

[Dr. Scottie C]

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Gitter wrote:

Spindle sander, or chuck an abrasive spindle into a drill press, or be careful as **** with a Dremel sanding wheel, then finish by hand. Not exactly a mystical process. You're shaping channels into a flat surface.

You could use rasps/files and finish with sandpaper, if you wanted. It all boils down to how patient you are and/or how confident you are with high speed tools that cut fast, but bear in mind something like a Dremel cuts many times faster than a human being can react so the object is to work SLOWLY as possible with it, removing material in passes, not big, deep 'cuts'.

 

Know that you're gutting the value of any neck you do it to, please for the love of god don't do it on something like a 1980's Charvel or the like...

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Thanks Gitter,

You know these guys on Ebay that offering to do this for $99 per neck must have this down to a 45-60 process..... (Roy at Smooth Grooves once told me he had designed his own tooling and could do a neck in 30 mins flat)

I'd like to get good enough to knock one of these down in a few hours vs. days.

No worries on trying this on the good stuff..... the el cheapo's is where I shall start

[Alexilaiho]

Never ever use spindle sanders or dremels, you risk screwing up the frets and masking tape does not work as well as they say. Hand files or GTFO, it's just that

[Gitter]

See, that's what I'm talking about.

Perhaps its not 'perfect' if you look it over closely but per that picture, it's a nicely done scallop job and nothing appears 'wrong' with it. Just because some people have a child-like inability to work on stuff (like the horiffic scallop job above) doesn't mean everyone does. 

[Dr. Scottie C]

Yeah Pesky that looks good.

Can you give me a quick step by step of what you did...what worked...what didn't. thanks

[peskypesky]

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Gitter wrote:

See, that's what I'm talking about.

Perhaps its not 'perfect' if you look it over closely but per that picture, it's a nicely done scallop job and nothing appears 'wrong' with it. Just because some people have a child-like inability to work on stuff (like the horiffic scallop job above) doesn't mean everyone does. 

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Thanks for the kind words. It was my first scallop attempt, so it was a learning experience for sure.

I actually thought I had destroyed the neck at first and was pissed at myself for thinking I could do this. But I gathered myself and went back to work with the rasps and the sandpaper and I got it to a pretty good place. As you said, not perfect, but completely functional.