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Any experience with "scalloped necks"?


3leggeddog

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I spotted an ad on a local site for a 1979 Fender Strat, all original but the neck had been "scalloped". I'm not generally a Fender fan, but this is only $400, so obviously I was intrigued. I've never played or even seen a scalloped neck though, other than online pics. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of neck? would this mod drastically reduce the value of this '79 Strat down to the $400 point?

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It very well could diminish the value that much.

Depends on how well or poorly scalloped the neck actually is.

 

A poorly scalloped neck warrants replacement, imho.

 

Generally, scalloping is done to allow for better (read faster) finger bending and hammer-on/pull-off type of play. Your fingers are hitting air, so less force is needed at high gain to hit the notes.

Real weedle-deedle-weedle type of stuff. Malmsteen is famous for his scalloped neck Fenders, so that should tell you something.

 

In any event, is the entire neck scalloped? Usually on a pro job, just the upper frets are done, not the entire neck.

 

I have seen some well done ones, and some that just ruined the value of the neck altogether.

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I'm not certain if the entire neck is scalloped or not, I'm going to give them a call on my lunch break and get more details. Im thinking a scalloped neck is not want I want though. And if I bought the guitar just to re-sell, I think that mod would probably just make it difficult to sell. Malmsteen's style isn't everyone's cup of tea, particularly most traditional bluesy Strat players...

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I have and play and Yngwie strat and have seen/played a few other scalloped guitars. Who scalloped the neck and how good is the job? I personally don't think doing full scalloped jobs is common, so I don't think there is a lot of luthiers personally experienced with this work. If it is done poorly, they can really mess up the neck and the value of the guitar. The guy who does Yngwie's personal guitars, Larry Lashbrook (I think is his name) charges around $1000 per neck to do that work.

 

Assuming the scallop work is done well, I don't think scalloping itself devalues the guitar, however, I do think less people will be interested in the guitar if you sell it. Not a lot of people play on scalloped fretboards and that may deter them from buying the guitar.

 

The fact that this is a '79 strat with all orginal parts and selling for $400 does raise some questions. Check it out and good luck, maybe you will get a gem.

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My beater guitar has the top 12 frets scalloped (the person who did the scallop job did a surprisingly good job) and it's something that does take getting used to. However, I wouldn't want a guitar that was scalloped all the way up the fretboard, it'd be waay too frustrating for chording me thinks.

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