Scalloping

Trfsrfr · #1 08-27-2008, 12:02 PM

20 years ago I played Malmsteen's Stratocaster with the scalloped fretboard. I liked it so much I decided to take after my RG570 with a drill and some sort of grinding/sanding attachment. I did 3 frets about halfway, then decided to quit before I made things worse. I thought I had ruined my guitar. It is a rosewood fretboard.
After spending the day yesterday on varius websites, and watching some video's on youtube, I decided to try it again. I took to the same RG570.
I can tell you that it is NOT a 4-6 hour job. It took my 3 hours to just do one fret. I did the eleventh fret, one of the three I attempted 20 years ago. Now I did take my time, and was careful not to damage the frets. I used a small (3/8th's of an inch approx) roundfile, and some 100 grit sandpaper, and a couple of sockets from my tool box. I probably should (and will) use a larger round file, and a courser sandpaper (80 grit) to speed things up for the rest of the frets, but even when I do, I am sure it will take me a couple weeks to complete. Rosewood is very hard.
When I am done, I will have fixed the 'ruined' neck I thought I had, and will have an awesome guitar again.
This is easily something someone can do themselves, if they have any skills and exercise a little patience, and some common sense. I wrapped the sandpaper around a 21mm socket for the 11th fret. It is not too deep, and leaves a nicely shaped scallop.

Now for my question; I am building a sweet RG-frankenstein guitar with shark tooth inlays. Has anyone here attempted to scallop a fretboard with these, or some other large inlay???

I would love to scallop my new guitar, but the shark tooth inlays make me nervous.

I will be sure to post photo's when I am finished.

Thanks

GuitarBizarre · #2 08-27-2008, 02:51 PM

I think your trouble stems from using a powertool instead of files......its much easier to apply force in different ways to something when you can touch it all over without getting a finger lopped off. Much like the difference between Rape and Secks.

newbieguitarmaker · #3 08-27-2008, 03:56 PM

rofl^^^

CaptainD00M · #4 08-27-2008, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuitarBizarre

I think your trouble stems from using a powertool instead of files......its much easier to apply force in different ways to something when you can touch it all over without getting a finger lopped off. Much like the difference between Rape and Secks.

Im sorry but i have to grab tht for my sig on another forum!

ryanb · #5 08-27-2008, 07:29 PM

You are right to be nervous about the sharktooth inlays -- or any inlays for that matter. If you are going to scallop it, you need to be sure you aren't going to go through the inlays. Otherwise, you would be looking at a job like replacing the inlays... At the edges, they are probably significantly less than 1 mm already.

CaptainD00M · #6 08-28-2008, 08:07 AM

Not if they are dots man. You can scallop dots fine, as they make em deep, as evidenced by the project guitar artical.

brothersnowgone · #7 08-28-2008, 09:12 AM

Actually when you do scallops the proper way like guitarbizarre said it should only be a day or two project. If you completely file all the fret scallops by hand you should have it done in a matter of hours, with another couple hours of sanding it up to a very fine grit.

Trfsrfr · #8 08-28-2008, 11:35 AM

I am taking my sweet time. Yeah the power tool thing was a bad idea, but I was 16 and it sounded like a good idea at the time. But you will never see that anymore, its gone.
It is actually turning out sweet. I am using a round file, 100, 220, 320, 420 grit, and then wet-dry paper. It takes me just as long to tape up the frets as it does to file the wood. In 3 days I have done 3 frets. The scallops look really nice. The only thing that makes it look not so nice is the light dusty look the fretboard has now. I think it is because I am filing/sanding against the grain. But I think it will look better once I put some linseed oil on it after I'm finished.
I have to go to the hardware store and buy a larger wider file for the lower frets. So far I have done the 10th, 11th, and 14th frets. Tonite after I get the file, I am going to do a fret with the dot inlay.
Overall, it is going very smoothly and is turning out better than I had hoped. I cant believe there is a guy who does this for $100 bucks. I would have to charge $300 just for it to be worth the effort.
I almost forgot, I did make one small boo-boo. The ten mm socket I was using slipped out of the sandpaper and nailed the 14th fret. Anybody know how to fix nicks in frets????

GuitarBizarre · #9 08-28-2008, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trfsrfr

I am taking my sweet time. Yeah the power tool thing was a bad idea, but I was 16 and it sounded like a good idea at the time. But you will never see that anymore, its gone.
It is actually turning out sweet. I am using a round file, 100, 220, 320, 420 grit, and then wet-dry paper. It takes me just as long to tape up the frets as it does to file the wood. In 3 days I have done 3 frets. The scallops look really nice. The only thing that makes it look not so nice is the light dusty look the fretboard has now. I think it is because I am filing/sanding against the grain. But I think it will look better once I put some linseed oil on it after I'm finished.
I have to go to the hardware store and buy a larger wider file for the lower frets. So far I have done the 10th, 11th, and 14th frets. Tonite after I get the file, I am going to do a fret with the dot inlay.
Overall, it is going very smoothly and is turning out better than I had hoped. I cant believe there is a guy who does this for $100 bucks. I would have to charge $300 just for it to be worth the effort.
I almost forgot, I did make one small boo-boo. The ten mm socket I was using slipped out of the sandpaper and nailed the 14th fret. Anybody know how to fix nicks in frets????

Don't use linseed oil...its meant to finish wood not to nourish it. Use some fret doctor or standard lemon oil to condition your fretboard. The FretDoctor site explains the differences between most forms of fretboard oils.

Trfsrfr · #10 08-28-2008, 01:09 PM

Hey thanks for that advice GuitarBizarre. I checked out the website, and I will pick up a bottle of that stuff.

newbieguitarmaker · #11 08-28-2008, 01:34 PM

Fret Doctor all the way!!

Trfsrfr · #12 08-29-2008, 03:19 AM

Just for info; This thread is about a 1989 RG570 rosewood neck, regular pearl inlays.
Okay the latest news. I went to Ace hardware and bought 2 new files. One a round file approx 3/8ths, another a half moon-ish file about 7/8ths. I didnt use the bigger one tonight. But I did scallop the 19th fret tonight. Once again, it took me about 2 hours.
I found that the wet-dry sandpaper I used was not smooth enough. I believe it is around 600 grit. With the inlay everything changes. They seem to be softer, and easily scratched. Also the wood material seemed to grind itself in with the pearl, giving it a darker appearance. It faded as I moved to a higher grit paper, but still doesnt look like the other stock inlays, although it is close. I am somewhat of a perfectionist so I will buy whatever grit I need to get it right. Likely around 1500.
I also want to mention that the depth of the scallop is becoming somewhat difficult to maintain, as far as the similarity to the others. While the actual scallop could be different from one fret to the next, (as far as functionality is concerned), since I am a perfectionist, I have realized that this is not a perfect process. In my mind the only truly symmetrical scallop job (which would be the most desired to me), would have to be done on a machine of some sort. A CNC, or mill, lathe, etc. Something where the neck is clamped into place.
But not everyone has access, or the knowledge to program one of those, so here we are.
I will say this; I think I am doing a pretty nice job of it. It will be very very playable, and some may think the custom handiwork is exceptional. That is to be determined.
BUT, as I stated before this IS NOT A 4-6 HOUR JOB! At least if you want to do what I consider a really nice job.
I have thought about recording my work and putting it on youtube. Only because the dude I watched with the stickers on his guitar was just HACKING away at that thing, and made it sound like the whole fretboard could be done in 4-6 hours.
It is my opinion that anybody can do this, but a large amount of patience, and common sense must be used to do it right.
I would love to see the dude on youtube's work when he was done.
I also welcome any thoughts on my post here tonight. If someone can show me a better, faster way, I am all ears. At the rate I am going it will take 2 months.
Thanks again for visiting this post.

ryanb · #13 08-29-2008, 08:52 PM

Don't worry about how long it takes you to get it done. As long as you are happy with the way it turns out, use whatever method works for you. Post some pics when you get it done.

Trfsrfr · #14 09-01-2008, 01:56 AM

Well I did the seventh fret tonight. Whoever posted that the dot inlays are deep must not have ever scalloped an 89 wizard 570 neck. 7th fret inlay is gone now. It wasnt that deep. Also my plan was (is) to scallop the 6th fret and up. I have found that it is MUCH harder to scallop the lower wider frets, and to keep the depth the same. One of them does not look like the others. It will still be playable and all, but just not perfect like I would like it to be.
After all the time I have spent, and now a missing inlay, one fret different from the rest, I have decided that it is not as easy as I had originally posted it to be. At least not for the lower frets. If there is a guy that does it for $100.00 bucks, and does an awesome job, next time I am sending it to him.
Mine will still turn out really nice, but its just not worth the time investment, and the possibility of screwing it up is still there. You have to be exceptionally careful, and not go too fast.

brothersnowgone · #15 09-01-2008, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trfsrfr

I also want to mention that the depth of the scallop is becoming somewhat difficult to maintain, as far as the similarity to the others. While the actual scallop could be different from one fret to the next, (as far as functionality is concerned), since I am a perfectionist, I have realized that this is not a perfect process. In my mind the only truly symmetrical scallop job (which would be the most desired to me), would have to be done on a machine of some sort.

BUT, as I stated before this IS NOT A 4-6 HOUR JOB! At least if you want to do what I consider a really nice job.

I've roughed in 24 scallops in a couple hours, and another couple hours for finish sanding.

And I know it seems like it's impossible to get the scallops right without a cnc like you said, but it's not. It takes one very valuable thing that you can't buy at a hardware store, experience. More experience will also make it so you can get your scallops close enough to where they look perfectly even in depth to the eye (maybe not absolutley perfect if you measured them, but damn near). Like it or not, the first scallop job you ever do will almost definately look awful years from now, if you're still doing it and you've gotten any good that is.

BTW if you're filing any of the inlays off, chances are your scallops are deeper than they should be. A good depth would be somewhere around 3mm INCLUDING the fret's height. Just some advice...