If you think you need to get a better grip on the strings, which is the only reason to scallop a fretboard, you might want to consider putting 6100-size frets on it. Those are some mungo frets, and you'd have to be The Hulk to run into the fretboard playing on those. They're the only thing I'll use, and they do exactly what you'd expect a scalloped 'board to do without the ridiculous carving that makes such a 'board difficult to play in tune.
Sorry, cage, but this makes no sense. Either you can play in tune, because the fretboard is helping you do so - or you can't. If big frets "do exactly" what scallops do, why be against scallops? :icon_scratch: (it should be noted that Yngwie Malmsteen, Ritchie Blackmore, and John McLaughlin - love 'em or leave 'em - are all noted for the
impeccable intonation. Quite possibly because
they're paying attention to it...)
The number of really out-of-tune guitarists diminished through the shreddy years, then the Seattle crowd seemed to go out of their way to value "passion" over ability. Playing in tune is one of those things - nothing sounds good until you have that. Which is one reason why "The Cry of Love" and "Exile on Main Street" are still so great, because for whatever reasons, Keith & Jimi
tuned their guitars....
I love scalloped necks. And Bill Lawrence L500XL pickups sound like two really good Telecaster pickups side-by-side, they're one of the only pickups that have the power and brightness to work split, turned down, or with the tone knob backed way off - which makes them really, really versatile, if you're willing to do the work. Lawrence is an inventor, and he does funny things with the inductance so that humbuckers aren't mushy. The "BILL LAWRENCE USA" pickups made by the execrable thief Jzchak Wajcman are crappy, cheap-yet-expensive imitations, and the Seymour Duncan Dimebuckers are adequate, overpriced imitations.
Another thing the L500's do very well is take advantage of the type of wiring scheme Lawrence invented on the Gibson L6S, now copied by Ibanez, Music Man, PRS, Taylor and the dog's fleas - recombining coils from non-adjacent pickups. I greatly admire Lawrence's dedication to keeping prices down, he's just not a greedy guy. If he wanted to spend his life in court he could get millions for all the ripoffs he's endured, but
he just doesn't care - he likes to play in his shop instead. Kind of like Leo Fender - another "bad" businessman in the American greed-uber-alles sense.
http://wildepickups.com/
