Jumbo frets vs scalloped fretboard

chris_john

On a whim, I decided to order a cheap scalloped neck from Aliexpress. I'm not going to claim it will worry Warmoth, but it surpassed my fairly low expectations. It needed a lot of fret leveling and adjusting to get it playable, but I made a pleasant discovery: I really like scalloped fretboards. 
I have fairly round fleshy sausage fingertips, and I also have problem with some boards due to the extra friction. However, playing without actually touching the fingerboard feels incredible. It has really freed up my movements and vibratos are a joy.
Anyway, getting to the point - would jumbo or tall frets be similar? I'm thinking about getting my hands on one of the new Ibanez Prestige series (AZ2204), which comes with jumbo SS frets.

guitarmangler

The annoying answer is : sort of.

I am am not blessed with sausage digits, but prefer as bigger frets as humanly possibly, as it makes bending easier because your fingers don't drag (here's the important bit) as much as medium frets. It also feels faster for legato.

When I had a scalloped warmth neck, it felt a little too much for me. Bending vibrato were great, but I missed touching the board a little for everything else.

I think the Steve Van idea of the last few frets being scalloped is a great compromise.

Of course if you get the Az and don't like it as much, just get someone to go at it with a file!

hollywoodrox

There used to be a chap on eBay who crafted guitars especially for people with sausage fingers 
  He was really pushing the envelope with some of the work he turned out

heres an example 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wide-neck-Schecter-C-7-custom-electric-by-PCsGC/193522935386?hash=item2d0edda65a:g:Nb8AAOSwppde7PiW

bandmaster188

Feline guitars re-fretted my les paul custom some years ago with Dunlop 6000 wire. Never tried a scalloped board but can imagine a similar feel.
the 6000’s certainly made me play with a lighter touch.

prlgmnr

hollywoodrox said:

There used to be a chap on eBay who crafted guitars especially for people with sausage fingers 
  He was really pushing the envelope with some of the work he turned out

heres an example 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wide-neck-Schecter-C-7-custom-electric-by-PCsGC/193522935386?hash=item2d0edda65a:g:Nb8AAOSwppde7PiW

I see he's dropped the price on that one a touch.

hollywoodrox

prlgmnr said:

hollywoodrox said:

There used to be a chap on eBay who crafted guitars especially for people with sausage fingers 
  He was really pushing the envelope with some of the work he turned out

heres an example 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wide-neck-Schecter-C-7-custom-electric-by-PCsGC/193522935386?hash=item2d0edda65a:g:Nb8AAOSwppde7PiW

I see he's dropped the price on that one a touch.

We’re living in difficult economic times even for an artist of his calibre 

chris_john

bandmaster188 said:

Feline guitars re-fretted my les paul custom some years ago with Dunlop 6000 wire. Never tried a scalloped board but can imagine a similar feel.
the 6000’s certainly made me play with a lighter touch.

I have a light touch anyway, but I can't stand the sensation of my fingertips touching the wood. Also, I tend to get a little sweaty, so the problem is compounded. 

chris_john

hollywoodrox said:

There used to be a chap on eBay who crafted guitars especially for people with sausage fingers 
  He was really pushing the envelope with some of the work he turned out

heres an example 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wide-neck-Schecter-C-7-custom-electric-by-PCsGC/193522935386?hash=item2d0edda65a:g:Nb8AAOSwppde7PiW

Forget about Ibanez.  I'm going for one those beauties!

DrBob

I think part of the thing is that the height difference between say “Vintage” 6230 frets and “Massive” 6000 isn’t that great in real terms, allowing for me getting the imperial/metric conversion wrong 6230 comes in at a hair over 1mm tall whereas 6000 is 1.47mm tall so you’ve only added 1/2mm to the height off of the fretboard. However if you go the other way and take what 2-3mm off the board as a scallop that’s a much more significant height difference right ?

PhilKing

@FelineGuitars modified a neck for me with a part scalloped board and 2 different fret sizes for the first 12 frets vs the scalloped frets.  It really feels nice to play, though usually I'm a blues rock player who likes to dig into the fingerboard for string bending.  If I remember correctly it is 6150 on the first 12 and 6105 on the rest.  It plays perfectly and I can recommend Jon's work if you want to get this done.

FelineGuitars

PhilKing said:

@FelineGuitars modified a neck for me with a part scalloped board and 2 different fret sizes for the first 12 frets vs the scalloped frets.  It really feels nice to play, though usually I'm a blues rock player who likes to dig into the fingerboard for string bending.  If I remember correctly it is 6150 on the first 12 and 6105 on the rest.  It plays perfectly and I can recommend Jon's work if you want to get this done.

More likely to be Dunlop 6100 for the first 12 and Dunlop 6105 above that as both have the same height profile but the 6100 are wider