Scalloping

[simso]

First up, I scallop fretboards with a file normally, but need to make a jig to do it exactly

Curious if anyone has seen an appropriate jig that works.

We make bodies and necks for other guitar builders here in Australia, and have recently been asked for a run of necks all to be scalloped exactly 1.5mm down.

I made a jig, but it didnt really work, I can take the fretboard down exactly 1.5mm between the frets but its more of a flat bottom or U shaped trough, its got the right radius example 12inch, but I cannot get it to roll out from the centre, also tried ball nose router bits but they still end up as a u channel trough anyone got some ideas

Steve

[kiwigeo]

Scalloping...is it really worth the effort??

Seems to me alot of guitarists have gone through a "scalloping" phase in their career but eventually they go back to unscalloped fretboards....John Mclaughlin is one example that readily comes to mind.

Just wondering out loud....

[simso]

Not for me to question why, just to do as requested

[Nick]

It would be a fairly technical jig when made I would imagine, not only would your scallops need to get progressively tighter in radius as you go up the fretboard but it would need to follow the 'normal' lateral fingerboard radius
I initially thought (without the luxury of a C.N.C router) of varying diameter slab cutters

but the cost would be prohibitive depending on how many frets your customer wants scalloped. Is there a local shop with a CNC router that you could sub the work out to? That would be the easiest way, I could see, of doing it.

[dshaker]

Perhaps an abrasive flap wheel - basically a wheel with fingers of sand paper. You would need something temporary in the fret slots to keep that part high - perhaps stiff rubber would do it - but it might give the kind of wear you would expect from many years of being played.

[simso]

Not an easy one is it, I have cnc as well, but its actually rather tricky on this front as well

Kind of hoping someone may have already seen something, saves me trying to re-invent the wheel

Steve

[kiwigeo]

Dremel with a mini sanding drum?

I would suspect that the only people using jigs and machinery for this job would be Fender and others producing scalloped signature model guitars.

[Nick]

Not an easy one is it, I have cnc as well, but its actually rather tricky on this front as well

Not altogether impossible Steve,
here's a really quick bit of modeling (about ten minutes) I did in Inventor to model a short length of scalloped fretboard. There is actually a decreasing distance between fret slots to simulate a real life board but just doesn't show up in the images.

No particular accuracy, just wanted to see if I could model the scallop, the board has a 12" radius and scallops are a constant 1.5mm depth from the front face. I was going to then import it into Edgecam to generate a tool path but unfortunately the laptop I'm on runs into trouble accessing the license server so I couldn't fire the program up but I've done many hemispherical shapes using a ball nosed tool so with a bit of time I'm sure it could be done.

[Allen]

It seems to me that if you're tooled up with the CNC then that would be the way I would tackle it. But that would mean some good design software like Solidworks or similar. It's going to be a fun one to model, and perhaps that could be sublet to an expert.


Edit: Nick beat me to it.

[Ormsby Guitars]

What trouble are you having using the cnc?

Im about to do a bunch of scallops on multiscale fretboards. Not only are they curved and decreasing in width, but angled AND different lengths (the scallops do not cover the full width of the fretboard). Im not expecting any issues. If you can draw it, its pretty much done.

What software are you using?

This is how i do mine:
https://www.facebook.com/ormsbyguitars/ ... nt_count=1

[kiwigeo]

Wondering aloud again......is the end result that much different from the player's perspective for a hand scalloped fretboard versus a CNC scalloped one?

Another question.....if your instrument has a scalloped fretboard is it worth spending alot of time and effort getting the intonation correct???

[Ormsby Guitars]

Wondering aloud again......is the end result that much different from the player's perspective for a hand scalloped fretboard versus a CNC scalloped one?

There should be zero difference. CNC is simply a tool. Is a cnc carved neck back a different feel to a hand carved neck back, when the goal is a specific shape?

[simso]

Perry, they want the whole board done, across the full width of the board,from the 1st to the 22nd, many many boards

I can possiblydraw it up in cad and make the cnc do it, but to get the cnc to do the whole board, shape scallop and fretslot, it would equate to probably a couple of hrs per board, it takes me currently less than 5 minutes to fretslot a board and put a profile radius on it.

To this end, if I was to do it, I would like to tool up to be able to do it on fretted guitars as well

[simso]

Heres the jig I currently have made, it makes a u trench perfectly, all I can think is a multipile amount of cove bits to use to achieve the desired result, but still, having to change bits per fret position is a pain as well

[kiwigeo]

I cant understand why this scalloping thing is so complicated.......ya catch 'em and then ya eat 'em!!

[simso]