I hope to be so successful to the point where I even buy guitars I hate someday.

Testimony: I was a huge Yngwie fan as a kid, but his signature strat was always out of reach for me in those days. When I finally got enough money to get one, I did without hesitation. I didnt even play it in the store, it was a used 2008, vintage white with rosewood. I drove it home like I was being chased practically, strung it with EB 10's, got it set up perfectly to my liking and played for two hours. When it was all said and done, I was heartbroken. It was not the instrument I was either imagining or expecting. It was so difficult to play. I kept it out of pure love for Malmsteen but for the next several years I barely touched the thing. I kept it on a stand in my room just so I could look at it basically. Finally after 4 years or so, I decided to sell it because I simply couldnt justify keeping it around, they do hold their value, and I hd other things I wanted to fund. I sold it for a very decent price, I think I only lost about $150 on it, said and done. But let me tell you, I was so haunted. From the minute the guy I sold it to walked away, I felt a knot in my throat and for years on it grinded away at me. Ive bought and sold plenty of guitars but this one really bugged me bad. About 5 years ago, I'd had enough. I began hunting on ebay for another one, it was burning me up. Finally I found one in Texas, and I kid you not, it was the twin of the one I sold, it had a serial number that was one higher than mine. I did the exact same thing, I bought it blind and rushed it home, the entire childish routine all over again. Its basically my main guitar now, but now I was mature enough to realize that playing it wasnt highlighting the flaws of this guitar, it was highlighting my flaws as a player. I stuck with playing it patiently, improving my fretting accuracy, minimizing my picking hand movements, cleaning up my chord and note transitions... it did make me a better player, vastly better in fact. It forced me to come to terms with bad habits I'd been able to hide on different guitars, not just in playing but in sound. The single coils hide nothing, they're like knives. Im never selling this one. Its perfect in every way and I wouldn't change a single thing.

I'm so glad Yngwie J Malmsteen includes his middle initial in his name to differentiate himself from all the other Yngwie Malmsteens. -- Michael McKean

I remember taking lessons at your store off Dobson and Chandler Blvd in the early 2000s. Bought my 1st guitar there and am stoked to see you doing well!

Just as a note. The Richie Blackmore strat has the type of gradual scallop you mentioned. And as a further note Steve Vai lightly scallops his guitars as well. Great Vid!!!

I really like that the YM strat really REALLY is a signature instrument, like, it's not a few standard Fender parts shoved together - it's unique to him and you could not get anything like it without a lot of modding. Not my thing, not my music, but I do admire it.

This is why I'm a fan of half depth scallops that an artist named Takayoshi Ohmura uses on his signature ESP Snapper, it greatly decreases that cheese grater feeling from fully scalloped fretboards. Just scalloping from the 12th or 9th fret down is also a really nice compromise between chording and shredding. With scalloping, I think companies should still do their best to roll the fretboard edge on scalloped fretboards. There are companies out there that also do half width scallops that only scallop the treble side of the fretboard.

I did a Warmoth build with a scalloped neck. I absolutely love it.

The timing of this video is hilarious. I recently bought a Richie Blackmore signature Strat, and it has exactly the scalloping you describe, Phil. From the 1st fret up to the 11th, the first three strings have the full scallop. The lower strings have hardly any scalloping at all. From the 12th fret up to the 21st, you've got a full scallop. This guitar is a lot of fun. It inspired me to start scalloping some other fretboards as well.

Congrats on this milestone in both your playing and awareness of HOW you’re playing. I’ve spent most of COVID time Re-mapping both my physical and mental approaches to the instrument. (Larry is not only a virtuoso but a super sweet human being!). The whole point of the exercise is to grow and learn! You’re sounding great!

Regarding upper frets scalloped vs. lower: Warmoth as well as some other builders offer necks scalloped only from the 12th fret up. Also, some Ormsby guitars feature scalloping only on the upper strings (G, B, e) up around the 12th-17th range. I have one like this and it's pretty cool. Might be worth checking out, Phil.

I literally can’t play light on one side and heavy on the other. I just tried for like 15 minutes. Never thought of that before. I’ll have to work on that for sure.

Glad you’re revisiting the guitar. I have a YJM strat and a Performance that are scalloped. They teach you awesome fret hand control (especially chords),and are great for bending. Now I can switch between scalloped and non-scalloped without any issues.

My experience: I bought a random scalloped LTD off Reverb on a whim for cheap, never having played scalloped. I instantly loved it and am NEVER going back. Had a custom guitar made to my specs with scalloped frets and it's my dream guitar. Any other guitar just feels wrong now. And for the record I play Zippy Slinky strings. So, it all comes down to your technique and your preference, but it's worth trying if you never have.

This is why your content is so awesome - You've explored the mysterious scalloped phenomenon before, and then dived in again to update what you've learned. Your practical, honest and humble assessments of gear and concepts is useful in real life. Thanks! And I got the War Party for Christmas - great pedal even at bedroom volume. Another great review.

I scalloped my very first Strat when I was just learning as a teenager. Partially to learn a bit of woodworking, but partially because I couldn't stand the glossy finish on the maple fretboard. It really taught me a lighter touch when fretting and I still play it regularly to this day. I only have the one with a scalloped fretboard, but I do really enjoy how easily it plays.

That was the smartest thing I have ever heard anyone say about scalloped necks. The same thing kind of applies to jumbo frets. You can bend a note out of tune just by pressing hard on a guitar with jumbo frets.

my YJM strat is the absolute best guirar i've ever had

Hold on… this guitar actually sounds amazing. I’m not a YJM fan so I have never sought out this guitar, but I’m very pleasantly surprised and impressed.

So, I've played around with scalloping some of my own guitars in the past after playing a Fake Fender Malmsteen at a guitar store and being intrigued by it. I've come up with a hybrid scallop that's perfect for me; It's on a real mutt of a Strat, too. Zebra print body that was from a guitar I won at an arcade, cheap Chinese neck, and a high-output ceramic Tele pickup from an Indio Tele clone in the bridge. Anyway, I've found that scalloping to a medium depth only under the plain strings from the 5th fret up to the 12th, then under all strings from the 12th to the 22nd was exactly the perfect blend for me. Much better than the mega deep, full-board Yngwie style I tried to replicate in the past. The wound strings stay nice and solid feeling for chords, and the medium depth lessens the sort of "walking on a tight rope" feeling of a deep scallop. It's fantastic!

I love the scallops so much that I’ve done it myself to a few different guitars. It’s mind blowing how much it opens up the bends. Just magical

The whole video is a testament to why matching your technique to what you're playing is so important. It's easy to blame the instrument, the strings, the scale length, etc (pick your poison)...but it's often the player not realizing that one style of playing doesn't fit all instruments or situations. I love that Phil recognizes that his technique plays a major factor on "liking an instrument." Case in point, I've played several Yngwie guitars and while they aren't for me, I could still play just fine on them because I'm already used to big frets, thin necks, super light gauge strings and the lighter technique needed to play them accurately and in tune. And to think, I started out on giant necks and 13 gauge strings. In short, adapt your technique to accomodate a wide variety of instruments and you'll be rewarded.

This was an awesome video. Very informative! I also very much appreciate your take on instruments as tools that can be used in many ways.

Anyone who thinks that you can bend a note on a standard jumbo fret neck as far as you can on a scalloped neck has *never played on a scalloped neck! Take my word on this as someone who owns many scalloped & standard neck guitars. It's not even close! Scalloped necks are much easier to bend on, but on the other hand the learning curve to really master them is much higher. The improvement in your playing skills alone is worth it as you'll have to become a better player to really play on a scalloped neck. For me, they're definitely worth the extra effort required. If you've never played on one you should probably hold your criticism until you do.

You would probably love the "Fender Ritchie Blackmore Stratocaster" with "7.25”-radius rosewood fingerboard with graduated scalloping and 21 vintage-style frets. Only the lower part of the neck is scalloped.

I got my first scalloped guitar and absolutely love it. I feel I get more “speed” out of it when doing fast alternative picking. It’s also amazing for bending and vibrato. I got used to it a lot faster than expected, in fact almost instantly. I even use yngwie’s custom string set .008-46 and it’s perfect. I actually now want to go back to changing all my guitars to those strings. Anyways cool video as always Phil 👍🙏🤘

Howdy, Phil and friends. The finest piece of live guitar mastery I ever personally witnessed was Yngvwie with JLT on vocals on a snowy winters night in '89 or '90 (Heaven Tonight) at Toad's in New Haven. I've witnessed a lot of legends just getting started, and a lot of and so-called greats late in the game, and also quite a few other guys who could play their asses off at least to some degree but at his apex, up in the rarified air where only eagles dare to soar, no one at the time quite touched Yngvwie, as far as his raw talent and accomplishment are concerned, and in all the years since, no one quite has.

I am "like that", and I've learned that I actually need to play guitars with a bit more string tension in order to train myself to always press hard enough, because coming from strats, my left hand had become rather lazy. I can be super into the groove and playing digging into the strings with my right hand and still fretting rather softly with my left. Learning to play on singlecuts with bigger frets has helped me, because it forces me to control my pressure, pressing harder more consistently, but not too hard or it'll go sharp. I needed that balancing point in order to get the pressure right, otherwise I'd be paying attention to it for a while then getting lazy again

It definitely teaches one to play a little differently. And I LOVE that big fat headstock. I'd love to have one of those, but doubt I will ever be able to work that out. Maybe one day! And ya! Let's hear about those other guitars you've disliked so. :)

I have the last four frets scalloped on my JEM and I always really liked that; would love to try a fully scalloped guitar one day... Also about the thing you said, having like a 'half scallop': Check out Ormsbys Rusty Cooley sig, as far as I know it only has the upper 12 frets scalloped and only for the thinner strings. Great video as always!

Definitely hear what you saying about different experience, but your Definitely a better player than a yr ago and major improvements since you started youtube!! Been with you along time. Better player, great knowledge of gear, and love the content! Thanks for what you do!.

Scalloped fretboards are an aquired taste, I think. Ever since being a child I loved the music and playing of Ritchie Blackmore, started playing guitar thanks to him and growing up and reading about him and his playing I read that he had his fretboard scalloped. That intrigued me. Fast forward to 2011/2012 I had the opportunity to buy a Malmsteen strat (2000) and a Blackmore strat (2011) which I did. Played those so much that after awhile my hands couldn’t accept a flat fretboard, much to my dismay! So I had my other strat, a Classic 70s, scalloped too and I loved it. However, between 2015-2017 I barely played guitar because of personal stuff and when getting back to playing I felt I deeply regretted having scalloped the classic 70s strat. I bought another Classic 70 and did not scallop it, super happy with both now! That really opened the flood gates for me! Haha! Since then having bought a CBS 74 strat, then an American Performer strat and even a couple of Squier strats to experiment with! I feel like I’m mad or something and I blame it all on Blackmore! Haha! Just kidding! 😉 Where am I going with this personal history rant? First, you may regret scalloping your favorite guitar, secondly, you can love playing BOTH scalloped and flat fretboards, thirdly, the Blackmore strat is the best of two worlds and lastly, if you have the money and the space; don’t hesitate to buy the gear you want (and think that you need!) You can always sell the stuff later if you were wrong. Thank you Phil for your great channel and content! Greetings from a bluesrock player in Sweden.

Thank you Phillip, I think the lesson I leaned from this is you can learn to adapt to different equipment if you go at it with an open mind. Thanks for the video!

I've always wanted to try scalloped frets just to get that out of my system lol

This same discussion is why I never understood people complaining about the feel of fretboard wood. When I fret notes, my fingers don't touch wood. Only the strings.

When I was younger my dad was choosing between one of these and a Jeff beck sig strat and I got to play both while I liked this one I like the Jeff beck a lot more I actually really loved the scalloped frets and I've really wanted to get my hands on another one but not enough to shell out for one

As Yngwie himself said, you have to “play with your ears” when playing with scalloped fretboards. It’s akin to violinists and the way they approach their instrument- they use their ears to hit their notes just right. It isn’t enough to just hit a fret and getting the appropriate note (provided it’s intimated and in tune). And yes- a REALLY light touch is kind of needed to play on a guitar with a scalloped fretboard. Or at least that’s what I found when I played a similarly set-up guitar.

Got to say, your playing on the scalloped fretboard sounded very good. The nuanced vibrato sounded very musical, refined, and interesting. I've never played a scalloped guitar, but I guess I should give it a try. I've read that the Steve Vai JEM has a scalloped fretboard on frets 21-24, Kiko Loureiro has frets 12 to the last scalloped, and Michael Schenker has frets 12-23 scalloped only on the first strings only.

That first note you played made my cat (who was half asleep on my desk) absolutely sh*t himself :D

I myself also had the same experience. I tried one and it felt so awkward and hated it.. I do see how if you really lighten up your touch you can play faster BUT in my opinion you lose the feeling? If that makes sense.. great subject for video 🤘🤘

My understanding is that John McLaughlin was the first well-known guitarist to use a scalloped fingerboard. Some credit his use beginning with Shakti, in 1974, but McLaughlin was using a scalloped fingerboard in the Mahavishnu Orchestra circa 1971, and may have used it earlier.

Cool that your playing changed and you have a new perspective on a piece of gear you previously couldn’t get along with! Everything you said about what made the scalloped board (and resulting very tall frets) appealing sounds like hell to me. I’m naturally heavy handed when writing and even heavy footed when walking - it’s like my brain really likes that force/physical feedback. I like feeling the fretboard. I’m sure this is something I could overcome by improving my technique. However, at this juncture of my life, I can imagine being given this guitar upon arriving in hell.

I'm still a Tellie man with a Les Paul body! Been that way since 1982. Today I'm 65 and willing to make some of my own this year 2023. It's time to detail to alien angle of the neck to each different body and get the shells cut and detail hard-bodies using plastic or wood? Or both?

I have one of these strats Phil. I play with 10 gauge strings on mine. It takes a little getting used to but it's a great guitar. Not for every thing. I use it as a tool for certain things. Great video.

The Ritchie Blackmore model has the graduated scallop.

I agree with you about the scalloped above the 12th fret feeling better. I did that to my TL Squier and it feels natural to my hand when bend that far up the neck. Also, I seldom form chords above the 12th.

I played for years with light picking and a tight neck grip. I have learned to change that I now play even lighter with my right hand and have an extremely light touch with my left hand on the strings. There is one time that I break that role and that is when I am playing mandolin and chords. Where I tend to be a lot heavier handed in both regards but especially with my picking hand and that is because I'm looking for volume. But with how small The area is to properly fret cords on a mandolin. If I am fist the strings down to the frets, I will pull things out of tune by separating the unison strings with my finger and sometimes the necessary hand shapes don't work properly with a heavy grip. I really think mandolin has made me a better guitar player and guitar has made me a better mandolin player.

I totally understand. Scalloped guitars are not widely available. I should have been playing them since long ago. I had to adapt to regular guitars by playing lighter and using heavier gauge strings. I also do well on bass.

Awesome review . i totally love YJM Strats since 98 when i first got one but most of my Fender strats anf G&L´s are not scalloped . i prefer Scalloped since i have been playing them for long but i can play very comfortable on my non scalloped necks .Greetings From Chile

8:30 "I'm barely touching the string" - but you're doing the rake over several strings with your pick (I don't often do that, I'm guessing that rake is automatically part of your style) and that adds an extra attack to the sound and helps it sound loud.

Hi Phil, this was a really interesting chat. Thanks for sharing your POV on your equipment journey. My first reaction to this guitar was much like yours. Your thoughts gave me a chance to catch up with my own feelings on why this guitar has a right to live. Ya, it's different, but so are playing styles and intrument types (acoustic, electric, 7 strings, 12, etc). Why should a sculpted fretboard be a deal breaker? My point - could I live with this rig? I don't know if it would be my go-to but it would sure be interesting to see if we got along for awhile. I got about 6 other (non-sculpted) types of guitars that I love to pieces and I have so much more to learn and not enough time blah blah blah. . . . Anyway, long story short - I feel it would be an unnecessary complication to figure this thing out. Maybe I'm too old also.

I'm glad the review wasn't just a pan. That axe looked so nice when you picked it up, I'm kind of happy you grew to appreciate it.

Firstly - I love your channel. I always have a take away after watching. My question is this, your main issue seems to be just the scalloped fretboard, how did you like the rest of the guitar? Pickups, pots, tuners, neck profile etc?

I have two YJM Strats, a 2008 and a 2014. Great guitars. They definitely helped a formerly heavy-handed (me) player lighten up and play better.

You mentioned wanting a guitar with more gradual scalloping. Check out a Ritchie Blackmore signature model. As I remember the scalloping is more shallow on the low frets and gets deeper as it goes down the neck. I've wanted to try one for years but have never seen one in the wild before.

Great video! And I don’t know if it’s already been mentioned but I believe Ormsby does the partial scallop that you mentioned on their Rusty Cooley models! It’s honestly a really cool design

There’s actually a style of scalloping that’s exactly like what you described at 9:03! Ritchie Blackmore does his necks that way

I've always been a light-touch player with both hands, to the degree that I have a hard time keeping a standard-style pick from rotating in my fingers. I've never played one, but I'm guessing that the ultimate scalloped fretboard would be a Gittler Guitar (no fretboard at all)

Hizaki from the Japanese symphonic metal band Versailles has an ESP/Edwards signature (Japanese exclusive) that is only scalloped from frets 12-24. Vai and Herman Li have the last few frets on their Ibanez sigs scalloped.

Phil. can you talk about fret size someday? This is so overlooked in my opinion. Companys usually do not tell you the mm size. it will say medium or vintage tall. that doesnt tell me anything. One company's medium jumbo is anothers jumbo. The fret size is just as important as the neck demensions.

I am one of those folks that pick really hard and have a light touch. I even use heavy picks (2MM). Was super easy for me to adjust to a scalloped fret board. Took me a day.

The scallop your after is the Ritchie Blackmore type scallop

We had one of these at the Sam Ash I worked at. We couldn't give it away.

I did a scallop myself on a cheap strat to try it out. I think I went to deep with the scallop did not reached the trussrod but some of the fretmarkers fell out and had to reglue them, it was a full day work with polishing the frets afterwards some of them got hit with the file during scalloping. So playing it I watched my fingertips and when I was doing big bends my finger really was digging in towards the fretboard but there was still like 2mm of a gap, so I refretted another neck changing from medium frets to XL jumbo (1,5mm tall) and they give me the same feel as the scalloped neck. I would suggest before buying a scalloped fretboard guitar just try one with XL jumbo frets, most of LTDs, Schecters have this by default.

With a scalloped fretboard, it helps to fret closer to the fret wire.

I played a YM Strat years ago and absolutely loved it. I was not and still am not a great player but I could feel the advantages of the scalloped fretboard and probably should make one one of these days.

Yes Phil, great advice, don't hold on to feelings or perceptions, they usually aren't accurate

That lime green tele in the background. Beautiful!

I noticed a big improvement in your playing this past year. over all. Thank you for all the years of great content!

Great, now I want to try a scalloped fretboard guitar, thanks Phil :)

Very interesting! I would love to try scalloped frets. Billy Sheehans bass with the last few frets on the D and G being scalloped seems like a great idea. Would love to see if you dig that - he has that Yamaha signature of his out. I love your insight - definitely do more of these!

It's interesting what you say about the strength with which you pick, I usually play heavy music, metal riffs and I use rather thicker strings, for example, for me the "output" set for a 6-string guitar in E standard is 10-52 the lower the tuning, the thicker the strings , for C tuning or B I use 12-62, while I pick very gently. I even have a habit of sharpening the tip of the pick with a nail file to excite the strings only with the sharp tip, it's all easier for me to do this while the strings are thicker because they put up more resistance to the pick.

I do not actually own my dream neck, but my dream neck is a Warmoth job: 24-fret, super-wide (1 7/8), '59 LP profile, full-scallop for my S-style. I am thinking that scalloped frets would allow my fingers to get a much more solid purchase on the string for bends and vibrato.

When I started playing shredding was at its peak and I had two guitars fully scalloped. Playing cowboy chords on a scalloped neck requires a light touch. Bending and playing on a scalloped neck is a dream for me. Now I play tall frets which can also be problematic if you have a heavy touch.

Actually, there was a small run of the Korean made Fenix STL Superstrats in the early 1990s that had only the 15th to 24th fret scalloped.

wow.... it's great that you're giving such a candid review. I have kind of wanted the yellow/maple one to work on my touch.

With the greatest of respect to Malmsteen’s talents, a scalloped fretboard is yet another thing he “borrowed” from Ritchie Blackmore. Pity he didn’t also borrow Blackmore’s sense of composition and melody, though …

my second guitar ever has some super deep scallops, I basically honed my skills on the guitar and it helped me INSANELY now that I have way more guitars. I just really love scalloped fretboards

I liked this as a change-up from the deep dive format. The deep dives are great, but it's nice to have something a little more off-the-cuff from you.

In high school, I destroyed a really nice Ibanez Blazer by scalloping the neck. What it did for me was force me to develop a light touch. I have never played another scalloped neck since, but having a light touch has been important for me.

I always loved these. I used one for a tour in 2012 or so. I didn't get to practice before using it and I absolutely loved it. Was so effortless to play.

I'm not a shredder, but I've been a big fan of scalloped necks for years - both the symmetric Malmsteen deep scallops and the Blackmore asymmetric scallops - deepest behind the frets and deepest on the treble side.

12:25 Easy. Just grab a Squier Strat that you're not terribly attached to and scallop the 13th fret to the 22nd (21st?) fret and see how you like it. You could even make a video out of it.

I have many guitars and I only play my Malmsteen Strat since I bought it. Amazing guitar I play funk, blues, jazz all genres.

I played one in my local shop about 8 years ago and, despite being excited to try the scalloped fretboard, could not play it. I had never really noticed how heavy my fretting hand is but I kept pushing every note out of tune. I only played the guitar about twenty minutes but it was completely frustrating. Of course with some time I might have lightened my touch enough to enjoy the guitar but I have over 20 in my collection so I didn't really need this one. I will say that the pickups were fantastic (this is when they were loaded with the DiMarzio set) so I can only assume the Seymour Duncans Fender puts in the new models are just as good. Another great post, Phil. Cheers.

Honest and on point! Thanks Phil. Will probably revisit one of these myself!⭐️👍⭐️

I've had my own YJM strat for a while . It's a great sounding guitar and my favourite strat by far. If you're looking for less scallop at the low end check out the Ritchie Blackmore models. No where near as deep a scallop with it getting deeper on the thinner strings and hardly any scallop towards the nut. Thanks for posting 👍

Hey Phil, try Ritchie Blackmore signature Strat, it has a different scalloped profile, or do it on a cheaper Squire yor self, you will like it even more. I know I did.

Didn’t read all of the comments. But I believe they’re called “Bullet scallops”. Because if the shape the scallop ends up making. I’m pretty sure Ben @crimson guitars had done several builds with them. Not saying he’s the only one. Just where I believe I first saw them.

I look at such guitars as challenges. Something new and fresh to tackle when bored of the normal practice. Looking forward to your “one year later” video.

As a strat..they sound a bit different ...more full. I love the scalloping so much I did a squire strat and then a telecaster. I now have a much lighter touch...no strain no pain. Be well great vid

Phillip, From one Bass player to another your level of playing is so excellent on guitar . I would someday love to meet you and jam with you. Not only do you know about all types of gear in general you seem to be a genuine person. I always enjoy & learn so many interesting subjects from you every time I get a chance to watch you channel. Your the Best, You Rock. Signed, John (Zepbass) Gregory, from Munster Indiana.

I started as a professional bassist as you did-and moving to guitars, I bought every brand, including this. The Mulmsteen guitar is FUN especially for the touch. Bending and the addictive vibrato. So nice on the fingers. And playing lighter on the attack etc. Very cool.

I always wanted the off-white one

Hey Phil, It’s so funny that you bought this because I had been watching this exact guitar on Reverb just because I was curious about the scalloped fretboard. But I ultimately couldn’t pull the trigger because I’m not much of an Yngwie fan even though I love Strats. Enjoy your new Strat!

Phil, If you haven’t seen it already, check out Robert Bakers’ video about his Yngwie strat. He talks about having to change his technique, using a lighter touch.

9:21 Yeah, a half-scallop. Frets 13 to 22. I have it on my guitar. Works beautifully. Warmoth offers a half-scallop option of 12-22. I prefer starting at the 13th fret instead of the 12th fret because it really doesn't make a huge difference where precisely you start and that way you're not messing up any ornate inlays at the octave mark.

I've long been curious about the feel/performance of a scalloped fretboard. Especially when it comes to the difference between a Malmsteen scallop and a Blackmore scallop. Never had the opportunity to play either...so thank you for this vid.

Phil..I like the compound scalloped fretboard radius idea

The richie blackmore model strat is scalloped on the the high strings but not the low strings