I bought an Yngwie Malmsteen strat on Ebay and it's a great guitar

[Nitro Express]

I purchased a Yngwie Malmsteen Strat on Ebay on impulse and have been playing it for awhile. It's got the scalloped fretboard. What's cool is the fretwork is beautifuly done. The guitar is a basically a late 60's Strat with the large headstock and tuners correct for that era. Non-hum Dimarzio pickups and a brass nut.

It takes a while to get used to it but once you do, man, I think this is one of the best guitars I've ever owned. The frets are huge. She seems to stay in tune quite well for a standard vibrato.

What's cool is the scalloping allows you to relax your hand more and you can play faster. Hammer ons are easier and you can bend full chords by pressing down harder. It's like a whole different instrument and the single coil pickups seem to work really well with the setup. I like the sound of the guitar.

What I love is it is a radicle take on a classic gutar design. It would be interesting to make one with pickups out of a Wolfgang and see what happens.

[UGS]

That's awesome man!

How's the scalloping work? Is it all the all the way down the neck, or just the higher frets?

[BrownSound1]

Yngwie models are scalloped all the way down the neck. I can't play on those damn things...everything I play goes SHARP as hell.

[Nitro Express]

You will go sharp at first but you will get a feel for it. It's amazing how much friction is on regular guitars when you get used to playing on a scalloped neck. I never appreciated Yngwie until now. Now I'm into him big time. Too bad he's limited in his songwriting because he really is a great player and does it his way.

Anyways, I've had so many Strats and this one is really different. The previouse owner didn't play it much but it's all aged and broken in. I wouldn't change a thing on it, it's perfect. Man I wish I would have boughten one years ago.

[Matt White]

"LET THE SHREDDING COMMENCE!!!"

[Hardrock69]

UNLEASH THE FOOKIN' FURY!!!!!!!!!

[Panamark]

Never had the chance to play one, but would love to (Out of sheer curiousty !)

[Nitro Express]

I really consider myself a Les Paul type guy but I always had to have a Strat because only a Strat can do certain things. I never really owned any Strat that gave me a hard-on. This one does. You really have to handle one of these in person to appreciate it. How can you go wrong with a maple strat neck with scooped out wood between the frets and the frets are like major jumbos. It's some cool shit and it works. Then there's the good taste that all classic Strats have. There's nothing cooler than a well worn vintage looking Strat.

I never could figure out why Yngwie never used humbuckers but I'm not sure if they would work as good with a scalloped neck. A good Marshall thickens the tone and it all seems to match. It's actually pretty versitile. I mean I think Yngwie sounded as good if not better than Steve Vai and Joe Satriani using a good ol strat and Marshalls.

[saint]

I played a squire once back in late 80, early 90 with scalloped fretboard, the only bad thing about it was that I did the scallopeing, totally ruined the guitar.

Was a big Yngwie fan then and still is but I wont do that mistake again with recently bought 84 Japan Strat.

[UGS]

Anyone know if any other Strats (or other guitars) come with a scalloped fretboard?

[saint]

Ibanez JEM2KDNA

I believe Steve Vai had something to do whit that

[saint]

Found a pic.

[UGS]

Thanks saint. . .I was hoping for something maybe cheaper, but oh well.

[Nitro Express]

Yeah, I do a little bit of woodworking and scalloping a neck looks like a lot of work to do it propperly. All Parts sells scalloped necks that fit strats and Warmoth will scallop a neck for you. It's not cheap. I figure a nice scalloped neck will run you around $300-$500. If you get a good deal on a Ynqwie Signature Strat, you can get one for around $800. Maybe less if it's dinged a bit. I think these are made in the Fender Custom Shop, the mail order price is $1,300.

[Panamark]

That Ibanez looks interesting, scalloped only above the 12th ??
That looks pretty cool !