Andy Eagle
Fractal Fanatic
It takes and age to do by hand, think 12 hours bench time.I'm thinking of scalloping some necks, any advice for a first timer?
Going to start with a cheap Squier neck to practice...
1. Use half round and round files to start .
2.Leave a gap next to the fret of at least 1mm.
3.Don't go deeper that 1.5mm you just don't need too. If you have 6100 size frets then you have doubled the clearance from the fingerboard.
4.Mask the fret with line painting tape to help avoid scrapes.
5.Make various radius sanding sticks by glueing wet and dry in 200~400 grit range on pieces of dowel. If you want to end up without cross grain scratching you need to go all the way to 1500 grit.
6.There is always a danger that you will file out a fret marker especially if it is real shell as those are usually thinner. With plastic ones you may be lucky at 1.5mm depth.
7.Good luck, take your time and remember you can always take more but you can't put it back.
These are the main things I wish I could have said to myself in 82 when I did my (then main) 72 strat.