Scalloped fingerboard

[Doug Hoople]

I once bought a mandolin with the extension hacked off and a nice scar from the blade on the top. I didn't pay any less for it because of the modifications. I added Waverly's and a James tailpiece and sold it for what I paid plus the cost of the upgrades. I listed it in the classifieds and it sold in twenty five minutes to someone who had played it at a jam and liked what it had under the hood.

That's actually nice to hear. Must've been a pretty nice instrument on its playing merits and very fairly priced to boot.

[MikeEdgerton]

Those three things keep retained value pretty high on my list when considering modifications.

And so it's your right to not modify your instrument as you choose. It's anyone elses right to modify their old Gibson no matter what condition it's in. There's no reason why anyone has to follow anyone elses idea of what is right or wrong when it comes to making modifications. You said:

"If it's a Gibson, especially a vintage Gibson, then the extension should be left alone and not even scalloped (although scalloping seems actually to be an accepted practice)."

Basically that's your opinion of what you should do. If someone chooses to scallop or otherwise modify an old Gibson they own it is simply their choice. Nothing more, nothing less. There's no validity in the argument beyond your personal choice.

[Doug Hoople]

Yeah, Mike, I think you've effectively established your opinion on this point by now.

You own it, you can do as you like with it. That's always been the case. I don't disagree.

In fact, I opened with a suggestion that the extension be eliminated. So I'm not sure why we're stuck on this.

[TomTyrrell]

If you don't want to mess up the top while you are doing this wrap the body in a pillow case or something like that.

A Pillow case won't stop a tool from marring the finish. I used a piece of formica. That won't stop a router but it offers protection from a file that might slip.

The pillow case might keep your piece of formica from scratching the top.

[bryankimsey]

I used to do it the Frank Ford way, but these days I just do it on the curve of the belt sander. You'd better be pretty steady and pretty comfortable with your sander, though! Good idea (actually, pretty much essential...) to cardboard and tape over the body before doing it. Something I did for the first time to my daughter's KM-1000 was to just sand with the frets in place. This left the tangs of the fret in the slot and gives the extension of still being fretted. I used to remove the frets and then fill the slots with holly or maple strips and then sand, but on her KM, I thought "Why not just do this?" and so I did. Looks great and gave plenty of relief.

And FWIW, I'm only going to scallop a "non-essential" mandolin.

EDIT: Here's some pictures of the KM-1000 post scalloping. It looks good from the front and the scallop is enough, but not overly aggressive.

[Brandon Flynn]

Fingerboard extensions that are not scooped make the instrument unplayable for me. One thing I do like about the scalloped extension is that it forced me not to pick as deep in order to eliminate the click, which has made my right hand picking smoother and has increased my speed and overall technique in my right hand.

[LiamO]

WOW, Thanks for all the info!!! It's hard to absorb it all at one sitting but I will go through all these replies and figure out what I want to do.
LiamO

[Jonathan Peck]

I thought you guys were talking about doing this

[Doug Hoople]

I get the bends just looking at that!

[Pipeous]

Part of today's research.... deciding whether to scoop or cut off my extension. the more I play the more I hate the extension

[Loudloar]

I'll weigh in with my opinion. (Remember advice is worth what you paid for it. In this case zero.) It seems to me that using power tools to scoop an extension is potentially dangerous and actually unnecessary. I scooped my Kentucky and it took about 30 seconds to pull the frets with a pair of end cutters, and about 6 minutes to carefully trim the fingerboard down to the bottom of the fret slots using a sharp gouge. I finished with a file, fine sandpaper, and a wipe of mineral oil.

I agree that you should do what you want with your own mandolin. I'll never scoop my 1924 Loar F-5. It wouldn't look right to me and it doesn't bother me. On the other hand John Rieschman has a replacement fingerboard on his Loar, with the original fingerboard in safekeeping. The new fingerboard is oval and scooped. That's what he needs to make it playable. Nothing wrong with either approach.

Steve