Reviewing A Guitar I've Hated For Years

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

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!

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.

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

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!

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 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.

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.

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.

Phillip, I always miss your live shows, but not by design - I appreciate you far beyond just a guitar guy!

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.

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.

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.

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

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 👍🙏🤘

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!.

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!

Looking forward to the year in review the second coming Phillip! My ESP has scalloped from the 15th fret up and now i have the feeling to have to play around up there :)