scalloped fretboards

what do you guys think about scalloped fretboards? do they allow you to play faster, easier. are they better than regular fretboards, do they hurt your fingers? thanks

How much do you want to scallop? If you scallop all of your frets, your ability to play chords in tune will be severely hampered. A lot of guys only scallop the frets above 10, or even above 20. As for allowing you to play faster, I don't really know. The theory is that you learn to develop a lighter left hand touch and then you can play faster, but it takes awhile to develop that lighter touch, and in the meantime you'll probably be playing out of tune. Also, a lot of guys play pretty damn fast on reg fretboards, so it's not like you need them to play fast. The disadvantage of scalloped frets that I've been pointing out is the tendency to bend in towards the fretboard when you fret (finger) the note, thus putting it out of tune. If you're like John Mclaughlin, however, you may want scallopped frets for this very reason that most consider a disadvantage. He used them to imitate a sitar sound on guitar, by bending up a little bit on every note, in a way that's very hard/impossible to do without scallopped frets. DO NOT buy before you try, because not everybody will like scallopped frets. See if you can try a guitar with them at your local store, and then decide which course of action to take.