Like speed bumps! This is true, it can occasionally happen.
About capos, I’m actually looking for one right now, you will definitely need one with adjustable tension. They usually have a screw ( preload ) and a spring loaded combination ratchet.
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I always wondered if one could have an insert roughly the shape of the missing wood to enable a regular capo.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ShubbC1N--shubb-c1n-standard-capo-for-steel-string
Fair price on something like this, good design and looks well made too?
Scalloped necks facilitate vibrato and bending. That is the plus. But they have downsides too. They can feel sloppy as you move across the fretboard. Plus the high string can fall off the edge of the fretboard. This is a known issue with the Malmsteen Strat. I’ve had several Malmsteen and Blackmore Strats. No more for me.
If you use fingertip or -pad contact with the fretboard to calculate necessary fretting pressure, the lack of feedback from the fingerboard will prompt you to over-press when fretting, which will prompt the string(s) to go sharp.
On the other (left) hand, some guitar setups combined with some fingertips and -pads let you get away with a wider range of fretting force than other setups and fingers do. E.g. If you’re used to playing with low frets, don’t have very hard fingertip callouses and/or don’t use very light strings, you might have gotten used to being able to vary the fretting force quite a bit without strings getting bent noticeably sharper. A problem that increases proportionally with chord fretting complexity.
To play in tune with light strings and a scalloped fretboard, your technique must be dissociated from fretboard feedback.
In my experience, you’re more likely to bend sharp than press down and go sharp.
One can argue this is due to higher tolerance needing some tightening up coming from a guitar that has more room. I’m very sure the YJM neck has a tight tolerance for a reason, it’s by design after playing a few other examples besides mine. If you stick with it, the issue disappears quickly and you start to appreciate the ease of edge access.
if you’re not used to it, it can feel strange, and when you slide up or down the neck, you might be surprised to be stopped dead by a fret, this is due to sloppy technique that other guitars encourage. Very quickly your efficiency will increase, as you start to learn to use the string as a rail & guide.
Over all scalloped fretboards encourage and help you develop good/efficient technique.
edit: if you lack grit and don’t stick with it for a while, you will never appreciate the advantages.
I also have never had a problem with notes going sharp. I don’t know how hard some guys are pressing down to have this problem.
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Strings falling off the edge is usually due to poor fret dressing, something Fender is known for in the last 10 years or so. It’s also because how fret ends and handled “clasically”, which is to bevel them. For some this makes them more comfortable, but something that imo is an antiquated practice. I prefer frets how they are done on many ESP guitars and 80s Jacksons where there is very little to no bevel and the ends are “bb’d” to remove the sharp edges. This results in maximum playing surface and you are less likely to pull the string off the edge of the fretboard.
I think going sharp or flat is just expression rather than incorrect.
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It’s all down to preference, fender is closer to vintage specs. The YJM neck is closely modeled on one of his vintage necks, not sure which one but it’s like that for a reason.
Personally I started playing on a 94’ MIM strat, I found the YJM neck to be identical in profile, in between I was playing a lot of other guitars, so when I got my YJM more than a decade later, I was pleasantly surprised, it felt like home.
I have my bias for sure.
The Shubbs are indeed really well made, for one-handed operation though I love the G7th: just squeeze it gently 'till all the strings fret cleanly and you’re off to the races.
Overpressing is overpressing, whether the excessive force bends the string downwards or sideways. Players who do it, probably do a combination of both at the same time.
Point is in that case, it’s not an issue with scalloped neck, try to press down on a string more than 1mm, it takes a lot of concerted effort.