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I once had a lute guitar that had a scalloped fingerboard and bar frets. To do a scalloped board it would almost seem bar frets would be much easier to do than tanged frets.

Yes--bar frets, flush to the fretboard. That's the big difference between the Van Eps style and the Yngwie Malmsteem style scalloped boards. The Van Eps style boards feel like they're fretless, and they actually are, but with relief in between fret positions. The more modern scalloped boards still feel fretted, but have some room to play around with bending pitch between frets. Subtle perhaps, but not so much so when you're playing them.

Dave