Carved fingerboard between frets on a guitar

Question

I've played the electric guitar for about ten years. I've seen and tried out various kinds of necks, but today I stumbled upon a fingerboard that goes beyond my understanding.

It looked like this:

My question is; Why would someone want a fingerboard carved in between the frets like this?

"How it feels to play" is of course a matter taste, but doesn't such a neck:

A) excessively tighten the string (increase pitch) if pressed too hard
and
B) require a completely different fingering technique?

Is this some known kind of a fingerboard, or just some random players wild tryout?

Answer 1

It is called a scalloped fingerboard. It is used by lead guitarists who do a great deal of string-bending when playing melodies. And yes, playing one effectively requires a certain technique, because if one uses too much finger pressure, the notes and chords go way out of tune.

Here is a page at Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts where they explain different kinds of scalloping.

The most famous advocate of the scalloped fingerboard is the heavy metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. For many years the Fender guitar company has made a Yngwie Malmsteen signature model Stratocaster that comes from the factory with a scalloped fingerboard, and from time to time they have offered other models with a scalloped fingerboard as well. So yes, this is a well-established feature of certain mass-produced electric guitars.