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97K views 132 replies 83 participants last post by  billq 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well, after an early rumor of the change and much confusion due to the ibanez.com website specs on the VWH I can now confirm, the 04' VWH now has a ROSEWOOD fretboard. The one shown at NAMM was ebony so I never gave it a second though afterwards. It is a nice dark select rosewood but it is rosewood nonetheless.

Just an FYI ;)
 
#103 ·
I'll second that comment by marlb5150. I think the rosewood adds a touch of fatness and warmth that the ebony fretboards just don't have. I must admit though, I do like the look and feel of ebony fretboards in general.

For those who gripe about the light rosewood colour, I found that adding a touch of lemon oil to the fretboard does darken the wood over time. It doesn't turn completely black but it is rendered a very very dark brown colour, just like Vai's EVO :)
 
#104 ·
I think rosewood looks just as good as ebony (you have my respect if you can tell rosewood from ebony from 7 feet away). Rosewood also feels warmer. to me, rosewood looks great coz of the grain is long. I just prefer it. If you want it dark you can have it stained. But it will become dark eventually when you play it a lot. skin oils of your hand will darken the wood... ewwww
 
#106 ·
No, I personally don't think that rosewood is any inferior to maple or ebony.

To illustrate using a metaphor: "What ice-cream flavour is better, vanilla or strawberry?" It boils down to a matter of personal taste as far as playability, sound and aesthetics are concerned.

Similarly, Jem players prefer a wider, thinner neck compared to say, the baseball bat profile of a Les Paul. Is either guitar necessarily better than the other? No, I believe taste in guitars is highly personal, and it is difficult to generalise guitars into categories of superiority/inferiority on the basis of wood-type.

Word to the wise: Selecting a guitar purely on the basis of its appearance is as silly as marrying a girl because of her looks, or buying a house because of its paint job.

On that note, I am curious as to how many people who have responded to this thread and made untoward comments about Jems and woods have actually OWNED a Jem at some point, or for that matter, PLAYED one.
 
#107 ·
I have owned a few guitars. Maybe a dozen and most of those have been Jems. I bought a Jackson SL2H the very day I played one for the first time. I am not exactly sure why I liked it so much, but it does have an ebony fretboard and alder body. These two facts made me really want to get a VWH. My first guitar was a Strat with a maple neck. A friend of mine had a Strat with a rosewood neck. I liked the look of the rosewood, and he the maple. We swapped necks and the difference in tone was night and day. It went from a very bright guitar, to very dark...tone. Before, clean channel stuff sounded kind of brittle, and the rosewood warmed that up. For solos, the maple was a much better choice. Since ebony is supposed to be an even denser wood than maple, I assume that it adds a lot to the brightness and possibly sustain. I am going to try to find a pre '04 simply because my gut tells me that the combination of Alder and Ebony is magical.

If people cant tell the tonal difference between maple/ebony/rosewood then they have bad ears. When I was first playing, I heard ebony was also better because it was "harder' and thus made tapping and legato stuff easier. Not sure if thats true still.

Someone said its silly to buy a guitar based on looks, well then that would pretty much make the Jem obsolete since its just gaudy RG. Right? Im sorry, but I like consider looks and feel. Same reason I cant buy just a car that drives well and looks ***. Looks are important and the guitar should reflect a little of your personality imho. The Jem is very flashy, like Vai's playing. I like the Jems because I like flash playing and because they are built for speed. The nice black ebony fretboard definately added character to the guitar.

I want a new VWH...NOW!! But it looks like I am going to have to wait for someone to give up a pre '04 VWH or I will always feel like I got the downgrade version. Or maybe I will get a custom shop Jackson.

What about the change in the neck and tremolo? Is the 5 piece neck a downgrade from the early 1 piece necks? Is the new edge-pro any good? I played a new VWH in the store the other day and hated it, but I think it was set up wrong. So many changes. Ugh. I still love my LNG I got from Glen more than the rest of the Jems I have owned. The necks were sanded differently then or something and they just feel goooood.
 
#111 ·
Rosewood on the VWH does make it sound smoother, yet something about the airey sound the Ebony gave the JEM7VWH, it holds it's own ground with a nice mystical tone.
I own a 2003 vwh with ebony fretboard as well a 2006 vwh with rosewood fretboard. With identical and new strings the guitars sound 100% identical over a triaxis, 2:90 combination in clean and super-distortion sound.
I think the differance in sound is only an illusion....

Frank
 
#110 ·
Just so you guys know... when the word "cheaper" is thrown around, it is referring to $15 less. That's the max difference in price between a nice Rosewood and a nice Ebony board. Be aware that there are also forms of Rosewood that cost both the same and more than Ebony as well. Buy your guitar by how it sounds not by what you read in internet forums ;)
 
#113 ·
Hey everyone, I guess Im an official Jem owner now. I just picked up my first higher end guitar this week, an 02 7vwh. A little more than I wanted to spend but the price was too good to pass up. Its MINT and plays amazing. My old RG is falling apart, so I'll probably turn it into a project guitar (Probably nothing good, I just like taking things apart.) I love the sound I get out of this beast. I was late to work yesterday cause I made the mistake of picking it up and playing. I looked at Parkers too, but they were out of my price range and I thought the sounds was a bit bright for my taste.

Well anyways back to the topic at hand, my jem7 has the ebony board which I think looks better on the guitar. I have played rosewood and ebony before, but I can't honestly notice a difference in tone. Its all preference I guess.
 
#119 ·
I was looking forward to an Ebony fretboard on the one i just bought, but its a newer one and has a rosewood. I cant say im not disappointed because:

1. Steve plays it. Thats the point of these guitars. Its Steves instrument.

2. Rosewood sounds good. It adds warmer qualities to it. Both maple and ebony increase brightness. If you like a warmer tone over a bright tone, Rosewoods your favourite.

3. It may not be your favourite feeling wood, but its not like it feels *bad*! if it that much of a problem, get the thing scalloped. Try something new and elimate the "feel problem"

4. I prefer the look of ebony, but i must say i think rosewood makes a guitar look more "instrument like", in my opinion.
 
#122 ·
Me too, I had both and the rosewood does hold a brighter sustain. It also has a slimmer & silky (not glossy) neck than the 99 ebony I had. It has a few improvements: -
*Edge3 - faster string changes and better sustain and no saddle wearing.
*Neck pocket is angled at it's base to stop cracking the paint in time.
*Better inlays at the 4 scalloped frets (inlays not cut into).
*It still uses scarf-joint neck which is better than 5pce J-Craft in feel.
However, I still had to install locking studs. Glad I got a backstop too.
It's tuning went from 85% to 100% with lip balm on its studs. The locking nut also needed a tighten.
I would not buy any other year. 2004 was it :!:

(beware that older Jems need routing for the Edge3 to fit with full motion)
 
#126 ·
The J Custom are the "pride and joy" of Ibanez guitars. I do not believe there is or ever was a single J Custom or USA Custom that offered an ebony fretboard. This, to me, seems to imply that the decision makers feel that rosewood and maple are the best two options. Vai, Satch, Yngwie, Timmons, Johnson, and Gilbert all play rosewood or maple fretboards. This must mean something. It would be one thing if Gilbert played ebony and his sig model was rosewood. Everyone would complain. If Vai plays rosewood then his sig model should be rosewood. Everyone should have complained when it was ebony! Clearly Via does not think of ebony as "superior" to rosewood or maple.

I was adamant on getting a 91-02 VWH, but after considering all the facts, I think that its clear that rosewood IS the proper signature model choice. You could take my word for it, or maybe just have a little faith in Mr. Vai himself.

PS. Now, my main concern is trem. Why does Via perfer the original Edge?
 
#128 ·
I haven't played a guitar with an ebony board in a while. I currently own a JS1000 that has a rosewood board obviously. If I get a JEM, I'd want it with an ebony board for variety. I'm not a fan of maple boards.

The butt of my pool stick is in ebony and I chose this wood over maple because its unlikely to warp and it had a fatter sound(yeah, the sound a cue stick does when you hit a cueball is VERY important for me). Funny how woods react differently depending on what you use it for.
 
#129 ·
I own JEM7Vwh with ebony.
Ebony, Rosewood - each has its own characteristic, none of them is better.
Ebony has more punch, less brightness, for me it sounds smoother than rosewood. Tha same thing is in Les Pauls. ;)
It's physics - ebony is very hard wood - it repulse frequencies faster than softer woods.
On mine ebony is black as hell and it looks really awesome. Under fingers it feels like glass. The neck is a little bigger than in newer models - soo the sound is. ;)
 
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