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.
Ah Ha! Must have recieved a batch of 04's Rich? The rosewood is not as dark as the ebony though. Do the vine inlays still jump out at you with the contrast as much as before? That is a significant change! Should change the tonality a bit as well.
Jeez, what a dumbsh!t. I posted this in the Classifieds, I know better but looking at a monitor from 6 feet isn't the most readable [in case you wonder why I typo so much!]
Somebody move this into Jem/UV and edit this post out so I don't look as stupid as I feel
For what it's worth, Steve has been using rosewood fretboards on his VWH models for quite some time now, though the factory models still had ebony. Personally, i like the look and feel of ebony, but rosewood is also really nice.
Here's a whole bunch of GREAT pics of a VWH with a rosewood board:
I find it bizarre that it was a rumor, but then the NAMM model was normal spec which confirmed the rumor was just that, right? Surely nobody said anything about there being a change, and I was amped on stopanoseadrine, but I could swear I was talking to one of the reps and said "at least they didn't change the VWH to rosewood, I'm not sure that would have been wise" [or something to that effect] Then the .com site points the spec as rosewood which is assumed [yea, ass out of y..] it's just wrong like it's been 100 times before [because there was no announcement and the show model was ebony, right?], except guitars actually start coming in and shazamm they're rosewood. Called Hosh to say WTF?? and of course that was the first the support guys heard of it :lol: They're going to put up "New Spec Change" beside rosewood on the company VWH page so there's no doubt if the spec is right or not [and in my opinion there should have been a MUCH more visible announcement somewhere on the VWH page that it was getting a fretboard change, because that is a big change].
Just to kick the bizarre up a notch the VWH page on my site had mistakenly said rosewood since NAMM of LAST year and nobody noticed it until last month [I had copied the VSBL page over and spazzed on getting it right, and nobody noticed for a year]. I changed it to ebony a month ago when a customer was ordering a VWH [one of THESE VWH's] pointed it out to me and I told him it was a mistake. I changed it back to rosewood tonight with an announcment.
I ordered my 7VWH in Germany one month ago. Do I get the 03 or the 04 model?
Is Rosewood a worse wood than ebony? Does the Jem become now worse?
I am disconcerted a little.
Have your dealer call the distributor, if it's not in stock it will be an 04'.
Hopefully everybody will stop and read bold.
Ebony, rosewood, maple, or whatever wood the fretboard is, none are BETTER than the other. They're just *different* from each other.
Ebony is more expensive but maple is cheap and many many prefer a maple board over any other. It's all ice cream, and the flavor this year is rosewood.
I am kind of disappointed coz I like the feel and look of ebony board. Well, since Mr.Vai have been using rosewood board for a while, so making the VWH to be the same spec as he uses is the right thing to do. For me, I will start looking for pre '04 VWH. 8)
Thank you for the reply!
The conclusion of your answer is:
don't worry be happy with your 04 jem? Right?
It's only the taste! No Restriction in the sound and worth of the guitar!?
It is indeed a significant change! For the better?... Better profit margin for Hoshino! Ebony boards were one of the features of this unique guitar that made it stand out. And even well informed guys like Rich don't even know for sure before production of this change is not a very good business practice on Hoshino's part! Just like Rich's explaination on his site of the pennies saved per unit by not using locking studs, this change is all about manufacturing savings as well. Great job Hoshino! Keep it up and your 7VWH will be a pretty piece of firewood! :?
This flavor ice cream kinda leaves a bad after taste!
the reason for this is kinda debateable, i dont know how much more expensive ebony is to get than rosewood anyhow. ? ?
personaly im fine with this (i wont be buying a 7vsh anyhow lol) but i think the ebony that was used on most vwhs that ive seen is rather substandard when you compare it to alot of decent slices (just imho).
My two cents: the ebony fretboards on the VWH is one of the things that turned me off to that model. Someone here said Ibanez's ebony is a lower grade or quality. I would agree with that. The only ebony board I really liked was on a Jackson.
well glen said in another post that a lower grade isnt as waxy ink black etc.
to me its about grain a realy good slice of ebony is smooth as glass with very little in the way of grain. substandard feels very open and dry and is generaly not very nice.
It is indeed a significant change! For the better?... Better profit margin for Hoshino! Ebony boards were one of the features of this unique guitar that made it stand out. And even well informed guys like Rich don't even know for sure before production of this change is not a very good business practice on Hoshino's part! Just like Rich's explaination on his site of the pennies saved per unit by not using locking studs, this change is all about manufacturing savings as well. Great job Hoshino! Keep it up and your 7VWH will be a pretty piece of firewood! :?
This flavor ice cream kinda leaves a bad after taste!
They're not doing it to save money, they're doing it because it's what Steve Vai uses on his own guitars, and since he designs the JEM line, that's what's on the production guitars (it just took way too long for Ibanez to clue in and switch it). Rosewood is not a cheaper/worse wood than ebony.
My two cents: the ebony fretboards on the VWH is one of the things that turned me off to that model. Someone here said Ibanez's ebony is a lower grade or quality. I would agree with that. The only ebony board I really liked was on a Jackson.
So, can I say that their rosewood perhaps a lower grade also? :wink: I don't know it is lower grade or not, but I like the feel of ebony.
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