When And Why Did Warwick Changed From Wenge To Ovangkol Necks?

I already play a Warwick Corvette $$ with an ovangkol neck and i actually like also the wenge neck of the Fortess I sold. When did Warwick changed it and why?
I already searched for the answer but could not find it.
Was it because of money or for any technical reason?

 

they stopped using them on 1999/2000 ish and i think it was because of wenge shortages.

since 2013 the shortage ended i guess and they were able to use it in high volume again.



or something like that.

 

I think it's all in here: The History of Warwick Bass

 

Wow! I was never aware that this historical pdf existed. There's a wealth of information in there. Thanks Marco!

 

Just a couple of thoughts. Indeed I believe there was a shortage of wenge back then, so the switch to ovangkol. I think they have managed to return to wenge not because it is abundant now, but because Warwick operates on a different slightly business model. They moved from many sales with little profit to fewer sales with good profit. The need for "many" is now increasingly covered by the RB line.

About the ovangkol switch, as you know there was also a change in neck profile. This could mean that ovangkol proved to be not as stable as wenge, therefore the added thickness was needed. I might be wrong of course, also in my previous speculations. In any case a fatter neck results in a bigger sound. I love ovangkol's complex mids, you can shape them to almost any tone you want. In fact I consider proper eq critical with ovangkol, wenge sounds awesome right out of the box, with a nice low mid kick that combines greatly with almost any body wood - pickup configuration. I 'm a wenge guy myself as I love its directness and simplicity. I prefer thinner necks too, haven't had the chance to play one of the newer Warwicks with a wenge neck though.

Another minor change was the addition of a volute for the neck to strengthen its weakest point near the headstock. Apparently more than a few necks were cracked when bumped/crashed against a wall or something.

Lastly, around that time there was a switch of truss rod, from alloy removable ones to an iron, non removable, 2-way design. Truss rod is a pretty important component of any neck, for tone and of course neck balance.

Anyway enough of my rant. I think it would be great if we could somehow enrich the existing pdf with more historical information about Warwick. So we have to speculate less.

 

Funny, I also presumed that the fatter ovangkol necks were due to ovangkol being less stable than wenge.

Agreed regarding wenge vs. ovangkol Yanni! I prefer wenge and thinner necks as well, but I know there are some who prefer ovangkol and others with no preference.

Agreed! Nice informative post Yanni!

 

I 'd say nice speculative post!

Another thing to note, at least as far as Corvette bolt-ons are concerned, not sure about other models: The 90's models have bodies that are not that rounded and are visibly thinner. I am yet again assuming that the rounder, fatter bodies of the 00's that feel much more like CnC products were made this way in order to counteract the increased weight of the ovangkol neck. Tweak one thing, you have to reconsider the whole system.