Warwick ovangkol necks nowadays. Reliable?

[Gui_vero]

Good morning! I would like your opinion about WARWICK and neck woods .

Warwick had a decade from 99 to 2010 in which there was a shortage of wenge and it had to replace it with ovangkol on the necks of several models (even stage 2 streamers). As it is a softer wood, a greater proportion of necks warped and there was a drop in reputation. In 2011, finally, they started using more wenge again... However, they still use NOWADAYS ovangkol in several models and my concern is: has there been any learning and any design changes in the neck (redesigned truss rods, graphite pins or stronger steel ) for Warwick to overcome this phase, as it currently still makes several German pro series models with ovangkol necks...

Bottom line:
Is it possible to buy Warwick with an ovangkol neck, nowadays, without great concern?

 

[Killing Floor]

Ovangkol is tree. Strong like bull.

 

[SteveCS]

Good morning! I would like your opinion about WARWICK and neck woods .

Warwick had a decade from 99 to 2010 in which there was a shortage of wenge and it had to replace it with ovangkol on the necks of several models (even stage 2 streamers). As it is a softer wood, a greater proportion of necks warped and there was a drop in reputation. In 2011, finally, they started using more wenge again... However, they still use NOWADAYS ovangkol in several models and my concern is: has there been any learning and any design changes in the neck (redesigned truss rods, graphite pins or stronger steel ) for Warwick to overcome this phase, as it currently still makes several German pro series models with ovangkol necks...

Bottom line:
Is it possible to buy Warwick with an ovangkol neck, nowadays, without great concern?

My 2008 Ovankol-necked 4-string Corvette is as straight and true as it ever was, and is also probably the stiffest neck of any bass I have ever owned in almost 40 years. It is fretless, so the thick ebony slab fingerboard might have something to do with that, but there are no signs of warping or twisting. The grain in the Ovankol is very straight and runs parallel to the neck-line end to end. Here you can see that the centre section is essentially 'quartersawn'. and the two outer sections are set with the grain in opposition at 90° to each other and at ~45° to the centre section, and it looks the same at the other end. I don't know if all necks were made this way or if this is just blind luck - perhaps the ones that warped were not:

 

[MattZilla]

It’d be more accurate to call Ovangkol “slightly less ridiculously hard” than Wenge than to call it “softer”.

Almost every one of the hundred or so Maple necks I’ve owned took on an Amp Leaning Dimple or two almost immediately, if not before I bought them. The two Ovangkol necks I owned never dimpled. They never even needed truss Rod tweaking due to humidity/temp/pressure swings.

The only concern with that era of neck is the odd-for-bass Classical Guitar-like faaat D shape profile. I liked it at first, but it got annoying after a while. They’re thinner and closer to normal electric string instrument shaped outside of that year range.

I never got used to the forearm carve on the Corvette’s body and went crying back to Fender and G&L.

I usually say “try before you buy” about other basses, but I think that owning a German Warwick for at least a year is to bassists what owning a Mazda MX5 is to sports car enthusiasts- an almost necessary experience you just owe yourself.

Have fun with it!