DavidWS 1 Posted July 23, 2020 On 5/6/2020 at 4:29 PM, cruisinon2 said: If you're really intent on getting a Variax, used ones are not hard to find... they're all over eBay. Eventually a suitable Variax at a reasonable price appeared on UK eBay, & it's now plugged into my Helix. Not the JTV-59 I'd originally intended, but having had a quick tour I'm very happy with my Variax Standard & look forward to further explorations. :) As for new ones, still no sign of them so far as I can see, but that has become irrelevant... 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sifpandor 0 Posted November 10, 2020 On 10/23/2019 at 9:55 AM, cruisinon2 said: That is most likely macassar ebony. It has streaks of brown in it, and at a glance the grain is similar to rosewood. The jet-black, really tight grain ebony...whatever the species is...is becoming increasingly rare and harder to get. https://www.wood-database.com/macassar-ebony/ Yep, it's macassar ebony. I have an Ovation Adamas 12 string with an ebony fingerboard and I wanted a JTV-59 for a while, but not with a rosewood fingerboard. When I found out they now have ebony I ordered one. When it came in I was a little disappointed in the fingerboard. It is definitely darker than rosewood, but has considerably more visible and deep grain than my other ebony. It's better than a full on rosewood, but not as silky as a full on ebony. :-( Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
psarkissian 354 Posted November 10, 2020 sifpandor,... the date code on the 59 you have is definitely an macassar ebony fret board. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
