# EVH Wolfgang question



## malonzi5150 (Jan 30, 2015)

My new-to-me Wolfgang Special showed up today, fun little guitar for the price. I was wondering if anyone on here knows how to date the FMIC EVH guitars based on the serial number, and what manufacturing plant that corresponds to. Having purchased it from a store that doesn't normally deal in musical gear, they weren't sure of the exact age. It doesn't seem to have some of the detail that the new specials have that are coming out of China, but that could just be the difference between seeing one in front of me and comparing it to a photoshopped picture online. Also, I was wondering if anyone out there had some good advice for cleaning and caring for the oiled maple neck. I read somewhere that lemon oil furniture cleaner is good, but I'm always a little cautious about using household cleaners on me gear. Thanks in advance!!!


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Yes, that is fine.


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## [email protected] (Jul 5, 2006)

if its a Fender EVH, they were first made in Japan, then China for a short time now mexico.

Japan serial number is on the side of the headstock (pressed)
China serial number is on the side of the headstock (pressed)
Mexico serial number is on the back of the headstock (sticker)

I used to have a MIJ and now own the MIM version of it.

haven't seen much on-line related to the dates and serial numbers yet....

lemon oil is good


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

I have heard that lemon oil is NOT good for maple boards -- it makes it all gummy (works great on rosewood though). Dunlop 65 lemon oil even says it is not for use on maple boards on the bottle. Tru-Oil is the way to fly -- even recommended by EBMM.


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## monty (Feb 9, 2009)

For the serial #, yours will be stamped on the side.
The first 3 letters will be the model(wgs), followed by the year 12 would be 2012, next four numbers are your guitars number then a letter representing country of origin (c)
Congrats, great guitars!


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

no matter what the label says, this is what it is inside the bottle


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## monty (Feb 9, 2009)

Not sure what that means....


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Rollin Hand said:


> I have heard that lemon oil is NOT good for maple boards -- it makes it all gummy (works great on rosewood though). Dunlop 65 lemon oil even says it is not for use on maple boards on the bottle. Tru-Oil is the way to fly -- even recommended by EBMM.


Well ... maple boards are often finished and rosewood boards are typically unfinished so that stands to reason.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

monty said:


> Not sure what that means....


what it means is, oiling the neck is a useless waste of time. if the wood needed oil, why would they dry it before building with it? when in the entire history of rosewood, or ebony or maple, did they ever contain lemon oil? or any kind of oil useful to the life of the guitar? in all these years i have yet to see anyone post before & after pics of a guitar where a neck was dried out and repaired by oiling it. no one can, because they don't exist. 
wait so the idea is, remove the water from wood, shape it, then add oil? how does that make any sense at all? how does the oil penetrate the wood? osmosis? what else is built in this fashion? nothing i've ever owned in 50 years, that's what. don't buy into the hype.


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

cheezyridr said:


> what it means is, oiling the neck is a useless waste of time. if the wood needed oil, why would they dry it before building with it? when in the entire history of rosewood, or ebony or maple, did they ever contain lemon oil? or any kind of oil useful to the life of the guitar? in all these years i have yet to see anyone post before & after pics of a guitar where a neck was dried out and repaired by oiling it. no one can, because they don't exist.
> wait so the idea is, remove the water from wood, shape it, then add oil? how does that make any sense at all? how does the oil penetrate the wood? osmosis? what else is built in this fashion? nothing i've ever owned in 50 years, that's what. don't buy into the hype.



Well, I had never used lemon oil before, but needed to clean a gross rosewood board, and it did something, that's for sure. The fretboard came out clean, and I actually had the oil seeping out of the pores of the wood over the next few days -- I had to wipe the board a few times. I might never use the stuff again (it makes the rosewood look nice, but that stuff is already pretty oily, so it's quite stable).

Not sure of the reasoning, but I think the logic is that if you remove the water from the wood, then treat with oil (or put on a finish), the wood is less subject to moisture in the air.

But make no mistake, wood is porous in varying degrees and can absorb oil in some quantity, no matter how minute. After all, it had water in it before, did it not? Wood takes stain as well, does it not?


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## monty (Feb 9, 2009)

Gotcha cheezy.
Fwiw, in the Wolfgang manual Eddie recommends not using oil and not wiping the neck down letting your natural oil do the job.


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## rearviewmirror2 (Mar 22, 2010)

Yeah my EVH manual says use your natural grime to make the neck slick but I have cleaned it once with some lemon oil - did a great job. It can look pretty funky after a while. Maybe my hands are sweatier than everybody else's though


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

What about something like Murphy's oil soap? It's mild and works great on wood stuff around the house. Maybe dilute it more than it recommends on the bottle. I've never cleaned a maple neck yet, only rosewood and the lemon oil does clean rosewood up nicely.


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