[Ted @ LA Guitar Sales]

Originally Posted by Simon Fay

Thanks for all the suggestions!!! I ended up finding a brand new Taylor GC3 for $750 including tax. I really hadn't wanted to spend more than $1000 on a guitar. The carbon fiber guitars definitely interested me more for the durability than anything else -- a huge maintenance advantage over traditional guitar construction. While I would love to own a Rainsong or Blackbird (in fact, the newly redesigned Lucky 13 seems like it would have been perfect for me), they really were just outside my budget.

Emerald guitars are definitely more affordable and I was quite happy with the X7 in many regards but it simply wasn't as versatile as a bigger bodied guitar and I do my fair share of strumming and using a capo. In my view, it is the perfect travel guitar!!!

I definitely considered going with a larger bodied Emerald. Used they were right at my budget limit but new they were a bit outside my budget. However, I really have a hard time getting past the Emerald default texture finish and if you're spending that much money it is a shame to have something you really dislike the look of. I know that Alistair does this to put his instruments at a really affordable price range but his full-gloss finishes look significantly better IMO.

I'm busy with other things at the moment but I'm going to try and write a more thorough review of the X7-OS within a couple months. It was a fun instrument!!!

Congrats on the GC3 Simon, they are fantastic guitars. As for the X7, in the "sub compact" category it holds it's own but it just doesn't have the tone or headroom to compete with even a small body wood guitar. There is only one CF sub compact travel guitar that does that, it's the Blackbird Rider, which has been my personal travel companion for years. FYI I just got a used Rider in, which is rare, give me a call in case you find yourself back in the market.