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#1
12-01-2023, 04:51 AM
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Emerald necks and nut width option decisions..
Howdy I just put a deposit on an Emerald x10 Slimline to use for fingerstyle and cant make up my mind over the 1 3/4" 44.5 and the 1 13/16 (46mm) nut width.
Just wondering how the necks compare to Martins and Taylors etc in overall neck feel, shape, depth and size? The difference is a whopping 1.5mm yet I cant make up my mind.. 
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#2
12-01-2023, 07:57 AM
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I thought most fingerstylers liked wider nut width, so most contemplate 48mm or even 50mm?
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Emerald: X10 Slimline Nylon, X10, X5 Nylon Rainsong Flamenco Nylon (SN#120) Composite Acoustics 5iM-CE (GXi) Cordoba Stage Enya NexG 2, Mountain Guitar, Luna Tribal
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#3
12-01-2023, 08:11 AM
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I have an X20 in the 46mm. A friend of mine has an X20 in the 44.5mm stock.
We played them side by side and we both noticed a considerable difference. If you like wider necks and spacing that part is well worth it. If you search for it KevinH has a profile comparison of the stock x20 vs Taylor in this forum somewhere.
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#4
12-01-2023, 09:33 AM
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I play fingerstyle only and have a classical guitar background (52mm width). I ordered an X7 last week with a 48mm nut as I find 44.5 to cause a little too much strain to play cleanly all the time on my left hand. 48mm is still narrow enough to easily use the left hand thumb unless of course you have very small hands.
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#5
12-01-2023, 10:32 AM
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Oh....
...different models have different width options.
I've only looked at building nylon models, so the only options I had seen were 44mm (or something, can't remember, didn't want), 48.5mm, and 50.5mm.
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Emerald: X10 Slimline Nylon, X10, X5 Nylon Rainsong Flamenco Nylon (SN#120) Composite Acoustics 5iM-CE (GXi) Cordoba Stage Enya NexG 2, Mountain Guitar, Luna Tribal
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#6
12-01-2023, 12:14 PM
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It does sound like a small difference but, at least for me (and Aspiring) it's definitely noticeable. Regarding the neck profiles, here's a comparison of the X-20 to the neck on my Taylor 522 and the Mod-V neck on my Martin 00-18V:
f1.jpg f6.jpg You can see that the X-20 neck is more "full" than the Taylor or Martin. I usually don't like full thick necks, but the X-20 feels good in my small-to-average size hands. I did like the wider string spacing on Aspiring's X-20 (46mm). But I also like to thumb over on the E string, which was a little harder. If the extra string spacing is appealing and the thumb over isn't an issue, I'd go for the wider nut. YMMV. If you want the narrower nut and also like a wider string spacing you could always make a new nut with a slightly wider spacing. I've found Emerald leaves more space between the outer strings and the fretboard edge than I like. Or, if they've not made the nut yet, maybe they'd do that for you. Quote:
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#7
12-01-2023, 04:34 PM
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What surprised me is how much difference a wider saddle string spacing that the Emerald has made. With a 1 3/4" nut and the wider 2 1/4" saddle string spacing, I find my X20 to be perfectly fine for fingerstyle. My X20-7 is the first 7 string I had played with good spacing for fingerstyle, though now my Jimmy Foster 7 string archtop has similar spacing and is therefore equally comfortable. But you can't get these any more since he died in 2011 and what shows up that he built on reverb.com is quite expensive (like buying 4 or 5 X20s).
So you may find that 1 3/4" nut paired with 2 1/4" saddle string spacing could be just fine. Unfortunately, the only way to know is to try one. Tony
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“The guitar is a wonderful thing which is understood by few.” — Franz Schubert "Alexa, where's my stuff?" - Anxiously waiting...
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