X-20 Neck

[steelvibe]

That guitar is too big- neck too chunky!

10 year Erisa says, "Let me show you all how it's done."

Very cool story and quite a talent- thanks for sharing John

[albirw]

Originally Posted by Crustae

I am considering special ordering an Emerald X-20 with a 29.4" scale. Because this is a special order, I would not be able to return it if I am not satisfied with the profile of the neck. Would any Emerald guitar owners be willing to share what they think of the X-20 neck? I have seen some comments that suggest they find the neck to be thick, or "clubby."

Since I play primarily finger style, wrapping my thumb over the top to hold down the E string on the F and F# notes, a thick neck would not work for me.

I tried a couple of rainsong guitars with the N2 neck and they were too thick for me to play cleanly with the thumb wraparound.

Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

I found my X20's neck a little thick for me while attempting to play Joe Robinson's Struttin' It, I haven't played this type of fingerstyle for a while tho. I think i will get over the thickness of the neck if I play more.

Have you considered X10? (narrower neck)

[Tom2]

This is the most puzzling aspect of guitar design that I know of. Everything else, such as nut width, saddle spacing, scale length, action at 12th fret, string gauge, string tension, etc, are all dialed in so precisely that, if we know what we want we can get it.

With neck profile, choose between C, D, U, or V, roll the dice, and get what we get. Lots of people don't even know what these letters actually stand for, and if your playing style is sensitive to neck profile (mine is but many people's are not), the wrong shape can lead to crippling hand, wrist, or forearm pain, and the eventual resale of an expensive guitar at a significant loss.

The fact that Emerald can do custom profiles is a bargain at any price because, in the wood world, this option is typically available only on hand made guitars costing $5k - $10k. A custom nut width, scale length, and neck profile from Emerald may result in an upcharge of $1k+, which is totally reasonable.

If you can't try a standard Emerald before ordering yours, my advice is to identify a guitar that you know, and are happy with the profile. Then contact Emerald and ask them what information they need in order to duplicate it. You can find techniques on the net for making casts of existing necks, photographing them, and passing the photos along to Emerald before committing to a design.

Addressing your thumb wrap, guitars like Rainsong are often referred to as thicker, but thickness is actually measured at the center of the neck, and Rainsongs aren't thicker. Their shoulders are broader, making the overall circumference of the profile larger. This gets in the way of many players who wrap their thumbs. This is one example of how difficult it is to address the issue with words. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words, or a thousand dollar neck.