NGD: Emerald Custom Woody and the Christmas Miracle (warning - long!)

[Captain Jim]

Reading these NGD posts makes me smile.

And so, as Tiny Tim said, "A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, every one!"

[Earl49]

Congrats, Methos. It sure is purdy!! While I generally prefer the exposed carbon fiber, what Emerald is doing with these wood veneers is certainly tempting.

I too know the joy of getting a custom Emerald (my recent X20-12). It will see action at an afternoon jam at our house today, along with my other CF guitars.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good strum!

[jdinco]

Originally Posted by Captain Jim

And so, as Tiny Tim said, "A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, every one!"

I thought he said something about Tiptoeing thru the tulips?

[jwellsy]

Do you have to pay the full amount up front? Are they flexible with half up front and the other half before shipping (maybe even 4 payments).

[jdinco]

The norm is 1/2 down and the other half before it ships (when it's finished) Probably should ask Sean about anything else.

[mkatz]

Congratulations, it's beautiful!

Mitch

[Song]

Congratulations on your new Emerald! Looks great!

[GuitarDoc]

Good job. A Merry Christmas indeed?!

[ttchen]

Thanks for sharing your story and guitar. Someday I would love to have one similar to yours. Quick question, do you have to pay any custom fees?

[Methos1979]

No customs fees.

[Claytone]

Yeppers!!!

[Carmel Cedar]

I've been hopefully awaiting this post since you ordered, using the mold from Emerald. So glad it worked out so well for you!

Seeing your plan months ago, I toyed with doing the same, but when I got my X7 last summer (shown here: http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...erald+x7+green), the mold wasn't in the box as promised, so I never did try a molded custom neck on a 2nd order. My custom order also experienced missed promise dates for shipping, and ended up being a 9 month process from order to delivery. I truly wasn't thrilled with Emerald's inability to maintain communication and my having to ping them for updates after missed dates. Understand it's a small company and all, but it got old.

However, now that the delays are a faded memory, I have a fantastic guitar with a Taylor-style neck shape and a 24.9" short scale on an X7 that sounds wonderful. Alistair did an outstanding job, and I admire Emerald's ability to customize key elements of the guitar for a reasonable cost (in the grand scheme of things). For me, it's a real game-changer to not have to rule out carbon fiber guitar makers due to the desire for a specific neck shape or scale length on an otherwise awesome guitar. Your experience further reinforces the excellence of this model. Emerald deserves a lot of credit for their innovation, and hopefully will push others to advance their manufacturing approach to incorporate this flexibility. Hopefully they continue being successful and growing both their own sales and the capability of the carbon fiber guitar market.

Congratulations! Play it in good health...

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by Carmel Cedar

I've been hopefully awaiting this post since you ordered, using the mold from Emerald. So glad it worked out so well for you!

Seeing your plan months ago, I toyed with doing the same, but when I got my X7 last summer (shown here: http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...erald+x7+green), the mold wasn't in the box as promised, so I never did try a molded custom neck on a 2nd order. My custom order also experienced missed promise dates for shipping, and ended up being a 9 month process from order to delivery. I truly wasn't thrilled with Emerald's inability to maintain communication and my having to ping them for updates after missed dates. Understand it's a small company and all, but it got old.

However, now that the delays are a faded memory, I have a fantastic guitar with a Taylor-style neck shape and a 24.9" short scale on an X7 that sounds wonderful. Alistair did an outstanding job, and I admire Emerald's ability to customize key elements of the guitar for a reasonable cost (in the grand scheme of things). For me, it's a real game-changer to not have to rule out carbon fiber guitar makers due to the desire for a specific neck shape or scale length on an otherwise awesome guitar. Your experience further reinforces the excellence of this model. Emerald deserves a lot of credit for their innovation, and hopefully will push others to advance their manufacturing approach to incorporate this flexibility. Hopefully they continue being successful and growing both their own sales and the capability of the carbon fiber guitar market.

Congratulations! Play it in good health...

I completely understand your frustration having experienced it first hand. I figured I annoyed them at least as much as I was annoyed by the delays so it was a wash in the end, especially since the final delays was not technically their fault but the fault of the USPS's crappy tracking, something I have had first-hand experience with on more than one occasion in the past.

But like you the guitar is here and I couldn't be happier. There are some small issues I'm working through and I'll post more on that later but they are not anything that could be classified as a 'fault' with Emerald. I, for one, am very glad that at least one CF company out there has stepped up to the custom market.

From an ergonomics standpoint (and looks for that matter) this guitar could not be more perfect. I had my first real-world test of the guitar tonight that I'm so excited about I'm going to do a separate post to the general section as I want non-CF guitar owners to hear this story. I'll link that post over to here so people can read and see the photos as well but go check it out there - it's a great story!

[frances50]

Beautiful guitar and great story. Enjoy.

[AZLiberty]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

No customs fees.

To elaborate, there are no customs fees on musical instruments from Ireland and (I believe) most of Europe.

(it's in one of the trade treaties)