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  #16  
Old 12-31-2016, 09:23 AM
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Originally Posted by Rmsstrider01 View Post
Lots of good feedback here. Thank you all. So far after 14 years of living on my boat I have not managed to damage any wood guitars. Maybe I have been lucky. I have a lot of Gas for this Emerald and am waiting for the seller to get back to me so I can drive the 1.5 hours and try it out. I understand that the Opus is the same as the Artisan except only in black and with crystal ice finish back and sides.
My humidity meter in my case right now reads 46. The humidity meter in my cabin reads 32. Lot of trouble maintaining the proper environment for my wood guitar. If the Emerald sounds as good as I am told , I will be very tempted. As far as having both, well, space and finances make that an iffy proposition. We will know more when/if I get to play it. I'll let you know. Thanks again for all the support, you don't find that much other places outside of this forum
Unless you know for sure that the Opus you're considering is black, it's not necessarily so. Emerald has produced a number of Opus models in their range of colors. Also, the tuners used on the Opus may be different than those used on an Artisan, and there may or may not be electronics. If the one you're looking at does have electronics, older ones likely have the barn door b-band, whereas newer ones likely have a Baggs system with soundhole controls.
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  #17  
Old 12-31-2016, 09:29 AM
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Unless you know for sure that the Opus you're considering is black, it's not necessarily so. Emerald has produced a number of Opus models in their range of colors.
Yes pictures are black. Color confirmed. The K&K mini has been professionally installed I am told. I wonder about that though. Emerald told me that if I ordered a guitar from them that I would need to specify that I wanted to install the K&K because the would need to make sure that the surface under the bridge plate was perfectly smooth for best contact .
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  #18  
Old 12-31-2016, 09:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Rmsstrider01 View Post
Yes pictures are black. Color confirmed. The K&K mini has been professionally installed I am told. I wonder about that though. Emerald told me that if I ordered a guitar from them that I would need to specify that I wanted to install the K&K because the would need to make sure that the surface under the bridge plate was perfectly smooth for best contact .
True about the k&k. If Emerald installed it, or the buyer asked Emerald to prep for later installation, it would've been done right. If no such instruction was given to Emerald and the owner later prepped and installed, I have no idea what issues there can be (maybe poor adhesion, separation, rattling). The seller should be able to tell you who prepped and if not Emerald, you may want to inquire with Sean at Emerald about it, especially to determine how you can do it yourself. I hope it all works out in your favor.
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  #19  
Old 12-31-2016, 10:08 AM
jwayne jwayne is offline
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Originally Posted by just_Chan View Post
Well, my wooden guitar failed after about 10 years here in sunny hot & rainy humid Singapore. So I went the carbon fiber route thereafter. Am experimenting with different carbon fiber luthiers, different strings, gadgets and electronics for different tones & tunes. I realised my hearing and tastes seem to change over time, so much so I now prefer carbon fiber tones compared to wooden guitars. Hope my experiences are helpful to you...
What exactly happened to the guitar? Was it high humidity itself or too much variability in the humidity?
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  #20  
Old 12-31-2016, 10:43 AM
Earl49 Earl49 is offline
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Originally Posted by Captain Jim View Post
I have wood and carbon fiber guitars. And, I have lived on a boat......At this point, I don't see me buying any wood guitars in the future... from a practical perspective, carbon fiber is easy to live with. From a sound perspective... yeah, carbon fiber is easy to live with.
I'll agree with Captain Jim on this one. I have three CF guitars now (no Emeralds, however) and don't intend to buy another wooden one in this lifetime. But there is one all-koa Taylor 424 that is just too pretty and sounds so good, so it will remain with me for life. But all the other wood guitars are slowly drifting away. Low maintenance and worry-free is.... freeing.

It isn't inexpensive, but I found that the Blackbird El Capitan is very Taylor-like in its tone, and really looks like wood too.

My house regularly gets into the 35% RH range, and I don't have any problems. When it gets lower than that (like right now at 8°F with heavy heating) I use in-case humidifiers. Living on a boat should not over-dry your wood guitars, even without OCD levels of humidity care. As Jim said, if you are comfortable, the guitar probably is too.

I used to live in Alaska where winter indoor RH was hard to keep up to 20% and humidifying was mandatory for wood instrument survival. That is how I got into CF guitars in the first place. But in the summer and on boats, there were never any problems with the woodies.
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  #21  
Old 12-31-2016, 11:02 AM
rmsstrider rmsstrider is offline
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Originally Posted by Acousticado View Post
True about the k&k. If Emerald installed it, or the buyer asked Emerald to prep for later installation, it would've been done right. If no such instruction was given to Emerald and the owner later prepped and installed, I have no idea what issues there can be (maybe poor adhesion, separation, rattling). The seller should be able to tell you who prepped and if not Emerald, you may want to inquire with Sean at Emerald about it, especially to determine how you can do it yourself. I hope it all works out in your favor.
I am told this was bought new from Mac Nichol guitars and Michael Stone of same prepared and installed the K&K. Also a mother of pear saddle? To enhance the tone? Never heard of a mother of pearl saddle
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  #22  
Old 12-31-2016, 11:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Rmsstrider01 View Post
I am told this was bought new from Mac Nichol guitars and Michael Stone of same prepared and installed the K&K. Also a mother of pear saddle? To enhance the tone? Never heard of a mother of pearl saddle
The fact that Michael set-up that guitar with the k&k, and installed the mop saddle which a number of members here recall he did to enhance tone, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about.
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  #23  
Old 12-31-2016, 11:29 AM
MikeB1 MikeB1 is offline
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I agree with Tom.

I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Stone and watched him work on one of my guitars.

He is extremely knowledgeable and meticulous about the quality of his work.

I wouldn't worry about any work he did.
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  #24  
Old 12-31-2016, 11:34 AM
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Another small difference between the Opus and the Artisan X20s
the new Opus has Gotoh 381 tuners (16:1 ratio) and
the new Artisan Gotoh 510 tuners (18:1 ratio).

Sorry.. I just noticed different tuners had already been mentioned.
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  #25  
Old 12-31-2016, 11:37 AM
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Yeah, I feel you man. It sucks. This is why I tried to keep a limit on the number of guitars I owned . Rainsong guitars are not bad, and they are worth the money. However, wood guitars are generally much more special than the non-wood ones.
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  #26  
Old 12-31-2016, 01:06 PM
Captain Jim Captain Jim is offline
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Michael does good work - if he installed the K&K and set up the guitar, you can be sure it has been done right. Sounds like a good find!
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  #27  
Old 12-31-2016, 01:48 PM
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To insure that X20 performs well plugged in, K&K Sound recommends using a pre-amp with a 1 meg ohm input impedance with the K&K mini pure.
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  #28  
Old 12-31-2016, 03:45 PM
rmsstrider rmsstrider is offline
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To insure that X20 performs well plugged in, K&K Sound recommends using a pre-amp with a 1 meg ohm input impedance with the K&K mini pure.
I have the K&K in my Martin and I have a red eye preamp. So I have that covered for a demo if needed. Still waiting on call back to try guitar.
Maybe after new years celebration over.
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  #29  
Old 12-31-2016, 04:53 PM
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At that price point the X20 is a great deal even without the K&K. If it's still available and you are interested, then you should go for it. You should be able to get your money back later without too much trouble if you change your mind. Have fun.
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PS If you don't want to invest in yourself, why should anyone else even bother to try?
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  #30  
Old 12-31-2016, 05:02 PM
StevieMar StevieMar is offline
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Default Help deciding going only carbon fiber

Count me in the group who have all CF acoustics. A CA Cargo Raw, a CA OX Raw and really like them both. I may be less discerning but I don't see any more wood acoustics coming here
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