Emerald X5 carbon travel guitar review
 

I've had the pleasure of auditioning an Emerald X5 recently, and I thought I'd share my observations.

Definitely more portable than the Cargo- significantly less depth, and shorter, though it actually has a full scale.

I personally didn't care for the sound of the Cargo when I tried one. It sounded far too bass heavy. The X5 is certainly quieter and has less bass, but overall I prefer its sound. It sounds better on chords than single notes, as the sustain is fairly short on single notes. Partially for this reason, it sometimes sounds a bit boxy or toy-like to me, like it lacks overtones that I'm used to in my other, larger, wood guitars. That said, it's doesn't sound bad, and it's surprisingly loud, considering the size.

I find the neck of the X5 much more comfortable than the Cargo, though the flat fretboard took a little getting used to. Actually, a lot of things about the fretboard took some adjustment on my part. For one thing, it's smooth as glass. Also, because the neck is hollow, the fretboard actually acts as a soundboard, and you hear the string vibrating both at the bridge and the fret. This is a bit annoying because it means that fret buzzing is amplified, and it exposes sloppy technique.

One major plus for me about the X5 is its full sized soundhole, which allows it to take my soundhole pickups. I tried it with a Takamine Tri-Ax (same thing as a Baggs M1A), and with a Lawrence single coil soundhole pickup. The soundhole has a flange, which some people told me might make this a no go, but both fit fine, and with great results. It sounded terrific through the Takamine, and makes a great hollow body electric with the Lawrence. Plugged in, you'd never know it wasn't a full sized wood guitar.

Other than the fret noise and the lack of sustain/overtones, I think this may be the ideal travel guitar. All travel guitars are compromises on some level. You're never gonna get Dreadnought sound out of an instrument that you can take on a plane and play in an arm chair. But all things considered, the X5 is a pretty successful instrument.

Oh, one more thing- I find carbon fiber guitars to be pretty ugly, for the most part. Emerald has solved this problem by overlaying wood laminate on their guitars, and though I don't like the artificiality, I have to admit that it looks a hell of a lot nicer. It might cut down on nick damage too.

First, thank you very much for your great, in-depth review. I for one truly appreciate it, as I've been shopping and weighing my options for a travel guitar lately. I believe you are correct - every travel guitar is a compromise on some level. I slimmed my picks down to four main choices fairly quickly - the Cargo, the Emerald, the Blackbird Rider, and a Voyage-Air. I haven't yet purchased one, but I think I will end up with the Voyage-Air because, for me, it most closely fits your description that I quoted above - dreadnought sound that can be taken on a plane and played in an arm chair (though the latter could be arguable). The downside, of course, is dealing with humidity and temperature changes, but I guess I'll take my chances.

Still, the Emerald is probably 2nd on my list - the only thing that I suspected that it lacked, and that you're description has reinforced for me, is the sound that I am looking for. Too bad, otherwise it is the perfect option with it's compact stature and full scale neck.

Thanks again for the review, I found it very helpful. One last question - I read quite a bit about Emerald going out of business - did that actually ever happen, or was it just rumors?

I'm glad you found the review helpful. I've not heard of Voyage-Air- I'll have to check them out.

I've recently been in touch with Alistair Hay, and Emerald seems very much in business. From what I've read, they used to get their fingerboards from Parker, but lost their supply contract when Parker changed hands. I think they were down for a while, but they've since retooled and are back in business. Alstair seems like a nice guy, and told me that prices on the website include shipping to the US. That puts a new X5 at around $900, which is pretty competitive with the Cargo and the Rider.

http://www.emeraldguitars.com/

Yeah, the X5 can be found on eBay even cheaper than that (I believe from MacNichol). The relative prices, from my research, are Blackbird > Emerald > CA Cargo > Voyage-Air. Being the lowest priced guitar is also factoring into my decision for the Voyage-Air.

The VA is a different beast from the others - it's a full size either OM or dreadnought style guitar with a neck that folds back on itself for travel. It's really a very intelligent design, and surprisingly, they get great reviews for sound and playability. You can see plenty more here:

http://www.voyageairguitar.com/

Thanks again for the review - interestingly, it seems the X5 is the rarest of these options. It seems to me that it should be sharing the same success that the Cargo seems to. The full scale neck is a clincher for me, and honestly, the short scale is the only reason the Cargo isn't higher on my list.

Looks like Voyage Air appeals to air travelers who don't necessarily demand the extra durability that carbon guitars offer. Voyage is ideal for business air travellers who stay in a hotel. While I'm very impressed with Voyage design prowess (which is nothing short of groundbreaking IMO), I wouldn't buy one unless if I frequently travel by air (especially for business).

I ultimately concluded that a Little Martin would fulfill my needs more than adequately: a small size guitar that I can place in my car for a quick strumming during office breaks; a guitar that's convenient to bring with me during vacation trips by car/air (I rarely travel for business), sounds decent, and durable (HPL looks very durable and weatherproof). I was tempted to buy the Cargo, but I found the cost vs. benefit proposition of the Little Martin more appealing to me.

It looks great in GREEN!

I was on a list of people who had a chance to try one of the Voyage Air guitars for a couple weeks. When people talk about them in the "travel guitar" sense, they always seem to forget one factor... they sound and feel like a really good traditional wood acoustic guitar. All of the other offerings (that I've tried) are approximations of a guitar. The scale is short, or the body is small or not guitar-like at all or they sound like a canoe paddle with strings. The durability factor is one to consider... for camping or motorcycling or such. In the end, it just tells me that there is a market for most of the offerings out there.

Ed

It's great that we have so many options in the travel guitar market, covering the full spectrum between instruments that sound and play like normal guitars and trade some portability, and those that are super portable but trade sound or playability.

The Voyage Air looks to be about the best option on the sound/playability over portability end. It would be nice to have an instrument that sounded like that along on a trip, but it comes with some trade offs. Even when folded, that bag takes up a lot of space. It's definitely more portable for air travel, but for cramming in a packed car, hiking, bicycling, motorcycling, camping, playing while sitting in a car or armchair, and lots of other applications, it's nearly as cumbersome as any full sized guitar.

The X5 is at the other end of the spectrum. It's so small that I can bring it just about anywhere and be sure that it won't become a burden. The trade off, of course, is sound. The X5 is impressively loud and other than the sustain issues I mentioned, has a very pleasant sound. But if I could have only one guitar for the rest of my life, I'd want one that sounded better.

One more point: I said above that travel guitars are compromises, and one of the common things you have to give up for portability is playability. The Little Martin and Baby Taylors I've tried are fun to mess around on, but they felt just a few steps up from toy guitars. The small scale has its quirks, including intonation issues. The X5 has no such drawbacks: it has a full size neck, and plays like an expensive, well-set-up guitar. Though I haven't hooked it up to a chromatic tuner, it seems to intonate perfectly.

I think the X-5 (Woody) sounds pretty good plugged in with the B-Band in the one I sampled for a week or so.

Backdrifter, I think the reason the X5 is rarer has to do with Emerald being a very small shop, whereas CA and Blackbird are bigger companies with more money invested in promotion. From what I can tell, CA is closer to the Taylor of carbon guitars, where Emerald would be more like a small luthier shop.

Hi Kramster, I thought it would be only a matter of time before you ducked your head in here.;)

The X5 I'm looking at is one and the same with the one you tried- it's on its last stop of the road trip.

It does sound good through the B-Band, but it sounds even better through the Takamine Tri-Ax! I didn't get around to it, but it would be fun to try them both in tandem.

I should have mentioned in my above post that since the X5 sounds so good amplified, it's pretty ideal for those who mostly play that way. If I was a bluegrass picker who flew a lot, I'd want a Voyage Air, but since I'm a bedroom strummer/rocker, the X5 is more appealing.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2703/...718a674ba6.jpg

Next to a Cargo:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2511/...8cfcb7234e.jpg
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Any discussions of travel guitar options should consider the GO Parlor. I love mine and travel with it often. I've personally A/B'd it against the Cargo, Emerald and Larrivee Parlor and in my opinion it is a better sounding and easier playing instrument.

For those interested in seeing and hearing the GO Parlor, below is a link to a recording of "Signe" I made using an H2 to record the GO Parlor . . . and a picture of the GO Parlor next to a Martin OM for reference.

"Signe" - http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8685900

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j4...G_012710_1.jpg

That certainly makes sense. They're harder to find too - the only dealer that I can find that sells them is MacNichol. Very cool little guitars for sure.

revive, I think you hit the nail on the head here. I travel 90% by air, and need something that will sound big but still be able to be carried on with little issue, which is why I'm leaning towards the V-A. You're right though, if I traveled by car more often, I would be swayed by the carbon fiber's resistance to temperature changes (say, in a trunk on a 90 degree summer day).

I feel like the perfect solution would be a carbon fiber version of the Voyage-Air: a full size carbon fiber guitar with a folding neck. Unfortunately, I haven't seen such a guitar available yet.

The Go Guitar Parlor looks like a great instrument. If I didn't already have a Larrivee Parlor I'd be mighty tempted. I actually bought my Parlor as a travel guitar, but found that it's really too much a real guitar to work for travel. It's too nice to keep in a gig bag, so I got a hard case, and while it's smaller than a Dread, it's still too heavy and cumbersome to take on a hike.

Before I learned about the X5 (thanks to a post in the "Carbon Guitar for you in 2010?" thread!) I was leaning towards a Walden T550:
http://www.waldenguitars.com/img/guitars/T550.jpg
The main appeal is that it's a very nice guitar with a solid top that's smaller than my parlor, and very affordable. I'm actually still on the fence about whether to go with this over the X5, since it sounds better and would save me a lot of money. Plus, if it was stolen, it wouldn't be quite as traumatic.

On the other hand, it's bigger than the X5, and more fragile. What to do, what to do....