Need a shipping video fix!
 

A couple of weeks without an Emerald shipping video and withdrawl is severe. How can I properly evaluate selected veneers if I can't see them :D

I guess we won't be seeing many shipping videos now that Emerald has cut down on custom orders and all available options can be seen in the 3D builder.

It would be nice though if the 3D builder could show the actual chosen veneer on the guitar.

The shipping videos are Emerald's best advertisements--I hope they continue..............

My concern with 3D Builder was that certain options that I've selected in the past were not available on 3D Builder, but I wasn't aware that only the options on 3D Builder would hereafter be available...

From the FAQ:

Can I have a different neck width or scale length?

Yes we do have a limited number of neck width and scale length options as well as the ability to add a multiscale fretboard layout. Please contact our sales team for options.

So, there are options available which are NOT described in the 3D Builder. Other things (like satin finish) may very well still be in play, but without asking, we won't know.

Thanks David....

As voiced previously, they need to offer a menu of the options available and the prices, along with the builder. I find the builder pretty basic and it doesn't really show what the guitar is going to look like very well. Hopefully they will continue to develop it.

We are a pretty knowledgable group when it comes to Emeralds, but someone coming in from left field may not even know what questions to ask let alone what options to ask for when ordering and just use the 3DBuilder as is...

In which case, the hypothetical purchaser would see a much broader range of options than were available pre-Builder. If the purchaser was genuinely interested in something that didn’t appear as a listed option, they could always ask.

Novel concept, I admit - but maybe some folks would rather be spoon-fed than inquisitive.

Can anyone point to another guitar maker of Emerald’s size and calibre who offers anything even remotely similar?

Closest I could think of was Kiesel (formerly Carvin).

Maybe they aren't shipping anything right now. Not completely out of the realm of possibility.

But also from the FAQ:

What customisation can you offer?

The best place to experience all the custom options available is in the 3D Guitar builder where you can choose various carbon weaves, veneer choices, hardware and pickup choices and a beautiful selection of inlay designs.

Recently a custom scale length for the Kestrel was refused. See https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=611795
Emerald needs to make up their mind.

I wonder if shipping videos are no more, as it has been 6 or 7 weeks since the last one. This would be a big loss in my view, as it is ongoing sales vehicle showing the various veneers and combinations

In my life I create websites and I believe that the 3d configurator cannot contemplate all the possible customizations but only some of them, both for technical reasons and for the fact of not being able to predict all the variables of our imagination. They will also have statistics that clarify which are the most requested options and the 3d configurator has been built on these. Other customizations will still have to be requested personally, but I don't know if they have decided to cut some possibilities to these customizations, we have to ask directly. As some have already read, I am waiting for a x20 with different customization requests: 24 scale lenght, 12 frets, compound radius. Listening to Alistair in the videos, and reading Kevin's answers, some changes are still only executable by Alistair. I believe that at the same time as the new larger workspaces are opening, Alistair is teaching others how to do customizations so that they can be permanently delegated. I think it's the same reason, along with the launch of the Solace, why they haven't made a delivery video in a long time (since march?). I love pre-shipping videos, who doesn't love them? When someone move from a family business to something bigger it is inevitable that everyone will have an increasingly specific role and the logic of delegation becomes preponderant. My only fear is that the custom guitars left in the 'middle', including mine, can be used as a test bed for learners. I selfishly hope my guitar will be made by Alistair himself.

I asked about the shipping videos a couple weeks ago in an email to Emerald. Here is the response:

"The shipping videos have currently been discontinued for the mean time.

With shipping becoming more complicated during Covid, the shipping videos are more difficult to schedule"

I too hope they return once their addition/reorganization is complete and the shipping dramas recede.

Lance