To my eye, the top is not very arched at all. Nowhere near my others.

Turns out the guitar body is about 3" deep but feels much thinner due to the ergonomic shape. The guitar hangs nicely when standing, with the fretboard at a slight angle upwards, maybe 10 degrees, so seeing the fretboard is really easy and natural.

It's a slight neck diver, not as much as my others, and with the built-in armrest it's very comfortable to hold and play.

It's very resonant and sounds great unplugged or through the Krivo pickup.

I got in touch with Jason (Krivo) as my B-string was way too loud and he suggested removing the B-string pole which I did and it fixed the problem.

Thanks Backcountry.

I like the way the Kestrel sounds in the few clips I’ve heard, and being a fan of both emeralds and archtops, I naturally want to audition one.

Just, it looks to me almost like a slightly arched flat top with f holes and a harp tailpiece. I’ll bet the sustain is terrific, and probably much longer than many wooden archtops. And how about overtones?

There is currently a red Kestrel in stock on the Emerald Website that I have been thinking about. Not sure how long it will be there. This will give you an opportunity to audition. I have no idea what the resale value would be as I haven't seen any second hand yet. Doubt you will lose that much if you don't like it though.

The black one
 

I bought the black one a few days ago. Hasn't arrived yet. I'll report when I've had a chance to play it a bit.

Hey thanks mot. Just so happens it’s bad timing for me for (yet another) guitar purchase, if you know what I mean.....

That is a nice looking Emerald though!

Yep! Same here. Already have something else on order.

It will be great if Emerald Kestrel can come with a solid headstock like X20...
I don't like slotted headstock

I would talk with Alistair (Emerald Guitars) as he is open to discussing customization aspects (I had them build a customized X20-12) such as a solid headstock

2019 Emerald Guitars Kestrel price?
 

Does anyone here recall the 2019 Emerald Guitars Kestrel standard black carbon fiber guitar price?

Cheers, Kevin

My recollection is that they were around $3k when introduced - maybe a tad under.

The Kestrel’s tone reminded me of Pat Metheny’s Ibanez signature guitar. Cool video, what a great promo for Emerald.

I purchased a Kestrel during the 25% sale and it has become my daily go to guitar except that for the past couple of weeks I have been SO busy that the poor thing is actually getting dusty! Even in retirement, life gets in the way.

Hmmmmmmm...Estoy muerto de cansancio!

Tony