new X20 review
 

I recently received a 2020 custom X20 to possibly replace my stock X20 that was built in 2016. The intent was to try a shorter scale guitar for easier playability as my aging hands now prefer shorter scale lengths. Custom options are available with Emerald, unlike with most other carbon fiber builders. The new guitar has a shorter 24.6” scale length and no pickup installed, but is otherwise stock. It includes the mid-2020 updates to the X20 design including a rib comfort bevel, a scalloped fret board end, pinless bridge, and the matte unidirectional carbon fiber veneer fretboard surface.

Speaking of that fretboard surface, the previous ones were glossy polished black resin and very easy to clean. The new one is graphite colored with a fine grain, not unlike ebony. Simply wiping it off with a damp rag left visible fingerprints on the gaps between strings. Emerald gave no suggestion on how to clean this surface.

Construction
As usual for Emerald the construction and build quality is first-rate. The only noticeable thing is the nut sitting with a tiny hairline gap off the end of the fretboard (maybe 1/64”). The nut sits flat in its slot but does not contact the end of the fretboard. It tilts forward very slightly, leaving a hairline gap with bright light visible when looking across the nut. Nut width is exactly 1.75” with string center-to-center spacing about 1/64” greater than the typical 1.5” (measured at 1-33/64”). With most guitars, a nut width of 1.75” translates to exactly 1.5” string-to-string spacing. String spacing at the bridge is 2-1/4”.

The inside of the top was prepped for an eventual pickup installation, as requested. In the past this prep work was a smear of resin applied to the inner surface with a squeegee to smooth it (like spackle) so that a transducer can reliably stick to the rough CF fabric. This pickup prep now appears to be a rectangular plate of CF about 1” x 4” x 1/8” thick glued to the underside of the top just forward of the string holes. When properly seated the ball ends of the strings are barely visible behind the bridge plate.

The pinless bridge works fine. The first string change took a little longer than normal as I learned this new system. The holes are actually drilled at about 45° from the top rather than vertically, and there is an edge or shelf that anchors the ball ends. A golf tee helped to hold the new string and its ball end in place while the other end was threaded through and wound around the tuning posts. It is necessary to install one string at a time with this bridge. Once close to pitch, the golf tee was easily removed on five strings, but it was a bit snug on the bass E string due to the string diameter. For future string removal, the plan is to cut the loosened strings just above the nut and push back at the bridge to release the old string.

Emerald takes the reduced scale length from the nut and peghead end of the neck. On a stock 25.5” scale X20, the body join occurs right at the 14th fret. For the 24.6” version the body join is close to the 13th fret. The saddle stays in the same place relative to the bottom of the guitar, about 8” from the edge to the face of the saddle. The neck contour feels similar. The new contour of the bridge is nice. My opinion is neutral on this aesthetic choice – it is appealing but the older pointed bridge had a certain visual charm too.

Action
My custom order specified a moderate action of 6/64” on the bass E (6th) and 4/64” on the treble e (1st) and 0.007” of relief. These happen to be Taylor factory specs for action, and that setup works well for me overall. My playing style is ~75% bare nails fingerpicking and ~25% moderate “boom-chuck” flatpicking or moderate strumming. Emerald got very close with 7/64” on the bass side and a hair under 4/64” on the treble side. The neck relief is correct, and a truss rod wrench was conveniently provided in the Hiscox case. Nut slots appear to be mostly cut well with the proper clearance over the first fret when fretting at the third fret. The bass E and A strings could sit just a bit lower, maybe given two or three more gentle passes with a nut file. The black Tusq nut fits snugly and properly in its slot on the peghead and may be glued in (I did not try to remove it while the strings were off, but it did not fall out of place either). Any buzzing that occurs with this moderate setup is intermittent and fully attributable to user error. The stainless steel frets are leveled and crowned nicely and are polished to a mirror glaze, typical of Emerald fret work.

Intonation
Given the short scale, at first my fairly strong left hand grip would bend chord shapes and notes a bit sharp, especially on the bass side. It took some adjustment to lighten up my fretting technique to minimize this issue, but that also means this is a very easy-playing guitar. The tension of a light gauge set tuned E-e for a 24.6” scale length is 7% less than a 25.5” scale length (153 pounds versus 164 pounds total). When tuned to standard E-e at A440, the shorter scale feels much like the softer tension achieved when tuning down one-half step to Eb for a typical 25.5” scale. Carefully measured intonation on both guitars showed similar values on both the new and older guitars, with a slight edge to the longer scale.

Intonation was measured using identical brand new EJ-16 strings on both guitars, with a tuner app that displays a numerical readout of cents. Good technique meant not pressing the string any harder than was necessary to make adequate fret contact, while carefully pressing straight down. The treble strings play very much in tune up the neck, but a light touch is needed to keep the bass strings from sounding noticeably sharp. That is consistent with the lower tension of a shorter scale length or using very light strings. The plan is to next try medium gauge Phosphor Bronze strings to see if some extra tension helps the intonation and tone. It might also be useful to adjust the bass side nut slots slightly at that time.

Tone
Surprise! The expectation was that two carbon fiber guitars coming out of virtually identical molds and using the same build techniques would sound nearly indistinguishable. However, the tone of this particular new guitar is definitely brighter than the older model. According to Emerald, there is some [unspecified] difference in the resins and layups used now versus those in 2016, and they are happy with the new and brighter tone. Not every player will be. Both from the player’s perspective and out front in various spots within the room this tonal brightness is easily noticeable. It could be that the shorter scale and accompanying lower string tension is just not driving the top quite as hard for optimum tone. Maybe the new bridge plate inside for mounting a pickup adversely affects the top vibration (Alistair does not believe that it does). Or it may be the saddle sitting directly in the slot instead of on a UST element. It is doubtful that the minor body contour changes for the rib bevel or the new heelless neck could make any perceptible difference in the overall tone.

At first the brightness seemed due to the EXP11 80/20 strings that Emerald guitars currently ship with, which are known to be rather bright. The strings were replaced on both guitars with fresh light gauge EJ-16 phosphor bronze strings, my favorite and most familiar choice on most guitars. Each guitar was strummed vigorously for about 30 minutes to break the strings in a bit. It was clear that the new X20 was still noticeably brighter in tone than the old one. In subjective terms, the new tone could be described as similar to a brand new all-koa guitar (tight) versus a decently aged instrument, or perhaps a modern Taylor-esque tone versus the previous and mellower Martin-ish tone. Technically it sounds like the 1000 Hz - 4000 Hz bands were boosted by 3-4 dB on a graphic equalizer, or that the “presence” or “brilliance” control on a pre-amp was boosted. The bass notes are equally loud on both guitars given similar input energy.

As an experiment, the old X20 was tuned to Eb and a capo was added at the first fret. This creates an effective scale length of about 24.2”. The string tension was then perceptibly equal on both guitars. The rich character remained present on the older X20 with the new version being still clearly brighter in tone. Future string changes will include experimenting with several different string types and gauges to see if that tames the harsh brightness. This guitar may simply need a different type of mellower string altogether to bring out its best tone, versus all of the other Emerald guitars that I own.

Do you have a good mic? It would be interesting to hear the differences between the two.

Thanks for your review Earl. Very thorough and informative! I hope you can resolve the things you would like to; strings choices do seem to make a more significant difference to my ear on CF than wooden instruments.

Why the drastic tonal changes between your 2 X20s? Alistair himself said there is no discernible tonal change due to the heel vs. new heelless design. Could it be the bridge plate?

Just thinking out loud, and I might be wrong, but it seems to me that the bulk if not all of Emerald's custom short scale guitars are merely a reduction of the neck length. I don't know if Emerald advises against moving the bridge too, or if it simply not requested from those who order custom short scale guitars from Emerald. I've not personally ever chatted with Emerald regarding this question.

How much would the tone change on an Emerald if you took this custom scale but moved the bridge into the center of the lower bout while reducing the length of the fret board impeding into the top of that guitar?

Excellent review of your new Emerald Earl ! Please keep us posted as you proceed to sort out your brightness.

I have a good mic but the strings have already been changed, so they are no longer “equal”. And I’m simply not going to set up a SoundCloud (or other) account just to post an audio clip. I would have to email a WAV file to those that really care - if cycling back through EJ-16’s again.

I have not heard anything directly from Alistair, only comments relayed thru Kevin. Alistair read my comments this past week. What Kevin said was, “we are happy with the new tonal profile” but without further elaboration. I’m at a loss to explain the difference too.

My theory was the bridge plate too - I even asked about how to remove it without damaging the top - but Alistair does not see the bridge plate as the issue. I think they revoiced the top layup and maybe changed resin suppliers, but it isn’t working - for me. I’m just glad that I held onto the older X20.

I’m sorry to hear that it’s not working for you. I would have expected a warmer, bassier, bluesier sound, kind of like a short scale parlor or a Gibson Nick Lucas. Since it’s a custom order, is it not returnable for a refund(sans return shipping, of course)?

Put your new Emerald aside for a few days and then play it again. I had some initial doubts about my 2019 Emerald X20 Transparent Green when I received it but my doubts have been banished over the last year and I find I'm now digging my Emerald X20!

Excellent, and very comprehensive review, Earl.

Did Emerald give you any indication as to when the changes in the top construction were made? I'm interested to know whether it's been gradually evolving over time, or whether there's actually a specific switchover.

The reason I ask is that I have two X20s - one made in 2018, the other in 2019. The first is a 6-string, the second a 7. Even with the fundamental differences between them, and the fact that they're wearing different strings (D'Addario NB Light on the 6, a Newtone PB custom set on the 7), they still both have a distinctly similar aural character. I can tell they're from the same family line. Neither guitar would I call 'bright', but that's just my subjective rating.

Regardless, I hope you get to the bottom of the tonal differences, and can achieve a satisfactory resolution.

Earl, did you have any other changes pertaining to the neck dimensions besides the shorter scale, such as decreasing the neck thickness or width narrower toward the 10/12th fret?

Thanks Earl. As I've mentioned, this is exactly what I've been trying to ask on this forum for quite sometime but never got what I feel is an adequate response. I just wanted to put an more illustrative example to what I'm trying to say. Below is an example of standard X20 bridge placement compared to a RainSong Shorty. On the Shorty it isn't just the neck reduced in scale but a shift of at least 1" of the bridge toward the center of the lower bout. I believe the Shorty is also overall slightly shorter than your custom (the Shorty is 38.5" and I'm guessing yours is just over 39" which if true also helps further illustrate what I'm saying). I like a warm tone as well, and while a guitar is the sum of its parts, I personally believe bridge placement is pretty influential in voicing a guitar in that direction.

https://i.imgur.com/vK9S8yY.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uBg7hkL.jpg

Great pictures steelvibe! The bridge placement differences are mostly due to 12-fret vs 14-fret. If you compared the X20 to a RainSong OM with the 14-fret N2 neck (a long Shorty), the bridge positions would be similar. 12 and 14 fretters both have their proponents regarding playability and tone.

Reading Earls post he says they take the reduced length from the peg head end resulting in a almost 13th fret join, and thus leaving the bridge location the same. I will be interested to see if the non normal placing of the join has any impact on how the guitar feels? I know Earl has a Lucky 13 so he is used to that as well as his 14th fret Emeralds.
Great review Earl, thank you for posting it.

Very extensive review, Earl. Thanks for posting and like others I'm sorry that things don't seem to be working out between you and your new X20....