Emerald x20 compared to Lowden 025
 

I have started to get interested in Emerald Guitars. I have no frame of reference only having listened to them online. I play a Lowden 025(cedar/rosewood) and am exclusively a finger style guy. I love the Lowden but it is big. I wouldn't mind downsizing if I could still get the great range from low bass to high treble that I can get out of the Lowden and the wonderful sensitivity it provides for finger style guys like me. Are there any Lowden players out there who have a x20 and can comment on things like tone differences, sustain, etc?

Thx.

I have a c/r F25c and a 7-string X20. Close enough?

Sure. What are you throughs?

Fingerstyle, using 11-52 Elixir Polyweb strings

Lowden F25c 2011 (bone saddle)
loud, trebles and firm bass emanate aggressively from the top, lush/shimmery strummer, crisp fretted notes, strength is in the mids and trebles, a rounded brashness when strummed hard, brighter than the Emerald

Emerald X20 7 Opus 2018 (tusq saddle)
warm, stern bass seemingly emanates from within the body, lush strummer, comparatively understated against the Lowden

As far as I remember when I looked inside, the F25 has the dolphin bracing, and so paired with the bone saddle(s), the notes accelerate at high speed from the top, no sense of depth from within the body, the mids and trebles dominating in strums, clear fretted notes, and LOUD, but noticeably thin at the same time. Understanding that I'm not a fan of bone with this guitar, today I changed it to micarta. The trebles are now reigned-in and under control, defined, not so loud as to be flashy. The bass has become stern and strong, possibly because it had been submerged by the dominance of the mids and trebles.

I also today changed the Emerald's tusq saddle for corian, which avoids the tusq's overlush strums. I still find the trebles a bit thick, certainly compared to the F25's. I've yet to try a bone saddle, which I would expect to clarify the trebles.

Changed the saddle to bone on the Emerald: brighter, trebles are freed up/sweetened. The overall bass presence is lessened, though, not to a debilitating degree. Still, the Lowden is a much brighter/flashier guitar.

great feedback! Thank you.