My 6-year old suggests this custom artwork. He couldn't talk me into it, but hey...different strokes right?

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

That would make my kids so happy.

Consider it still to be a work in progress. I soaked one in ebony stain for a week but only a little absorbed into it. Maybe I removed it too early. I put it back in and will leave it there for several weeks this time.

As of right now, no. If I can't find a proper way to color the bone saddle black while maintaining its tonal properties than I may change it to bone in the future to help provide some contrast.

That's a pretty creative kid. I'd be tempted to do some stick on appliques like the kid sees. Would please the kid and be a real eye-opener. And no one could accuse you of not having a sense of humor.

Moving the pickup would change the tone of the pickup somewhat I suppose, but that could be justified by saying that it "would just give the instrument its own sound." I think I'd move the pickup in whatever direction warmed up the sound. Not that I'd actually change anything on my X20. If I ordered a second guitar from Emerald, I know what options I'd try next/ask for though.

Thanks everyone for the inputs. One last question for an X30 owner out there. What is the depth of the X30 at the side of the guitar? (Where your forearm would rest) The specs say 5.75 max depth, but that is most likely in the middle of the guitar where it looks to "bubble" out.

Input from Emerald is that I would love both guitars, but the X20 sounds like a better fit based on my playing style and current guitar body shape(s). Thanks again for all of the inputs, and I am discussing all suggestions with Emerald now.

-B

Enjoy your new x20, when they make it that is. If you're going with a veneer I suggest you check out their latest veneer video on their Facebook page. They just got a large batch in that contains some crazy veneers.

Sounds like you have found a great guitar... I love mine... and pretty sure it aleast likes me some.

The overall distance between the back and front is 5.25" But, there's actually 3 features on the lower bout for comfort.

The forearm bevel tapers back to 4.5" from the back.

There's also a bevel on the back at the top that tapers forward 1" from the back.

Then the bottom curve between the lower and upper bout that rests on your leg doesn't go straight across front to back. it's angled forward towards the cutaway which holds the body into you.

Hope this all makes sense.

Awww y'all are sweet!

You can check out my build here in the youtube link in my signature.

Truth told, I haven't gotten to use the luminlay fretmarkers in the dark yet! But I have some bar gigs coming up so I suspect I'll get to enjoy them then. (Especially if they have blacklights!)

I'm coming a little late to the party here but I'll detail my thoughts on my customs.

I have no experience with the X30, just the X20 and X7. The X20 is like my Martin 000-18GE - it's the Swiss Army Knife of the Emerald guitar line. Small enough to be extremely comfortable but big enough for great tone. My X7 is even small and more comfy but tonally - especially plugged in - it can't hold a candle to the X20.

For customization's probably my biggest thing is the neck, both scale and shape. If I could only have one thing to customize it would be the neck shape and scale length. For me that is a short scale at 24.6". I was offered three four choices, stock 25.5", 24.9", 24.6" and 24.0". You lose some acoustic volume with shorter scales but that was not a concern for me since my X20 is for playing live and plugged in. For a neck carve I went with a soft V which I took from a mold of a Santa Cruz 1929 00 I had. It's perfect.

The woody's are beautiful but in the end they are just cosmetic and unless you've got the extra cash to throw at it, that would be the last thing I'd do. This from the guy with two woody customs. Then there is the pickup system. I went with K&K because it was a known quantity for me and it did not disappoint. That said, I could live with their stock Baggs VTC system if I was looking to save. I did a custom pinless bridge on the X7 and while I like the look of it, the pinless feature does nothing for me.

I don't see anyone talking about the possibilities for the end of the fretboard, but here are a couple examples...the padauk is byudzai's and the others are from the emerald site. The last one is a sketch of what I'm considering on mine...
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Nj...vfc8-gSk=w2400
https://i.imgur.com/dltUWSm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ELlfMOl.jpg

I appreciate the aesthetics of the curves, but when I opted for a shorter 20-fret on my X20-12, I just went straight across. I was more worried about the fret board interfering with my strumming stroke than the visuals. I play about 75% fingerpicked and 25% strumming.