Happy New Order Day: Emerald X30 semi-baritone
- Scale 670mm (26.38")
- bridge position same as regular X30
- Finish: Turquoise on silver weave carbon fiber
- String gauge 14-59. Tuning D-G-C-F-A-D
Ever since I first heard the X30 I wondered what a baritone version would sound like. Finally one appeared in the June 2019 Select Series, and... unfortunately it failed to impress me.
It turned out to be a very dark sounding guitar. All low end and not enough brightness.
The culprit I suspect is not so much the extended scale but the shifted bridge position. Placing a bridge in the center of the lower bout generally makes a guitar sound warmer. However, an X30 does not seem to benefit from a warmer tone. It needs that brightness to counterbalance its strong bass response.
So I asked for a bridge in the same position as it is on the regular X30. And since that would make for a long stretch across a baritone neck, having the scale length in between baritone and standard seemed like an interesting idea. 670mm is actually not that exotic. It is the standard scale length for petite bouche gypsy jazz guitars.