[Captain Jim]

My sweet wife came to me with tears in her eyes this morning... "I know how much this means to you - I'm so sorry! I didn't do anything out of the ordinary..." Her voice trailed off as she held out her hand.

"It's not a big deal - I have others." I tried to assure her.

She then said, "I know you said this one is lighter and feels different... the glossy finish. But you waited months for this."

I thought back to when I opened the box with the X10 in it: "This is something special."

What? The X10? No, it is fine. But, the mug that came with it... the handle broke off into 3 pieces. The first mug I got was a lagniappe, something given as a bonus or gift. It was very early in the "buy a guitar, get a mug" program from Emerald. It was before any mention of "the mug" on this forum. And certainly before the "welcome to the mug club" posts. That mug is fine. It is sturdy, has a stamp pressed in from the maker, kind of an irregular shape and matte finish. The second mug (that came with the X20 Select Series) is, likewise, sturdy, but more refined. This newest one is lighter weight, a glossy finish, and a much thinner handle, even though the volume is greater; it feels like a production mug (no hand-pressed stamp) as opposed to a hand-made one. It may be a finish choice by the maker, but it looked like a craquelure finish right out of the box.

Don't get me wrong, I am certainly not looking this "gift horse in the mouth." The mug doesn't change the guitar experience. I realized how much the mug has become associated with the Emerald experience in just a few years. This is that "lagniappe" I mentioned earlier. Emerald could choose to discontinue the mugs at any time (as a cost-cutting measure) and it wouldn't change how I feel about the guitars.

My dear wife knows how enthusiastic I am about my Emeralds. She was really heartsick about this mug. I felt bad for her that she equated it so much with the guitar and was concerned that I would think she was anything less than careful about hand-washing it. Certainly not the case.

She is handy - said she will use something to fashion a new handle (I don't think just glue will fix this). Around the house, she does the plumbing stuff when necessary, I do the electrical and brute force stuff. This past week, we worked together to repair the dryer. We're a good team.

Just a little tongue-in-cheek this morning... kinda like the thread a while back about an Emerald having a "humidity issue" when the sticker inside came off. I think I'll go play some guitar for my Honey.