Quote:
Originally Posted by Methos1979
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.
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I was on and off for a wood veneer or not. My final decision was based on the fact this hangs on the wall just as you enter my house. I see the veneer as something that would pass the wife veto. [emoji1]
I ordered with a veneer.
I am going with the stock neck and play the larger scale length typically, but went pinless (again aesthetic), and K&K with a fretboard mod.