The Emerald Solace I purchased has arrived. First off the instrument is visually stunning. It has quilted tamo ash as the face veneer. I have never seen a more eye popping quilted wood such as this. The body is deeper than any weissenborn style guitar I have played in the past. Comfort wise this is a positive for me. The sound (an I know this is so subjective) is beyond my expectations. Deep, beautiful, 'ringing forever' notes that sing with the lightest of touch with my steel bar and plucked with bare fingers.
The height of the nut is lower than I have seen used on other lap guitars. No real problem but it requires slight modification on my approach with the slide. I hope to find out why Emerald designed it with the lower nut height. No doubt it was for a purpose. I say that because everything else in this instrument makes sense to me and seems to be an improvement on the old weissenborn designs.
The head design is a work of artistic beauty. Similar to what is used on the Emerald nylon string guitars. The tuning pegs are turned upward and really work smoothly and convieniently in this orientation.
The bridge has the pin less design. I will find out what that is about when I replace the strings. It is a clean look.
I have to admit that I was somewhat worried when I never had a response from the cf group about this style of guitar but I am glad I took the chance on the one I just received. The various videos of the Solace on the internet never showed the real voice and tone. At least not as nice as what I hear with this instrument on my lap.
I own two Emerald x20's. One six string and one twelve. Love them both. Both x20's have nice veneers but other than looking nice on the wall or when a friend plays them, I don't pay too much attention to the wood look when I play them. With the Solace the face is staring me in the face the whole time I play it. I feel the veneer is worth having as an option. Eventually, I will probably stop being distracted by the depth and beauty of this wood. Right now I get lost while looking at it.
Thanks for reading. Sorry for not sharing the always asked about pictures but that is beyond my technical skills.
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