X7 blues, anyone pulled the pickup ? help?

[raysachs]

Great to hear! I hope now you can relax and enjoy the guitar. And although I’m perfectly happy with mine as is, I may look at putting a bone saddle / nut in it at some point. Did you replace the nut too, or just the saddle?

And what gauge TI Plectrums are you using? I tried the 11s and loved the sound but not the lack of volume and they’re such light feeling strings that the 11s felt really kind of floppy on that short scale. Got a set of 12s but got a bum low-E string so wasn’t able to try them out...

-Ray

[jdinco]

I did not replace the nut Ray and I use the med/light TI's 12-59.

[jonfields45]

I felt very certain that the guitar was going to work out fine. I know I get hung up on some detail of a product sometimes and can be judgemental too, but I am fairly certain expensive guitars are manufactured very consistently as without that skill they would be quickly out of business. I (almost) always buy my guitars with no pickups and do my own installations. While I've never heard a problem with a Tusq saddle over an Element transducer that I installed, I am not shocked that taking it apart and putting it back together with fresh materials resolved some problem.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by jdinco

I did not replace the nut Ray and I use the med/light TI's 12-59.

Thanks. I'm trying a few other strings, but I'll put the 12-59 TI's back on my list and possibly give them another shot...

[Aspiring]

I just received a custom bone saddle from Colossi for my X7 nylon. He was great to work with. I sent him the stock Tusq saddle which I had modified some to get the action and intonation close, described the changes needed to get it a better fit after measuring the bridge slot with my caliper. (The stock saddle was quite sloppy in the slot original measuring at 3.2mm and new one sanded down to 3.35mm as well as the original being about 1mm too narrow with the g string intonation being 20 cents sharp at 12th fret)

Short short he nailed it I had some slight sanding to do to get it down to the fit the slot both on the slot and the saddle.

I also removed the LR baggs transducer from the under saddle position.

The results are not subtle. By measuring out with a sound pressure app I appear to be about 4db louder in overall sound pressure unplugged and I seem to have considerably more overtones and feel more vibrations through the body. I will attempt to record a before and after with the different saddles when I get a chance.

[steelvibe]

Makes me wonder if graphtech is the best product placement for Emerald guitars. I know they look cool with the overall Emerald aesthetic, but tone is more important IMO. Does anybody use a bone saddle in their X20 and notice the same trend we are seeing with the X7s?

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by steelvibe

Makes me wonder if graphtech is the best product placement for Emerald guitars. I know they look cool with the overall Emerald aesthetic, but tone is more important IMO. Does anybody use a bone saddle in their X20 and notice the same trend we are seeing with the X7s?

I actually have three saddles I can compare. I made a bone one myself based on a Macnichol saddle and I have the Tusq. To be honest I think while the material has an impact the fit is likely where I am seeing most of the improvement from.

I also pulled the under saddle pickup

[BT55]

Originally Posted by raysachs

I think this stuff is so much personal preference it's really hard to know why one person loves how something sounds and another person never warms up to it. I play unplugged about 99% of the time, occasionally plugging in to record something into a looper or a recorder, but more often I just play into a mic for the recorder.



I had an X20 and a new X7 and I liked them both, but I like the unplugged sound of the X7 MORE than the X20, which I know is not a common reaction. The X20 had a real high end shimmer that a lot of people no doubt really love, but I was always trying to tame it by trying different strings. I liked the guitar a lot, but there was that aspect of the sound I didn't love. The X7 doesn't have that. It's not quite as loud overall either, but it sounds just about perfect to me for my needs and preferences.



It may be that taking out the pickup will help, but I think most of us who really do like the X7 like it just fine with the pickup in. I might like it marginally more with it out, but I really like having the option of plugging in, as infrequently as I do it, so I'm not tempted to chase that last percentage point of tone by removing it. I think for the most part we tend to like guitars or not and there's no accounting for personal taste. You may be able to tweak it and get it closer to what you're looking for, but it also just might not be the guitar for you. I've gone through a few that weren't for me and I generally knew it relatively quickly. I wouldn't sweat it if it's not - the resale on new-ish Emeralds is pretty good. I recently sold a couple and consider the small losses I took to be highly reasonable rental rates for the months I had them...



-Ray

You can’t write a more concise response than raysachs did. Everyone’s tastes are different and should be respected. If the X7 doesn’t work for you sell it and find a guitar that works for you.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by BT55

You can’t write a more concise response than raysachs did. Everyone’s tastes are different and should be respected. If the X7 doesn’t work for you sell it and find a guitar that works for you.

I wholeheartedly agree BT55, but small details sometimes really matter. If I didn’t try Retros on the Shorty it would have been sold sooner. Saddle material not so much on that particular guitar but strings were a game changer. Neck profile seems another major point of preference.

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by BT55

You can’t write a more concise response than raysachs did. Everyone’s tastes are different and should be respected. If the X7 doesn’t work for you sell it and find a guitar that works for you.

While that is true, I personally have gained a bunch of knowledge from here and other places on things to try to see how much I can do to like my guitar even more and make it easier to play. I love my X7 and I expect to keep it on the order of 20 years or more. However that doesn't stop me from making it more to my tastes.

I am hoping to give back and share the things I find so others have something to think about and try rather than saying this is the correct choice.

I also want to be able.to plug in my X7 so I'm going to try the combination of a schatten pickup with the changes I did to the saddle to see if I still get improved volume and tone unplugged and retain the ability to have a good plugged in setup.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Aspiring

While that is true, I personally have gained a bunch of knowledge from here and other places on things to try to see how much I can do to like my guitar even more and make it easier to play. I love my X7 and I expect to keep it on the order of 20 years or more. However that doesn't stop me from making it more to my tastes.

I am hoping to give back and share the things I find so others have something to think about and try rather than saying this is the correct choice.

I also want to be able.to plug in my X7 so I'm going to try the combination of a schatten pickup with the changes I did to the saddle to see if I still get improved volume and tone unplugged and retain the ability to have a good plugged in setup.

My point was never that people shouldn't try to improve their guitars or even try to make changes to those they don't quite bond with in hopes that they will. I'm really glad that John was able to get the X7 to a place he's happy with it. I hope he likes it even more over time and it ends up being a long-time keeper for him. And I learn stuff from threads like these all the time too - even though I'm quite happy with my X7 as is, I may well try switching to a bone saddle at some point to see if I might like it even more. Thanks to this discussion.

My point was just that not everyone is gonna bond with every guitar and there's no shame in moving on from one, even one you thought you really wanted and built up your anticipation over. It's happened to me, I'm sure it's happened to everyone or nearly everyone around here. We don't learn a lot by getting everything right all the time, we learn from a combination of mistakes and successes. I know what I like largely because I've learned what I don't like. And when I bought the X20 and later the new X7, I was taking a chance, having never played either. And I learned that while I liked them both, I liked the X7 a good bit MORE and thus I ended up selling the X20..

I don't consider it a mistake. I basically ended up "renting" one for several months and deciding it wasn't a keeper for me. It's a useful process. God knows I've gone through my share of electrics to get down to three I really love and THINK are gonna be long term keepers. But the process is never completely over, so who knows what I may try down the line. A year ago I'd never even HEARD of carbon fiber guitars - since then I've owned three, sold my wooden acoustics (and 2 of the 3 CF acoustics), and have what I THINK is a long term keeper and an ONLY acoustic. I can't guarantee I'll be in the same place in five years.

-Ray

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by Aspiring

While that is true, I personally have gained a bunch of knowledge from here and other places on things to try to see how much I can do to like my guitar even more and make it easier to play. I love my X7 and I expect to keep it on the order of 20 years or more. However that doesn't stop me from making it more to my tastes.



I am hoping to give back and share the things I find so others have something to think about and try rather than saying this is the correct choice.



I also want to be able.to plug in my X7 so I'm going to try the combination of a schatten pickup with the changes I did to the saddle to see if I still get improved volume and tone unplugged and retain the ability to have a good plugged in setup.

....and so it goes, your comments go well with your AGF name [emoji1303]

[jdinco]

Originally Posted by BT55

If the X7 doesn’t work for you sell it and find a guitar that works for you.

Hummm....not sure I agree with that. I used to think that too. But the recent experience withh my X7 has changed my mind. I guess if fit and comfort is a problem, yeah, sell it. If it's tone, there may be a few things you can change to make it more to your liking.

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by steelvibe

Makes me wonder if graphtech is the best product placement for Emerald guitars. I know they look cool with the overall Emerald aesthetic, but tone is more important IMO. Does anybody use a bone saddle in their X20 and notice the same trend we are seeing with the X7s?

I have a MacNichol bone saddle on my X30. I also have 2 more soaking in black stain for a few weeks. One is for my X20. Different bridge pins and nuts in my experience give subtle changes but a saddle is a much more noticeable change. If you look on Graphtechs website they show some graphs of tusq vs bone and of course they're showing tusq being better. I have to strongly disagree. I also went from tusq to bone in my Gibson dread and it was again a big change. Some may not like the change and some will like it better. Not that there's anything wrong with tusq I seem to prefer the tone that a bone saddle gives.

[jdinco]

Originally Posted by raysachs

I'm really glad that John was able to get the X7 to a place he's happy with it. I hope he likes it even more over time and it ends up being a long-time keeper for him.
-Ray

That is exactly what is happening Ray, I'm loving the X7 now. Can't imagine it going any where.