Wait time for Emerald?

[kramster]

With the time Mr. Hay took to write that he could have made another guitar! Glad he did though. Makes one feel good about the man and his journey. And that is good for us.

[Doubleneck]

Originally Posted by fazool

****, now *I want one.....

stupid GAS

bad, BAD gas

Hey saw where you are from, I am going through Buffalo numerous times next week as I attend a craft show at Lenchworth State Park. I will have the double neck with me, if you want to get together and try it out? Steve

[Ted @ LA Guitar Sales]

Originally Posted by stonebridgian

Alistair

Your philosophy is bang on for a highly specialised niche market product...

Ian

Ian, I assume you are referring to some of Alistars less main stream models not the carbon guitar industry as whole.

[Oakland]

Long after we've forgotten the wait, we'll remember the quality of the guitar.

- Frank

[dkoloff]

Originally Posted by Alistair Hay

Sorry about the delays but all i can say is thats its been worth it.
A switch flipped in my brain over Christmas possibly as a result of taking 2 weeks off and having time to think and I came back to work in January with the intent of making everything better. The moto for 2013 is "make the best guitar tomorrow"
So it started with taking 2 weeks modifying and enhancing the factory and then we started to identify all the little issues that bugged me and indeed bugged a few of you.
Firstly we switched to a completely new resin compound which has much less shrinkage properties and higher heat distortion properties. It was a big step forward but integrating that isnt as easy as just ordering new resin. I knew it would be a challenge for way too many reasons to go into but I knew the end result I wanted to achieve and it was worth overcoming the hurdles and now accuracy is enhanced and temperature resistance is enhanced although that was never really an issue before.
Next up was truss rods. The T8, T20, X30 and X-B bass all have truss rods and its something we have been doing since 1999 so its nothing new but it did take alot of tooling modification to add truss rods to the X20-OS and X7-OS but we decided it was something that needed to be done and it was.
Then we realised the X7-OS mould was coming to the end of its life and accuracy was starting to suffer so the X7-OS was taken out of production in April and a new mould was made with some new modifications to the design. This has just been complerted and took longer than planned but the first batch of guitars are coming through this week and we are just about to announce the X7-OS MK2. It was not on our plan for the year but needed to be done, so it was.
Then on top of this we decided to put the short scale X5-OS 12 string into production and that also is just about to be announced. Its an incredibly cool instrument.
On top of all this we made a lot of cosmetic changes with changing to Gotoh tuners across the board and some other little details like the new logo, and we also invested in upgrading the finish quality of our paint finishes.
Oh and I almost forgot we launched the Synergy harp guitar which has been a great success and we have also been upgrading the Chimaera a little bit and furthering its development.
Also I have been working on new approaches to the tops of the Nylon guitars which has just been so hard to get time for.
Its been an incredible year so far, We have truly transformed our product this year and the customer feedback has been the thing thats made it sooo worth while.
Its been painful financially and a drain on my time and energy and its been painful for customers whose deadlines have been pushed back again and again but I think everyone agrees that the pursuit of building a better guitar is worth a little pain.
Its been an ever changing and moving target and thats why its been hard to give proper production times and with a small team of just 4 we are all impacted and involved in R&D projects.
So far this year sales are up by 50% and quality has increased by 50% but thats also increased wait times by about 50%
Thanks for the understanding and thanks for all being part of my dream
Alistair

Well I see no reason with all this slacking going on for delays......
just kidding by the way......Alistair's guitars are worth the wait before he made the enhancements, more so worth the extra time now. My x20 would have been worth waiting 4 times as long, of course I can say that since it is in my hands.

[ac]

Originally Posted by Oakland

Long after we've forgotten the wait, we'll remember the quality of the guitar.

- Frank

How true .

[brahmz118]

Thanks everyone for the perspective and Alistair for the detailed reply. I'm content to wait a little longer - it's not painful at all. This is my 4th Emerald so I know the quality that I'm getting.