Emerald comparisons - sorry, no audio

[dmcginnis]

Hi all - I had the opportunity to share my Emerald collection with a touring Irish trad guitar player the other day. He and his fiddle-playing partner are quite the duo and he is an amazing DADGAD player. We met at the local guitar shop (Hilltop Music in Ashland Oregon) where I have my X-30 on consignment for sale and Liam was potentially interested in it. He had played my X-20 the night before at a session and really liked it. So, I brought my X-20, X-7, and Amicus for him to try out and compare to some other high-end wood guitars. We also had my McIlroy in the mix along with an Avalon, another custom guitar by a local builder, and Liam's own Martin. The two musicians played a lot of tunes, did A-B comparisons amongst the guitars and talked about what worked best for them as a duo. Here are a few of their comments.

First, the top three in their opinion were the McIlroy AS-15, then the local custom guitar, and third was the Emerald X-7. Believe it or not, the X-7 beat out both the X-20 and X-30 in what it did for their music. I wish I had some video to share!

The X-20 had good balance, but it had too much focus and not enough depth and overtones compared to others. The X-30 was amazing on the bass, but the mid-range and trebles did not have the same presence. So, for each of these models, Liam felt they had their place for certain tunes, but neither really did all that he wanted. He kept going back to the X-30 (as it was the one up for sale) and played it over and over again. But in the end, the wood guitars and the X-7 were his favorites.

The Amicus was brilliant and really fun. But, as unique and fun as it was, they did not see it working well into their performance routines. The issue for them was that the fiddle and the Amicus were both voiced in the same tonal range which they did not see working well for them. Regardless, they were all smiles when trying it out. They called it haunting and ethereal.

Well, that about sums up the fun experience. I wish I could have done some video clips but I did not have anything to do that with me. I hope my descriptions will be helpful. BTW, I am seriously considering selling my X-20 now after sitting out front and listening to it with a great player and fantastic fiddler....The X-7 sound was my favorite, too, of the carbon fiber guitars. I may reduce my heard down to one carbon fiber guitar and my Amicus along with my McIlroy.

Cheers,
Dave McGinnis

[esimms86]

Dave, thanks for posting. My guess is that you likely would have received a very different set of responses if you were to put the same Emeralds in, say, a bluegrass or an alt-country setting. I would, for instance, expect an X30 to hold it’s own and blend well in the mix with a banjo. The Amicus would might not work so well if a mandolin was being played in the same setting. An Amicus paired with an X20 or X30 just might be the sweet spot.

[jdinco]

Good post, I love reading stuff like that, of course everyone's opinion would be different in different settings, but still very informative. I still don't understand why I couldn't bond with my X7. I'm sure it was likely me and not the guitar.