Emerald X20 12-String Baritone

[Jkh5200]

Hey all - after spending a few months getting to know my new instrument, I thought I'd share it here for those who may be interested:

Emerald X20 12-String Baritone scale
Candy Stripe Paduck top
Red standard weave
HyVibe pickup

It plays like a beast, and I'm having a fun and challenging time learning how to tame it. Nothing but great service from the Emerald folks all the way through.

[David Eastwood]

Wow - quite the beast, indeed.

What scale length did you choose, and what tuning?

Is the octave 6th string deliberately missing?

Have you settled on any particular strings?

How do you like the HyVibe?

How do you get on with the pinless bridge?

Nosy bugger, aren’t I

[steelvibe]

Lovely veneer!

What kind of music do you play on it?

Do you have some video samples?

How about audio samples?

Do the neighbors enjoy it when you play it (because they likely hear it)?

Did Dave ask all the best questions already?

Quite a beast indeed. So much you need a strap made from seatbelt? Get ready for the ride!

[Jkh5200]

All great questions:

-- Scale length is 25 1/2. I was thinking of tuning A-A, and I still may go back to that, but right now I have it in an enjoyable Open B (BF#BD#F#B). This lets me translate my usual Open D arrangements easily.

- I took off the octave 6 string because I was having some excessive buzz due to contact with the lowest string. That may be an artifact of tuning, or the nut spacing, or my lack of playing skill, but the simplest solution for the moment is just taking it off, and to be honest, I don't really miss it.

-- It came with D'addario, and those were not bad, but I'm trying the LaBella baritone acoustic set which is a bit lighter in most places and enjoying that.

-- I'm still learning the HyVibe. It does a fine job of being a good preamp - I've plugged this into a PA and had some good sound, and with the phone app I can shape the EQ to a nice degree. I've played with some of the effects, and have a couple of songs that use them. Adding a little reverb or tremolo can help liven up what are some hefty strings. I'm still sorting out how to connect the HyVibe to a MIDI footswitch so I could change effects mid-song, and the looping/metronome/speaker functions have not gotten much use. (I can use it to play Bluetooth tunes through the soundboard, which...ok?). I'm not 100 percent certain that it's superior to the other pickup options available for these things, but that's as much my learning curve as the tech.

-- I'm good with the pinless bridge, but there can be some fussiness in making sure the string ends are oriented properly to not slip through the holes. The body of these things are just an empty chamber, and the soundhole is large enough to fit your whole forearm inside for changing strings.

[David Eastwood]

Thanks! I didn’t mean to barrage you, but once I’d asked the first one, the rest just kept on coming

I have an X20-7, which is a bit like a baritone with an extra string, so string choices have been a bit of a challenge. You might take a look at John Pearse’s offerings, if you’ve not settled on something yet.

The one new question is about scale length - did you mean 25.5”?

If so, I’m puzzled about what makes it a baritone

[Jkh5200]

Actually yes, scale length is 27 inches. For some reason it was incorrect on one of the invoices.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by Jkh5200

Actually yes, scale length is 27 inches. For some reason it was incorrect on one of the invoices.

Got it. Looking at the picture, it appeared to be longer than standard. 27” makes sense - same as the bass side of my X20-7.

[bsman]

Well, that is one interesting niche beast! I've thought about getting a CF 12-string, but my old Takamine EG523SC-12 just won't die! I have contemplated getting one of the Chimaera doublenecks that Emerald does, but not sure how practical that would be.

[KevinH]

A unique, and beautiful instrument. Nice choices on the design.

I've been curious about the HyVibe on Emeralds. From the shipping videos they seem to be selling a lot of them. Do you think it is something you'll keep making use of now that you're a month in?

I had a HyVibe system installed on an Eastman OM (you know, one of those wooden guitars). I ended up selling it - mostly because of the guitar. Didn't really have it long enough to tell if I'd keep using the HyVibe. The looper was interesting and could have been helpful if I'd stuck with it longer. The reverb and EQ seemed the most useful bits.

[Jkh5200]

I haven't played this yet in public -- it will make an open-mic debut in a couple of weeks on some pop/folk cover songs -- but I have been doing some practice room work trying to figure out what will work best in live sound. So far the HyVibe has been useful here, between its various filter tricks, EQ-ability and general usability. I also like some of the smaller touches like having a visible battery gauge so that I know when it needs charging (its USB-C, not swappable.) Pairing the foot switch has required a level of witchcraft I had not anticipated.

FWIW, I was on the fence about CF for a long time, especially over the supposed tone decay from "woody" to "plastic." I may have some Stockholm syndrome, but after a couple of months I don't hear any "plastic" tone when playing acoustically. In some of those plugged-in tests, it did sound a bit more rubbery, almost like that tone Ovations used to be infamous for, and that's one place I'm still working out.