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#1
12-03-2005, 01:20 AM
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My Emerald Opus X-30 arrived today...
I drove directly to a dinner jazz gig with it still in the gig bag it shipped in.... After about 2 hours of playing my jazz guitar... it was time to bust it out.... first impressions... well...
The neck is a bit too wide for my tastes.... maybe that will grow on me.. the neck reminds me of some of the Larivees i've played recently.... A little too much had been shaven off the nut for the high e string... (it buzzed a little)... i fixed it with some pencil lead when i got home.... On the gig I wasn't sure if the guitar was amplifying properly, and then i realized that the battery was dead.... i'll replace that tomorrow.. um.... the guitar is loud.... i had someone else play it, and it was really loud... the guitar has a nice... scratch that.... the guitar has a perfect finish...... the back of the guitar is sort of a cross between the Ovation bowl, and the regular flat back of the traditional acoustics..... it's also similar to the Ovations in that it has that black bumpy black finish on the back of the guitar and headstock........ it doesn't slide off your lap like ovations... although, i kept thinking it was going to... The guitar is soooooo light, that it feels like it's going to float away... the Truss rod needs a little adjusting.... but that's cool.. that's why its there.. Alaister (Owner of Emerald guitars) told me that they purposely make their necks semi-stiff compared to Rainsongs truss rod-less solid as a rock necks... The frets are sainless steel... very cool... When i got it home and played on it for a while.... the neck spacing didn't really bother me as much... the guitar sounds beautiful...... The day after Christmas I'm driving down to south Florida to see my relatives.... and I've already contacted a music store that deals Rainsongs..... I'm going to take this and A/B all their models and the Emerald.. By the way..... This guitar is IMMACULATE.... the pictures don't do it justice... I've got 45 days to return it to SAMASH.... so.... i'll keep you posted.... As of tonight... The Emerald is BEAUTIFUL sounding.... I'm without any other guitars to refrence right now.... Tomorrow I'll A/B it with a couple of Nice Acoustic guitars..... more to come... 
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#2
12-03-2005, 01:31 AM
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That's my first exposure to Emerald guitars. Thanks! Given your shipping difficulties, I'm nearly as glad as you are that it finally arrived safe and sound, and that you seem to like it as much as you do.
Be sure to follow up and you get to know this one better! cotten PS Never, ever say "stratch that" when referring to a guitar's finish! 
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#3
12-03-2005, 08:42 AM
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Cotten,
Gerardo is the member that's having shipping difficulties... as far as i know, he's still waiting on his to arrive....  but yes.. I'll keep you posted on how it goes... I'm recording all day today and tomorrow... so we'll see..
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#4
12-03-2005, 10:51 AM
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pics, pics, pics????
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#5
12-03-2005, 12:09 PM
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You're right, of course, weirdOne. Sorry for the confusion on my part. My brain doesn't work so well after 2:00 a.m. or any other hour. I guess it didn't process the possibility that we could have not one, but two members talking about Emerald guitars. Oh well, you now know you weren't the only weird one here, though you get the title. I just have the reputation.
 I look forward to your pictures and further impressions, and to the news that Gerardo's saga has had a happy ending. cotten
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#9
12-03-2005, 02:57 PM
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Wierdone, congratulations for your Emerald. I am glad that you like it. As you know, I own an Opus X-30 since four months and I really like it, particularly the unplugged sound.
I also had to raise a one nut slot with the old method of instant glue. But apart from that the set up was very good. As far as the Opus X-10 that I ordered...well, it was supposed to arrive yesterday, Friday, but it did not. Well, I guess I need to be patient. At the end, Alistair is offering me a brand new guitar for the price of a used one, therefore it is worthwile at this point to forget about the late shipping. Please post more reviews of your Emerald when you are getting used to it. gerardo1000
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#10
12-03-2005, 03:07 PM
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Wierdone, I forgot to ask you if your Opus is equipped with the Baggs LB-6 pick-up, like mine, or with the new B-Band A-7 ? I'd also like to know your imporession of the amplified sound.
Thanks, gerardo1000
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#11
12-03-2005, 03:18 PM
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g,
it's got the B band system.... I plugged it in last night, and to be honest... the battery had to be nearing the end of it's life... because i barely heard it coming out of the speakers.... I'll know more tonight... I've been recording with it all day, and I'm very impressed with this guitar... the more i play it.... the more i like it.... I do like my strings closer together (i'm a tele player at heart), but i'm slowly getting over that...
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#12
12-03-2005, 05:21 PM
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On my side, I love the wide string spacing of the Emerald. But I am a fingerpicker !
gerardo1000
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#13
12-04-2005, 10:05 AM
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well... you'll never guess what happened last night... I got all the way to the gig.... I had a new battery... I had the Opus X-30.... i had my amp.. BUT i didn't have the plastic battery box that holds the battery in the preamp.... so i couldn't use it last night... I'll run some tests today...
oh yeah... the string spacing can be fixed... so can the high action.. i'm headed to a luthier this week...
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#14
12-04-2005, 05:32 PM
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update...
I've been recording with the emerald... and it's WONDERFUL to record with... I've been using a MXL 991 (I know... it's a cheap mic.... but hey... it's one of the best acoustic mic's I've used... and i'm using the MXL instead of a pair AT 4050's...) and the recorded sound is WONERFUL... it's real easy to eq into the mix.. single notes ring out beautifully... chords are beautiful... harmonics are also beautiful)... BUT!!!!!! My neighbor brought over a couple of his Martins... A d-41 and d-35 to compare the emerald Opus with them..... Once all the guitars had new strings on them we A/B'd the crap out of them..... here are my impressions... The Martins had INCREDIBLE bottom end.... They BOOMED.... compared to the Opus (which is a VERY large guitar) the Martins win hands down in the bottom end category..... and this is rather bothersom for me.... only because the Emerald Opus X-30 is basically the size of a Gibson Country Jumbo.... and IMHO if you're going to have to deal with the awkardness of a big guitar like that, you should at least have the reward of a nice bottom end.... but with the Emerald the bass just isn't there..... and this is really eating at me, and i'm left to wonder what their x-10 (a smaller bodied instrument) sounds like... there can't be that much difference..... As far as note clarity (with a pick) .... the Emerald wins hands down.... EXTREMELY clear upper and mid range notes... which is why it cuts thru the mix MUCH better than the martins did.... the martin single notes sounded fine alone... UNTIL you played the same run on the Emerald..... then the martin's sounded like they had muddy water in them.... the emerald notes really are that clear sounding...... oh yeah.... they sustain forever... literally... they keep going and going.... the martin's notes died off after a few seconds.... but the Emeralds volume was constant for quite a bit longer before the initial note faded and the harmonic overtones rang out.... Finger picking was really surprising.... the martins sounded WONDERFUL.. because of the bass reverberating on your belly... it's higher notes blended in wonderfully..... The emerald... because of it's lack of bass, while beautiful in it's own right, just was... well.... it was a different sound... Not better or worse... just different.... So far, I really like the Emeralds sound... the playability is an issue.. but as soon as i fix the action i'll probably feel better about that.....(still kind of miffed that SamAsh didn't provide me with an allen wrench that fits the truss rod.... after all i did spend fourteen times one hundred dollars on this guitar..) The emerald's bass response (or lack of) isn't troubling at all... because the guitar is so beautiful sounding.. it's got a sound of it's own.... It reminds me an AWEFUL lot of some of the high end Taylors i've played.... I'll keep you posted.... pictures to come tomorrow...
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#15
12-05-2005, 10:43 AM
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I just emailed Woody the pics....
I noticed something about the guitar last night... It's NOT a flat top acoustic... It's an archtop acoustic.... I tried to photograph it as best as i could...
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