new X20 review

[al_az]

Earl
Our x20's arrived at around the same time, mine has a 24.9" scale length. Here are a few comments on mine. The build quality is amazing, only issue was there were 3 (4,5,6th) frets with rough edges. They must have just been missed on the final inspection. Took me a minute to finish them properly.
As far as tone, I have gone through about 6 different sets of strings to find what works best for me and in my search I made an interesting discovery. How you hold the guitar has a tremendous difference in the overall balance the player hears. I alter between a traditional classical position with the guitar on my left leg (often using a foot stool) and the 'folkier' position with the guitar on the right knee, foot on the floor, and the neck level.

The classical position puts the soundhole much closer to the player's ear, especially if you lean forward. This accentuates the high B and E strings, making them actually sound harsh. I tried multiple different sets of strings before I realized this. Once I realized this and now play with the guitar on my right leg and the neck level, it changed how I perceived the different sets. I had saved most of the ones I had used (or had extra sets). I went through them again and I realized the lower stings actually sound a little dull, lacking some upper harmonics. As suggested by others I found that D'Addario Nickel Bronze 11-52's sound great. So at least for today, I think I have settled on strings.

Oh by the way, like you I play almost exclusively fingerstyle. I use a blue-chip thumb pick and fingers with short nails. The guitar does have an overall brighter tone.

Now I just have to experiment with mic placement when recording

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Put your new Emerald aside for a few days and then play it again.

I have done that already, as life lately prevents me from playing every day. But every time I compare new X20 to old X20, the new one loses. Let me be perfectly clear: I am not saying it is a BAD tone, just way brighter than my previous Emeralds. One way to describe it is like I ordered a rosewood Martin and a comparable maple Taylor was shipped. If I had no other Emerald to compare against, I would eventually still have noticed the brightness, but the contrast would not have been as stark.

Originally Posted by esimms86

Since it’s a custom order, is it not returnable for a refund (sans return shipping, of course)?

Customs are not returnable. I have gently hinted but not asked for that directly. If they offered... yes I would.

Originally Posted by eatswodo

Did Emerald give you any indication as to when the changes in the top construction were made? I'm interested to know whether it's been gradually evolving over time, or whether there's actually a specific switchover.

No information, but my guess is that it happened along with the mid-2020 changes in the body and bridge overall. Kevin did mention a change of resin supplier recently but not when that occurred. I suspect that they make incremental changes all the time. My fleet includes 2016-2020 builds in various models from X7 to X30. All were pretty consistent in overall tone profile (given that they are different models) until this new one.

Originally Posted by steelvibe

.....Below is an example of standard X20 bridge placement compared to a RainSong Shorty. On the Shorty it isn't just the neck reduced in scale but a shift of at least 1" of the bridge toward the center of the lower bout......I personally believe bridge placement is pretty influential in voicing a guitar in that direction.

I misspoke when I said it was "in the sweet spot". The bridge is about 2" north of the widest point, as your photo correctly shows. The bridge is in exactly the same place on both guitars. And I agree that bridge placement is integral to voicing.

Originally Posted by Frettingflyer

Reading Earls post he says they take the reduced length from the peg head end resulting in a almost 13th fret join, and thus leaving the bridge location the same. I will be interested to see if the non normal placing of the join has any impact on how the guitar feels? I know Earl has a Lucky 13 so he is used to that as well as his 14th fret Emeralds.

The body join occurs about 3/4 of the way between the 13th and 14th frets, but closer to the 13th. I first wrote about "thirteen and a quarter". I cannot distinguish any difference in playing feel, neck contour, or other issue. The scale length accomplished what I wanted in terms of easier playing reach between frets and as a side benefit somewhat less reach out to the side.

Originally Posted by al_az

....As far as tone, I have gone through about 6 different sets of strings to find what works best for me and in my search I made an interesting discovery. How you hold the guitar has a tremendous difference in the overall balance the player hears. I alter between a traditional classical position with the guitar on my left leg (often using a foot stool) and the 'folkier' position with the guitar on the right knee, foot on the floor, and the neck level.

I exclusively play seated and with a strap. The guitar body hangs centered on my torso. Given shoulder issues, this is the only way I have played for about ten years. The only guitar that I own that CAN be played sitting on the right leg is the X30, but I mostly still play it with a strap too. I am on a third type of strings now. My S&B order will arrive in the mail tomorrow-ish. It has other string types that I could not source locally that were suggested in the Mellow Strings thread that I started. Once I settle on something, I will report back.

Again, let me emphasize that I am not criticizing Emerald, just reporting my personal findings and judgments. My draft was sent before posting to clarify a few things, and Alistair was OK with what I wrote.

[seannx]

I got one of the new X20s in July. The 80/20 strings it came with were too bright for me, and I replaced them with Santa Cruz low tension strings. That warmed up the sound, and the latest set on the guitar are EJ 16s. They are equally warm sounding. I primarily strum and pick, and the guitar has a nice, full base response. Mine has the 25 1/2” neck, and to my ears isn’t what I would characterize as overly bright. Similar to my RainSong, the notes are clear and resonant, in a pleasant way, and it’s very responsive to a light touch.

[jdinco]

Originally Posted by Earl49

Again, let me emphasize that I am not criticizing Emerald, just reporting my personal findings and judgments. My draft was sent before posting to clarify a few things, and Alistair was OK with what I wrote.

I guess it bothers me a bit that you have to check with Emerald before posting a slightly critical review (or a concerned review anyway) of one of their guitars. What if he wasn't OK with it?

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by jdinaz

I guess it bothers me a bit that you have to check with Emerald before posting a slightly critical review (or a concerned review anyway) of one of their guitars. What if he wasn't OK with it?

I think it’s just common courtesy. Any suggestion that he *had* to check with Emerald before posting it seems a bit silly.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by seannx

I got one of the new X20s in July. The 80/20 strings it came with were too bright for me...

RainSong ships their new guitars with 80/20s as well. Yuck!

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by jdinaz

I guess it bothers me a bit that you have to check with Emerald before posting a slightly critical review (or a concerned review anyway) of one of their guitars. What if he wasn't OK with it?

JD, it was a courtesy to Emerald on my part to let them know that I had some issues before anything went public here, and to get some clarification and extra information. I would have been happy to remain silent, but people were asking via PM and email how I liked the the new one. This is the same courtesy that I would appreciate from a client - let me know if you have comments before I make an engineering report final. If Alistair wasn't OK with it.... I still would have posted, as I did not say anything that wasn't true or accurate, from my perspective. My write-up was done as if it were a report for a client or possibly a magazine review.

The latest update is with GHS White Bronze medium gauge strings. It is considerably harder to play with that much tension, but tuning down to Eb makes that easier and tames some of the brightness too. It's an adventure, but my Strings & Beyond order arrives today and I can now experiment further. I will find out what string works best - eventually. I've just never needed to do this in the past. My three go-to string choices (Elixir PB Nanoweb, EJ-16, and White Bronze) have worked well on all my other guitars. This one is an outlier.

[RP]

Originally Posted by jdinaz

I guess it bothers me a bit that you have to check with Emerald before posting a slightly critical review (or a concerned review anyway) of one of their guitars. What if he wasn't OK with it?

Those who are less familiar with Emerald customs should realize that there can be considerable communication with Alistair or those close to him during the ordering process so it's not the same as purchasing or even ordering a special order Taylor guitar. The notion of communicating dissatisfaction with Emerald would seem very appropriate...

[jdinco]

Originally Posted by eatswodo

I think it’s just common courtesy. Any suggestion that he *had* to check with Emerald before posting it seems a bit silly.

"Had to" is your words, not mine. It is certainly NOT a "common courtesy" that people do before writing something negative about a guitar. It was nice of Earl to run it past them and good that they took the time to respond with no issues. I can't really imagine Emerald doing any different no matter the issue to be honest. I don't know Earl personally, but my impression is that he is a top notch fella, so no misunderstanding there.....

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by jdinaz

"Had to" is your words, not mine. It is certainly NOT a "common courtesy" that people do before writing something negative about a guitar. It was nice of Earl to run it past them and good that they took the time to respond with no issues. I can't really imagine Emerald doing any different no matter the issue to be honest. I don't know Earl personally, but my impression is that he is a top notch fella, so no misunderstanding there.....

I'm sorry if I misinterpreted your words:

"I guess it bothers me a bit that you have to check with Emerald".

Earl has responded. Enough said. Carry on.

[jdinco]

Yes, carry on.

[Simon@Caulfield]

A great detailed review!

There is a lot of variation between even two identical guitars at emerald, and constant changes going on.

Stings do also have a huge impact, and might be a way of achieving the sound profile you are after.

I do agree that courtesy would be to give a company opportunity to rectify issues before posting it on a public forum. But in the end it's always useful for potential customers to see the complete picture.

[esimms86]

Just a caveat that people shouldn’t go too far with trying to generalize Earl49’s detailed and honest impressions of his new custom X20 to necessarily extend to the new standard X20. They may sound quite similar and, then again, they might not. Keeping in mind the fact that the very talented Johnny Gallagher is an Emerald endorser, Johnny, on video, does describe the new X20 as “still the X20.” At that point, Alistair chimes in(I’m paraphrasing here), saying that they weren’t looking to make any drastic changes to their most successful design.

It would be interesting to hear Byudzai’s thoughts on the subject.

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by sgavy

A great detailed review! There is a lot of variation between even two identical guitars at Emerald, and constant changes going on. Strings do also have a huge impact, and might be a way of achieving the sound profile you are after.

Thanks for commenting and the "insider" perspective, Simon. I am currently working through a series of different string types to see which one works best, and that will take several weeks. For example, I put on GHS White Bronze nickel-alloy strings last Saturday. These are listed as being slightly lower on the brightness scale than 80/20 by GHS. I wanted to go even farther toward mellow, but those are what I had on hand last weekend. These strings have been tuned to down Eb standard and back up to E twice now. That takes the excess sizzle off of any new string. I'm now fairly confident that the tone can be made better, but it likely won't ever be the same.

Originally Posted by esimms86

Just a caveat that people shouldn’t go too far with trying to generalize Earl49’s detailed and honest impressions of his new custom X20 to necessarily extend to the new standard X20. They may sound quite similar and, then again, they might not. It would be interesting to hear Byudzai’s thoughts on the subject.

I concur and would love the hear Alex's thoughts too. My experience and perceptions are mine alone - my playing style, my ears, my hands, and my expectations. I can only compare the new one to the older X20 (and other models) already in hand, and that is not a 100% equal test. Other people who have heard them both also agree that the newer voice is distinctly brighter. The only way to tell for sure would be for me to order (or meet with someone) to do an extensive A/B with another recent stock X20 and see how they fare.

[esimms86]

Originally Posted by Earl49

I concur and would love the hear Alex's thoughts too. My experience and perceptions are mine alone - my playing style, my ears, my hands, and my expectations. I can only compare the new one to the older X20 (and other models) already in hand, and that is not a 100% equal test. Other people who have heard them both also agree that the newer voice is distinctly brighter. The only way to tell for sure would be for me to order (or meet with someone) to do an extensive A/B with another recent stock X20 and see how they fare.

Hopefully, when they introduced the new X20, they didn't "break the mould" for the old X20(no pun intended, however, it was unavoidable in this case).