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  #31  
Old 06-13-2019, 04:31 PM
GuitarLuva GuitarLuva is offline
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Originally Posted by Melt in the Sun View Post
Jon - I don't think the frets are glued on. At least, they were not before they switched the fretboard process. Where'd you hear that?

This particular example sounds like the nut is too far from the first fret.
Now you have me curious. Neither of my Emeralds have slotted frets (not that I can see anyway) how else would they stay on without glue? I'm also becoming more curious on how they do the whole process. According to their website the entire guitar, bridge included, is done in one process.
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  #32  
Old 06-13-2019, 04:41 PM
Melt in the Sun Melt in the Sun is offline
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When I had my messed up X20 I spoke with Alistair on the phone about it - he said the fingerboard and neck are all carbon fiber and the tangs were set into it. My inference here - it seems they would fret the guitar then do the black polyester coating OVER the frets, which is why there was leftover black gunk in the uneven fret ends on mine. Then the coating would have been removed from the frets during leveling/crowning/polishing. I could be wrong about that. I don't recall hearing anything about glued frets ala Parker.

Kevin told me the same thing about the bridge, which is why the custom bridges are so pricey. He said they mold the guitar as normal, then plane off the normal bridge and build the custom one in place.
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  #33  
Old 06-13-2019, 05:03 PM
GuitarLuva GuitarLuva is offline
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Originally Posted by Melt in the Sun View Post
When I had my messed up X20 I spoke with Alistair on the phone about it - he said the fingerboard and neck are all carbon fiber and the tangs were set into it. My inference here - it seems they would fret the guitar then do the black polyester coating OVER the frets, which is why there was leftover black gunk in the uneven fret ends on mine. Then the coating would have been removed from the frets during leveling/crowning/polishing. I could be wrong about that. I don't recall hearing anything about glued frets ala Parker.

Kevin told me the same thing about the bridge, which is why the custom bridges are so pricey. He said they mold the guitar as normal, then plane off the normal bridge and build the custom one in place.
That's good to know! I know they used to use Parker fretboards at one point. That's more than likely the version Jon had where the frets would've been glued. EvanB pointed out to me in a different thread that they stopped using Parker fretboards for their own design, which is likely what you described. I'm glad I know how they do it cause I thought for sure they were glued.
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  #34  
Old 06-13-2019, 06:21 PM
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I've only seen glued frets on guitars I would not want. Just saying.
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  #35  
Old 06-14-2019, 04:16 AM
jonfields45 jonfields45 is offline
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Originally Posted by EvanB View Post
I've only seen glued frets on guitars I would not want. Just saying.
Parker Flys were expensive and very durable. Tang fretting in a composite guitar has generally meant that the fingerboard itself is not reinforced with carbon fiber fabric. Not having to cut into that surface opens some possibilities for a better end product. Modern glues are quite amazing.
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  #36  
Old 06-14-2019, 07:05 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EvanB View Post
I've only seen glued frets on guitars I would not want. Just saying.
From Kevin at Emerald: It’s a conventional stainless steel fret installed into a slot and glued also. We haven't used the old parker style in a few years - last time was possibly 2007
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  #37  
Old 06-14-2019, 01:17 PM
JimCA JimCA is offline
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Also from Kevin re my recent X10 frets:

"They are slotted with tangs and a epoxy adhesive."
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  #38  
Old 06-14-2019, 05:14 PM
gerardo1000 gerardo1000 is offline
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My son has a 14 years old Emerald X-10 with the old Parker fretboard, and the frets are stainless steel simply glued to the fretboard without a slot. After many years one fret got unglued, we re-glued it with super glue and it has been OK for a long time so far.
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  #39  
Old 06-22-2019, 06:11 PM
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Originally Posted by GuitarLuva View Post
First of all welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your information. I really don't know what to say as it pains me to see people having issues with guitars, especially Emerald to which I have the most utmost respect for. Just gotta wonder how many people are having issues that don't get reported. I just want to reiterate that all of the issues I found with my X20 were pretty well hidden and I basically discovered them one after another (which caused my frustration to grow exponentially). Even though I was well past the return point I still should've contacted support to return the guitar for another one. Their customer service is among the best out there but who wants to send back a brand new guitar half ways across the world when it shouldn't leave the factory in those conditions.

Luckily I was able to work out all the issues myself, even though that was quite time consuming, but the fact remains these type of issues shouldn't exist on any guitar, let alone at this price point. It's pretty obvious they need to get better. I don't know for sure how their assembly line works. To me, my guitar's construction was flawless (luckily) as that's the most trickiest part with a carbon guitar but the little things like nuts, saddles I don't know if they have one guy dedicated to that stuff but whatever way it works they need to get better.

As for you, hard to say, a zero glide nut is supposed to help with intonation up to the 5th fret. However, a properly set up nut should have no issues either. Sounds like for your Anthem system that you could be looking at an uneven saddle slot as well, if your luthier sanded the saddle and made sure it's flat. It's odd that they never noticed anything with the nut though maybe like you said they were a little hesitant since Emerald is unknown to them, but a guitar is a guitar and a nut is a nut. Your pickup shouldn't have string balancing issues when it leaves the factory.

In my opinion since your early into ownership unlike me, and as painful as it will be, I would send it back to Emerald for fixing or replaced for another one. Either that or take it to another luthier, one who will really dive in and find and fix problems, and have Emerald cover the cost (which I'm sure they would).

Hope it all works out in the end for you, be sure to keep us in the loop. I would also like to end this post by saying that I'm very happy with the current condition of my X20, it's a really fun guitar to play, super comfy, tonally and visually awesome and my main go to guitar for taking outside the house.
Thanks for your detailed reply. I'm guessing that sending it back will probably be what I end up doing. The only custom work I had done to it was a trinity knot for the twelfth fret marker. I don't think that that would be a cause for the intonation issues I'm having. But, we'll see. I'll keep you posted as the process continues in the next couple of months. Thanks again!
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  #40  
Old 06-23-2019, 09:09 AM
GuitarLuva GuitarLuva is offline
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Originally Posted by Campro View Post
Thanks for your detailed reply. I'm guessing that sending it back will probably be what I end up doing. The only custom work I had done to it was a trinity knot for the twelfth fret marker. I don't think that that would be a cause for the intonation issues I'm having. But, we'll see. I'll keep you posted as the process continues in the next couple of months. Thanks again!
No problem and I agree sending it back is the right thing to do. Emeralds customer service is simply amazing. I'm sure they will fix everything up for you. It does suck that you'll be without the guitar for a bit but should be worth it in the end. Keep us posted on how it works out.
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  #41  
Old 02-05-2020, 05:05 PM
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Default Intonation problem resolved, but...

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Originally Posted by GuitarLuva View Post
No problem and I agree sending it back is the right thing to do. Emeralds customer service is simply amazing. I'm sure they will fix everything up for you. It does suck that you'll be without the guitar for a bit but should be worth it in the end. Keep us posted on how it works out.
So, I don't what happened, but the intonation problem has resolved itself. I brought the guitar with me to the Caribbean for a couple of months, and the intonation problem persisted, right up 'til about a month ago when, one day, it was fine! Go figure.
I wanted a higher action, though, so I took one of the saddles Emerald sent me and sanded it to the desired height and the intonation is spot on again. Yay! I don't know what's different now, but I'm glad to have solid intonation on this guitar. Do CF guitars "settle" somehow?

Anyway, that's resolved, but...
in the process of checking everything out on the guit, I discovered that the machine heads for the high E and the B strings were not sitting flush to the back of the headstock- I noticed light shining through there one day! So, I took off the two strings, loosened up the tuners and reseated them. Now they're flush like the other 4.

I also noticed that the metal on my 10th fret bar has a rather deep pit in it--right at the fretboard line, on the bridge side,. I can't detect that it's affecting the tone and it doesn't bother my playing at all (i.e. I can't feel it), so, if Emerald had an authorized repair center in the states, I'd bring it there, but I don't know that I want to ship it all the way back to Ireland to get this fixed.

I do like the guitar, and, overall, I give it a B/B+, since it now seems like it's dialed in--except for the pitted fret. I have to admit, though, I am a bit irked at the situation. Between that fret and the machine heads' sloppy installation, the guitar should never have left the factory. Especially for the $$$$.
But, thanks you all for your input here, I appreciate it!
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  #42  
Old 02-08-2020, 11:34 AM
GuitarLuva GuitarLuva is offline
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Originally Posted by Campro View Post
So, I don't what happened, but the intonation problem has resolved itself. I brought the guitar with me to the Caribbean for a couple of months, and the intonation problem persisted, right up 'til about a month ago when, one day, it was fine! Go figure.
I wanted a higher action, though, so I took one of the saddles Emerald sent me and sanded it to the desired height and the intonation is spot on again. Yay! I don't know what's different now, but I'm glad to have solid intonation on this guitar. Do CF guitars "settle" somehow?

Anyway, that's resolved, but...
in the process of checking everything out on the guit, I discovered that the machine heads for the high E and the B strings were not sitting flush to the back of the headstock- I noticed light shining through there one day! So, I took off the two strings, loosened up the tuners and reseated them. Now they're flush like the other 4.

I also noticed that the metal on my 10th fret bar has a rather deep pit in it--right at the fretboard line, on the bridge side,. I can't detect that it's affecting the tone and it doesn't bother my playing at all (i.e. I can't feel it), so, if Emerald had an authorized repair center in the states, I'd bring it there, but I don't know that I want to ship it all the way back to Ireland to get this fixed.

I do like the guitar, and, overall, I give it a B/B+, since it now seems like it's dialed in--except for the pitted fret. I have to admit, though, I am a bit irked at the situation. Between that fret and the machine heads' sloppy installation, the guitar should never have left the factory. Especially for the $$$$.
But, thanks you all for your input here, I appreciate it!
Campro,

I kinda forgot all about this thread, but since you brought it back to life I will add some more info to it. First off, the fact that your intonation issue resolved itself is rather odd, but hey, if it's fine now so be it. Carbon fiber guitars certainly shouldn't have to settle. Sounds like your saddle replacement had something to do with it. The pitted fret is bothersome though. My new X30 has 2, which I never discovered in my first couple of weeks of ownership. I'm still working on a long term solution.

Regarding my X20, I did put a lot of effort into getting it setup the way I like and I must say all the hard work paid off. With all the changes I made I recently reverted back to Elixir light phosphor bronze strings and this guitar is playing and sounding like a dream. Strumming and flatpicking produces dreadnought like volume and tone (not quite as loud as my current dreads) and fingerpicked its nice and intimate. I also got more used to its size as I'm used to bigger guitars.

I promised a long time ago to do a video comparing the tone of the x20 and x30. I plan on doing this as soon as I can now that I have another x30. Maybe in the next few weeks I'll get to it!
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  #43  
Old 02-08-2020, 09:13 PM
Campro Campro is offline
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[/QUOTE] With all the changes I made I recently reverted back to Elixir light phosphor bronze strings and this guitar is playing and sounding like a dream.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, mine does sound and play great now too, it really sings and resonates. I'm running DR Sunbeam Acoustic 12s on it, which are PB also--really brilliant
overtones, especially now that they are intonated with each other--very musical.

[/QUOTE] promised a long time ago to do a video comparing the tone of the x20 and x30. I plan on doing this as soon as I can now that I have another x30. Maybe in the next few weeks I'll get to it![/QUOTE]

Yeah, do it!
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  #44  
Old 02-09-2020, 12:12 AM
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Since my custom X20-12 arrived last October (after taking 10 months to make) I’ve had to return it Emerald twice. The first time it went back is because the K&K pickup system was installed incorrectly, and I had to tell them that (one of the pickups was not functional). Recently it went back because I could not change the strings. It has a pinless bridge and the high A ball end is stuck in the bridge. This was the first time that I was changing the strings, so it was originally installed by an Emerald tech. Emerald requested that it come back to them to look at. It is frustrating that an expensive instrument that took a long time to create has problems. I love the look, sound, feel, and the ergonomics and would likely buy another one (if I could convince my wife) but that is so at odds with problems that should not be. Knowing that Emerald tracks this forum, I expect that their QC will continue to improve.
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  #45  
Old 02-09-2020, 09:38 AM
GuitarLuva GuitarLuva is offline
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Originally Posted by Campro View Post
I'm running DR Sunbeam Acoustic 12s on it, which are PB also--really brilliant
It's funny you should say that the last set of strings I tried before going back to Elixirs were DR Sunbeams. Not just on my Emeralds. I bought 4 packs of their medium gauge and strung up 4 of my 5 acoustics with them. 2 days later I took them all off. I found the strings to sound dead and lifeless. Also, for a phosphor bronze string to me they looked like 80/20 bronze. Normally phosphor bronze are much darker. Don't mean to hate on the strings as a lot of forum members love them. Maybe the medium gauge was the difference? Regardless I won't be trying those anymore.

I forgot to mention in my previous post about the sustain on the X20, especially on harmonics. It really is out of this world type of sustain. I would love to A/B my X20 against a Taylor V-class to see which one would win the sustain test. Unfortunately my local music store stopped selling Taylor guitars.

Quote:
Originally Posted by guitarwebguy View Post
Since my custom X20-12 arrived last October (after taking 10 months to make) I’ve had to return it Emerald twice. The first time it went back is because the K&K pickup system was installed incorrectly, and I had to tell them that (one of the pickups was not functional). Recently it went back because I could not change the strings. It has a pinless bridge and the high A ball end is stuck in the bridge. This was the first time that I was changing the strings, so it was originally installed by an Emerald tech. Emerald requested that it come back to them to look at. It is frustrating that an expensive instrument that took a long time to create has problems. I love the look, sound, feel, and the ergonomics and would likely buy another one (if I could convince my wife) but that is so at odds with problems that should not be. Knowing that Emerald tracks this forum, I expect that their QC will continue to improve.
I agree having to send a guitar all the way back to Emerald would suck. I guess I'm lucky that I can fix a lot of setup problems myself. Emerald does read the forum, at least sometimes, and I'm sure they would like to be aware of any issues people have with their guitars. One of the last times someone reported some issues on here they ended up redesigning their fretboard!
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