#31
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Yes, I agree Emerald's customer service is top-notch, and they have offered to have me ship back my X20 at their cost so they can address the buzzing, so if it comes to having to do that....that is an option (to their credit). Obviously, in this climate and them being overseas...I'm hoping I don't have to do that. And I think the consensus here, even from those who have had various issues, is that Emerald still produces a great product and that we are for the most part very happy. But, there is definitely room for improvement. I think this "constructive criticism" serves to benefit everyone in the end (the company and the consumer) as long as everyone has the freedom to engage in open dialogue.
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Acoustics: Froggy Bottom, Emerald, McKnight |
#32
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Martin 0-16NY Emerald Amicus Emerald X20 Cordoba Stage Some of my tunes: https://youtube.com/user/eatswodo |
#33
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These are not insignificant issues. Multi thousand dollar instruments should not have setup problems and quality problems like this when they are brand new. This is a very simple and true statement that seems to make people around here uncomfortable. Conversations based in truth and reality making people uncomfortable is something that I don’t get. The truth can hurt some times, but it can also lead to problems like this being addressed. I personally do not subscribe to fanboy mentality. As soon as we let that happen this place gets to be a whole lot less useful and less interesting for me. I personally very much appreciate the candor of the people in this thread “airing their grievances”. Thank you.
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2020 Yamaha LL56 Custom 2021 Boucher SG-51-BMV 2020 RainSong CO-WS1000N2 2019 PRS Silver Sky |
#34
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#35
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I'll throw in my two cents as well. I bought an X20 from stock with a fairly substantial fretboard defect, which I sent back and received a refund. The photos and story (and Emerald's response) are on this forum and can easily be found through my profile. That thread drifted off-topic as most do here, and was locked by the site admin.
I used the credit from that guitar to fund a new build, which I received last summer. There's a thread about that guitar too under my name. It also arrived with problems, albeit more easily fixed. It arrived with a slightly twisted neck, showing about 0.010" more relief on the treble side than the bass. Alistair called me to chat about it, but in the end he didn't believe it was a big deal. I ended up sending it to SF Guitarworks for a plek job, which leveled the plane of the frets even though the neck is slightly off. It plays perfectly now but cost me an extra ~500 on an already expensive guitar. Neither Emerald nor SFGW cut the nut slots low enough, which still bothers me a little...one day I'll fix it. That being said, the custom neck profile (Taylor) is perfect. From the photos GuitarLuva posted, it certainly looks like their bridge work needs to improve. Mine does not have the pin height issue his does, but the hole spacing and angles are erratic and the break angles to the saddle vary widely, which probably contributes to the UST balance issues that seem common to these guitars.
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enough instruments to be mediocre at all of them |
#36
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I have buzzing down the neck, but let me clarify a bit. I get the buzz when I play the A chord, with 2-1-3 fingering. I have a few (4) other guitars, and have owned others that did not cause me a problem. For some reason, the X-20 does and has since day one. I've played a bit with the truss rod, but usually set it back the way it was. I've tuned 1/2 step down and tried lighter (11's) gauge strings and that seems to help. I've just tried my hand crowning the first 5 frets a bit and I think it improved. Next string change, I'll try and get serious with the crowning.
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#37
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To brighten up the thread, those power pins I put on my X20 not only cover up the issues but I think they look nice on Emeralds bridge style. I do like the guitar despite the issues and have no intentions of parting with it. |
#38
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I'm glad to hear that - thanks for commenting. There is a custom shorter scale X20 currently in the works for me. It will eventually replace my completely stock X20 built in 2016, which is just wonderful. I have never seen the new matte fret board in person, and was a little worried that it would look or feel inferior to the glossy one on all our other Emeralds. One less thing to worry about as I wait patiently......
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#39
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It’s all good. This is an informative thread. Guaranteed that Emerald is following this thread and will progress from the information. How is that a bad thing?
Regardless of the problems Emerald has a growing fan base, as they should. Overall they have a compelling product that is evolving in the right direction. Feedback like this from customers is beneficial towards this evolution. Comparatively, I don’t recall reading a lot of setup and playability issues coming out of RainSong. I “gave it” to RainSong a bit in a thread here when I did my NGD. It was a discussion about the facts and nothing more. A lot of cosmetic problems and they sent me a replacement that addressed the major issues with the first unit. That’s all that was on those RainSongs...cosmetic issues...The replacement was fine in the end, so RainSong responded....There weren’t any sorts of performance, setup, or playability issues on either guitar, and I don’t recall reading about any such problems on RainSongs during my time here. I suppose this is an advantage that a company like RainSong has...a higher degree of luthier experience given their time in the market...It only stands to reason that their processes would be a little more flushed out...This will happen for any good company eventually...
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2020 Yamaha LL56 Custom 2021 Boucher SG-51-BMV 2020 RainSong CO-WS1000N2 2019 PRS Silver Sky |
#40
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I can no more tell the difference between them when I'm playing than I can the rosewood, ebony, unfinished maple or varnished maple fretboards of the other guitars I own. I think it's yet another factor invented by guitar forum participants to keep us all more neurotic than we otherwise would be.
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Martin 0-16NY Emerald Amicus Emerald X20 Cordoba Stage Some of my tunes: https://youtube.com/user/eatswodo |
#41
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Thanks David. I'm really not worried - it is a simply point of conversation here in CF land. If it worried me very much, I would insist that it be built with the old style surface, assuming that is still possible. In many ways I actually prefer a matte fret board surface. I have been known to take 0000 steel wool to an ebony fret board to make it more evenly matte when wear patterns emerge between strings.
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#42
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In real life, it's way less jarring. I'm fine with it.
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Martin 0-16NY Emerald Amicus Emerald X20 Cordoba Stage Some of my tunes: https://youtube.com/user/eatswodo |
#43
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Acoustics: Froggy Bottom, Emerald, McKnight |
#44
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Tony
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“The guitar is a wonderful thing which is understood by few.” — Franz Schubert "Alexa, where's my stuff?" - Anxiously waiting... |
#45
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