Emerald build process

[bcopeland8900]

I, like many of you previously, have started a build process with Emerald. I noticed on my 3rd email to Kevin in 1 day that I have a ton of questions regarding the build process. Many of the emails would subside if I knew which emails I need to send versus wait for. So...

How much communication, and what is communicated after the order/deposit is made at Emerald?

-Are there multiple placement options for your selected veneer piece or is it up the the luthier after you choose the wood type and specific piece?

-when and how are fretboard mods communicated?

-does one get a mocked up image of the final guitar to help ensure/select back and side carbon color look great with the wood selection? For example I would like to have red or amber (leaning toward red) but Kevin said most get black with this wood selection. The order form shows black.

-what else gets communicated and about how often are the communications between deposit, build, and receipt of the final guitar?

Thank you,
B

[jdinco]

Seems you have a lot going on there, if it were me, I would give them a call to make sure you are getting exactly what you want. Good luck with your build !

[Melt in the Sun]

Since I'm right there too, I can offer my experience with the early parts:

How much communication, and what is communicated after the order/deposit is made at Emerald?
Not sure yet - just finalized the build today so nothing's happened for me!

-Are there multiple placement options for your selected veneer piece or is it up the the luthier after you choose the wood type and specific piece?
Placement is up to you. You can move it up or down as you see fit, and specify how much material you would want removed from the middle (thinner sapwood, etc). If you want the positioning tweaked, just ask and they'll get you new photos in a day or two. There may be some constraints such as holes, cracks, etc., but in general you're the boss.

-when and how are fretboard mods communicated?
Now, and you can either show one you want to imitate or sketch something yourself. I didn't end up going with one, so I'm not sure how that process is finalized.

-does one get a mocked up image of the final guitar to help ensure/select back and side carbon color look great with the wood selection? For example I would like to have red or amber (leaning toward red) but Kevin said most get black with this wood selection. The order form shows black.
I did not - but you're the boss. Photoshop could probably help, if there's an existing photo of a guitar with that wood. If it's one of the new species that might be tougher. Want to share what veneer you've chosen?

-what else gets communicated and about how often are the communications between deposit, build, and receipt of the final guitar?
Again - just finalized so I'm not sure. From what I've seen around here, once the construction begins it seems there are periodic photos sent.

[Methos1979]

Everything should be communicated in advance. This includes veneer selection and placement unless you just want to trust them. When I did both my woody customs I went back and forth with Sean and Alistair and they moved the template around the veneer and took photos until I found an area I liked. This of course after getting a ton of photos of available veneers to choose from.

I knew in my mind exactly what I wanted for colors, features and dimensions, so these were communicated to Emerald and they acknowledged them. Once we were on the same page they summarized along with a quote for the work I wanted done. When that was accepted I was sent a formal invoice on PayPal for 50% down and once I paid that we were off to the (very slow) races of construction.

You do have time to make changes as when you pay you're put into a queue and building does not start right away. But don't delay. I badgered the heck out of them with my first custom. I think that's why Sean quit! But with the second one I don't think I contacted them more than maybe once for an update.

Note that even with a ton of communication before the fact I still had an issue with something not being done I wanted done due to a miscommunication between Alistair and myself. In the end it was not a big enough issue for me to return the guitar for rework which they offered to do. So it just goes to show you, make sure you have communicated everything you can think of and get a confirmation in writing so something doesn't get overlooked.

[Captain Jim]

On my last Emerald (an X10), I visited with Alistair initially, then with Kevin on any other communications. Other than a change of scale, my other requests weren’t custom (a bit of additional edge shading and Crystal Ice back and sides); Kevin sent me an e-mail to confirm those details. I made no changes after that first discussion, so it was just confirmation of details. No surprises.

[btbliatout]

I think once everyone is confident in what the end goal is, the Emerald team could be quite happy keeping their head down and working hard until it's done. But Kevin very politely responds to all of my follow up emails, and rather quickly too! I have an order in being worked on right now.

I try not to bother them too much, because there's no point really, since all my build specs were settled super early on, but I do check in every few weeks, a quick, "Hi, how're things going? I enjoyed your last video. Hope to see the ransom note soon. Cheers!"

I'm sure when mine is completed I'll be sent a message that it's done, and an invoice, and then will begin a short conversation about shipping and timing.

As an anecdote, porch piracy is a serious thing in my neighborhood. I did reach out asking them if they'd be willing to ship to my office, which I know would be a secure place for a post person to drop it off at, but they were uneasy about it. So sooner or later it'll be sent to my home, and I'll have to take time off of work to sit on my porch and wait for it to arrive to make sure no one snatches it. The post office and FedEx around my area is terrible, once upon a time they used to ring the door bell to let you know something was dropped off. Now they dump it, take a photo of it, and run away as fast as possible, as if human contact was the plague. So alas, I really will be sitting on my front porch for all days it could possibly show up, until it shows up.

[Captain Jim]

We travel quite a bit and the folks at Emerald let me know that they would ship to wherever worked best for me. I had to put off the shipping on this last Emerald for a week or so because we were traveling, moving each day, with no address. Kevin let me know that they would work with me on the shipping address. I have no doubt that Emerald would we able to ship to your business address... unless the guitar has already shipped.

[headCASE]

I'd try and convince Emerald to show you pictures before they ship to you.

I specifically asked for black tuners on a "custom" build, and they shipped with their "cosmo black" tuners. It's not what I asked for, but I let it slide because it still looks nice.

I mentioned in a email how during their glamour shots of the guitar, one of the strings was mismounted on the piezo bridge, gouging the plastic of the individual piezo saddle . The response was "you noticed that, wow!" and "our photographer was too busy to notice it looked wrong."

I could also be upset with the string hitting hitting the krivo pickup (lv3 pickup install in X20) on the last two frets of the high E string, but I don't play up there anyway.

I suppose what really annoyed me was I shipped them a set of flatwound strings to use with the guitar and I assume that they broke or lost one because 5 were flatwound strings and the other was some random roundwound string. They couldn't be bothered to replace it with a flatwound string, let alone pay a few dollars to get the same brand I sent.

Hopefully they get their QC together this year.

On the plus side, the guitar sounds great! I wouldn't trade or sell it. Good luck on your wait!

[pandaroo]

Originally Posted by bcopeland8900

I, like many of you previously, have started a build process with Emerald. I noticed on my 3rd email to Kevin in 1 day that I have a ton of questions regarding the build process. Many of the emails would subside if I knew which emails I need to send versus wait for. So...

How much communication, and what is communicated after the order/deposit is made at Emerald?

-Are there multiple placement options for your selected veneer piece or is it up the the luthier after you choose the wood type and specific piece?

-when and how are fretboard mods communicated?

-does one get a mocked up image of the final guitar to help ensure/select back and side carbon color look great with the wood selection? For example I would like to have red or amber (leaning toward red) but Kevin said most get black with this wood selection. The order form shows black.

-what else gets communicated and about how often are the communications between deposit, build, and receipt of the final guitar?

Thank you,
B

It appears that you do have a lot going, in such a case, in my experience, this is best resolved through a phone or video call discussion, other wise you have so much back and forth, it can easily get lost in the mix. After that the phone or video discussion, then follow up with an email to summarise what was discussed and the decision of the selection made as a confirmation from both parties to follow. When I had my custom done, I didn't go into that length of detail but I still called them from time to time and that was much more easier than emailing back and forth.