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  #16  
Old 01-27-2020, 12:46 PM
jcpharm jcpharm is offline
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kudos on your purchase! hoping my X30 will ship this week and i'll have the same relatively short shipping wait.
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  #17  
Old 01-27-2020, 01:05 PM
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RP RP is offline
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Originally Posted by jcpharm View Post
...hoping my X30 will ship this week and i'll have the same relatively short shipping wait.
Good luck with that....
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  #18  
Old 01-27-2020, 01:23 PM
jcpharm jcpharm is offline
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Good luck with that....
hey, i can at least hope.....(but will keep my expectations low)
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  #19  
Old 01-27-2020, 05:32 PM
mot mot is offline
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Congratulations on a great guitar.
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Originally Posted by 121 View Post
I still feel the present X20 is still the best choice of Emerald guitar models.
At one time I would have agreed, but this Kestrel I have been playing around with is growing on me.

After talking to Alistair a few times I took a leap of faith and am quite happy with the results. Definitely a different kettle of fish though. I don't know which instrument I would grab if I had to only choose one. Most likely the Kestrel, but it likely depends on which one I was playing most recently.
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  #20  
Old 01-27-2020, 08:00 PM
steelvibe steelvibe is offline
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Congrats! The Emerald that is actually a sapphire...cool!
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  #21  
Old 01-27-2020, 08:42 PM
Captain Jim Captain Jim is offline
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Lovely! I really like the contrasty light in that photo, as well. I prefer the sound and feel of Elixirs on my X20. That blue looks great!
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  #22  
Old 01-28-2020, 12:12 PM
spectro28 spectro28 is offline
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Default Incoming Emerald Blue X20...

Thanks all -

Per Chloe@Emerald, the strings it shipped with are D'Addario EXP11 .012 - .053.

I played it a bit last night and have some first impressions - deep bass for a guitar this size, nice in dropped D.

Really good playability, with a little more interaction than I like at the fingerboard extension as I move my bare-fingered fingerpicking up toward the neck. I naturally move around a bit toward and away from the bridge as I seek the tone I guess I want to hear. I noticed the fingerboard on the X20 more than I’m accustomed to.

The other guitar I played last night is a Collings OM1A JL. A very light guitar. The X20 is heavier, and substantially larger, I think it’s deeper and it feels like a bigger body. Subjective. Not measured.

I may string to the NB1253 strings in a couple of days.

Cheers!
Marc
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  #23  
Old 01-28-2020, 05:02 PM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Congratulations On A Nice Emerald X-20 Blue--Enjoy!
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  #24  
Old 01-28-2020, 07:37 PM
jdinco jdinco is offline
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I've tried a lot of strings on my X20, there's several that sound pretty good, but for some reason (like the Captain) I always seem to find my way back to the Elixirs, I use Nano HD's PB. Congrats on the new X20, I think the blue doesn't get it's due, my X7 is blue and I like the color a lot !
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  #25  
Old 01-28-2020, 09:01 PM
KarenB KarenB is offline
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That is one gorgeous guitar! Enjoy!!
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  #26  
Old 01-29-2020, 09:30 AM
jim777 jim777 is offline
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I can't imagine going without my green X-20, it's a wonderful guitar. Did you get a coffee mug with yours?
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  #27  
Old 01-30-2020, 12:47 AM
spectro28 spectro28 is offline
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Second Impressions

Hi all —

Restrung tonight with D’Addario NB1252BT strings tonight. Those are the “balanced tension” light gauge Nickel Bronze.

I’ve used these on a few guitars, a Collings OM1AJL, a Collings C10-35, and a Breedlove Parlor. They feel great on the X20 straight-away. I am not fond of the EXP strings that the guitar came with. They feel too coated when I play bare-fingered, which is almost always.

I went with the Balanced Tension because that’s what I had in my supply, I was out of the “normal” light gauge 12-53s in the NBs — I wanted to play the NBs on this guitar because that’s what I’ve been using most for a couple of years now, I think.

I’m trying to control variables.

I came to the conclusion last night that I would not have purchased this guitar if I’d have played it beforehand. I wanted to change the strings to see what difference that made. Which feels like a lot, right off the bat.

It’s not my 1st CF guitar; I have a Rainsong OM-1000 from like 2001, which I bought just-about brand-new on eBay (remember auctions???). I’ve had that guitar all over the world, it fell off a luggage cart when moving once, busting the top off the body at the lower bout treble side, for about 4 inches (played fine for a year or so until I took it to John Warden in MD to fix it, which he did with crazy glue). That guitar is my travel guitar, it’s been a good open mic guitar with the quacky undersaddle built-in, it’s good for being in the trunk of the car on a road-trip, a guitar I don’t mind checking in a small plane in a gig-bag (it lives in a great old Reunion Blues well-padded cordura gig bag).

I am hoping that the Emerald will fill all that and more, and be a great upgrade. If that feels right, I’ll sell the Rainsong to the next player!

I love the blue CF and the Emerald aesthetic. I love the bevels. I love the Gotoh 510 tuners — what a cool guitar! I expect to really like the Anthem for open mics.

Now let’s see how I feel about how it plays and how it sounds with the new strings (playability already better for my sensibility, and I think it was a smart thing to use the balanced tension set, which is a bit lighter than the standard lights).

More as it happens!
Marc
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  #28  
Old 01-30-2020, 07:39 AM
jcpharm jcpharm is offline
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Thanks for the feedback Marc - so if it's the strings that turns you off is it their effect on playability (the "coated" feeling you mentioned) or does it impact the tone in a negative way based on your expectation (and in comparison to other CF guitars like your rainsong)?
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