NGD Revisited One-Year In: Emerald X-20 Transparent Green - Page 3

Glennwillow · #31 11-08-2019, 07:44 PM

Wow! Cool guitar, Sprucetop!

What a great looking guitar! And excellent review! Thanks for that!

Good for you!

- Glenn

SpruceTop · #32 11-08-2019, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earl49

Well said, SpruceTop. Not only are they great guitars (either the X20 or X30) they are also a good value for superb build quality. My favorite all-koa Taylor would be over $5K these days, and about $1500 more if custom ordered with an arm bevel. As I have often said, my X20 beat the pants off a used custom shop OM-28 in a recent trial by a friend considering a purchase. Everyone in the room - players and non-players - agreed that the X20 won in every category. Except perhaps tradition.

Credit where credit is due: the reviewer is our own AGF member Byudzai, who did such a great job comparing them. His video influenced my decision to go ahead and get an X30 from stock last December.

Thanks, Earl, I've revised my comment to reflect Byudzai's video review.

SpruceTop · #33 11-09-2019, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Wow! Cool guitar, Sprucetop!

What a great looking guitar! And excellent review! Thanks for that!

Good for you!

- Glenn

Thanks, Glenn! Somehow I'm envisioning a future "Show & Tell" video in which you're singing along with an Emerald X-20 or Emerald X-30 ...

TBman · #34 11-09-2019, 09:22 AM

Wow, nice, congrats!

SpruceTop · #35 11-09-2019, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gbsher

The color is amazing. Enjoy!

The green color reminds me of the delicious, translucent-green icing used to decorate cakes and it makes my Emerald X-20 look good enough to eat! Seriously, I chose the green color because I like the look, and being that I started out singing in a local Irish pub/restaurant, my translucent-green Emerald X-20 would be like having "icing on the cake" for gigs in any Irish-type bar.

Puerto Player · #36 11-09-2019, 10:28 AM

Emerald's saddle and nut leveling process leaves a lot to be desired. I'm a big fan as you an tell, but out of the 4 guitars of there's I've had, 3 of the 4 had problems with the saddle and/or the nut not being level or too tight, which created an imbalance of the guitar strings. My latest X30 was so bad, the treble strings hardly registered at all when amplified. It pisses me off they let this stuff out of the door without testing, or them not having someone there who knows enough to know it's not correct, which is probably whats going on.

SpruceTop · #37 11-09-2019, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Puerto Player

Emerald's saddle and nut leveling process leaves a lot to be desired. I'm a big fan as you an tell, but out of the 4 guitars of there's I've had, 3 of the 4 had problems with the saddle and/or the nut not being level or too tight, which created an imbalance of the guitar strings. My latest X30 was so bad, the treble strings hardly registered at all when amplified. It pisses me off they let this stuff out of the door without testing, or them not having someone there who knows enough to know it's not correct, which is probably whats going on.

I feel the only companies that do factory electronics correctly are Taylor and Ovation as they put all wire-guides along the sides of the guitar and not any on the top or back of the guitar. Usually, the string-to-string output is good on these brands. If a string-output imbalance should occur, Taylor gives a player the option of tweaking the three adjustment screws for the ES2 pickup system, and I've never had a string-signal imbalance in any of the over dozen Ovations I've owned.

Regarding string tightness at the nut, my new Emerald X-20 did have a bit of what I term "string-ping/sitar-thing" happening on the D-string. All I did was loosen that string, remove the bridge pin and pull the string out of the bridge which gave me slack enough to run the string file-like, back and forth, side-to-side, and also teeter-totter on the nut slot. That slightly enlarged the nut slot enough to remove the string-ping/sitar-thing. Of course, a nut file would be better but as a quick-pinch remedy, using a string as a file can help. Elixir strings aren't good for this purpose but "chemically-coated" strings such as D'Addario EXP strings can be abrasive enough to enlarge the slot slightly. Also, prior to restringing, I always use my finger-nail or a sharp object to scrape off any overhang that filing may have left on the slot.

SpruceTop · #38 11-10-2019, 04:13 PM

Playing my Huss & Dalton TD-R back-to-back with my new Emerald X-20 reveals a nice tonal comparison in that the H&D has a nice rich, enveloping tone that sounds good like the Emerald X-20's tone. The two Taylors, the 717e and 618e, although sounding wonderful, didn't have the enveloping tone from a player's position as do my Huss & Dalton T-DR and Emerald X-20. This shouldn't be construed as the Taylors not having a great tone out front to an audience but merely from my player's aspect in comparison to the H&D TD-R and Emerald X-20. I've previously compared my Taylor 717e's acoustic tone as being cleaner and less smeared than the Huss & Dalton TD-R's tone and I mean that in a good way.

SpruceTop · #39 11-21-2020, 08:48 AM

One year in, and I'm still loving my Emerald X20 Transparent Green! I can't get over the volume, resonance, and sustain of this guitar! Having never played a one-off custom build, are these tonal characteristics representive of what a $15,000 custom build may offer soundwise, especially for fingerstyle players? Has anyone out there ever done a comparison of an Emerald X20 compared to a highly-esteemed builder's all-wooden guitar of similar size?

jdinco · #40 11-21-2020, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Has anyone out there ever done a comparison of an Emerald X20 compared to a highly-esteemed builder's all-wooden guitar of similar size?

I think the Emerald would lose badly. My only comparison was my X20 to a SCGC D-12. Even though they call the D-12 a dread, the body is pretty small compared to any other dreads. And as far as tone goes, to me, the McPherson Sable is better than the X20 by a large margin.

SpruceTop · #41 11-21-2020, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdinaz

I think the Emerald would lose badly. My only comparison was my X20 to a SCGC D-12. Even though they call the D-12 a dread, the body is pretty small compared to any other dreads. And as far as tone goes, to me, the McPherson Sable is better than the X20 by a large margin.

Thanks, I can't argue with you as I've not played the guitars you cite. Then, again, I was inquiring about luthier-built custom all-wooden models that fetch anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000. My question may be ludicrous but I'm just amazed at what my Emerald X20 delivers tone-wise.

jdinco · #42 11-21-2020, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Thanks, I can't argue with you as I've not played the guitars you cite. Then, again, I was inquiring about luthier-built custom all-wooden models that fetch anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000. My question may be ludicrous but I'm just amazed at what my Emerald X20 delivers tone-wise.

It's OK to disagree.....just going by my experience.

Captain Jim · #43 11-21-2020, 06:13 PM

I've never owned a one-off $15k+ custom guitar. The comparison I often use is the X20 and my Taylor 814ce. Both nice guitars. Very pleasing tone, good volume. The 814 is a standard in the acoustic guitar world, so most people know what it is. I like both, but it is the X20 that gets the playing time between those two (and the nod for tone and volume). For as little as I play the 814, I should probably sell it, but I have an emotional attachment.

#44 11-22-2020, 07:16 PM

My experience has been with nylon strung instruments. I've used my brother-in-law's expensive Ramirez as a comparison. I've found that carbon fiber matches or exceeds wooden instruments in tone, balance and comfort. But falters relative to projection.

I'm going to test that impression with a custom Kremona Sophia with spruce top, a guitar that matches my X10N CF with the exception of sound hole placement.

Captain Jim · #45 11-23-2020, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvanB

My experience has been with nylon strung instruments. I've used my brother-in-law's expensive Ramirez as a comparison. I've found that carbon fiber matches or exceeds wooden instruments in tone, balance and comfort. But falters relative to projection.

I'm going to test that impression with a custom Kremona Sophia with spruce top, a guitar that matches my X10N CF with the exception of sound hole placement.

Same body depth?