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  #46  
Old 11-29-2018, 11:57 AM
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Originally Posted by Captain Jim View Post
I have concerns that this has become the Carbon Fiber Guitar Acquisition sub-forum. If only I had the unlimited financial resources and space to... just kidding. I'm content.
I've been a real flurry of activity in this regard in the last few months myself because I just learned about carbon fiber in August and once I'd tried it and knew I liked it as much as wood guitars, I knew it was time to go all in and eliminate a lot of humidity-induced headaches. So this is my third Emerald (second new one) in about three months and it feels like a lot because it IS a lot. But, unlike some folks, I'm pretty much a two acoustic kind of guy - hell I was a ONE acoustic kind of guy for a looooong time. And I'm just trying to make sure I've got the right two.

I really bought the first, older, X7 as a distant #2 companion to the X20, but it didn't turn out that way. I ended up playing it a TON and the X20 was more or less a nice break from IT. Which made me want to check out this newer X7 because it does address the one weakness of the original, which is the sound as perceived by the player. Which isn't bad at all on the old X7, but you're not really hearing the whole guitar like you do with the offset soundholes. So, it's pretty apparent to me this new X7 has the best of both worlds and it's just a matter of which of the others leaves the nest. I'm 90% sure it'll be the old X7 going, but time will tell for sure. So, unless something drastically changes, this'll be it for my acoustic GAS for a very very long time.

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Originally Posted by Earl49 View Post
That is very good information on the comparative tone, or great interest to many here. The new X7 sounded pretty good to me when I tried Kramster's, but honestly I was way more focused on the X30. We have a "classic" X7 and an X20 and are happy with both.

No need to be in a hurry to decide. Take your time and be sure (as sure as you can be) that you are making the right choice. Or maybe this is right time to take up alternate tunings. That is what several of my guitars are doing right now - sitting in other tunings for convenient grab-n-go practice.
I was really happy with the X20 and old X7 also, but I had to go all-in on the X7. And I can say that for my purposes, the new one is gonna be a better #1 for me than the old one. If it had been the #2 to the X20, as I'd originally expected and intended, I'd have probably sat tight with those. But it became my #1 so I went all-in on it.

As for alternate tunings, I'm flummoxed enough by standard tuning - no need to confuse myself further! I used to have an extra telecaster hanging around that I kept in Open G with the 6th string missing, ala Keef, to play all of those old classic Stones riffs, which I did a LOT in the groups I played with as a kid. But that's as far as I ever got with any alternate tunings, other than a couple of songs that I learned in dropped D, but you don't need a separate guitar for that. So, no, I can't reasonably use that to rationalize keeping all three. Besides which, I really don't WANT to keep all three - I just have to figure out which two to go with. Which I'm reasonably, but not totally, sure of already.

-Ray
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  #47  
Old 11-29-2018, 11:59 AM
jwellsy jwellsy is offline
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IMHO, a Fan-fret X30 is essentially a small body baritone, only .5" difference in scale length on the low E.
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  #48  
Old 11-29-2018, 12:05 PM
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Methos1979 Methos1979 is offline
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Originally Posted by Captain Jim View Post
maybe the perfect guitar is: the new X7 body with the 24.6" scale neck
I'm betting on this being the case. The new X7 body, bigger than the old X7 for better tone and all the benefits of the sculpted X20 body contours but with a little more intimacy, comfort, and better access to the higher frets.

Add to this a 24.6" scale neck for a little more fret spacing, a more comfortable neck shape/carve - something like a soft V - and then a K&K pickup for bulletproof amplification performance and I think you just might have THE perfect combination of Emerald guitar that covers ALL your bases.

Find yourself an awesome woody veneer and then add a few additional special features to make it a one-of-a-kind looking guitar and you just might be in carbon fiber guitar nirvana. Fortunately, I have exactly this guitar on order and is due to be completed and shipped very soon. Don't worry, I'll be sure to let you all know if I'm right!
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  #49  
Old 11-29-2018, 01:28 PM
jdinco jdinco is offline
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When i had my X7 and the X20, I found pretty much the same as you Ray, I loved the tone of the X20, but played the X7 more. Size and comfort I guess, but sometimes the X20 calls when the X7 just won't do. Good luck with your decisions.
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  #50  
Old 11-29-2018, 02:24 PM
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When i had my X7 and the X20, I found pretty much the same as you Ray, I loved the tone of the X20, but played the X7 more. Size and comfort I guess, but sometimes the X20 calls when the X7 just won't do. Good luck with your decisions.
I've been wearing out my poor fingers playing a LOT today and I'm pretty sure the old X7 is gonna be the one to go. I'm just hard pressed to imagine when I'm gonna pick that one up instead of the new one.

But we're heading south for three months in a couple of weeks and I'm not going to try to rush to sell it before that. So it'll probably be after I get back in mid-March, once I've played them all again (I'm just taking the new X7 and one electric down south) I'll probably make a decision and put something up for sale. For a single guitar to take along for the winter, the new X7 is a no-brainer. If I hadn't gotten it, I might have taken both of the others because I don't think I'd have been satisfied just playing one or the other for three months. But the new one combines so many of the best qualities of the other two, that it's an easy call to just take that one.

-Ray
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  #51  
Old 11-29-2018, 02:26 PM
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The obligatory mug shot, as it were. I guess I got one of the old made by hand mugs with my X20. The new one that showed up with the X7 is also very nice, but appears to be a lot more pre-fab, particularly when you look at the way the bottoms are finished. The new one is on the left in both shots.

I'll find good uses for both...

0-1 by Ray, on Flickr

0 by Ray, on Flickr

-Ray
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  #52  
Old 11-30-2018, 04:56 AM
kramster kramster is offline
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Great looking guitar you have there... and good comparisons and thoughts on your 3. Fun isn't it. All this makes you play more as it does me and thats a really good thing.
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  #53  
Old 11-30-2018, 08:03 AM
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Great looking guitar you have there... and good comparisons and thoughts on your 3. Fun isn't it. All this makes you play more as it does me and thats a really good thing.
Yeah, it's all fun. I don't know if it makes me play more generally - I play a good bit regardless - but I SURE played more yesterday!
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  #54  
Old 11-30-2018, 08:12 AM
Jim K Jim K is offline
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Originally Posted by Methos1979 View Post
I'm betting on this being the case. The new X7 body, bigger than the old X7 for better tone and all the benefits of the sculpted X20 body contours but with a little more intimacy, comfort, and better access to the higher frets.

Add to this a 24.6" scale neck for a little more fret spacing, a more comfortable neck shape/carve - something like a soft V - and then a K&K pickup for bulletproof amplification performance and I think you just might have THE perfect combination of Emerald guitar that covers ALL your bases.

Find yourself an awesome woody veneer and then add a few additional special features to make it a one-of-a-kind looking guitar and you just might be in carbon fiber guitar nirvana. Fortunately, I have exactly this guitar on order and is due to be completed and shipped very soon. Don't worry, I'll be sure to let you all know if I'm right!
I took delivery about two weeks ago of the new model X7 with the neck scale custom to 24.6". It is an excellent combination!!!

Note that the neck still connects to the body at the 12th fret. Alistair moved the bridge .6" lower to make it a 24.6" scale.

Last edited by Jim K; 11-30-2018 at 10:52 AM.
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  #55  
Old 11-30-2018, 09:14 AM
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Originally Posted by Jim K View Post
I took delivery about two weeks ago on the new model X7 with the neck scale custom to 24.6". It is an excellent combination!!!

Note that the neck still connects to the body at the 12th fret. Alistair moved the bridge .6" lower to make it a 24.6" scale.
I'm curious and don't fully understand this stuff. If he lengthened the scale by 0.6", half of that would have to be on either side of the 12th fret, no? So wouldn't he move the bridge by 0.3" and then lengthen the neck and stretch the fret spacing to get the other .03" from the 12th fret to the nut? I may be totally off-base here, but that's my understanding of how it would have to work...

-Ray
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  #56  
Old 11-30-2018, 09:23 AM
GuitarLuva GuitarLuva is offline
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Congrats Ray she's a beauty. You can't go wrong with a cocobolo veneer.
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  #57  
Old 11-30-2018, 10:45 AM
Jim K Jim K is offline
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Originally Posted by raysachs View Post
I'm curious and don't fully understand this stuff. If he lengthened the scale by 0.6", half of that would have to be on either side of the 12th fret, no? So wouldn't he move the bridge by 0.3" and then lengthen the neck and stretch the fret spacing to get the other .03" from the 12th fret to the nut? I may be totally off-base here, but that's my understanding of how it would have to work...

-Ray
Ray,

My observation is that the bridge appears to be about .6" lower on the body than in pictures of the standard version of the new X7.

The scale increase from 24.0" to 24.6" would not be a 50/50 split at the 12th fret, but would presumably be about a 60/40 split at the 12th fret, since the X7 has 20 frets. So the connection of the guitar to the neck at the 12th fret would be about .36" different than the standard 24.0" scale X7.

So a difference of .36" at the neck to body connection would still leave the guitar appearing to be a 12 fret set up.

At any rate, . . . the guitar is excellent in tone and feel. My fingers can definitely feel the different in fret spacing of the 24.6" scale as compared to my older body style X7 which has the 24.0" scale.

Regards,

Jim
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  #58  
Old 11-30-2018, 11:03 AM
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Ray,

My observation is that the bridge appears to be about .6" lower on the body than in pictures of the standard version of the new X7.

The scale increase from 24.0" to 24.6" would not be a 50/50 split at the 12th fret, but would presumably be about a 60/40 split at the 12th fret, since the X7 has 20 frets. So the connection of the guitar to the neck at the 12th fret would be about .36" different than the standard 24.0" scale X7.

So a difference of .36" at the neck to body connection would still leave the guitar appearing to be a 12 fret set up.

At any rate, . . . the guitar is excellent in tone and feel. My fingers can definitely feel the different in fret spacing of the 24.6" scale as compared to my older body style X7 which has the 24.0" scale.

Regards,

Jim
I don't fully understand that, but I don't fully understand the vagaries of guitar design to begin with, so not surprising. I really like having a 25.5" scale in one guitar and a 24" scale on another. I suppose if I was going for a single jack of all trades guitar I might aim for 24.6 or 24.75. I seem to like the full scale for strumming chords / playing songs and any kind of semi-bluegrassy type flat picking I do. And I prefer the short scale for fingerpicking and just picking out some blues. I enjoy the variety in any case. But regardless, glad you're enjoying the 24.6" scale, whatever design changes it takes to make it work...

-Ray
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  #59  
Old 11-30-2018, 11:16 AM
Earl49 Earl49 is offline
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Think in terms of extremes, Ray. Pick a fixed scale length (say 24.6") and slide that neck/bridge/nut geometry down to the end block. The neck might then join the body at the 7th fret, but it would still be a 24.6" scale. Or slide the entire neck upward and have the neck join the body at the 24th fret. That puts the bridge in different places on the top, which changes the tone. But the neck itself remains the same. Hope this helps.

Longer scale gives a bit more string tension, therefore more punch and volume. Short scale tends to be easier to play, and quieter - all other things being equal.

I love the 24.6" scale length on my X20-12, and I'm vaguely pondering another custom X20 with that scale. Or possibly an X30 short-scale. Time to go lay down for a while.....
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  #60  
Old 11-30-2018, 11:48 AM
Jim K Jim K is offline
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Originally Posted by Earl49 View Post
Think in terms of extremes, Ray. Pick a fixed scale length (say 24.6") and slide that neck/bridge/nut geometry down to the end block. The neck might then join the body at the 7th fret, but it would still be a 24.6" scale. Or slide the entire neck upward and have the neck join the body at the 24th fret. That puts the bridge in different places on the top, which changes the tone. But the neck itself remains the same. Hope this helps.

Longer scale gives a bit more string tension, therefore more punch and volume. Short scale tends to be easier to play, and quieter - all other things being equal.

I love the 24.6" scale length on my X20-12, and I'm vaguely pondering another custom X20 with that scale. Or possibly an X30 short-scale. Time to go lay down for a while.....
I have a 24.75 custom scale length on my X20 and am very happy with the playing feel and the tone.
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