Emerald Chimaera Amicus/Bouzouki

[Dubh1805]

I am currently using this instrument for several tracks on my new acoustic guitar instrumental album.

[Melt in the Sun]

Great stuff! I have 2 questions:
- how does the mandolin neck sound? Putting that neck on that giant body suggests it will be rather different than a traditional mandolin sound.
- Black limba on the amicus/bouzouki?

[Dubh1805]

Originally Posted by Melt in the Sun

Great stuff! I have 2 questions:
- how does the mandolin neck sound? Putting that neck on that giant body suggests it will be rather different than a traditional mandolin sound.
- Black limba on the amicus/bouzouki?

Great questions! The mandolin sounds tonally balanced and does not seem to have been impacted by the body size. I believe this is likely due to the contouring on the top and back that Alistair and the team did on the mandolin bout. I was wondering if the sound would be much darker but it is not. I just recorded with it on Wednesday night and it sounded great with the EQ flat.

I probably should have noted the top wood on the Chimaera Amicus/Bouzouki is red-stained white limba. Robbie from the Emerald shop sent me a test stain (embedded below) and I really liked how it looked. When I wrote my original post, it was quite long and I had to shorten it quite a bit (I was at about 28,000 words and was limited to 10,000). In my original post that got shortened to fit the length limit, I went into detail about choosing the tops and finishes. When the builds were first commissioned, the triple neck was actually a red-stained, white limba woody top. That got removed in the current post so I am glad you asked.

I am in the process of updating my personal music website and will be posting a very detailed backstory on the multi-year build of both instruments. I will (hopefully) have my new site up-and-running in the next two weeks.

[kramster]

2 instruments...5 necks... wow... amazing instruments you have.

Cool to see a photo of team Emerald too.