Emerald X7 nylon as primary guitar

[Aspiring]

For those of you who use these more regularly I'm looking for input on the X7 nylon. I now have an X7 steel and am thinking about the nylon. I play primarily fingerstyle with a wide range of of music. Obviously it will be better for classical but I wanted to know how well it works for you for more contemporary rock / ballad type things. I have moderate experience on uke's and like the nylon experience there with fluorocarbon strings.

I will still also have my Breedlove wood OM Concert size steel string so I will have options. But the concept is for most playing and learning is the X7 nylon suitable and do you find transitioning between it and steel string a challenge?

Aspiring;

There are a lot of things to consider here. The 7 is a very comfortable size and the nylon strings are very mellow. Acoustically the nylon strung instrument is not going to project at the level of a steel string. The nylon version is great for song writing, finger play, and small groups. It's also good for large groups if its wired for sound.

The transition from steel to nylon and nylon to steel involves two primary differences. The wider string spacing of nylon guitars make for much easier practice and finger style play--going from wide to narrow string spacing can be difficult. Another difference is that nylon is a much softer medium and allows for longer play before bleeding occurs.

You might also take scale length into consideration. If a 7 steel and 7 nylon have different scales then you might face some transition difficulties.

Others on the forum should be able to add to or argue with my thoughts.

[kramster]

Originally Posted by EvanB

before bleeding occurs.

Well put...

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by EvanB

Aspiring;

There are a lot of things to consider here. The 7 is a very comfortable size and the nylon strings are very mellow. Acoustically the nylon strung instrument is not going to project at the level of a steel string. The nylon version is great for song writing, finger play, and small groups. It's also good for large groups if its wired for sound.

The transition from steel to nylon and nylon to steel involves two primary differences. The wider string spacing of nylon guitars make for much easier practice and finger style play--going from wide to narrow string spacing can be difficult. Another difference is that nylon is a much softer medium and allows for longer play before bleeding occurs.

You might also take scale length into consideration. If a 7 steel and 7 nylon have different scales then you might face some transition difficulties.

Others on the forum should be able to add to or argue with my thoughts.

Thanks for the input! I should have added the guitar is predominately for my own play and lessons. So the projection is less of a concern to me. I assume the body size is the same given they are both 18+ X7.

I believe the scale length of my steel X7 and the one I'm looking at are the same. Nut is a bit larger but I'm hoping I will actually like that. I have very large hands and find that I occasionally catch wrong strings or inadvertently mute individual notes on my 1 3/4 nut.

I haven't played nylon much at all. So I went to a local guitar center and tried a Cordoba 1 7/8 nut classical that they had at about the $600 range.

Overall I liked the spacing and the tone worked for a number of things. I didn't like the super floppy low tension feel of the super fat treble strings.

Like my ukuleles where I had the same issue, I'm hoping I can find higher tension strings. I saw a few overall recommendations on the one thread. My favorites on the uke are Worth or Fremont Fluorocarbon.

I have just purchased the nylon X7 so I guess I will find out for myself!

[Earl49]

When (infrequently) playing nylon string guitars it takes a few minutes to recalibrate my touch for the notably lower tension. My choice is extra heavy tension strings to help give me as much resistance as practical. I don't have the issue with ukulele. Congrats on the incoming X7.

[jdinco]

Are you the lucky one that bought WickedWahine's blue beauty? Either way, congrats !!

[Methos1979]

I don't have an Emerald X7 nylon (yet!) but I have put out the first email query to Alistair with my thoughts on yet another custom build which might be an X7 but might also be an X10 in nylon. I will say that I just bought a Yamaha Silent Guitar in nylon and I'm finding the less tension on the strings to be comfortable but is also requiring me to adjust dynamics of my play. I think once I get that calibrated and internalized I'm going to like nylon but I'll also look into some of those higher tension strings that others talked about in that other thread.

[wickedwahine]

Originally Posted by jdinco

Are you the lucky one that bought WickedWahine's blue beauty? Either way, congrats !!

Yep, he sure is. I dropped it off at FedEx today. Now I eagerly await the red version (hopefully to pick up at the factory in August).

[Aspiring]

Yup. Wicked was great to deal with and I think it's going to be a beautiful instrument.

Originally Posted by wickedwahine

Yep, he sure is. I dropped it off at FedEx today. Now I eagerly await the red version (hopefully to pick up at the factory in August).

Congratulations Wicked and Aspiring. Wicked gets to pursue her aspirations and Aspiring gets a wicked good guitar. Nice deal all around.

[Aspiring]

After two weeks with this beauty I am beginning to answer my own question. I still have more setup work to do and I'm experimenting with various strings, but at least for the range of music I'm playing I can easily see this as a primary guitar. Loving the X7 nylon even more than the X7 steel I had and the looks on this one I think are beautiful.

In fact I'm now thinking I have to find new strings for my wood guitars as they now all sound jarringly bright after my play time with the X7 nylon. (I'm using elixir nanoweb on the woods)