What an amazingly personal and insightful interview coupled with some beautiful guitar playing… props to the both of you for a wonderful conversation….
Love your professional videos of the Emerald X20. The sound quality is great and accurately shows the way the guitar sounds. I have an Emerald X30 and I absolutely love it.
Worth listening to as he has vast experience of playing guitars over many many years … there are countless people who can make a guitar sound sweet but this guy has the vocabulary to impart sound knowledge & advice…
Really cool Seagull S6. I’ve never seen that blue/green color. I own a couple of Seagulls, one being the S6 original and the other an Entourage Rustic which has the 1.72 nut. The S6 original has the 1.8 nut. These guitars were bought new around 2012. Only recently have I set my beloved Seagulls aside, after buying a Yamaha concert size Red Label fs3. I will say that the Yamaha is a whole different level of guitar for not much more than the Seagulls. The Seagull S6 Original cost me $420 new and the Entourage was about a hundred less. I mean, those guitars were a great value for all wood and built right in Canada. I never thought my S6 Original had that ‘cool’ factor, but the one you have is one of the more cool looking guitars I’ve seen from any guitar company.
Todd, thanks for a great video. The tone is the best I've heard so far on the X20 ! I'm considering an X20 or X30. I had a chance to try an X30. I liked it but it left me wondering what the X20 would sound and feel like.
And I'm curious about the X30. I have been pleasantly surprised at the full sound of the X20. For most players, the smaller body size of the X20 is probably better for the average player. Thanks for watching the video.
Excellent review! How do you only have <80 subscribers???? Keep this up. Please! I got my x20 a year ago but I would have liked to see your review before the purchase. The interesting thing about the x20, besides being awsome to play (My two Martins are not getting enough exercise these days), is how it has changed how I think about guitars. I no longer care about tonewoods, bracing, humidity levels, risks of transportation, and other woodguitar related worries. This is next level stuff! I may buy other wood guitars for gigging - for Emerald is a bit too pricey to be put before a drunk and disorderly public - but for my own private use, there will only be carbon.
Perhaps you missed the part where Todd said, "I'm wearing a Lavalier microphone, and the reason for that is... when I play guitar, my ears are up here (points to his ears). So, I'm hearing it coming up at me. So many of the guitar reviews that I watch on RU-vid, they stick nice microphones out in front, which is terrific. So, you get a beautiful sound. It's what someone would hear if they sat 3 or 4 feet in front of the guitar, but I play guitar at home, mainly so that I can enjoy it and hear the guitar. When I play out, I use a pickup, and then I dial everything in to make sure that the sound coming out of the speakers is what I want. The... So, I wear a Lavalier microphone. They're omnidirectional. They pick up sound top, bottom, sides, everything, and since the sound of the guitar is coming up to my ears, this is probably the best way I can reproduce the sound so you can hear the guitar the way I'm hearing the guitar." Todd also mentions that he tuned the guitar a half step down, which the Emerald Guitars videos typically do not do. A couple of things to note: A typical microphone placement is about a foot away or sometimes a couple of feet away depending on the microphone and the desired amount of ambient room sound. So, they pick up what someone might hear if they sat about a foot (or two) away from the guitar, not 3-4 feet away. If you take a closer look at the Emerald Guitars videos, they tend to place a microphone about a foot away from the fretboard. That picks up the sound of the fingers scraping the round wound strings and sounding a little bit like a slide guitar.
Enya Go Nova guitar is ALSO a carbon fiber guitar and costs 10 TIMES less! ( that’s for all of the musicians who aren’t stupid wealthy enough ) most musicians don’t have a hundred guitars but more than likely one or two! 😢
I've had an Emerald X20 for over 4 years, and I've been very happy with it. Very comfortable to play. No regrets at all. But it's great to know that there are inexpensive alternatives for people who don't have much cash and want a guitar that will last a lifetime without warping from temperature & humidity changes.
Totally understand what you're saying & why. Enya are a great choice for those reasons. 2 points I'll add though: Personally I find the ergonomic features of the Emerald make it more comfortable to hold. the 2nd would be that the old saying "ya get what ya pay for" still holds true. When I could ($), I wasn't just out just buy a CF guitar... it was personal. Using Emerald's online 3D builder, I chose the specific dimension options I wanted. Then via phone convos with reps like Kevin, I locked in the specific 1 of a kind wood veneer sample for the top of each of them... and finalized it all with a couple of very custom changes on the fretboard inlays. LOL! I won't say my BA doesn't give me "WTF we're ya thinking!!!" every once in while, but these instruments are also works of art on my walls when not in use and they have factory features absolutely unique to *me*. So yeah, I'm satisfied. 😉
Nice review. I currently own a fan-fret X20, which is my third. It’s a guitar which continually inspires me, and will probably be with me the rest of my life.
I have watched your videos several times. They were well done and helped me with my buying decision. Although I own too many guitars, I'm seriously considering ordering the X30 with the Ghost/K&K pickup combination. I installed a K&K into my X20 - sound terrific !
At home I play my X20 a lot more. For my solo gigging the X30 has an amplified sound and fullness that makes it my number one. fYI- I have the Graphtech Ghost/K&K mini pickups in both my X20 and X30.
@@gair1944 My X20 didn't have a pickup so I installed a K&K Pure Western Mini (I'm a dealer installer). Amplified it sounds really good, although I do have to drop quite a bit of low's when using my Bose S1. I tune a full-step down and the intonation needs to be tweaked, thus my interest in the Graphtect Ghost/K&K version.
@@toddcwalker4208 yeah the K&k is very prone to feedback in my emeralds. I would not opt for it as a stand alone pickup personally. I even have a parametric eq on my pedal board. The K&k mini is woofy and challenging.
I have the Bridgeport BG400 CLB-C, solid cedar top, and laminated bocote back and side. I chose bocote because of its beauty, and I am a fan of cedar. It's a great guitar, I love it, and most of all, Roger is a true gentleman.
Have been pondering to get this model, searching for an acoustic carbon fiber guitar. I have one of ther Virtuo (thin bodied humbucker and piezo hybrid) and am very pleased with the stage aspect, but really want to cover for the at home acoustic enjoyment. This gas me drawn.
The Virtuo seems to be a fantastic stage guitar for a player who needs to switch from acoustic to electric. The X20 has a beautiful acoustic sound - balanced and full. Amplified, I would EQ the mid's down to accommodate your voice if you're singing. That being said, I'm very pleased with mine. Thanks for watching.
october 1988 - When I was 13, my mom heard an 80th birthday shout out on the radio to him and looked him up in the phone book, gave him a call. They were fellow Texans, and they talked on the phone for a while & he invited us to lunch at his home in Harlem. Later on he offered to watch me for a few weekends in the winter of '88 / spring of '89 when my mom had to go away for work. He gave my grandmother a break. Really nice man. Gave me a few of his cassette tapes that he recorded. May he rest in peace.
Hi! Huge thanks for the video :) I´m interrested in this model but a bit curious about some things that you might be able to help with if you have the time? What would you consider the fretboard radius to be? Are the frets well done, no sharp edges? And is there any easy way to improve the intonation? Thanks again! Best wishes /Christian
Hi Christian - I didn't see your comment (from 3 weeks ago) until just now (March 7). My apologies. Overall, the construction quality is very good (surprisingly so for the $299 price tag). Fret ends on mine are fine. Not sure of the fretboard radius, but it is similar to my Taylor & Martin guitars. For my lowered tuning (down to 'D') and set up should take care of it. If you play in standard tuning (E to E) you should be okay with intonation, but a set-up tweak is always recommended on a new guitar, so it's tuned for your playing style. Hope this helps. Todd
I like the pick guard also, but since it's not the traditional Martin dreadnought shape, many folks commented negatively. :-). I threw in the word 'Best' to see what kind of reaction it got. I agree that guitar choice is all about personal preference - one of the reasons I own so many.
Great channel. Talk to Green. Maybe they can sort out a guitar for you that's tuneable down a step with rosewood back and sides and will take back the one you have in part exchange?
Weird,. Ridiculous OM abbreviated pick guard. VTR.. something the Finns have been doing for 40 plus years. Another CFM IV... look at me, look at me guitar. .
@lished A proper full sized pick-guard is in use, and has been in use, for the Dreadnaughts for decades. Also used on many others such as the 0, 00, 000 0000.and many others but not the OM. Yes , I have "issues: with the OM pick-guard, It's wimpy. an affectation, not a functional unit. Your opinion may differ. But for me, an OM pickguard on a Dreadnaught.? Never. If you are referring to the OM body shape, yes that was Martin's doing for Perry Bechtel.
That guitar does not sound good at all. Looks horrible with that out of place pick guard as well. Spend another grand and get something that looks and sounds great. Buy once, cry once.
This is a very interesting guitar and video. I remember when they were released. I bought one of the Gibson Centennial guitars, and it was great. My very good friend, loved it, and asked me to sell it to him… So I did. It’s still in the family , so I’m happy with that result.
