Longterm Test
A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist ’s longterm test report
Up until the point that our eyes first met across a busy video demo studio, my only acquaintance with the Emerald range of instruments was via the company’s Facebook ad campaign and Dave Burrluck’s Wishlist article. I was fascinated not only by the idea that the X10 was conceived as a hybrid electric and acoustic, with spec that would make it equally desirable in both camps, but also by the pickup options.
The Graph Tech Ghost Acousti-Phonic piezo cluster at the bridge – six individual pickups with adjustable height for each – takes care of the acoustic sound, but then there’s the wafer-thin (6mm) Krivo magnetic pickup in the neck position. If that wasn’t enough, an additional MIDI facility means that hook-up possibilities are endless. Using a split stereo
“The build process is fascinating and one that’s poles apart from the more usual sawdust and wood shavings experience”
cable it’s possible to feed the humbucker to a regular guitar amp of your choosing and the piezo to an acoustic amp or DI box.
All things considered, the Emerald X10 is beginning to sound like the ultimate performance tool, especially for players with a repertoire that takes in a bit of blues, a smidge of fingerstyle and maybe some ambient synth noodlings on the side. A little Mellotron with your acoustic whimsy, sir? Well, why not.
We haven’t even discussed the elephant in the room yet, either: this is a fully carbon fibre guitar that is technically immune to any variations in temperature or humidity the world can throw at it. But the bottom line is always going to be ‘how does it sound?’ and that box is ticked, too, because when I took the X10 for a spin at the video shoot I was impressed by how ‘woody’ it sounded and how easy it was to play. Placing it back into its Hiscox case that day, I was already plotting how I could spend more time with it – and it was the last thing I grabbed from our studio before we were all subjected to lockdown.
Between times I have visited the Emerald workshops in Donegal, met with company founder and designer Alistair Hay, and witnessed the production of the guitars for myself. It’s a fascinating process and one that’s poles apart from the more usual sawdust and wood shavings experience I’m used to when visiting an acoustic maker. I wondered how players out in the world are viewing carbon fibre as an alternative to their treasured wooden instruments…
“Some people have a mindset that carbon is going to sound a very specific way, but it’s actually a material that does allow you to still tailor the sound,”Alistair begins.“So, by different combinations of carbon, different types of resins, other different materials that we put into the mix, we can actually tailor the tonal properties of the guitar. Just like you can with different combinations of wood, you can alter the tonal properties with synthetic materials as well.”
So, let’s say a customer approaches Emerald to commission an instrument but has a mindset that is tailored to wooden instruments – maybe he or she wants a spruce and rosewood acoustic response – how does Alistair translate that into the language of carbon fibre?
“Well, that’s one of the most difficult things to do,” he responds.“You’re trying to work with language that is describing something that’s not constant. People are using descriptive terms to get across what they’re looking for tonally in a guitar, so that can be hard. Also, the benchmarks, I think, are not really great, because people talk about combinations of different tonewoods and those combinations on a different guitar can sound entirely different.”
I suggest that there’s still work to be done in unlearning some of the preconceptions about acoustic guitars, and Alistair agrees: “Yes, I think that a lot of it is maybe the eye hearing, if you know what I mean,” he laughs.
Since then, I’ve had the X10 home with me and the first job, before I begin to plumb the possibilities where pickup combos are concerned, is to change the strings for a heavier gauge. I have a tendency to drop-tune a lot of the time and the strings that were native to the X10 felt like they could have been 11s, a good in-between gauge in line with its hybrid appeal (not too heavy for an electric player nor too light for an acoustic stylist) but too light for DADGAD. So, it was on with a set of Elixir 13s, stretch the strings in a little – and I haven’t had to tune it since. Carbon fibre super-stability? I don’t know, but I’m looking forward to the next stage where I’ll be exploring the sounds on offer. I’ve even got some MIDI facilities that I’m going to dust off for the occasion. Like the X10, stay tuned!