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Let's Build a Emerald Balor 6!!!

#41
This is really awesome. I went to his shop almost 20 years ago on my honeymoon (I got married in Ireland). Alistair is a friend of a friend and he took me to his shop. At the time, they were building guitars and children’s playground equipment in the same shop. He is a great guy and was so nice. It was a great experience. The designs have changed significantly since then. I’ve owned an Emerald acoustic, but I’ve never tried their basses. CF seems like the best option for an acoustic bass, given the stiffness.
 
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#44
Darren Michaels said:
Apologies, Richard. They're holding out until 9 orders were in. We had 8 and someone who is a wee bit internet challenged. His should have gone in Sunday, but I didn't hear from Davy K today. I'll let you know when I get an update. Sorry for the delay!
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I did get a confirmation of my order from Davy today, but not the invoice yet. Should be this week "if all goes well."
 
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#45
jojobean39 said:
This is really awesome. I went to his shop almost 20 years ago on my honeymoon (I got married in Ireland). Alistair is a friend of a friend and he took me to his shop. At the time, they were building guitars and children’s playground equipment in the same shop. He is a great guy and was so nice. It was a great experience. The designs have changed significantly since then. I’ve owned an Emerald acoustic, but I’ve never tried their basses. CF seems like the best option for an acoustic bass, given the stiffness.
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Ireland! Nice!
I gotta say the Balor is the best acoustic bass guitar I've laid hands on. Alistair knocked it out of the park with this design. I've played almost everything out there. It's stellar at standard bass duties and can handle technical shenanigans.
 
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#47
Richard Lindsey said:
Darren, thanks for driving the somewhat unexpected but entirely welcome renaissance of the mighty Balor 6. Having gotten (what I was told was) the last Balor 6 a couple of years ago, I'm kind of tickled to be in on its rebirth.
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You're most welcome. Happy to do it. I straight up could not have done this without you.
By the way, I heard from Davy K.
We hit the mark. He said invoicing will start tomorrow or Thursday. As long as everyone puts in their deposit, it's a go!

Fingers crossed everyone stays on board.
 
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#57
Darren Michaels said:
Glad to hear you got your invoice! I had that experience. I asked for a 20" radius board and was pinged $450 for it. It used to be a $100 upcharge. I was also charged more for the fretless I ordered.
Davy should be able to break it down for you.
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Aha, that probably explains it. I asked for a 36" radius on my board, and $450 is almost exactly the amount I couldn't mentally account for. I did ask Davy for a cost breakdown, because I'd still like to know, but it didn't affect my decision to pay the deposit (which I did this morning). ;)
 
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#59
Karl Kaminski said:
hey @Richard Lindsey,
I'd like to fine-tune my custom build, Im use to playing 9-16" radius boards, play alot of chordal and arpeggio runs, how did you land on a 36" radius? pros/cons etc
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I've had 36" on my solidbody EBGs for, oh, 20 or so years now. I had told Jon Shuker I wanted a pretty flat FB, but I didn't specify a number; he sort of came up with 36" on his own, and I just went with it. It was pretty comfortable for me, because I grew up playing nylon-string guitar, which traditionally has a fingerboard with no or only minimal curvature. Having gotten used to 36", I figured I'd just carry on with it.

I don't know if I could come up with any concrete pros/cons; it's just what I'm used to! I wouldn't think a flat FB would hinder any of what you want to do. Classical guitarists play chords and arpeggios quite comfortably. The one *possible* exception I could think of might be if you use barre chords of 3+ strings much. Some of those *might* be a little easier on a board with more curvature, but not necessarily all, and not necessarily for everybody, depending on strings, setup, etc.
 
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#60
I don't know if anybody has gotten anything like a firm completion date for their Balor 6 yet? I seem to recall an estimate of 6 months or so from invoice payment, which would put it in the end of summer or beginning or fall, but perhaps I'm misremembering.

But forget the bass for a minute. The really important question is, Are we still going to get an official Emerald mug when our instrument ships? :D
 
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