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Let's Build a Emerald Balor 6!!!

#61
The ''official" word was five months, so mid to late summer. Knowing how these things go, though, I'm planning on the end of summer, but expecting late fall to the end of the year.
Emerald just did the grand opening of their new factory and just did a special build for the 10,000th guitar. I'm betting the project completion date may have been bumped back a bit. This is 100% my speculation, though.
I hope we get a mug! Maybe it can have a little special stamp on it for the first production Balor 6 group.
 
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#62
Here's official update from Davy K on the Balor 6.

"Hi Darren
Thanks for getting in touch
I have asked Alistair on a report before close of business on Friday, he is, as you stated, still in the drawing board stage and will hopefully be starting the new mould soon
A lot of design and preparation is needed for these builds and hopefully will be moving forward very soon
Davy"

They just opened the new factory and celebrated the 10,000th guitar. There were a lot of events surrounding that. The Balor 6 project is on the factory production docket, but still in the planning stages. Once the planning is properly sorted and tweaked, they'll make the master mold and begin popping them out. They're just doing it right and trying to produce the best instruments possible. We'll see more progress on it soon.

Thanks everyone!
 
#66
gwangi said:
Wanted to check back and see if there were any updates on when these are shipping?
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I think the consensus best guess has been late summer to early fall, which probably would still put us at least 1.5 months away, and given how these things tend to go, potentially more like 2 or even 3. I'd be happy to be surprised by an earlier delivery but am not expecting it. Really, though, I'm just waiting on the mug. ;)
 
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#67
Apologies for the late reply here. Didn't realize I was logged out of Talkbass.

Update from Emerald:
"Alistair has drawn up the final designs for the basses now so the next stage will be much faster"

That probably means that layout is complete and all the prep for the CNC is set. That's time consuming stuff.
Next, a mold (or molds) is generated. Then they start popping them out, spray finish, polish, fret, plek, and install electronics.
So, yes, still expect a fall completion. Late September, but more than likely October/November.

Also, Talkbass looks all fancy now.
 
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#68
Darren Michaels said:
Apologies for the late reply here. Didn't realize I was logged out of Talkbass.

Update from Emerald:
"Alistair has drawn up the final designs for the basses now so the next stage will be much faster"

That probably means that layout is complete and all the prep for the CNC is set. That's time consuming stuff.
Next, a mold (or molds) is generated. Then they start popping them out, spray finish, polish, fret, plek, and install electronics.
So, yes, still expect a fall completion. Late September, but more than likely October/November.

Also, Talkbass looks all fancy now.
Click to expand...
Not too surprising, given how this custom stuff tends to work. Thanks for the update!
 
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#71
Richard Lindsey said:
Getting closer to the end of the year. I wonder if we're going to start seeing any of the 6s before Xmas, or if it's going to be a 2025 thing?
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I've had no contact on it yet, but my guess is before the end of the year. But yeah, that's just a guess.
Hopefully we'll see them soon before import possibly becomes more expensive.
Today is Alistair's birthday, btw.
 
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#74
Darren Michaels said:
There was a quick update at the start of this week's shipping video. Alistair is working on the molds. They went with a full redesign of the Balor line, not just adding the six.
Caolan Moore is now our customer service rep for the Balor 6 orders.

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Yes, saw that recently. Good to know they're actively plugging away at this, even if it's taking longer than we hoped. I've been on to Caolan a couple of times. He's generally helpful, but of course he can only pass along what Alistair tells him. I guess we're looking at spring now, or maybe even early summer. Bright side: more time to sock away some discretionary funds for the balance. (I modified my order after the fact to add a wood veneer top, which of course made things substantially more expensive....)
 
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#75
This from Caolan today:

I've spoken to Alistair, the timeline is as follows:

This week and next week we will have the final molds created, all CNC work sorted out and the first 6 strings should be coming out of the mold.

He is working towards Spring as a timeline currently!

He's currently in the workshop himself, finalising the molds.

I know there's plenty more work to be done after the instruments come out of the molds, but it sounds like it won't be too much longer now!
 
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#76
Richard Lindsey said:
This from Caolan today:

I've spoken to Alistair, the timeline is as follows:

This week and next week we will have the final molds created, all CNC work sorted out and the first 6 strings should be coming out of the mold.

He is working towards Spring as a timeline currently!

He's currently in the workshop himself, finalising the molds.

I know there's plenty more work to be done after the instruments come out of the molds, but it sounds like it won't be too much longer now!
Click to expand...
Nice. You got the most descriptive timeline, yet! Thanks for sharing that.
The molds are definitely the hard part. Everything else is around three weeks assuming the project doesn't get bumped again. I know they were trying to do a shipping video of all Balors, so they may hold the first ones back a few days to have the others catch up. That'll put it them arriving in the US right when I'm traveling. Heh.
 
#80
Darren Michaels said:
Update on the tariff front.

Emerald has just launched a USA based warehouse. All USA orders will be processed through there. That means there is now free shipping in the USA with no additional fees or duty tax (tariff) on the Balor 6 basses.
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Good news! Now, we just need to get our basses ... and, of course, our mugs.
 
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