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New Emerald carbon fiber ABG - impressive!

HeavyDuty

HeavyDuty

Supporting Curmudgeon
Gold Supporting Member
Jun 26, 2000
14,607
5,645
Central Texas
www.pbase.com
#1
Some of you probably know my enthusiasm for ABGs - I have a pair of Tacomas at the moment. What you probably don't know is my love of carbon fiber acoustic guitars, too. I currently have a pair of RainSongs - a six and a twelve - and used to have an Emerald X7OS.

Emerald is a small Irish manufacturer that specializes in innovative carbon fiber instruments. They are in the final stages of developing a new large volume ABG, and I'm pumped!

image.jpeg
Initially this will be offered as a fretted five but apparently fours and fretless versions will be offered if there is demand. Emerald is well known for being willing to accommodate custom requests. These are 34" scale, yay!

I've found three videos of the prototype so far, all are being played with bronze ABG strings but I've been assured they have tested the bass with LaBella tapes, too:





I'm sure I can persuade Emerald to register here and answer questions... I have no affiliation beyond being a crap-stirrer that is enthusiastic about a new ABG, and in CF to boot! I think at least one of my Tacomas is about to be replaced...

Edit for clarification - this is *not* the XB-35 that Emerald has been making for several years, it is a all-new bass with much larger internal volume.
 
Last edited:
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#5
They've been on my list for a while, I love the 12 string baritone bass they did: Baritone Bass 12-string - Breaking The Mould - Custom Guitars

Interesting tidbit from the page at Invalid Link Removed : "The XB bass is available in both 4 and 5 string configurations, fretted or fretless and we also offer many possibilities for customisation such as 8 string, 10 string or 12 string octave basses or even double necks. Just contact us for more information about whats possible."

Edit: this looks like a newer larger model though, definitely a bigger bass.
 
#6
I believe I helped a fellow TBer from Brazil obtain one of these. He couldn't get it shipped to Brazil so he had it shipped to me since he was visiting the PNW with his family. Cool bass.
 
#12
HeavyDuty said:
Some of you probably know my enthusiasm for ABGs - I have a pair of Tacomas at the moment. What you probably don't know is my love of carbon fiber acoustic guitars, too. I currently have a pair of RainSongs - a six and a twelve - and used to have an Emerald X7OS.

Emerald is a small Irish manufacturer that specializes in innovative carbon fiber instruments. They are in the final stages of developing a new large volume ABG, and I'm pumped!

View attachment 931156 Initially this will be offered as a fretted five but apparently fours and fretless versions will be offered if there is demand. Emerald is well known for being willing to accommodate custom requests. These are 34" scale, yay!

I've found three videos of the prototype so far, all are being played with bronze ABG strings but I've been assured they have tested the bass with LaBella tapes, too:





I'm sure I can persuade Emerald to register here and answer questions... I have no affiliation beyond being a crap-stirrer that is enthusiastic about a new ABG, and in CF to boot! I think at least one of my Tacomas is about to be replaced...
Click to expand...

Sweet! Slap some La Bella copper tapes on that beast and rock it!
I have a Rainsong graphite AEBG and it kills my Breedlove (which was the best sounding wood ABG I could find). If they can get the street price of this down to around the $1500 level for a 4 string I'd be all in. My experience with 5 string ABGs is the low B just doesn't project as well as the other strings so I'd pass on the fiver but jump on a four.
 
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#13
I see they went to the trouble of making an arm contour but I think it could have been considerably wider or rounder if you will. The biggest problem I have with playing my Tacoma is the fact the body edge is so sharp it's not at all comfortable to play for very long resting your arm on the body which I do all the time. It cuts off my circulation and I'd rather sit and play these than stand up. So I think this an improvement but I also think it could be better still.
 
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#14
So I just noticed that all the sound samples are mic'd. Is this purely an acoustic bass and not an acoustic/electric? I don't see any preamp/battery box mounted on the body but I suppose it could be passive with no volume or tone control if it had a bridge saddle pickup and end pin output jack. If that's the case, feedback might be a bit tricky to manage with the unorthodox sound hole shape. Then again it does have a rear control access panel - I'm confused, but I still like it!
 
#16
GBassNorth said:
So I just noticed that all the sound samples are mic'd. Is this purely an acoustic bass and not an acoustic/electric? I don't see any preamp/battery box mounted on the body but I suppose it could be passive with no volume or tone control if it had a bridge saddle pickup and end pin output jack. If that's the case, feedback might be a bit tricky to manage with the unorthodox sound hole shape. Then again it does have a rear control access panel - I'm confused, but I still like it!
Click to expand...

Sean mentioned that they were still looking at pickup and preamp options - it will be offered both ways. The prototype in the videos is straight acoustic.
 
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#18
HeavyDuty said:
Sean mentioned that they were still looking at pickup and preamp options - it will be offered both ways. The prototype in the videos is straight acoustic.
Click to expand...
As they look at different pickup options I'd offer this advice...
Piezo is ok for these types of instruments but when mounted under the saddle it picks up tons of unwanted finger noise that's nearly impossible to eq out without cutting all your highs. The best and most realistic sounding acoustic pickup I've ever tried was the Shadow Nano-Mag pickup mounted at the end of the fretboard on my Les Paul Ultra II guitar. It even comes with its own inset rear mounted gain/treb/bass controls and does a fantastic job of capturing the acoustic vibe of the instrument. Here's a demo clip...

Always wanted to try something similar on an AEB.
 
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#19
HeavyDuty said:
Some of you probably know my enthusiasm for ABGs - I have a pair of Tacomas at the moment. What you probably don't know is my love of carbon fiber acoustic guitars, too. I currently have a pair of RainSongs - a six and a twelve - and used to have an Emerald X7OS.

Emerald is a small Irish manufacturer that specializes in innovative carbon fiber instruments. They are in the final stages of developing a new large volume ABG, and I'm pumped!

View attachment 931156 Initially this will be offered as a fretted five but apparently fours and fretless versions will be offered if there is demand. Emerald is well known for being willing to accommodate custom requests. These are 34" scale, yay!

I've found three videos of the prototype so far, all are being played with bronze ABG strings but I've been assured they have tested the bass with LaBella tapes, too:





I'm sure I can persuade Emerald to register here and answer questions... I have no affiliation beyond being a crap-stirrer that is enthusiastic about a new ABG, and in CF to boot! I think at least one of my Tacomas is about to be replaced...
Click to expand...

That thing is bad a_s! Beautiful!
Invalid Link Removed
 
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