New Emerald carbon fiber ABG - impressive!

[HeavyDuty]

Looking forward to reading your thoughts about it when you get it. How long will you have to wait?

I'm guessing five months, maybe a little less.

 

[Herrick]

I'm guessing five months, maybe a little less.

Wow!

 

[HeavyDuty]

It will be worth it.

 

[HeavyDuty]

The new bass model now has a name - Balor, a Celtic God - and their new webpage has some of the specs up:

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Still waiting for details on the pickup.

 

[GBassNorth]

The new bass model now has a name - Balor, a Celtic God - and their new webpage has some of the specs up:

Invalid Link Removed

Still waiting for details on the pickup.

Nice website and lovely bass. Just two comments they might want to think about...
1). Charging extra for gold hardware at the $3000 price point of their bass is kinda ridiculous. Gold tuners shouldn't cost any more than black ones when paying this much for a bass.
2). The string break angle at the bridge looks pretty sharp on the B string. It might eliminate the ability to use Tapewound strings on this bass. That would be a show stopper for me.

 

[GBassNorth]

What's the basic price for one?

Looks like $2500 for a black base model with no preamp/pickup and about $3500 for fully optioned one.

 

[GBassNorth]

Thanks. How much horsepower is the fully loaded one?

Looks like the fully loaded one is about $3500 but I can't tell if that includes a preamp/pup or a hard case (I didn't see it listed). So if you need to pay extra for those items it could be close to $4000 plus tax and shipping.

It would be a very nice bass at a $1500 price point for the base model and $2000 for the top of the line but unfortunately they've priced it about 40% higher than that. These are the prices on their website, it will be interesting to see if the street price is any better. If not, I'll save my money for a used one at a sub $1500 price.

 

[HeavyDuty]

Nice website and lovely bass. Just two comments they might want to think about...
1). Charging extra for gold hardware at the $3000 price point of their bass is kinda ridiculous. Gold tuners shouldn't cost any more than black ones when paying this much for a bass.
2). The string break angle at the bridge looks pretty sharp on the B string. It might eliminate the ability to use Tapewound strings on this bass. That would be a show stopper for me.

I asked specifically about LaBella tapes on this, and was told that Alistair did try them with no problems. I agree, it would kill my interest if it didn't sing with tapes.

 

[HeavyDuty]

Yeah, those kind of prices can buy some pretty special stuff, not that this acoustic bass isn't, but for what I do these days, I'd rather sink that kind of money into a luthier built guitar.

Well, this really is a luthier built guitar...

 

[HeavyDuty]

Sean at Emerald sent me three pics showing a bubinga top on these - I'm considering bubinga or quilted maple for mine so he wanted to show me an example of how bubinga looked. This is Irish trad bassist James Blennerhassett and his new Balor. Yeow - I should apply for a new ZIP code for my bass. (Sean thought James is a TB member - James, are you out there?)

 

[IamJohn]

The new bass model now has a name - Balor, a Celtic God - and their new webpage has some of the specs up:

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Still waiting for details on the pickup.

Just my luck...

 

[James Blen]

Just took delivery of my new "Balor" 5 string Bass from Emerald guitars. It's even nicer than the one I used in the You Tube video and I have used Flatwounds on this one. A beautiful big round tone with no fret noise, can't wait to use it on the Daniel O'Donnell UK tour next week.
Thanks everyone at Emerald guitars for such a cool instrument, think this one will be a big hit for them. Stoked Blen

 

[James Blen]

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.

I have one, it has an LR Baggs undersaddle and I use flatwounds, sounds epic!

 

[tfer]

I have one, it has an LR Baggs undersaddle and I use flatwounds, sounds epic!

LR Baggs makes the best piezo system out there, IMO.

 

[HeavyDuty]

View attachment 940940
Just took delivery of my new "Balor" 5 string Bass from Emerald guitars. It's even nicer than the one I used in the You Tube video and I have used Flatwounds on this one. A beautiful big round tone with no fret noise, can't wait to use it on the Daniel O'Donnell UK tour next week.
Thanks everyone at Emerald guitars for such a cool instrument, think this one will be a big hit for them. Stoked Blen

Welcome, James!

 

[HeavyDuty]

@James Blen - what flats have you tried on yours? Many of us are committed tapewound users on our ABGs, I'm curious to hear your comments about flats and how they work on the Balor.

I'm trying to make your Waukegan, IL show in October - do you think the ABG will get much use in your set?

 

[HeavyDuty]

I've been going back and forth with Emerald settling the details of my upcoming five string build, and they sent me a pic of a recent custom build to show me what the blue looks like on a four string Balor. I'm still going with amber, but I have to say the blue is gorgeous!

 

[James Blen]

@James Blen - what flats have you tried on yours? Many of us are committed tapewound users on our ABGs, I'm curious to hear your comments about flats and how they work on the Balor.

I'm trying to make your Waukegan, IL show in October - do you think the ABG will get much use in your set?

Hi Ken
It would be good to see you there, make sure you come and say hello. I use it currently for 1/3 of the set. Cheers, James

 

[HeavyDuty]

Emerald posted more on their blog about the switch (?) to LR Baggs. It looks like I'll be going with an Element VTC in mine, with no barn door and a separate jack instead of an endpin jack at my request.

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[Herrick]

One of the things that makes me optimistic about the acoustic volume of the Balor is the fact that they offer it without a pickup.