Emerald Guitars Reviews 914

TrustScore 5 out of 5

4.8

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Looking at 93 reviews, reviewers overwhelmingly had a great experience with this company. Customers consistently praise the exceptional quality and craftsmanship of the products, highlighting their stunning appearance, comfort, and lightweight design. Many also commend the excellent sound quality, describing it as crystal clear, rich, and warm. The customer service and staff are frequently mentioned as top-notch, providing helpful advice and a personalized experience. However, some customers experienced issues with their orders, such as darker-than-expected finishes or problems with playability like string buzzing and dead tones. A few also noted discrepancies between the product received and the online builder's representation, and some felt a lack of follow-up after their purchase.

What people talk about most

Product

People report positive experiences with the product. Customers consistently praise the guitars for their... See more

Quality

Customers had positive experiences with quality, consistently praising the craftsmanship and sound of the... See more

User experience

Clients share positive opinions on user experience. Many reviewers found the products to be comfortable,... See more

Staff

Users describe positive interactions with staff, often highlighting their responsiveness, professionalism,... See more

Customer service

Consumers find customer service to be a positive experience. Many reviewers highlight the prompt, attentive,... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Placing my order was quick and easy. Using the online store to explore the various models and options available was fun and efficient. And the product I received is a fantastic guitar, perfectly set u... See more

Company replied

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Instantly my favorite guitar, a custom X7 with Hyvibe. It’s lighter and more comfortable than i imagined. The sound is excellent, never heard a carbon fiber guitar before. Even without a monitor hav... See more

Company replied

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I've purchased an X-20, and have also ordered an X-30 in recent weeks. The most important criteria is sound, and it is simply superlative. The body and neck are stunning, the soundboard area now a w... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I bought an Emerald Virtuo a few weeks ago and have played the guitar at every full band electric and solo acoustic show I’ve had since. I have searched for years to find a guitar that can viably be... See more

Company replied


Company details

  1. Guitar Store
  2. Music Producer
  3. Music Publisher
  4. Musical Instrument Manufacturer
  5. Musical Instrument Store
  6. Musician

About Emerald Guitars

Written by the company

Established in 1999, Emerald Guitars based in Co. Donegal Ireland are the #1 Carbon Fiber Guitar company across the globe that cater to the needs of all musicians from the casual hobbyist through to the professional recording artist.



We provide a vast range of custom Carbon Fiber Acoustic & Electro-Hybrid Guitars available in Standard, Archtop, Bass, Baritone, Travel, Ukulele, Double Neck & Harp Guitar Models all with a unique design and feel that you would expect from a premium product.



Founded by renown luthier Alistair Hay In 1994, Hay was working for Seebold Racing in St Louis, Missouri, USA and building Formula 1 racing boats using carbon fiber. Between the skills he had developed whilst crafting world class racing boats and possessing a passion for product design and engineering, Alistair had an idea to build an acoustic carbon fiber guitar. The process of producing a product fit for market took a couple of years. From there, Emerald Guitars officially launched in 1999, Steve Vai’s custom Ultra Guitar was made and the rest is history. You can read more about that journey here.

Current Stock Explore the latest stock added to the Emerald Guitar shop, ready and waiting to ship worldwide!

Launch 3D Builder Ever wanted to build your own dream guitar? Look no further. The Emerald Guitars 3D builder provides a market leading immersive experience enabling you to craft your very own custom instrument. Build your guitar today!

Book a Call Our team are ready to answer any of your questions and help you choose the perfect instrument for you. Book a call, a 1-2-1 consultation or a walkthrough of our 3D builder at a time that suits you.

Contact info

4.8

Excellent

TrustScore 5 out of 5

914 reviews

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1-star

Asks customers to review

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Replied to 50% of negative reviews

Typically replies within 24 hours

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Customer service is great

Customer service is great, and guitar is fantastic. Custom X10 Slimline. Shipping was kind of an ordeal, but that’s more of a world issue than a company issue. Will purchase another custom X20 soon.

11 February 2026
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

Thanks so much for your kind words and your patience throughout the challenges in shipping we've experienced. We have altered our process to avoid these challenges going forward. I'm glad you're enjoying your beautiful guitar!

Caolan

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Most exciting guitar around…

Playing for around 50 years I’ve owned a LOT of guitars, just about every major brand and a few customs… I’ve never been more excited about my X20 than any other guitar that I’ve owned or played. It fits effortlessly on my lap and feels like home… I hardly want to put it down. I consider myself fortunate to also own the double neck Chimerea (now discontinued) it’s an absolute beast. I became so enthralled with Emerald that I signed up to become an ambassador, eager to share my love of these guitars to others.

5 February 2026
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

Hi JJ, thanks so much for the kind words! I'm glad to hear your Chimaera and X20 are serving you well.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Responsiveness, Communication, and an Amazing Product!

The responsiveness and thoughtfulness of the Emerald team is exceptional. They worked with me with a return and a couple other things related to a user error I made on shipping and we're just super supportive not to mention forgiving for my ordering mistakes! I have an X7 on the way and an X10. I used to have the older version of the X7 back in the early 2000s and that thing traveled with me everywhere during my time in the Army. Even to Afghanistan. These guitars just sound incredible, there's nothing like them. Besides the unique shape and the beautiful design, the sound reinvigorates your desire to play and makes every jam session all the more enjoyable. Thank you Emerald team, I appreciate you guys a lot!

27 January 2026
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

Hi Gabriella, I am so pleased to hear that you are had a great experience and hope you are enjoying playing your guitars!! KQ

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

perfect guitars for Wisconsin climate

I struggled for years with humidifiers. I worried about my wood guitars. I have 2 Emerald guitars, X10 slimline nylon and X7 black opus. No more worries. The Emerald's sound better than wood to my ears. The days of cleaning humidifiers are over. Thank you Emerald Guitars.

26 January 2026
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

Hi Brent, that is great news I am so pleased to hear that you are enjoying your new Emeralds. Happy playing KQ

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

I had high hopes for this purchase

I had high hopes for this purchase. I spent years saving to buy an emerald guitar. I finally found an x30 that I could afford. The delivery date for a US guitar was 3-5 business days, after I purchased said guitar I was hit with a message that it could take an additional week due to high orders. Unfortunately it took an additional two more weeks. I reached out to the Emerald team who were very nice in their response however, they didn’t seem to know where the guitar was because they kept saying that it was on its way to Florida. I was told that due to the inconvenience I would be getting a high vibe pick up and a guitar strap, which I was very excited for because It had the cool built in speakers that allowed things like looping, reverb, chorus and some other features, but when I took delivery of the guitar it did not have this pick up…

I asked Emerald about it and they basically said our marketing team got it wrong. They meant the HiFi pick up.

So to summarize
Do I love the guitar? YES
Would I purchase another Emerald? Probably not

I spent years wanting an emerald guitar and when it came time to purchased one, it left a bitter taste in my mouth. False promises and lies that I received instead.

28 January 2026
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

Hi Juan, thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We are very sorry there was some shipping issues and confusion with your X30 order. One of our sales staff will reach out to you today to talk about your experience, thanks Kevin

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great company and great leader with…

Great company and great leader with Alistair. Great attention to detail and customer relations. Also a top quality product on the cutting edge of carbon fiber composite guitars and instruments. More than worth waiting for no matter how long it takes.

17 January 2026
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

Thanks so much for your kind words!

Caolan

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Found my forever guitar

I was looking for an acoustic guitar in the $2,000 range and tried the yamaha, alvarez yiari, and Martin. All nice guitars. I tried a friend's Emerald and was impressed. When the one I was looking at finally went on sale i took the plunge. It had all I wanted,(pick up, bold weave, and a veneer top. 3 days later it arrived and I am amazed! The sound compared with my Breedlove is a softer sound (less treble?) But the X7 has more volume from a smaller guitar! The action is perfect, and the intonation is amazing all the way up the neck. I may never "need" another guitar but if I do it might be an X-30 if I see one on sale in a few years. Amazing guitar.

10 January 2026
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

I'm so glad the X7 could be your new "forever guitar," and I hope it continues to inspire you to play!

Caolan

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Emerald Guitars makes a stunningly…

Emerald Guitars makes a stunningly beautiful sounding and looking guitar! They are also a pleasure to deal with and very professional.

10 January 2026
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

I'm so glad you enjoy your lovely new guitar. I hope it serves you well!

Caolan

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding guitars

Outstanding guitars, fantastic customer service. I just bought my fourth Emerald instrument and couldn’t be happier.

10 January 2026
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

Thanks Jeff, so glad you are enjoying your new 6 string!!!

Kevin

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The marketing of inventory guitars…

The marketing of inventory guitars allowed me to choose exactly what I wanted. A very unique X10 with a 50mm nut-width + steel strings.

8 January 2026
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

I'm glad we can facilitate those unique features and make a guitar that suits you so well!

I hope it continues to serve you well.

Caolan

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

All Good, Almost

I've been a customer since 2018 and own 5 Emeralds, 4 of which were purchased directly from Emerald. Obviously, I love their instruments. Beauty, stability, function, and durability in a great sounding instrument. Alistair helped me with my first custom order, and I admire the man greatly. But, I do have some criticism for his company. Later, I had to order from Kevin. I was ordering an X-7 with midi and I wanted to find out if both pickups outputs would be available at the midi controllers 'guitar' output. During the ordering process I repeatedly asked Kevin if both pickups would be output. He responded for the most part promptly, but ignored my question over and over in the period of a couple of months. Finally, I gave up and just ordered the guitar. I never knew the answer until the shipping video when Alistair casually mentioned that the guitar had X-10 electronics. That simple statement answered my question immediately since I was familiar with all the models and their function. Disappointing! In dealing with him on a previous problem with my first custom order, I felt like he treated me like a rookie (I've been playing 60 years). Somewhat later, a nice lady from Emerald named Chloe, contacted me and asked me if I would show my guitars to a prospective buyer which I did at my home. Afterwards, I expected a call or email to see how it went and maybe thought I would get a "Thank You" but that never came. The last contact I had with them, I asked if I could get a discount on a Virtuo; all my other purchases were full retail. The new salesman indicated all he could give me was $150 off. Not much of a discount on a $3500 (at that time) guitar. No effort to check with Alistair, just more or less a dismissal. I guess it hurts a little since I volunteered my home and time to help them make a sale. Still love the company, not the salespeople so much. The staff is nice enough, just ineffectual whenever the situation is somewhat abnormal.

28 December 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Perfectly set up, tuned and ready to play out of the box

The guitar arrived perfectly set up and in perfect tune. It is a very comfortable and enjoyable guitar to play. The guitar exceeded my exceptions!
Great job Emerald.

29 July 2025
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

Thank you for sharing your experience, I hope you are still enjoying your new guitar!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Custom d30-12 guitar

I ordered a custom d30-12 guitar. I also left detailed instructions about the setup. The guitar is great. The setup was mostly in line with my wishes, except two quite unusual wishes. Emerand Guitars sent me 2 new saddles, now the setup is exactly as I want it. The guitar itself is simply amazing - wonderful sound. I think, the d30 body is an incredible sonic achievement by the Emerald Guitars Team! Also, this guitar lives out of her case and sounds the same no matter what humidity it is today!

29 October 2024
Unprompted review
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

Thanks for sharing your experience, I hope you are still enjoying your new guitar!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Well I just ordered a sweatshirt

Well I just ordered a sweatshirt, but Emerald treats every sale like a multiple guitar sale! They are the best people-always!

30 September 2025
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

Thanks for the review guys!! I hope you are both well!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I bought an Emerald Virtuo a few weeks…

I bought an Emerald Virtuo a few weeks ago and have played the guitar at every full band electric and solo acoustic show I’ve had since. I have searched for years to find a guitar that can viably be used as both an acoustic and electric. The Virtuo does both and nothing else comes close. I’ve owned and played Cole Clark, Fender Acoustasonic, and PRS electrics with piezos and these don’t come close to what the Virtuo can do. I have finally found the holy grail of hybrid guitars!

1 October 2025
Unprompted review
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Reply from Emerald Guitars

Thank you for your review. We are glad that we could help find the right guitar for you!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Anything else would be an understatement.

This is my fourth time I have bought an Emerald Guitar. Excellent quality, fine craftsmanship, and all of them are the main workhorses in my guitar stable. Visited the factory during the 2025 September Emerald Tour and I was impressed. Anything else would be an understatement.

12 September 2025

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