The Emerald Reset

Making Room to Create

By Alistair Hay, Founder of Emerald Guitars

Getting the foundations right

After 28 years of building guitars, I had accumulated a huge amount of knowledge about design, materials, moulds and manufacturing. I wanted to bring that experience together and use it more effectively throughout Emerald.

I pictured it as a pyramid. At its foundation are the way we build and the people who do that work. Get those foundations right, and they support everything above them: the finished guitar, the experience of owning it and the relationship we have with our customers.

Our manufacturing system had given us instruments we were incredibly proud of. I could also see opportunities to refine it with everything we had learned over the years. Better moulds, more considered processes and a smoother flow through production could give our craftsmen more time to concentrate on their work and make delivery more dependable.

That became the ambition: a better business, a better production model and, ultimately, a more refined guitar and customer experience.

Making a difficult decision

One of the hardest decisions was to temporarily narrow our range and concentrate on the X20.

Stepping back from some of our best-selling and best-loved models felt counterintuitive. These were guitars that people wanted, instruments that had helped make Emerald what it is.

But developing the whole range while continuing to produce every existing model would leave us with the same problem. Every day would be filled with doing, with too little room left for refinement.

We needed to clear that space deliberately.

Focusing on one platform gave us the opportunity to work through the design and manufacturing details properly, then carry what we learned into the next model. The wider range will develop one instrument at a time, with each given the attention it deserves.

The X20, our most popular guitar, was the natural place to begin.

Finding the lines that felt right

One of the most rewarding breakthroughs came with the new soundhole design.

Our soundhole has always been part of Emerald’s identity, extending across the top and side of the guitar. I wanted to preserve that idea while finding a shape that felt more flowing and integrated.

I spent a long time looking at how the lines converged, how the opening could flow back into itself and how it could do all of that while preserving the overall outline of the instrument.

It was a solution I struggled to find. But when it came, something clicked.

As I began building the moulds and prototypes, I could see how that design language could extend across the other models. It gave me a direction for the whole range.

The earlier designs still have a beauty I am proud of. This new shape carries that history forward in a way that feels natural to me. It feels like Emerald. It feels like our DNA.

It just feels right.

The third-generation X20 family brings that work together with a refined neck profile and updated styling, across standard, short-scale, 12-string and nylon-string versions. It is the first expression of the design direction taking shape through the Reset.

Noir designed by us played by you

Alongside that work, I wanted to explore how we could bring the benefits of carbon fibre to a wider audience.

A true carbon fibre guitar is expensive to make. The materials are costly, the process is labour-intensive and the quality of the finished instrument depends on care at every stage.

For Noir, the challenge was to preserve the playing experience, in both feel and tone, while finding a way to offer it at a much more accessible price.

The answer was to focus the choices.

With the main Emerald range, you bring your preferences to the instrument through the builder and the options you select. I think of that as “designed by you, built by us.”

With Noir, the idea is “designed by us, played by you.”

We make the decisions about the specification, drawing on what we know makes a guitar feel and perform well. Noir is available in black, with one specification for each model. You bring the variety through your playing, your music and the places you take it.

A single specification can come to life in countless ways in different players’ hands.

Noir by Emerald Guitars is built by our team here in Donegal, Ireland. It has its own identity, rooted in the same experience and craftsmanship that have shaped Emerald.

Made to perform, anywhere.

Coming back to the work I love

This journey has had a profound effect on me personally.

During 2025, I felt further away from what I had set out to do. Being a designer is a fundamental part of who I am, and I was missing that part of my working life.

Over the past year, spending substantial time at my workbench, researching, developing and designing, has brought me happiness and fulfilment.

Seeing the new guitars come to life has been rewarding. So has seeing them move more smoothly through production, with less rework and fewer difficulties along the way.

Those improvements matter to the people making the guitars. They also matter to the person waiting to receive one. The whole experience is connected, from the first work on a mould to the moment a player opens their case.

Carrying our history forward

To everyone who already owns an Emerald, I want to say how proud I am of the instruments we have built.

I have often said that there is no such thing as a perfect guitar. There is the right guitar in the right player’s hands.

An instrument you love remains that instrument. Its character, the music you have made with it and the possibilities it holds for you continue to matter. Our earlier guitars were built to be high-quality, high-performing instruments for generations to come.

The guitars from our now discontinued range that are currently in stock remain a market-leading choice. They offer the craftsmanship, performance and distinctive playing experience that established Emerald’s reputation. For many players, one of those instruments will be exactly the right guitar. I would encourage you to choose the instrument that connects with you, whether it comes from our discontinued range or the new generation.

That history gives us the foundation for this next chapter. Our owners and ambassadors have been part of it, sharing their music, their experiences and their enthusiasm along the way.

The Reset has opened up a new wave of creativity within Emerald. I can see opportunities for further refinements and for entirely new instruments, and I have the space to explore them again.

The third-generation X20 family and Noir are the first results of that journey.

After 28 years of guitar building, I still have that yearning to create. I am excited to see where it takes us next.

Alistair Hay
Founder, Emerald Guitars

Explore the family

Visit the individual product pages for full specifications, available options and current stock:

X20 : https://emeraldguitars.com/models/x20-3rd-generation/
X20 Short scale : https://emeraldguitars.com/models/x20-short-scale-3rd-generation/
X20 Nylon : https://emeraldguitars.com/models/x20-nylon-3rd-generation/
X20 – 12-string : https://emeraldguitars.com/models/x20-12-string-3rd-generation/
X20 Noir: https://emeraldguitars.com/noir/product/x20-noir/