Dennis in Virginia loves his ‘rock and roll’ Emerald Guitars

The proud owner of a red X7 and an amber X20, Dennis Thornes from Virginia in the United States was first introduced to Emerald Guitars through a post on a friend’s personal social media page.

“To me they just look cool. They are the most rock and roll looking acoustic I have ever seen! My Emeralds stay out on stands, always ready for me to pick up.

Dennis said there are many reasons to enjoy his Emerald Guitars with their stability, sound and comfort at the forefront. “When my wife and I moved two years ago, it became quite clear that the heating system in the new house was much dryer than any house we had lived in before. The effects on my wooden guitars was drastic and problematic. I had owned a different brand of carbon fiber guitar in the past, and knew how stable they were in any humidity level, so I started looking at what was now available.

“When I saw the X20 with its beveled arm rest and offset sound hole, I knew it was what I was looking for! Here in one guitar was everything on my guitar wish list. I use many altered tunings and my Emeralds stay in tune, no matter what the temperature or humidity,” he said.

Dennis tried to learn how to play the guitars two or three times in his life, without any real success, before things clicked. Growing up in Cape Charles, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Chesapeake Bay, Dennis’ left hand took some damage, including two broken fingers and a broken wrist.

“I always struggled with bar chords and it just got harder for me. In 1999 when I was 38 years old, I finally had the patience to stick to it. At the same time I discovered altered tunings. That was the turning point. I could play without pain,” he said.

The co-owner of D & L Supply in Virginia Beach, which sells supplies and equipment to sign and printing companies, devoted the next 15 years to learning tunes – other peoples tunes. I didn’t have the nerve to try and write anything, not even noodle, I didn’t understand music theory at all,” said Dennis.

Then this past winter when my new X20 was tuned in a strange Will Ackerman tuning and I decided since I was having to tune all over the place I should try to make something up in the same tuning so I’d have more than one song to play after all that knob twisting.

“I started by mapping out scales using the open string as the root, charted that out and just started trying different fingerings that didn’t hurt. Little tunes started finding their way under my fingers and within three months I was playing my own tunes exclusively. “

Since he has had his Emerald Guitars, Dennis said he has been more inspired in his playing than ever before. “I started composing my own tunes after 15 years of exclusively playing the tunes of others. I have never enjoyed playing more than now. A lot of that is due to my Emeralds. Composing new music led me to consider a harp guitar.

“I saw a post on Facebook regarding Emerald Guitars’ Synergy harp guitar and started to think that if I can write my own stuff, I should be able to do something on the harp guitar. Thanks to my very understanding and supportive wife, I put in my order with you guys and the meantime I started taking FaceTime lessons from guitarist/harp guitarist Ken Bonfield.

“We are concentrating on music theory in regards to open tunings to include how to figure out sub bass tuning to go with the growing number of altered and open tuning I am using already. I have always enjoyed the bass response and reverberation on my acoustics and a harp guitar seemed like a new musical adventure. So, I am really looking forward to receiving my Synergy with a Bubinga laminated top.”

We love hearing from our customers. If you would like to be featured in our series, send us an e-mail to sales@emeraldguitars.com with the subject ‘Emerald Stories’.