What do we do
Timeline: 25+ years in Business
Founder, CEO & Master Luthier
Emerald Guitars
To make and inspire music
We build guitars to inspire people to play. From our home in Donegal, Ireland, we combine the possibilities of carbon fibre with the care and craftsmanship of a dedicated guitar-making team. Every instrument begins with a question: how can we make the experience of playing better?
That question has guided Emerald since Alistair Hay built his first guitar in 1998 and established the company in 1999. Carbon fibre gives us the freedom to shape instruments around the player, exploring forms that would be difficult to achieve with traditional construction. Comfort, responsive tone and dependable performance remain at the heart of our designs.
Our main Emerald range invites you to make an instrument your own through a choice of colours, wood veneers, inlays and hardware. Noir by Emerald Guitars brings the same commitment to tone and playability to a focused specification at a more accessible price. Both are built by our team in Donegal.
In 2026, we begin a new era. The third-generation X20 family and the arrival of Noir mark the first steps in a wider reset, bringing everything we have learned into our designs and the way we make them. Our purpose remains the same: to make and inspire music.
Our Story
The Journey, So Far..
An Idea is Sparked
While building carbon fibre Formula 1 racing boats for Seebold Racing in St Louis, Missouri, Alistair begins to imagine another use for the material: a guitar. The idea brings together his experience in composites and his curiosity about what a musical instrument could become.
The First Guitar
Alistair turns the idea into reality and builds his first carbon fibre acoustic guitar. It is the beginning of a journey of experimentation, learning and continual refinement.
Emerald Guitars is Born
Alistair decides to pursue guitar making as a career and establishes Emerald Guitars in Donegal, Ireland.
Developing the Craft
Over two years, Alistair develops his approach to carbon fibre guitar construction. He builds more than 30 experimental instruments, keeping them all as he works towards a guitar he feels ready to share with the world.
The Ultra Guitar
A Steve Vai concert on the Ultra Zone tour inspires Alistair to create the Ultra Guitar. Built for Steve, it becomes the first Emerald guitar to leave the workshop and introduces Alistair’s work to an international audience.
The First Emerald Range
After three years of development, Emerald launches its first range: the X10, the original X20 and the X30. The experimental work has become a family of instruments ready for players.
A Difficult Start
On 11 September, Alistair makes his first sales call to a guitar shop in Belfast. While there, he watches the news of the attacks in the United States. It is a day he will never forget, and one on which selling guitars suddenly feels very unimportant.
Emerald Reaches a Wider Audience
Emerald exhibits at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, for the first time. Later that year, Mickey Joe Harte represents Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest, performing with an Emerald X10 in front of an international television audience.
Building Momentum
Emerald expands its dealer network in the United States and increases production. More players discover the guitars, and the company begins to build an international customer base.
A Setback and Closure
The fretboard design used in Emerald’s instruments becomes unavailable, leaving the company unable to complete its guitar orders without substantial redesign and retooling. The challenge proves too great for the small business, and Emerald closes.
Creating Bahamut
Alistair is commissioned to build Bahamut for musician Wang Leehom. The sculptural dragon guitar becomes one of his most recognisable creations and renews his enthusiasm for guitar making.
New Beginnings
Inspired by the experience of creating Bahamut, Alistair decides to rebuild Emerald Guitars. He returns with fresh ideas and a determination to develop better instruments and a stronger company.
Rebuilding the Range
Alistair redevelops the Emerald range, making substantial improvements to the guitars and the processes used to build them. This work establishes the foundation for the next stage of Emerald’s growth.
The Ultra Guitar Tours and a New X20 Arrives
Steve Vai takes the Ultra Guitar on a world tour, where it becomes a feature of his performances over the following three years. Emerald also introduces a new X20, with the first instrument joining Steve’s opening artist, Beverly McClellan, on tour. The X20 goes on to become Emerald’s bestselling model.
A Growing Community
Emerald’s customer base grows around the world, and the range continues to develop. The experiences and feedback of players become an increasingly important part of the company’s design journey.
Connecting Directly with Players
Emerald moves from a dealer network to direct sales. Working directly with customers allows the team to offer a more personal service, understand players’ needs and build lasting relationships with the people who own the guitars.
Twenty Years of Guitar Building
Twenty years after Alistair built his first guitar, Emerald marks the milestone with revised X7, X10 and X30 models and the introduction of the Kestrel archtop.
Finding a Way Forward
Work begins on modifying and expanding the Emerald factory. The project will create more space for guitar making and a dedicated home where customers can experience the instruments and meet the people who build them.
Introducing Virtuo
Emerald introduces Virtuo, bringing acoustic and electric capabilities together in one instrument. It opens new possibilities for players who want to move between sounds and musical styles, and adds a new dimension to Emerald’s approach to guitar design.
Ten Thousand Guitars Made
Emerald reaches the milestone of 10,000 guitars made. From the earliest experiments to instruments played around the world, each guitar represents another connection between our workshop in Donegal and the people making music with our work.
Opening the Doors to a New Emerald Experience
The factory expansion project is completed, and Emerald opens the doors to its new showroom. Alongside the Guitar Gallery, Players Suite and factory tours, the completed facilities give visitors the opportunity to explore the guitars, meet the team and see how the instruments are made.
Emerald Music Tours
Building on the friendships and music shared at Emerald Fest, Emerald develops a week of intimate musical experiences across Donegal. Emerald Music Tours brings guests together to enjoy live music, explore the landscape and spend time with the Emerald community.
Opening Our US Store
Emerald opens its US store, giving American players a dedicated place to explore the range and experience the guitars firsthand. It brings Emerald closer to its US community and helps players find the instrument that suits them.
The Ultra Guitar Comes Home
Steve Vai returns the Ultra Guitar to Emerald, asking for it to be housed in our Guitar Gallery in Donegal. The instrument that became the first Emerald guitar to leave the workshop is placed on display in a new installation, bringing an important part of our story home for visitors to experience.
Image placement: Photograph of the Ultra Guitar in its new installation in the Emerald Guitar Gallery.
The Third Generation Begins
The third-generation X20 family launches with standard, short-scale, 12-string and nylon-string versions. A flowing offset soundhole, refined neck profile, updated styling and manufacturing refinements carry the X20 into its next chapter. Truss rod access moves inside the guitar, through the soundhole, creating a cleaner headstock and improving adjustment access.
Introducing Noir
Noir by Emerald Guitars arrives as a new product line, beginning with the X20 Noir. Built by our team in Donegal, it brings together acoustic tone, comfort, playability and carbon fibre stability in a focused specification at a more accessible price. A black finish, streamlined production and direct sales help open the door to more players. Made to perform, anywhere.
A New Era for Emerald
Today marks the beginning of a new era for Emerald Guitars. The Emerald Reset is about making room to create. After 28 years of guitar building, Alistair brings everything we have learned into our designs and the way we make them, while getting back to the workbench. Focusing first on the third-generation X20 family gives us space to refine our instruments and work towards a smoother, more dependable customer experience. Alongside Noir, these are the first steps in a much wider journey.
Alistair Hay
Alistair Hay grew up in Creeslough, in north-west Donegal, in a small cottage beside a lake. His father, Bobby, ran the family farm and had a practical approach to every challenge: if something was needed, he would find a way to make it.
That example shaped Alistair from an early age. When he was five or six, his father set up a small workshop for him, with tools and timber of his own. Making things became part of everyday life, and curiosity soon developed into a lasting love of design.
When Alistair was eight, the family moved to St Johnston, where Bobby took a job as an engineering designer. He later established his own fibreglass and engineering business, building boats and children’s play equipment. Growing up around that work gave Alistair hands-on experience with composite materials from his early teens.
While attending Royal and Prior College in Raphoe, Alistair began taking on projects of his own. A go-kart he designed as a school project went into production in the family business and became one of its bestselling products.
In 1992, he went to Athlone Institute of Technology to study Polymer Engineering. Two years later, an exchange programme took him to St Louis, Missouri, where he learned to work with carbon fibre while building racing boats. More importantly, the mentorship of world champion Bill Seebold, the most successful closed-course powerboat racer in history, taught him to dream big and believe that anything is possible if you work hard enough to achieve it. It was there that the idea for a carbon fibre guitar first took shape.
From his first acoustic guitar in 1998 to the instruments Emerald builds today, Alistair’s work has been driven by the same instinct he learned from his father: understand what is needed, explore what is possible and make it with care. Emerald remains rooted in Donegal, with a community of players reaching around the world.
In 2026, that same drive led Alistair to the Emerald Reset. After 28 years of guitar building, he wanted to make room to create again: to spend more time at the workbench and bring everything he and the team had learned into the next generation of instruments. Beginning with the third-generation X20 family and Noir, the reset creates space to refine the guitars and the way they are made, while working towards a smoother, more dependable experience for customers. For Alistair, this new era is a chance to give the work that first inspired Emerald the time and attention it deserves.
Come and experience Emerald at our home in Donegal. Explore the guitars in our showroom and Guitar Gallery, meet the team, and take a factory tour to see how we bring each instrument to life. It is an opportunity to discover the work behind the guitars and the place that inspires us. Book Here
