Emerald Guitars · Case study

From custom guitar enquiries to a complete online ordering experience

Since 2020, Tapmod has built and developed Emerald Guitars’ 3D Guitar Builder: a system that lets customers explore their options, see the price of their instrument and submit a detailed custom order online.

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Emerald guitar render with vivid blue figured veneer and f-shaped soundholes against a dark background. — Designed by the player. Built by Emerald.Emerald Guitars · 3D renders

Full Emerald guitar render with amber figured veneer, gold hardware and decorative fretboard inlay against a light background. — Designed by the player. Built by Emerald.Emerald Guitars · 3D renders

Client: Emerald Guitars
Industry: Musical instruments
Collaboration: Since 2020
Scope: Full configurator development, 3D production and ongoing support

01 / The business change

Giving customers the tools to build their own order

Before the builder, custom guitar orders involved extensive phone conversations, photographs and repeated clarification. Customers needed help understanding how their choices would look, while Emerald’s team had to translate those conversations into an order.

Today, all configurable custom guitar orders go through the builder. Customers explore the instrument in 3D, choose their options and see the price update as they go. Emerald receives a structured order with an image of the configured guitar, the selected options and a pricing breakdown.

This gives the customer and the team a shared visual reference for the instrument being ordered. Ready-made guitars sold from stock remain a separate sales channel.

Emerald X20 configurator with Bocote veneer sheets on the left, the configured guitar in the centre, accessory options on the right and the current price above. — One view connects the instrument, available options and current price.

Before

Phone consultations and photographs
Repeated clarification of individual choices
Orders assembled from separate descriptions and lists

With the builder

Visual configuration with live pricing
A shared reference for the selected instrument
A structured order for the team to process

Emerald Guitars · 3D render

02 / How it began

It started with a guitar we wanted to play

Living in the tropics, Tapmod co-founder Eugene Korolev was looking for an acoustic guitar that could handle the humidity. Emerald’s carbon-fibre instruments caught his eye.

He created a 3D model from photographs on Emerald’s website and sent it to the company with a proposal: let customers configure their guitars online.

Around six months later, the collaboration began. Tapmod had proposed starting with one instrument. Emerald chose to move forward with the full model range.

03 / The complete system

Built around the way Emerald sells guitars

Tapmod developed the complete system: the 3D models, customer interface, configuration logic, live pricing, order output and administrative tools. Since 2020, it has evolved across more than 25 guitar models, with ongoing updates to support Emerald’s products and commercial requirements.

Current configuration price and available options in the public builder.

04 / The veneer library

Choose the actual wood grain for your guitar

Wood veneer makes each instrument visually individual. Emerald and Tapmod extended the builder so customers could choose a specific physical veneer and decide how its grain should sit on their guitar.

Step 1

Find a veneer

Emerald scans new veneer sheets and adds the files to designated folders. The system brings them into the builder at real-world scale and makes them available for the appropriate guitar models.

Bocote · individual sheets, individual patterns.

Step 2

Compose the grain

Customers preview the veneer on their guitar, move it along one axis and rotate it by 180 degrees to find the composition they prefer.

Step 3

Carry the choice into the order

The chosen sheet is taken out of the available selection when an order is submitted, preventing it from being sold twice. The order provides the veneer reference and a visual guide for the workshop. If the order does not proceed, the sheet can be returned to the library.

This brings a workshop decision into the customer’s hands: choosing which part of a particular sheet of wood will define the appearance of their instrument. Emerald’s team can make practical adjustments during production while preserving the intended composition.

Completed X20 preview with the selected Bocote veneer, shown in the builder’s image sharing view. — 3D render from the builder with the chosen veneer.

05 / Administration

Day-to-day control stays with Emerald

The builder includes administrative tools that let Emerald manage models, options, pricing, discounts and promotional messages.

The team can adjust what is available, introduce a campaign and communicate offers within the configurator. These controls allow routine commercial changes to be handled by Emerald without a separate development request for every update.

Models & available options
Pricing & discounts
Campaigns & promotional messages

07 / Try the builder

Build an Emerald of your own

Explore the instruments, try the available options and see your configuration take shape.

Try the builder

Choose your model on Emerald’s website. Opens in a new tab.

Full 3D render of a blue Emerald guitar, showing the entire instrument from the headstock to the body against a dark background. — Emerald Guitars · 3D render

08 / Long-term development

A system that grows with the product range

The collaboration has continued through product updates, new features and changing commercial needs. The veneer library itself emerged after the original builder was in place, as Emerald explored what else the system could make possible.

More recently, existing 3D models became the foundation for interactive product tours created with Vectary. Updated to reflect changes to the physical instruments, the models now support another way for customers to understand the range.

Your product. Your possibilities.

Make complex products easier to choose and order

From visual options and live pricing to unique materials and order workflows, we build configurators around the realities of your product and your business.

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