Seagull Artist Cutaway

I bought a Mahogany Spruce Artist model new in 2001 with the upgraded L R Baggs Duet II system. You probably know this is a Canadian-made guitar, and the Artist series is the higher end of the Seagull line, with solid Sitka spruce top and mahogany back and sides. They had a rosewood option; overall, I've been pretty happy with the mellower sound of mahogany, except when fingerpicking. You can buy a more expensive guitar (and I have), but for the money, I've always thought it was a very nice guitar for the money. Fairly light, with nice fit and finish, it's been my main gigging guitar for an outdoor gig in Florida. The tuners are okay; they have a Seagull logo, so I don't know exactly who manufactures them. That's become a slight problem for me, as I'll explain later. The neck is nicely shaped (though it may be a tad wide for some..I have big hands) and sized perfectly (in my opinion) for an all-around guitar. I play several styles and do a bit of fingerpicking, so that was important to me.

I play blues, rock, pop standards as well as some of my own songs. I fingerpick a good bit. This guitar fills the bill nicely. Since I fingerpick with my bare fingers, the sound is a bit thick while fingerpicking. If that was all I did, I would have been better off with a rosewood model. I've used the guitar with Trace, Fishman and Marshall acoustic amps, and through several direct boxes direct to the PA system. The Duet II system has a bit of a feedback problem in live situations when using the mic feature. Initially, I had to push it to the peizo side of things, but was able to mix the mic in after getting one of those rubber soundhole covers. Of course, the soundhole is slightly smaller than standard, so getting standard soundhole covers to fit is a chore. All in all, I'd say it works fine and sounds natural amplified if you can mix the mic in with the peizo.

I've been very happy with all the wooden parts of the guitar. Shortly after taking it home, a piece of the saddle chipped of ("jumped" off, really, I was handling the guitar with kid gloves). The dealer fixed it, but I'd say it could use a better, more durable saddle than the one that comes with it. Also, I had to add a strap button on the neck heel because I'm too tall to tie a strap through the headstock, and think that's a cheesy way to strap on a guitar in any case. I figure my left hand is the only thing that needs to be exerting influence on the neck. Also, the L R Baggs Duet II requires that you reach into the soundhole to change the battery. If you don't have small hands, you'll hate that. Since that system also has an on-off switch instead of the automatic "off when you pull out the cord" feature, you'll need to keep extra batteries around for those inevitable times that you forget to switch it off. Then you'll have to detune the strings and scrape and wrestle to get the battery installed through the soundhole. Not fun. Other than that, I thought the guitar arrived in great condition, and I've always been impressed with the attention to detail in the wood and finish. But I've got to knock off some points for the hardware details.

I've played this thing a good bit in the last four years and it's held up well. In spite of being light, it's strong and the top still doesn't show that inclination to bow a bit, so I think the bracing is well done. I use at least two guitars at my gigs so I have a backup. However, I usually tune them differently, so it's not convenient when something goes wrong. A couple weeks ago, the fifth string tuner button broke off and I had to use pliers to fine-tune the guitar before a set (had it tuned down a step with medium strings). More on that in the next section.

As I mentioned, my first problem was the saddle chipping. Since there was no drop, no undue stress and it happened very shortly after I got it, I have to blame this on materials (hey, if I dropped it, I couldn't very well blame them, could I?) The dealer "fixed" this (basically just reshaped it) for me, but I'm about to replace the saddle with something better myself. Then the recent tuner button problem. I've been unable to find who makes the tuners for Seagull. I wrote them, asking about the tuners and explained that I needed to order tuner buttons to fit. No response at all. I find that pretty disappointing, and now I'm having to order replacement buttons on a trial-and-error basis. So, I can't give them high marks for customer support.

I've been playing on and off for quite a few years, but have only played seriously for the last five years or so. I have lots of other guitars now, from an old Takamine to a couple Taylor Limiteds. I love the Taylors, and they certainly have better hardware, but this Seagull has been a great bread-and-butter guitar. If it was stolen, I'd seriously consider buying a replacement, especially if I could find one with a different pickup system (and battery replacement). I love the weight, the size and setup, but really think they could improve some of the hardware features. Overall, a very good guitar for the price, but don't expect them to be real helpful if something does go wrong.

I purchased the Artist mahogany/rosewood, spruce cutaway in the spring of 2001, not sure if it was made that year, but it wasn't more than afew years old at most. I started playing on a beginners Ibanez acoustic so many years back I don't remember the model number, but went through an alvarez yairi, a gibson CL-20, a guild something or other (I didn't have it that long because I thought the guitar was much too bright when I got used to it) and came across this guitar by chance while looking at some higher priced gibsons and moderately priced martins. I believe Taylor was a new item to me at that time and had I spent more time with one I might be writing a different review right now...but anyway I came across this spruce top guitar with mahogany back and sides, rosewood fretboard, mother of pearl inlay with an open winged bird (seagull perhaps?) across the 12th fret. No pickguard, but I suppose you don't really need to play hard to make the instrument sing. LR Baggs eq/pickup, the nicer one with eq switches and volume control, and 14:1 tuners. This guitar has a lacquer finish on it...something hard to find, plus I believe that is why this guitar sounds better every day...that and constant practice. These guitars (the artist series) are handmade guitars in a small french-canadien town, the same place expensive godin's are made. this guitar was on the pricier side, but at 1400 this guitar is comparable to many other higher priced instruments. the tone is warm and thick, yet each note harmonizes while maintaining it's individual integrity. I believe the nut is somesort of special material, I don't remember exactly, but it's not plastic or bone. it's 22 frets and the neck is on the fat/wide side of things, which is exactly the tone I prefer. Comes with a hard shell good quality case, it's been jostled around a bit (against my wishes of course) and the guitar is still in excellent condition with a few minor scratches here and there, but hey, that never really hurt anything, just ask willie nelson. (nobody gets 10)

I play jammier stuff, rock/blues, Grateful dead, Phish, SCI, moe, but also love classic rock and all the zeppelin, beatles, doors, ARS, marshall tucker, allman brothers I can get. this guitar can twang out, but it can also carry the great midranges and bass it takes to rock. the resonation is great, the guitar never quits, even at the high frets the notes can hold awhile. There is minor fret buzz, but I've altered the set up to accomadate thicker strings (.13's) so that's to be expected. the electronics are very good, although I don't use them much, I generally mic the guitar through a separate line...a set up for a different time...but the guitar sounds good through either, just my way of not having two amps on stage. As for the types of sounds a guitar can make, well, as many as you want to learn I suppose. All in all, I think this guitar sounds great, warm and thick when you need it, just slide closer to the bridge when you want to do lines or leads and things get hot, but this guitar has great tone, all around, I am completely satisfied, even though I think I still might own a Taylor someday. I'll never get rid of my artist, though.

the factory had a good set-up, strung with 11's it had very little fret noise and good action. I raised the action a bit by messing with the bridge a bit and adding thicker strings, but I probably would have raised the action anyhow, I like it that way and I can pop on the slide for awhile if I want, even though it's probably not the ideal guitar for bottleneck. The frets were excellent heigth and the wood is excellent, even patterns for those who like resonation AND beauty. everything on this guitar had a lot of attention and care put into it. You can tell it's a handmade beauty. I love it, and the best part is the cutaway for upper fret extension, with a bit of a stretch the higher frets can be achieved, not something very common for acoustics, and then when you find one where you can reach they sound like bull-plop. not here, though. Good, old-fashioned, quality shiznit.

kicked it a couple of times and the girlfriend put it through the washer cause she was jealous, other than that it still sounds and looks great. I've gigged with this guitar, but my main axes are PRS custom 24 and Les Paul standard, so the acoustic only gets a few songs a night anyhow, never had a problem with it onstage, but I handle it carefully and I don't try to overplay or really bash on it, so there really isn't a good reason for it to wear out. the LR Baggs electronics are great from what I can tell, they have a good rep and a clear tone. Unfortunately, it is the kind of guitar that doesn't come with a front (?) strap button (neck side) you need to install one yourself. Not a big deal, but I don't trust my own mechanical side so I'm always the glue is going to give, but it hasn't (knock on mahogany).

if i had a problem i'd know who to ask, but since i haven't i guess they get a good score. sometimes the best customer service is no service. unless you play a gibson.

I've been playing for about 15 years, like previously mentioned I play PRS, and LP guitars through either DR Z senior 38 or hot rod deluxe (with the hot rod I use a TS9, line 6 modulation, boss digital delay, cry baby, boss volume, hush and through the Dr Z i only need the TS 9). if this guitar were stole I would mourn it's loss, and I would listen for another one.

Solid spruce top, transparent finish, mahogany bach and sides. Cutaway. Standard Seagull issue LR Baggs passive pickups, the Duet I, not the more expensive II). Standard bridge saddle replaced with a bone one. Stock tuners are high-quality, and the guitar stays in tune nicely.

Terrific sound! Warm and rich, good sustain for an acoustic. Sound is getting better with age, as one would expect with a solid top. Nice and loud. Old owner did the bridge sadlle replacement; he said it made a big difference with the sound.

I bought it used, the action on Seagulls is usually good, not absolutely incredible, but good. I have adjusted the truss rod once in the year I've owned it to lower the action a touch.

The guitar is absolutely flawless.

Neck is very wide - see my comments down below. Takes a little getting used to, but now I can't go back.

Seem very, very solid. Definitely doesn't require a backup. The finish would probably wear off with lots of hard playing, especially since the previous owner removed the pickguard to improve the sound. I use only soft picks on it, and have seen no wear on the finish.

I've been playing acoustics for about 12 years. This is easily the nicest guitar I've ever owned, although to be fair it's also the most expensive. I paid $450, this model goes for about $900 new. In any case, this guitar has exceeded my expectations. I have owned a couple of other Seagull-company guitars, (they also make Godins and Normans) so I knew the Seagulls would be a great value.

I absolutely love this guitar. It did take a little getting used to, mainly because of the wide neck - this guitar might be a bit tough for beginners to play. One day after about three months it was like a light switch going on and I started really digging the wide neck. Now I have a hard time playing narrow-neck acoustics, although surprisingly I still prefer narrow-neck electrics. The sound quality of this guitar is terrific, the quality is stellar, everything is great, although like I said, it might not be perfect for a beginner. For any intermediate-or-above player, this is one sweet, sweet axe. The cutaway doesn't seem to take too much away from the sound. I almost never plug it in, but when I have it's sounded nice. I just put a bid in on an online auction for a Seagull 12-string.