Seagull M6 Cedar Micro EQ

I bought this guitar 2nd hand in Januari 2006. The Seagull M6 Cedar is made in Canada in - probably - 2004 (serial number starts with 04). The top is made of solid Cedar and the back (3-layer), sides and neck are made of mahogany. Only the top and the front of the head have a high gloss finish, the rest of the woods have a satin finish. The bridge is made of rosewood an contains a diversely compensated saddle for an almost perfect intonation. The rosewood fretboard contains 21 frets. The body style is dreadnought without cutaway.

The guitar has a built-in LR Baggs element with a volume control and 3-band equalizer (bass-mid-treble). It has a hidden click-lock battery compartment for easy battery replacements. The controls knobs are rather small and you need enough light to see in what position they are.

The head of the guitar is rather small as are the (Seagull) chrome tuners. The design of the head makes that the string only make a small angel behind the top nut (almost, but not completely perfect). The head of the guitar looks extra small because of the wide neck. It measures 46mm (1.8") at the nut, which is 5mm more than my previous guitar.

Minus: no cutaway, cedar top instead of spruce (just for the looks), control buttons on pre-amp, lack of a strap button on the neck side.
Plus: wide neck (especially nice for classical guitar players), design of the head.

When I bought the guitar it sounded like a dead bird. The strings were probably the same as mounted in the factory. I took a gamble buying this guitar, but I had read very good reviews on the sound of the spruce model of the guitar. The advertisement also mentioned a spruce top, so I was a bit disappointed when I discovered that it had a cedar top, which in my opinion doesn't look that beautiful.

The only part that made me buy the guitarwas the playability of the guitar. As I used to study classical guitar I was especially looking for a wider neck. Also the price I could negotiate was nice.

I tried to restring the guitar with d'Addario X-light (1st=0.010) string I had in stock, but the first string I changes gave an enormous buzz so I ordered tighter strings (d'Addario Light 1st=0.012). After mounting these strings the guitar came alive and it sounds great. It is very well balanced and I haven't discovered any dead spots yet. There is still a light buzz when I strumm hard, so next time I'll choose the d'Addario Phosphor Bronze 0.013 set.

The guitar makes it easy for me to play finger style and I can hear every note I play (thanks to the string spacing). Also when I play solo's with a pick or strumm the strings it sounds great.

Without any doubt there will be more expensive guitars sounding better, so I won't give it a 10. Still I'm quite exited about the sound. (I guess it can compete with my previous Yamaha FG412C guitar, that also sounded excellent. The small width of the neck was the only reason selling it).

The only reason for buying this guitar was the perfect action and intonation. The bridge contains a saddle that compensates several strings and is of a rare kind I've never seen before. But the intonation sounds perfect and that's what counts. After tuning the guitar it sounds "in tune" all over the neck and also stays in tune very well.

The high gloss finish of the top looks very good and the structure of the wood can be seen upon the thin layer of the lacquer. The top is properly (but not perfectly) bookmatched and the same can be said of the back. But regarding the price this is no complaint.


The frets feel perfect to me and have no sharp ends, so very good filing. The thickness and width of the neck feel perfectly to me. I believe this is a perfect dreadnough for classical guitar players and for finger style players.

The only remark I can think of is a very little bit of resonation at certain frequencies coming from within the body. Through the years I have developed very good hearing and probably most people won't even hear it.

The Cedar top looks quite vulnarable and also has a little bit of damage (from the previous owner). As I know from my classical guitar this doesn't affect the sound of the guitar much. As I don't throw around my instruments I don't bather about that. The rest of the instrument looks as solid as other dreadnoughts do.

I'm convinced that the slight resonation I mentioned above will have a cause that can be solved. So I'm not concerned

I didn't have the need to contact the company so far. So I can't judge on this subject.

I've been playing guitar for about 30 years. As I stated above I could think of some improvements. It neither isn't the best looking guitar. But on the other hand this guitar is by far the best playing dreadnought I have ever played. It has a tremendous sound and is very all round for most playing styles. Regarding the price I've payed for this baby I give it a 10 for price/prestation rating.

This is an update to the review below...

After owning it for 16 months, the sound has only gotten sweeter.

Here is one area that I wanted to update. I have now owned the guitar for about 16 months. I play it appx. 5-10 hours per week, leading worship live once a week. When not played, it is stored in a nice TKL hardshell case with the humidifier. So, it has been taken care of well. I have had the dealer where I bought it through, West Music, send it to their guitar tech 4 times now to fix a very loose endpin/jack. I don't know if it is because of the guitar strap moving around or what, but they could not get it fixxed. Now, the bridge is peeling up on the end pin- side of the guitar. The tech through West Music says that 6 braces have come unglued. Mind you I have stored this exactly how Seagull recomends. Those were the two big problems. The cedar top, as all cedar tops are, is very tender and scratches easily. Mostly on the bottom of the soundhole before the pick guard begins, I have chipped off a bit of wood...When purchasing this great sounding guitar, be aware that it may fall appart.... But on to the good news:

West Music sold me this guitar for a total of $410. Their comments were that this bridge peeling back, and the 6 braced coming unglued were "normal wear and tear" that it is not covered under warranty, and want me to spend $270 to fix it. HOGWASH. Another company trying to screw a working man out of money. I contacted Seagull via e-mail about the problem. Their response took less than 24 hours, and basically said that a bridge peeling up in 16 months is NOT normal wear and tear, and instructed the dealer to send the guitar to them to be inspected, and hopefull replaced. I will update you on what Seagull's actions are, but man, what great service!

Great guitar. Sounds silky and sweet. Plays well, although not as quickly as a Taylor (check out the 110 for similar price). Read the review below for more in depth. The craftsmanship, however, has not held up, so I docked them some points, but they did take care of the problem... Great guitar, pretty good company.

Beautiful bookmatched solid cedar top. Laminated 3-layer mahogany hardwood back, which has a beautiful flamed, or stripped look to it. Laminated 3-layer hardwood sides, outer layers are mahogany, middle layer is wild-cherry. Solid hondorus-mahogony neck. Semi-Gloss lacquer finish. Solid Indian Rosewood fingerboard and bridge. TUSQ nut and saddle. Seagull 15:1 tuning machines. This is, what I believe to be, one of the final dreadnaughts built as an M6, because of their new GT models. The preamp is the LL Baggs Micro EQ (bass, treble, volume) in a very nice pewter look, combined with LL Baggs Ribbon Transducer pickup. Really, in my eyes, the only upgrades that I would dream of would be the feel of an ebony fingerboard. For the price that I bought it, or for 3x the price, these features are outstanding. You'd really have to hear the quality of wood used, and see the beautiful finish to appreciate it. I have seen other Seagull's that weren't half this nice. I got really lucky.

They say that the Cedar/Mahogany combo should produce a warm sound, suitable for softer styles of music. After playing number Takamines with the C/M combo, Fender acoustics, the Taylor 110, and Martin X-Series, to my ear, this guitar blew them all away, except for the 110. The Tak's sound very "dead" compared the live, yet warm sound from the Seagull. The sound almost shoots out like a bullet, and its sustain is incredible. Hammer-ons and pull-offs are brought to life with the well-aged fingerboard, too. All of this said, and I haven't had the opportunity to plug it into my amp for worship leading. This guitar truly is an acoustic, that has the cappability to be amplified, NOT a guitar that is made to be amplified, but not just acoustically. I am the lead guitarist (the only guitarist) in a worship and praise band where we play the usual Contemporary Worship stuff. And now that my skills are getting better, I'm getting into acoustic based rock like DMB, John Mayer, and Jars of Clay. As well as getting into finger-style folky stuff like Peter Mayer, Storyhill, etc. This guitar suits very well for all of these styles. You can get heavy with it in expression, and it still holds its own. But, the fingerstyle playing, in my opinion is where it shines. It has a very balanced sound, with a bit of emphasis on the treble.

The only flaw on the whole guitar comes at the neck/body joint. This seems to reoccur with Seagulls. There is a bit of a hump at that joint. However, when playing up and down the neck, there is no effect on the sound of the guitar at all, so I'm not sure what to think of it. I like to have the strings as low as possible without any buzzing. The strings were set up quite low, however, a bit of a buzz on the G string. A truss rod adjustment will fix that, just a matter of doing it. The bracing inside looks sanded, and well cleaned. There is no visible glue inside or out. The pickup is secured tightly, and no wires hanging out. The bookmatch is to die for, what a stunning piece of wood they used for this guitar. The back, and the neck are also particularly beautifull, with redish striped through them. Very nice. No flaws that I have found in the finish, or assembly. A very finely made instrument.

I spent a couple good months researching and playing many different guitars. It came down to the Taylor 110 for $500 (no pickup/preamp) or this for $485. The Taylor sounded good, and maybe a bit brighter of a sound, but it had no back bracing, a curve in the wood was supposed to do the trick. That was really the defining feature. I will be playing live with it at least once a week, and will never bother to bring a back-up. Yes, it has a cedar top, so it is a bit fragile. So, if you take proper care of it, I won't have a problem. I will probably have a dealer insert a strap button on the heel, I don't understand why this isn't a standard feature?

Supposedly this has a limited lifetime, but you don't register the guitar with Seagull, it is to be handeled through the dealer. The dealer I worked with is great, West Music in Cedar Falls, IA. There selection isn't great, it had what I wanted, but the sales people aren't slimeballs, which counts for something. Also, Seagull no longer has a email address to contact them through, or any information about the warranty of the guitars. So, this rating is for Seagull, perhaps Lasido will eventually get this corrected.

I have been playing now for about 5 years, a self taught player. I have owned a Sigma DM, Alvarez RF-20C, Fender DG-14S, Fender GA-47S, Epiphone AJ18SCE. This guitar exceeds all of these, as well as Takamines worth 2x this price. The only other option I saw in this price range was the Taylor 110, but with the questions of durability, and no preamp, there was hardly a question at all. If it were lost or stolen, and I had the money, I'd buy the exact same guitar, or the GT model, since the M6 Cedar won't be manufactured anymore. From the first note I played on this guitar, I new it was the one. It may not be the one for you. The sound was warm, yet crisp, plenty loud. The sound is all that really mattered to me. But this is a stunning guitar to the eyes as well. There is litterally nothing about this guitar to dislike. My only problem is the warranty info, or lack there of, and that you must snail-mail Seagull for information... I don't know what that is all about. However, now at the end of my long search for a guitar to spend many nights with, I have found the one that I'll go to the grave with. Nice work, Seagull.