Seagull S6 Folk Acoustic

6-string, smaller-bodied acoustic. No frills, just a great guitar. No pickguard, no fancy binding (binding, yes, just not fancy) or fancy trim around soundhole- just 3 concentric circles. Solid Cedar top, back and sides, rosewood fretboard. Gotoh-type tuners with neat seagull logos on each of them. Rating is high because this guitar has all it needs- why spend your hard-earned bucks on fluff?

Beautiful sound, like a ring in a bell that would make Johnny B Goode swoon! Really- it has a VERY nice ring- good harmonics without brittle, excessive overtones. Folk-sized body means none of the boominess of dreadnaughts. NOTHING to fault, sonically.

Very good setup. Nice construction- one of the hand-made Seagulls- I understand they are now machine- or semi-machine built. NO flaws that I could fing.

Here is where this guitar has issues. Cedar is a soft wood- I have seen another S6 that had lots of dings in the top (Lefty, too, that I wanted, but decided to pass because of the dings- should of gotten it after all), and I have nicked the soundhole with my agressive blues strumming style. Gonna have to pick up something a bit more resistant to that, I guess. Satin finish looks nice, in my opinion- I think I'll satin the finish of my next acoustic.

I hear that Seagull is amomg the best is this regard, but have not needed any support, yet.

Yes, that is what I paid for it. No, you CAN NOT have it for anywhere near that price, not now, not ever. I love this guitar- would only sell it if I could get TWO hand-made Seagulls for the same price- a lefty for me, and another S6 for my girlfriend, who does not currently play, but I can dream...) I am afraid to gig with it, so will buy something else for that use. STOLEN? HORRORS!!! Excellent value- even brand new, machine-build ones. Didn't compare- had never heard of Seagull when I found this one, but I can recognize a deal when I see it. But I do wish the wood was more ding-resistant...
By the way, if anyone is in New Orleans, and wants to jam, I lead an acoustic jam nite mid-week. Email me.

This is Canadian made, satin finished, smaller than dreadnought flat top acoustic. I bought it used, but I suspect it was made in the 90's some time. It has a solid top, spruce I believe, laminated sides.
Fingerboard is rosewood, and is a bit wider than the usual acoustic width and with a fairly thick radius. I really like this neck, easier to get good note definition with a bit more space between strings. Good quality tuners.
Ornamentation is spartan, which I think adds to the puritan charm of this box. No fancy inlay, no fancy rosette, not even a pickgard.
There is some kind of passive pickup with no external controls inside the guitar. I have no idea if it is original or not. When I bought it used, I also got a non-original hard shell case.

I play with a flat pick and often use a heavy percussive stroke. This guitar doesn't wimp out when you play it hard, but sounds nice picked lighter too. Good sound for single string lead and for cowboy chords strumming. Acoustic sound is loud, a bit bright, not especially rich or "singing". But it really cuts through other instruments. Tight bass, not muddy. I don't finger pick, but a finger picker might like this guitar.
Given that the pickup is passive and has no shaping controls, it sounds pretty decent. I usually plug into an electric guitar amp, sometimes with a bit of delay and reverb. Mixed with the mic'ed acoustic sound the pickup adds even more definition. All and all, notes really jump off the guitar.

The guitar had perfect action when I got it, just low enough. This used guitar had some very noticeable wear under the strings that a pickguard would have stopped. On the other hand, no pickguard means no damping of top vibrations.

This is an acoustic guitar, not a Telecaster, but it seems sturdy enough. Yes, I'd gig with it. Neck and tuners are stable. I couldn't care less about the thin finish with some wear showing as long as the guitar sounds and plays this good.

No data. Nothing to fix.

I've been playing acoustic since the middle 70's, and I almost always use a flat pick. Unless I was had the funds for a much more expensive guitar, I'd replace this is lost with another Seagull. My favorite features are the wide fretboard and the loud, well defined, in your face sound.
Before this guitar my main acoustic was a circa 1980 solid spruce top Japanese 000 Martin copy with a heavy gloss finish. The 000 copy still sounds nice if you play it soft, but the Seagull has much more dynamic range.
In general every Seagull I've ever seen was an incredible deal in terms of sound and playability for the money. Used, this one was just too good a deal to pass up.

This is a regular steel-string, solid-cedar top acoustic. The body shape is quite lovely... the shoulders are wonderfully sloped, not squared like most dreadnoughts. In fact, I think this axe may be ever-so-slightly smaller than a dreadnought... Don't get me wrong, though, it's not as small as a 000 or anything. The top is 15" across, 19.5" long, and almost 4.5" deep. It has a rosewood board with average sized m.o.p. dots. The top, as I stated, is solid cedar (with wonderfully straight and even grain), the back and sides are canadian wild cherry: a quite beautiful wood. It's scalloped x braced, and handmade in La Patrie Canada. THe bridge is rosewood, and the nut and saddle are Micarta. I am pretty sure the tuners are grovers, if I remember correctly. The neck is mahogany, and has a quite innovative joint with no glue... it's done in the same way as Taylors with (gasp) a bolt on the inside of the guitar. I prefer this type of joint to the traditional glue, though, because theres no glop, glue or finish to get in the way of sound transfer... Seagull does this to insure sound transfer and consistency, not in any way at all as a cost saver. The scale is an in-between 25" and the neck is pretty comfy, but not a dream or anything. Fairly standard radius. It has a satin finish, 4 coats of alcohol laquer, hand sanded between each coat, not that cheap polyurethane stuff... trust me, never buy a guitar with a poly finish. One coat of Poly is equal in thickness to 30 coats of alcohol lacquer, and absolutely kills the sound of a guitar. No pickup, or accesories of any kind... not even a case. bummer, but for around $300 for a handmade, north american, scalloped braced solid top, what the heck!

I am not a flat top player, normally... I usually play jazz, and I mostly use this for writing, especially when I am sitting behind a piano. It does this admirably... with a good set of phosphor bronze strings on it, this baby sounds quite killer... I heard it in the store and had to have it, even before I knew the price (I mean, the guy said it was cheap, but I didn't know HOW cheap! Man, what a steal!). Anything woth a solid top, scalloped bracing, lacquer (as opposed to poly) finish and good construction will sound good. I mean, this thing's no Taylor, but for the price, the sound is quite good. It's rich and full, not at all bright, with warm qualities.

Well, nothing's perfect... I had to do some pretty serious tweaking to get this thing like I wanted it. This is the exception, though, for most 'Gulls I've played have been very smooth. Actually, mine wasn't all THAT serious... I just had to play around with the truss rod for quite some time. The action is still a bit high for my tastes... perhaps I should file the saddle down. Everything else, though, is great. Nut is cut superbly, tuners and all other hardware are very smooth, and no finish flaws... quite durable finish on the back and sides especially. I must clarify... problems are not as bad as I may make them out to be. I've played much more expensive axes that felt much worse... I'm just picky about playability.

Like I said, I'm a jazz cat, so I don't use this live. It has, however, withstood some minor accidents at home, like once when I accidentally dropped a harmonica on it from my blues days, and another time when a slide fell on it (I used to be REALLY into the blues, let me tell you). The finish is very strong, but on the top, the cedar wood is REALLY soft... I mean, the least little thing will leave a small scar... but most aren't visible from over 2 feet away. Overall, very reliable.

Don't ask me, I just play the thing... I don't keep in touch with its parents!

I own quite a fair amount of gear... this is probably my most inexpensive axe that I actually still use (I own 7 total, but actually use 5 regularly). This is the closest thing I have to a serious steel string acoustic... I hope to get a gut-string of some kind before the summer's up. I guess a pickup would be useful, but I'd rather have a nylon-string with a pickup for jazz. If it were stolen, I'd probably get a gut string instead. I love that it has all these groovy features of a really high-end acoustic (It fools some people into thinking it's MUCH more pricey than it is!) like a solid top, scalloped bracing, same neck joint style as Taylor, handmade, etc. but at a MUCH groovier price. I wish it came with a case, but hey, you can't have it all. This is by far the best guitar for the price, I don't care what anyone says... Even though I haven't rated it that high in some of the other categories, I'm giving it a good score for overall rating simply because of the VALUE! It's definitely a good thing to get a guitar this well made with good materials for this kind of price... but I did buy it a few years ago... I don't think they make them anymore. I think a comparable model lists for around 500 now, but street price is lower. This is a cheap guitar that's not at all cheaply made.