player opinions
Seagull S6+
Name: Rick Rollo
-
Band: -----
-
Model Year: 2002
Price Paid: $320 CDN
Performance
The Seagull S6+ Cedar isn’t all that fancy to look at. Pleasingly simple and functional design, with no fancy frills. However, this guitar produces a warm tone right through its whole range from low E to the high E strings. It has incredible sustain and balance. It has a smaller neck than most “dreadnought” designs, which makes it nice to the touch and yet easy to finger. Though checked out first by the technicians in the guitar store before delivery, the set up and action were perfect right out of the box. It handles every playing style and technique that I have put it through. When I bought it, I asked a well-known local guitarist, who was in the store, for his opinion. He commented that, for my money, the Seagull was the best value in the store, with a sound that would rival much more expensive guitars.
-
Performance Rating: 10
Sound Quality
The tone of this Seagull was bright, loud and full from the minute I bought it. I have played it (at the least for few minutes, but usually longer) nearly every day since I bought it and the sound is already beginning to “age” into an even more mellow, fuller, warmer sounding guitar. The solid Cedar top transmits even the slightest touch of a string. The resonance and sustain of particularly the E, A, D & G strings is truly remarkable. And it has volume to spare. The sound is clean and discernible when played quietly, but is also thunderous and clear when you really dig in. When you pick it up, no matter what your day has been shaping up to, it takes your mind off of “whatever” and you just want to play and play.
-
Sound Quality Rating: 10
Construction
-
This Seagull S6+ has a solid Cedar top that is beautifully “bookended.” It has 3-layer Wild Cherry back and sides and is bound on the top, but not the back. It has a Silver Leaf Maple neck and headstock with an Indian Rosewood fingerboard and bridge. It has fully enclosed 15:1 ratio tuning machines, with little seagulls engraved on the back of each tuner. It has four coats of semi-gloss lacquer finish, is hand-made in Canada, and is lighter than (and slightly smaller) than other dreadnought body styles. The lacquered satin finish makes it more susceptible to scratches and dents than a higher gloss protective finish, but this doesn't bother me, since I treat this beauty like the work of art that it truly is. The action is set up perfectly for me and I get little or no fret-buzz. I prefer to use D’Addario Phosphor Bronze Light gauge strings (they seem to suit this guitar best.)
-
Construction Rating: 10
Name: Pete Steiner
-
Band: -----
-
Model Year: -----
Price Paid: $332 US with Hard Case
Performance
This guitar is a fingerstyle player’s dream. It sounded great with the original D’Addario light strings; and has also performed well with both Martin Lights and Martin Mediums. The setup and action were perfect right out of the box. I’ve owned the guitar for a year and ten months — and during that time the sound has opened up just like I would expect from a $1200 Martin. Everything you have heard about Seagull guitars is true. The “hype” isn’t hype. I played a lot of expensive guitars (Taylors, Martins, Guilds, etc.) while shopping for a dreadnought — and I wound up buying this unknown Canadian guitar. :-) This is the brand folks will be collecting in 50 years.
-
Performance Rating: 10
Sound Quality
I prefer my acoustic guitars without electronics. The S6+ Spruce has a balanced, resonant tone across the range, and I’d hate to mess with that by putting wires and microphones inside. (By the way, this tonal excellence was present in every one of the two dozen Seagulls I played before making a choice. There wasn’t a dud in the lot. I can’t say that about -any- other brand of guitars I’ve tested, with the exception of Taylor.) I don’t think it hurts that Seagull uses solid 800-year-old Spruce or Cedar for the top of every model they make. ;-) (Those of you who, like me, are horrified by the thought of someone logging our few remaining old-growth forests will be relieved to know that Seagull only harvests dead trees.)
-
Sound Quality Rating: 10
Construction
-
The construction of this guitar is thoroughly professional. It is truly and obviously a hand made instrument. This is a no-frills guitar. None of my hard earned dollars went into fancy inlay. The matte finish laquer would be a bit fragile for road use; but I think its a fair tradeoff for the extra resonance (and quick “opening up”) of the instrument. I expect that, if I treat it with respect, this guitar will still be with me when I’m an old man. The fit and finish is simple but flawless. The people of La Patrie, Quebec take pride in their work. They have my highest respect. Now go buy your own Seagull before the prices go up. You can’t borrow mine, I’ll be playing it every day.
-
Construction Rating: 10
Name: Steve Mann
Band: 3rd degree
-
Model Year: -----
-
Price Paid: $650
Performance
I have the Seagull Cedar s6+ Cedar with LR BAGGS DUET pickup system (w/microphone and transducer). First the good points. The guitar plays like a dream, very wide for fingerpicking style, almost 2" measured with tape measure. Tone is excellent, as good as many Martins I have played. Much better than my Takamine EF341 unplugged. Great plugged in sound also. The Microphone adds a dimension to the sound, but not sure if it’s worth the extra couple of hundred bucks over just the transducer, which sounds fine by itself. Internal mics just don’t sound as good as I think they should, I think it has something to do with how they EQ them to not feed back as much, which they do anyway. I dunno. Anyway, everything works great, plays extremely easy.
-
Performance Rating: 8
Sound Quality
Like I said, the sound is great. For the value, you can’t find a better sounding guitar. I almost bought a $1300 Martin, but for half the price I get close to the same nice resonant sound. Pickup system works real well, I dont think you need the microphone, though, it can add some different dimensions to your sound. Sounds similar to my Takamine plugged in, I hoped it would sound better, but, I’ve only had it a month, so maybe some adjusting of the various mic/pickup combinations will help it. Still, Takamines sound pretty good plugged in, and the Seagull does as well, plus BLOWS IT AWAY unplugged.
-
Sound Quality Rating: 10
Construction
-
This is where I am having some problems. The minor problems start with the cedar wood itself, after 2 weeks of playing, my guitar looked worse than an old 12 string I have had for 25 yrs. Pick scuffs near soundhole are very bad, it will look like Willie Nelson’s guitar inside of a year. Cedar is very soft wood and shows EVERY scuff on it. I knew that going in, but didnt expect it to get so bad, still I was warned. Internal mic which is encased in foam came loose and I glued it back on, hope it stays. The painted on designs, etc, dont bother me much, I don’t care if it’s inlay or paint, it doesnt look bad now, we’ll see how it holds up. The worst problem I have had, and I consider it fairly major, is string buzz. There seems to be a bad “dropoff” where the neck meets the body of the guitar. Where the neck is supported by the guitar body it is fine, where the neck leaves the supported of the guitar, it “drops down” some, causing frets around the 12th to the 1st to actually be lower than frets above that. This is causing fret buzz. I fixed it by putting a much higher bridge on, raising the action a LOT! We tried adjusting the truss, different strings, etc. Nothing worked. I then played EVERY Seagull in the shop, and they ALL had this problem. MARTINS do not. This I consider a serious flaw if you are an experienced player who likes to play up and down the neck and are looking for a very clean, buzz free sound. The tech said all guitars buzz, and that this really wasn’t so bad. I couldn’t disagree more, not all guitars buzz. I have played enough good ones to know that isn’t the case. We have got the buzzing minimized now to just the lower E string, at the 9-12th frets, and unless I am thumping barre cords, it doesn’t show up that much, but it took an effort. I still love the guitar, it plays great, sounds great, and for the money, you cant beat it, and if a little buzzing doesn’t bother you, there isn’t any other choiced, imho.
-
Construction Rating: 4
Name: Jake
-
Band: -----
-
Model Year: -----
-
Price Paid: $275
Performance
-
I wasn’t looking to buy a new acoustic (as I already own a Martin DM), but was putzing around a music store when I played this guitar. Not only does it sound better then what could be expected in this price range, it sounds as good (or better) then the Martin (not as bassy or loud as the Martin, but it is way more balanced from top-to-bottom.) I am only giving it a 8 due to fact that there are guitars out there that sound better, but if taking price into account it rates a 10++++++.
-
Performance Rating: 8
Sound Quality
Very well balanced for a Dreadnought (sounds like a grand auditorium). This guitar is a wonderful instrument to record with, as it sounds just like you would imagine a guitar would.
-
Sound Quality Rating: 10
Construction
-
Nothing fancy, everything went into the sound of the instrument, though it is pretty in a plain sort of way. It played well off-the-shelf and continues to do so.
-
Construction Rating: 8
links
Average Ratings
- Performance: 9
- Sound Quality: 10
- Construction: 8
Ratings Key
- 10: Excellent
- 0: Useless
Company
- Seagull