#31
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I have an older, 1990's Seagull Folk with the classic Seagull laminated cherry b&s and cedar top that has been my workhorse for many years. As some have said upthread, it has its own sound, one I happen to like.
Beside the mahogany on your, newer, model, it appears to retain my guitar body shape and scale length, while having a narrower nut and likely a less chunky neck carve. I happen to love those old Seagull necks, but of course tastes differ on such things. For my intents and purposes I care little for how loud a guitar is, so the less projecting sound is not a problem for me. That its sound different is not an issue either, if it sounded like my pair of Martins I wouldn't have the sound it does have. Records easily. Enjoy yours. I do like the look of this model.
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----------------------------------- Creator of The Parlando Project Guitars: 20th Century Seagull S6-12, S6 Folk, Seagull M6; '00 Guild JF30-12, '01 Martin 00-15, '16 Martin 000-17, '07 Parkwood PW510, Epiphone Biscuit resonator, Merlin Dulcimer, and various electric guitars, basses.... |
#32
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I'm still sorting the acoustic tone out, but I'm getting close and will update soon. |
#33
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UPDATE
So, here's what I've done to get the most out of this guitar:
Acoustic Tone: The brassy honk of this guitar as it comes stock almost had me selling it, but I didn't want to give up on it, since it's all solid and has some mojo in it that kept me doing everything I reasonably could to tame the beast. So, I: 1) Had a fret dress done. --> levelled out a couple of slightly-high frets and cleaned up some of the glassy-high sizzle on the trebles. Consequently, my tech also cut the nut slots a bit, making it a tad smoother/easier to play. 2) Replaced the saddle with one made of bone, shaped for Godin/Seagull models, from MacNichol Guitars --> gave the notes a bit more weight, adding fullness/roundness to the highs (tamed them some). 3) Put some boxwood bridge pins in --> can't really tell if they did anything, but the originals were plastic, so... 4) Tried a ****load of different strings --> The ones I finally found that were the best for this guitar: GHS Silk and Bronze .012-.054 set (174.4lbs tension for 25.5" scale, but they still play very easily). BINGO! This smoothed out all the harshness. It sounds A LOT warmer now with good clarity and projection. In order of preference: 1º - GHS Silk & Bronze; 2º - Elixir Nano 80/20 lights; 3º - Monels - either Martin Retros or Mangan(it's a toss-up) Conclusion: I'll be keeping it for a while. The extra work was worth it IMO, I now have a musically pleasing guitar both acoustically and plugged in. I'm not a luthier by any stretch of the imagination, but I think that the sometimes strident tone (especially strummed aggressively) that comes stock in the guitar is a result of it being overbuilt, though not heavy (I'm guessing it's +/- 4.5lbs). I kept thinking that this is what a Kay would have sounded like if it were solid wood. I think they need to lighten up the strut work and whatever else is choking off the guitar from freely producing bass frequencies. This guitar is slightly larger than my Martin CEO-9, and my Martin's bass response, though not huge like a dread, kills this one. (It also cost 4X more.) Having said that, this guitar has good intonation and playability; a lot of sustain and sensitivity to touch and dynamics; and natural compression, even stock. And, if you were going to use it most of the time plugged in, you wouldn't need to do anything other than general setup preferences to it. The pickup is very warm, non-quacky, and pulls the bass up to a decent level and balances out the highs and mids. I played out with it before I did any of the above and was pleased with the performance and tone plugged in. I got a deal on the guitar, so didn't spend all that much more than asking price when all was said and done. Last edited by Campro; 04-16-2024 at 08:37 PM. |