Seagull Cedar vs. Walden Red Western Cedar

[Everton FC]

I own (and love) a Seagull Entourage Rustic. I see Walden has their CD-670 - solid Red Western Cedar tops, mahogany b&s/laminate. Hate to ask for comparisons here - everyone pretty much loves the Gulls... And I've read a lot of good reviews on the Waldens. Has anyone played both, owned a Walden CD-670, have any thoughts/comments??

Thanks...

[Wasper]

Hi,

I'm a fan of Walden guitars and currently own two (had a third that I stupidly sold). That said, I think with the Walden guitars, the all-solid 2xxx and up series is where most of the good reviews come from. These were made very lightly built with all solid woods, had the carbon fiber neck reinforcement and these were the models that represented the "Walden Sound". The lower end models, while nice, do not stand up to their higher end line up.

Something to keep in mind with the Walden guitars is... They are no longer in business. So, any warranty that they may have come with new, is no longer really applicable.

If I remember correctly, the Walden guitars break down into several categories. This might help you navigate which Walden guitars to look out for. There are many deals out there for used or new-old-stock guitars. Some of those higher-end models that sold for around $1000+ new, can be found for around $400-ish right now:

The following series are solid top with laminate back and sides:
300-series
500-series
600-series
700-series

The following series had solid top, solid back and laminate sides:
1000-series

The following series were all solid wood:
2000-series
3000-series

The following series were the top of the line, all-solid wood and FSC 100% certified sustainable woods:
4000-series

The following series was introduced just before Walden folded and went out of business. This series is also all-solid wood models:
800-series

I also own a Simon & Patrick guitar (same maker that makes Seagull guitars). I really like that guitar as well. I've played many Seagull guitars and haven't found anything bad to say about them.

Personally, if I was looking at a entry-level Seagull and an Entry-level Walden (which the Entourage Rustic and the CD-670 are), I think I would go with the Seagull as I think at that level they are built nicer. If you step up to the higher-end model line-ups from both makers... I would lean towards the Walden guitars. They are built lighter and have a very nice voice to them.... that is if you can find one, as they are getting harder to find as more time goes by since their shutdown.

hope this helps somewhat.

[Everton FC]

Originally Posted by Wasper

Hi,

I'm a fan of Walden guitars and currently own two (had a third that I stupidly sold). That said, I think with the Walden guitars, the all-solid 2xxx and up series is where most of the good reviews come from. These were made very lightly built with all solid woods, had the carbon fiber neck reinforcement and these were the models that represented the "Walden Sound". The lower end models, while nice, do not stand up to their higher end line up.

Something to keep in mind with the Walden guitars is... They are no longer in business. So, any warranty that they may have come with new, is no longer really applicable.

If I remember correctly, the Walden guitars break down into several categories. This might help you navigate which Walden guitars to look out for. There are many deals out there for used or new-old-stock guitars. Some of those higher-end models that sold for around $1000+ new, can be found for around $400-ish right now:

The following series are solid top with laminate back and sides:
300-series
500-series
600-series
700-series

The following series had solid top, solid back and laminate sides:
1000-series

The following series were all solid wood:
2000-series
3000-series

The following series were the top of the line, all-solid wood and FSC 100% certified sustainable woods:
4000-series

The following series was introduced just before Walden folded and went out of business. This series is also all-solid wood models:
800-series

I also own a Simon & Patrick guitar (same maker that makes Seagull guitars). I really like that guitar as well. I've played many Seagull guitars and haven't found anything bad to say about them.

Personally, if I was looking at a entry-level Seagull and an Entry-level Walden (which the Entourage Rustic and the CD-670 are), I think I would go with the Seagull as I think at that level they are built nicer. If you step up to the higher-end model line-ups from both makers... I would lean towards the Walden guitars. They are built lighter and have a very nice voice to them.... that is if you can find one, as they are getting harder to find as more time goes by since their shutdown.

hope this helps somewhat.

Thorough, to say the least!

I have no intention of selling my Seagull. I've seen a few Walden's online here, one as cheap as $50.00, sans case (that's the CD-670). Also a Concorda 500 for < $200.00, case included. Don't want to develop GAS, of course! But the ones online got me doing a lot of research... Catalogue browsing included.

More curious about the tonal differences between the Seagull Cedar and the Walden Western Red Cedar. But your info is certainly appreciated! (Always wanted an S&P or Norman all-solid acoustic! Still looking for one used...)

[Wasper]

Unfortunately, I don't have enough experience with the lower end Waldens to give you a report on the tonal differences between them and the Seagull guitars. But I purchased all three Walden guitars from the same dealer and they also carry Seagulls. Trying to remember, I think I preferred the Seagulls in the lower price segments over the Waldens. But, when comparing the higher-end Seagulls (Artist series, Maritime series) to the higher-end Waldens, the Waldens sounded much nicer to my ears.

The Walden that I stupidly sold in my first response was from their top of the line 4000 series, a CG4070-Cert (thought the grass was greener on the other side and realized too late that it wasn't). This guitar was a solid FSC certified Red Western Cedar guitar over solid FSC certified Mahogany. I found that the Cedar topped Waldens at that level ere superior to the cedar topped Seagulls closer to that price point.

I did find two soundcloud recordings of that CG4070-Cert that I made going back several years. Take into consideration I was only playing for about a year when I made these recordings. But this is the closest thing I can give you for a Cedar topped Walden sound example.They were recorded using a Tascam DR-05 sitting on my desk about two feeet from where I was sitting.

This first one I was playing with slowing down "The Ash Grove" just to see what it sounded like played real slow with long pauses:



This other recording was me trying to learn a fingerstyle arrangment of Scarborough Fair by John Murphy. During the recording, my then 3 year old son started yelling that he wanted to watch a DVD (you can hear him towards the end)... hence the title of the recording, lol.



Thats all I got for a Walden Cedar top sound.. but I don't know how accurate that will come across, since it is of a guitar in a different price bracket.

I'll let others chime in if they have anything to add... cause that's all I got, lol