I had been yearning for an acoustic guitar for quite a while when I finally got around to shopping for a new guitar. I had previously only ever owned a Washburn Mercury II electric guitar, which I always enjoyed playing. But I realized after I bought that guitar many years ago that what I really wanted was a guitar that I could take camping to sing songs around the campfire. When I was younger I had delusions about one day being in a rock band, which I now realize is probably more fantasy than reality given how much of a commitment I am now able to make to regular guitar practice.
So a few months ago I finally got around to purchasing a new guitar. I went down to the Jansen Music shop in Watsonville, CA on the recommendation of a friend of mine from church, and also because I knew that Jansen was a dealer of Seagull brand guitars. I had read about Seagull guitars before and knew that they were the most affordable solid-top guitars on the market. A solid-top guitar is a guitar whose top is made from a single piece of wood rather than different pieces that have been laminated together. The solid top produces sound that is bright and crisp, as the glue in laminated guitars will serve to deaden the sound produced by the vibration in the wood.
I tried several different guitars at Jansen Music, both Seagull brand and otherwise. There was one guitar in particular that stuck out amongst all the rest. It was a used Seagull S6 Cedar Top Acoustic guitar. Although the guitar was previously used and had several wear marks on the top from having been well loved and played hard, the guitar had a crisp bright sound across its entire range from high to low. The guitar had a price tag of $250, and I put $150 towards putting the guitar on layaway because I was on a relatively tight budget. I couldn’t wait to take home my new guitar once I had finished paying off the layaway.
It took me another month to squirrel away the money to pay off the guitar and to buy a hard case to store it in. But when the month passed and I had the cash, I was the proud owner of a used Seagull S6 Cedar Solid-Top Acoustic guitar. Since I purchased the guitar, I have taken the guitar camping and I thoroughly enjoyed its crisp sound while playing and singing songs around the campfire in Yosemite National Park.
While I am still struggling to find enough time to really improve my skill at guitar playing, the Seagull S6 itself is a true joy to play. The action is good and the sound is really bright and crisp without sounding tinny like a cheap guitar. This is really a professional quality guitar at an extremely reasonable price. Seagull guitars are all handmade and the quality of Seagull’s craftsmanship shows in the quality of tone achieved in even their basic model guitar. One of the reasons that their guitars are so cheap is that Seagull does not offer fancy finishes on their basic model guitars. A very basic lacquer is used to finish the guitar, which gives the S6 a really earthy appearance. Seagull has gambled on quality over appearance, which makes the Seagull guitars the perfect solution for anyone who wants a quality guitar on a budget.
