As a guy who has a both a "Performing Artist" Martin and a Seagull dreadnought, I have to agree that with you they do play differently. The string spacing is exactly the same on both guitars (2 3/16 @ bridge) but the nut is wider on the Gull by a little bit outside of both E strings and the neck is definitely "chunkier", so the actual playing experience is different, bu not radically so, IMHO. I usually carry both my Martin and my Seagull with me to performance so that I can keep one in alternate tuning and not have to waste time on stage. Switching back and forth between them hasn't presented me with many problems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by brencat
My wife tells me it's funny for her to watch my evolution in guitar playing over the last 7 months. The S6 in my sig was my first guitar... a total noob at the age of 41. And I really enjoyed the thing for a while... when I first brought it home last August and through 4 months of lessons.
As time went on however, and I began to get better and better, and then got to sample other guitars, I started to notice things that bothered me... the 1.8" nut and chunky neck past the 7th fret, the weight balance (a tad neck heavy), the fact that it slides on my leg under heavy strumming, and that 'laminate' tone. And the dreadnought shape was not helping my bad right shoulder any.
I'm one of those detail oriented people that can pick out nuances in everything. And when I started sampling the all solid wood Martins, and especially that Performance Artist neck, the limitations of my S6 became clearer and I wanted something more. I think the S6 is an 'okay' guitar, but not a great guitar. And I play my particular Martin way better as well.
I've played the Mini Jumbo and didn't like the sound at all. Not even a little. The S6 blows it away. But if I were doing it all over and had known what I know now, 7 months into my journey, I would without question choose an all solid wood Eastman in the $550-$650 range before Seagull.
One man's opinion.
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