Seagull Curse

[jansch]

My first Seagull was the Artist Mosaic. A lovely guitar. Apart from
the 2nd string, which was dead when played open.

I had the nut and saddle changed, without an improvement, and
sold it on, at a greatly reduced price.

Despite my problems with this Seagull, I had a very strong urge
to get another.

I bought an S6 Original. That was great at first. Then I realised
there was a dead spot at the 9th fret on the 5th string. I
haven't decided what to do with this yet

I then bought a Seagull Coastline S12 online. The company,
Scan Computers UK, sets up the guitars before delivering them,
luckily for me, as there was a fault with the guitar. They advised me
to cancel the order, which I did.

Is there a quality control issue with Seagull guitars?

[Thom PC]

I would not think so - I usually see a lot of positive comments about Seagull and their sister brands (Art & Lutherie, Simon & Patrick, Norman, Godin). Personally, I have had a Seagull S6 Folk, a Seagull SWS Maritime Folk, and a Simon & Patrick Mini Jumbo, all fine guitars with no issues.

It seems to me that you have been extremely unlucky.

[BigTerp]

My Seagull S6 Original is a 2012ish model and a great guitar.

[ship of fools]

I must be a really terrible Canadian I am not a fan of any of their brands. There is just something that I do not like ion their voicing and have always had the misfortune of the intonation being off more then any compensation could correct.
So now I do not even bother trying out any of their guitars, but some other just love the brand so like in all things Its what it is.

[mawmow]

Well, you appear to be a more than average player as a "cowboy chords" strummer may not have found what you reported.

I play fingerstyle and am a proud owner of a Seagull Performer CW Burnt Umber QIT.
Now, I have to say that when I was said the local store had received the guitar
they had ordered for me, we were all extremely ashamed when we opened the
box : a tuner knob was missing while another one slipped out when I tried to tune to pitch !
We returned the guitar and received another one that suffered no such flaw.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by jansch

My first Seagull was the Artist Mosaic. A lovely guitar. Apart from
the 2nd string, which was dead when played open.

I had the nut and saddle changed, without an improvement, and
sold it on, at a greatly reduced price.

Despite my problems with this Seagull, I had a very strong urge
to get another.

I bought an S6 Original. That was great at first. Then I realised
there was a dead spot at the 9th fret on the 5th string. I
haven't decided what to do with this yet

I then bought a Seagull Coastline S12 online. The company,
Scan Computers UK, sets up the guitars before delivering them,
luckily for me, as there was a fault with the guitar. They advised me
to cancel the order, which I did.

Is there a quality control issue with Seagull guitars?

Both of those issues sound like simple set-up tweaks to fix to me. Obviously I can't say for sure without inspection but from your descriptions I'd think about the first problem needing a touch with a nut file to get the release point perfect on the b string. And the second requiring a very small drop of ultra low viscosity superglue wicked under the fret at the dead point (although I can't say I have ever played a 5th string at the 9th fret!). The way to test for a fret dead spot is to take a small ball hammer and very gently tap at different points across the fret. The sound will change unmistakably if you have a dead spot. Usually caused by a difference in the wood grain of the fretboard at that point which has meant the fret isn't snug in the slot under that string. This isn't something you are going to spot during production or during QC. Having watched some of their factory tour videos, I think that Seagull generally has a very good system for fret slot cutting and fret installation.

I have had a couple of Art & Lutherie guitars and a Seagull, and have recently done set-ups on another 3 Seagulls. The general build quality in terms of neck geometry, stability, truss rod action and fretwork etc was really very good. Better than the 3 Martins and couple of Vintage guitars and new Recording King I had in my hand this summer.

[GuitarDogs62]

Honestly if I would have found this issue which I have not I would have contacted Godin. They have great customer service and would have taken care of that issue at their expense. Seagulls and Godin's are great guitars and are a hidden gem.