Seagull or Garrison Guitar

I have *played* neither brand, but Garrison is an interesting company. I got interested in finding an acoustic guitar with the Buzz Feiten tuning system, and came across this brand. All of their guitars are made with a weird design: all of the bracing, kerfing, binding, bridgeplate, etc. is a single piece of "projection molded" glass fibre. The company says it makes the "whole guitar resonate" more efficiently. They did win a Golden Axe award from Harmony Central (if that means anything), and just about every model has the BF tuning (if you're into that--I'm still not convinced myself).

I guess the only downsides are that since most of the tough work is taken care of in molding, then the guitar is essentially made by robots and not real people; also, the guitar is not all wood. Of course, Ovation still has a good reputation with a lot of people, and their guitar bodies are mostly fiberglass.

On the good side, they have a lot of extras, a catchy gimmick, and are very reasonably priced. They are also made in Canada, so production standards I assume are pretty high (having played with Godin guitars now and then).

Like I said, though, I haven't played them. Playing a guitar is the best bet. I never buy a guitar before I play it.

Just my two cents...and by the way, the Garrison website is here if you haven't been to it already:

http://www.garrisonguitars.com
 
I don't know anything about the Garrison guitar, but I own 2 Seagulls. Around here anyways there just wasn't anything else in the price range that could compare to them. There were other guitars that played OK, but the Seagull blew them all away in the tone dept. I also found a budget model Alvarez that wasn't too bad. What's your price range? I have a friend who has a Tacomah that is outstanding for $500 - $600.


Twist
 
Own a Seagull Plus Spruce six string acoustic, and I love it. It was only around 350.00 new five years ago, so about 400 now. Made in Quebec, the necks of Fenders I think were supplied by this guy, and he started making his own electrics and acoustics. Acoustics also known as Simon and Patrick, Art and Lutherie, I think he bought the Norman company also. Good quality at a lower price. Also, Godin is the owner of the company. His electrics are fantastic also.

Salmon
 
I have been searching for a new acoustic for months and until I found the Seagull Artist Studio, I thought my search was in vain -- and I was demoing $3,000 guitars. None of them grabbed me until I played the Seagull. Unfortunately, the one I was playing had just been sold, so now I'm on the hunt to find another.

Apparently they can be hard to come by.
 
Salmon said:
Own a Seagull Plus Spruce six string acoustic, and I love it. It was only around 350.00 new five years ago, so about 400 now. Made in Quebec, the necks of Fenders I think were supplied by this guy, and he started making his own electrics and acoustics. Acoustics also known as Simon and Patrick, Art and Lutherie, I think he bought the Norman company also. Good quality at a lower price. Also, Godin is the owner of the company. His electrics are fantastic also.

Salmon

I love my S6+Spruce, also. I compared a wall of acoustics, not looking at the price tags and picked my favorate. When I saw it was $400 with a hardshell, I about shit. It also records very nicely.
 
I'd go with the Seagull.

But those Korean-made Breedlove acoustic's are really sweet! :)
 
A couple of Christmas's ago, I bought each of my two sons a new Norman B20 (also made by Godin Guitars and is exactly the same as the Seagull S6 except for the shape of the headstock). Great guitar for the money, and reputed as such in most guitar forums.
 
Spend the extra bucks for the Seagull Mosaic. The solid wood back really makes a difference.
 
A friend of mine had a Seagull S6+ back in 2000, I think it was the cedar one. He let me borrow it for a couple weeks. That thing had a very nice sound especially good for fingerpicking and light strumming and it played great too. When I played harder on that guitar, it did'nt really respond like I would have liked. Otherwise, it was awesome. I have played other S6+'s in local music stores but was'nt too impressed. I'm not sure what the difference was, maybe the setup. Go with whatever your ears tell you.
 
I'd probably go with a Garrison. THe ones I have played are on the heavy side but they sound decent and the necks feel nice. The Seagulls I have played sound decent too but I don't like the necks much.

A
 
I've liked most guitar I've played by the Godin/Seagull/etc. people. I've played some sweet Seagulls in my day. Like them all.

Never played a Garrison. But I can definitely vouch for the Seagulls--I think I might be getting one myself this summer.

And, because I like to promote them, if you're looking for an electric w/acoustic bridge and/or Roland synth access, the Godin X-TSA is sweet. And sexy. That's my next Electric purchase. [Drooling on keyboard, wiping keyboard, now has a clean keyboard].
 
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