I've had a Seagull for a year and a half. It's a really great guitar - I love the sound and look of the cedar top, but the one issue is that neck is a bit thick for me, especially when trying to do some chords where my thumb wraps around the low E string. I've been looking at installing a pickup, but given the neck width of a Seagull 1.8 inches as opposed to 1.75 on a Taylor or 1.68 (11/16) on a lot of other acoustics, I'm reluctant to invest money in a permanent pickup on a guitar that I'm not completely convinced about.
I started looking around for other quality budget acoustics with thinner necks: and the Yamaha FG730S caught my eye ($300)
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-FG730S-Solid-Top-Acoustic-Guitar?sku=519049
And the Walden D550 ($265)
http://www.waldenguitars.com/steel/natura/D550.html
Both have thin necks and sound and play pretty good. Am I just foolish for wanting to swap for another acoustic of roughly the same quality? It seems like usually people trade up to a nicer acoustic...
Any advice would be appreciated!
The measurments that you give are nut widths and do not have anything do do with the thickness of the neck. Some guitars are build with slim necks and still have a larger nut widths. In general OM's and 000 etc have slim necks, although some dreadnaughts do as well.
Im with you. One of my guitars is a seagull and I don't play it all that much because of the beefy neck. I have relatively small hands, and I find slimmer necks more comfortable. I do however like large nut widths.
Cheers,
Max
i must bought a new seagull and the reason i bought it was for the wider nut width. i want to use this one as a fingerpicking guitar. my other one has a narrower nut width. guitars have different characteristics for different reasons. there's nothign wrong with wanting to trade for something of the same quality. i think keep the one you have, though, and get a new one. you can use the seagull for fingerpicking.
I went to the local music shop to play some of the guitars again.
The Walden I played was very nice (and cheaper than what I payed for my Seagull). I'd rate it at about the same level. I thought "pretty good guitar, but not worth swapping." I chatted with the staff about better models, and they pointed to a Blueridge BR-140.
:shock:
Wow, I didn't realize what the difference was between my guitar and a really nice guitar, but now I do. Just a very crisp sound, not very muddy. Thin, comfortable neck, but actually had a 1 3/4 nut width. Now I know what I want to buy :) Too bad I have to save up!
Blueridge makes a nice guitar but i don't know how it compares to Seagull. I'm pretty happy with what i've got so I don't want to go down that route. Dangerous down there.
