Seagull Maritime SWS Mini Jumbo High Gloss Acoustic Guitar  

These guitars vary on their spruce tops between a 4A or 3A grade of spruce. There is a fair amount of silking on all the tops on this model.  The guitar is devoid of any embellishments such as a heal cap on the neck, fancy abalone inlays, neck bindings.  In short the guitar was built to play easily and sound excellent and it lives up to this demand. The neck is as true as any Martin I've seen.  The frets are well dressed, the neck angle true and straight. The guitar is devoid of the dreaded bent neck from the 14-20th frets (as so many have). The 1.8" string spacing, at the nut, keeps you from tripping over your fingers and muting adjacent strings on difficult chord progressions. Tonally the guitar is very well balanced with excellent projection, good attack, and a responsive action for finger style players. The bass and mids are precise and clear and the treble is just below that of a Taylor, but still very clear. Harmonically the guitar is amazing.  There are no dead spots on the neck. Every fret rings out true and chimes on harmonic equivalents are easily accomplished anywhere on the neck. The action is low and only slightly higher than those who enjoy an extremely low action would prefer. The guitar is high gloss in finish, but the back of the neck and headstock appear to have no finish whatsoever.  The wood grain can be plainly seen on the back of the neck. The good news, however, is that the palm of your hand does not stick to the neck. Moreover, the guitar has a shallow 4.5" body depth and yet projects better than many dreadnoughts I have played over the years. The result is a guitar that sits comfortably on your lap and close to your body and yet sounds beautiful.  In conclusion, this guitar provides you the opportunity to enjoy a guitar that sounds nearly as good as all but the highest grade Martins at a price that many can afford.  It is not designed to be beautiful, but to be played.  However, since form follows function -it is beautiful! I would love to hear this guitar with a Planet Waves O-Port projection cone installed. With such a device, amplification would rarely be needed.

First off, this is an amazing deal for all higher quality solid tone woods. Secondly, the tone is to die for.  I'd describe the tone as balanced with a small boost in the highs and mids, very vocal like quality.  Not as bright as my Taylor, which isn't a bad thing.  Seems to just as home to playing fingerstyle as it does to strumming. Thirdly, it plays wonderfully.  The string spacing is really nice for fingerpicking.  It's not as wide as say a Martin OM, but wider than a standard dreadnought.  The action is quick, but it's not the best I've played (that'll go to a Taylor 514ce or a Yairi WY1). Lastly, I don't care for the tuning pegs.  Too small.