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Are Seagulls Plywood?
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Subject: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Parson Date: 28 Oct 00 - 09:19 PM This information may be available by searching old Seagull Threads & if so I apologize for the duplication. I just don't have the time to wade thru them all. I just want to know if Seagull guitars are made from solid wood or from plywood? Thanks, Randall |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: John P Date: 28 Oct 00 - 09:29 PM Most Seagulls have a solid top (the most important part) and plywood back and sides. John |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: catspaw49 Date: 28 Oct 00 - 09:42 PM Parson, do you have time to go to our LINKS section? Under "Instrument Related" you will find a link to the Seagull Homepage with a complete description of all models. Its a nice little feature here at the 'Cat that you may not be aware of....LINKS. Lots of other categories too. See the Headline Bar at the top? See where it says LINKS?.....Go for it. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Troll Date: 28 Oct 00 - 09:46 PM Spaw. I can't find it. Theres nothing on top of my computer except an empty diet coke can. I don't think there's a Headline Bar in this city. And LINKS; is that like chain or sausage? |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: catspaw49 Date: 28 Oct 00 - 09:48 PM Oh yeah.....By the way........Some have solid backs and NO Seagull uses PLYWOOD. They DO use LAMINATES which are not the same thing. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: The Shambles Date: 29 Oct 00 - 02:00 AM The ones that s--t all over my car, are not. Unfortunately. |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: catspaw49 Date: 29 Oct 00 - 02:08 AM I don't think we have a link to those either Roger. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: The Shambles Date: 29 Oct 00 - 02:15 AM Oh yes we have |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar Date: 29 Oct 00 - 04:09 AM I am really disappointed by the tone and content of this thread. I thought someone had discovered something astonishing about the natural world, and all it is is some guff about guitars! |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: The Shambles Date: 29 Oct 00 - 05:18 AM *smiles*
They are fine birds indeed and I have some that nest upon my roof. They are none too popular however as come Monday morning, what they have come to think of a breakfast, is when we place our rubbish bags outside for the dustmen. When we lived in Shetland, there was a couple who came from and did a slide show on the wonderful and exotic birdlife of Papua New Guinea. All they could talk about were these wonderful big birds that were calling out from the roof of the building, all through their slide show. |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Banjer Date: 29 Oct 00 - 05:57 AM Living here on Florida's sunny west coast I can say that seagulls around here are NOT made of plywood. However I can also tell you that some marsupials, one in particular, are made of clay. In fact one is named Cleigh. While we are on the subject of alternate material for constructing living things, there are several employees where I work whose composition, at least in the rear portion is surely lead. Further, some of these lead asses have heads filled primarily with air, some of it hot! |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: catspaw49 Date: 29 Oct 00 - 09:03 AM Say Banj....Perhaps if you were to heat the lead..............Or maybe you could add some, you know, like a hot lead enema. Could be motivational. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Jon Freeman Date: 29 Oct 00 - 09:08 AM spaw (or others), are laminates necessarily a bad thing? The Seagulls I have played have been quite reasonable guitars and I'm sure I have played many other good sounding guitars which use laminates. Jon |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: catspaw49 Date: 29 Oct 00 - 09:55 AM Not at all Jon. Let me briefly explain that "plywood" is made up of layers of wood, glues, fillers, etc. and are only faced with the better pieces. Hardwood laminates are solid wood veneers layered together....no fillers, no airpockets. Many of them have fine taptones, they are after all the tonewoods you would normally desire, and have a couple of advantages. Besides the obvious savings in woods, they have more "dimension stability" than the actual solid woods themselves. Okay, they aren't Brazilian Rosewood, but they are certainly a fine substitute in backs and sides and offer excellent value. Once again, I think a "blind" test would be interesting and unless you tell them its not solid, most can't tell the difference by the appearance either. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Jon Freeman Date: 29 Oct 00 - 10:35 AM The blind test is an interesting one... This was not a blind test but is related. A couple of months ago, I tried a friends Hohner. As a general rule, I hate Hohner guitars and this one was something like œ100 complete with a pickup. My initial thoughts were "this is going to be crap" but it wasn't - it played well and sounded good, probably more like a œ300 guitar (if we can value such things). I guess my message here is be open to try anything and judge by your own ears, hands etc. There are bargains around but you need to take the time to try them and be open to the possibility of the least likely candidate turning out to be a goodun. Jon |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: catspaw49 Date: 29 Oct 00 - 10:49 AM Thank you Jon! I know there are other issues that bother people such as durability, resale value, and the like, but at times I think the biggest issue to many is some kind of status......and that's a shame. There are some beautiful playing instruments that fail to get the respect they may deserve. Spaw
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Gary T Date: 29 Oct 00 - 02:44 PM Spaw, a detail question if you please: I understand that plywood, meant to be a structural material to some degree, is made with the grain in alternating layers laid at right angles to each other (first layer, north-south; second layer east-west; third layer north-south; etc.). This is to maximize its overall strength and minimize flexion. In the laminates used for instruments, are the grains alternated in successive layers, or all grains lined up in the same direction, which would presumably simulate a solid wood more closely? Thanks, Gary |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 29 Oct 00 - 03:25 PM It's getting a bit Damien Hurst now, talking about laminating seagulls. What next, laquering wombats? Snakes covered in sticky backed plastic? *BG* LTS |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: pict Date: 29 Oct 00 - 06:53 PM It's my understanding that the grain lines up in the same direction.There are plenty of higher priced guitars than the seagull with laminated back and sides and there is some debate over how much the back and sides affect the tone.I remember reading about a luthier who built a guitar with a body made of papier maché but a soundboard of solid spruce apparently all who heard and played this insrument were in agreement that it was the best sounding guitar they had ever heard.The reason he did it was to prove that the soundboard was where the tone of the guitar originates. |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: GUEST,Murray Macleod Date: 29 Oct 00 - 07:19 PM I am open to correction here, but I think the grain direction alternates on each vebnee of the laminate, itherwise it would rather defeat the purpose of improving stability. The main reason for using laminates is that it is easier fot semiskilled factory workers to fabricate the instruments with minimum wastage. And yes, the great Spanish luthier Antonio Torres constructed just such a papier mache instrument. Some far eastern imports sound like they were constructed totally from papier mache! Murray |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: GUEST,Murray MacLeod Date: 29 Oct 00 - 07:21 PM Vebnee ? Veneer. |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Parson Date: 29 Oct 00 - 09:40 PM Thanks to all. I stand corrected on my "plywood" reference! Sorry I confused some wannabee naturalists in the crowd. The idea that the top being of solid wood is interesting & an idea I had not heard before. I am still looking forward to being near enough to a shop that sells "Seagull Guitars" to check one out. Randall |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: The Shambles Date: 30 Oct 00 - 01:57 AM Sorry to have had fun with your obvoiusly serious request. I hope that you have received the info you needed........... Good luck. |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Mountain Dog Date: 30 Oct 00 - 09:21 AM Did anyone else open this thread hoping it was a Zen koan? |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: L R Mole Date: 30 Oct 00 - 10:08 AM TONIGHT:"Plywood Siegel, Hasidic picker": In tonight's episode, the sinister Martin Luthier and his sidekick The Laminator attempt to inject an element of dissonance, or at least the modal system, in "Shofar, Shogud". |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: catspaw49 Date: 30 Oct 00 - 10:50 AM Ya' know Mole, people have been shot for better jokes than that.........LMAO, WELL stroked!!!!!! Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Rick Fielding Date: 30 Oct 00 - 11:20 AM You know folks, if we all bought our instruments using these criteria only: No vanity involved No resale value considered No design preferences Blind sound tests only....... I do believe that YAMAHA would rule the world. I've never (to the best of my knowledge) owned a Yamaha, 'cause I've got tons of instrument vanity, DO consider resale value, love certain designs, and wouldn't trust a store employee in a blind sound test.....so I've always had expensive antique and new instruments. BUT....consistantly over the years, the best sounding, most durable instruments i've seen have been Yamahas (some of them plywood) C'est La Vie. Rick
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: mousethief Date: 30 Oct 00 - 02:21 PM My seagull always gets compliments for its sound, particularly for sounding "big" and "full" despite its middling size. The top is solid. Cedar, I think. It's fairly old (for a seagull); the serial number is 10201. Not having a lot of friends in the music biz, I don't know anything (except what I read here) about which guitar brands are supposed to be so much better than which others. I bought my seagull based on the way it sounded. I will also drink cheap wine if I think it tastes good. What a bohemian.
Alex |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 30 Oct 00 - 03:05 PM HEy Alex, I only buy wine if I like the picture on the bottle and it isn't more than £5.00.... found some fantastic wines at good value - better than being a snob and paying through the nose for something that would take the varnish off a seagull, plywood or not! LTS |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Clinton Hammond2 Date: 30 Oct 00 - 04:19 PM mousethief After 5 or 6 years of owning my first Seagull guitar, I ran across an issue of Accoustic Guitar Mag that was reviewing the 'best' guitars under 500 bucks... The Seagull S6, mine, and it sounds like, yours as well, placed 2nd just under a Tack I think... THe only reason it lost was what they called 'a slightly anemic' apperance, mostly because of the tapered headstock... But I seem to recall the author saying that if they had to pick by sound alone, the Seagull would have at least tied for first... My opinion... pound for pound, dollar for dollar, no guitar makes -ME- happier than a Seagull... I'm currently having an affair with my new Artist Series Mahogany Folk DuetII... My S6 and my S6+ CW are insanely jealous... Parson: Looking at the chart on the Seagull website (http://www.seagullguitars.com/specs.htm) will show you that the S Series are made with "3-layer lamination of Wild Cherry"... the M Series are "3-layer Mahogany" and the A series are either solid Mahogany, Rosewood, or Flame Maple... {~` |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: skarpi Date: 30 Oct 00 - 04:40 PM Hallo all , I got a Seagull and it is solid one. A rosewood I think and a very good one.It is a studio type. All the best skarpi Iceland. |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Jon Freeman Date: 30 Oct 00 - 05:07 PM Aye, the ever faithful Yamaha... I'm not sure that I have ever heard one with that "extra special" sound (which is purely subjective anyway) but I have never seen a bad Yamaha. Another make which IMO would give the top makes a good run for their money is Takemine. Jon |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: pict Date: 30 Oct 00 - 05:24 PM I have yet to hear a Takemine I like the sound of. |
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Subject: Seagull Finish From: Clinton Hammond2 Date: 30 Oct 00 - 06:10 PM I'm kinda with Pict... but I'm like that with most guitart that have the usual 1/4" of hard-as-rock polyester finish... ya know that high gloss gunk on most guitars... It's a matter of personal taste is all... {~` |
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Subject: RE: Are Seagulls Plywood? From: Jon Freeman Date: 30 Oct 00 - 08:51 PM I agree Clinton, the whole sound issue is very subjective. Jon |
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