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Pros:
- Affordable
- Great Mid and High tones
- Comfortable
Cons:
- Not a Flexible Sound
- Synthetic Nut and Saddle
Godin is a large, Canadian empire (who would’ve thought anyone could say that?) and the parent company to several of my favorite guitar manufacturers. The seagull brand is one of them and since the Godin or Seagull Guitars Excursion Natural Folk SG is produced by them, it is definitely to be considered for purchase. Why? Well why don’t we take an in-depth look and find out what makes this one of the best acoustic travel guitars on the market.
Build Quality
The body of this guitar is made with folk music tradition in mind. It is slender, a little shallow, and has a very pleasant emphasis on the higher tones. While it does not have the cutaway usually seen on folk guitars, the shape of the guitar still has a very folksy effect, while the unique shape allows it to be smaller without losing the folk sound effect. The pale coloring of the guitar makes this folksy shape even more appealing, creating a very beautiful instrument.
The top wood of the guitar is solid spruce, a tonewood that is very popular among acoustic guitars for its ability to bring out the detail and fullness of the high register tones on a guitar. The back and sides of the guitar are wild cherry, a less conservative choice of tonewood, but still a very good one. The wild cherry has the ability to bring another layer of depth to the mid-tones of the guitar, without affecting the low or high tones of the guitar. This results in a guitar with a bias towards being a vibrant, lively sound source.
The neck of the guitar is maple, a sturdy material not commonly seen in this price range. It adds another piece of grain to complement the rest of the guitar well. The neck is slim and easy to play on. The rosewood fingerboard is a very nice and smooth surface to keep playing on for hours at a time.
Hardware
The bridge of this guitar is made of solid rosewood, a very good choice for any guitar. This adds the extra little bit of depth that the guitar’s lower tones needed into the mix. Combined with the tusq nut and saddle, which further enhance the harmonics and the lower tones of the guitar, we get a guitar with a well-balanced sound and a long lifetime.
The tuners on the guitar are well made and unlike cheaper guitars hold the tuning very well for a long time. While they might need changing someday, they will last as steady support of your sound for a long time.
Seagull Excursion Sound
The sound of this guitar is wildly vibrant, so much so you will feel like dancing when you play. Thanks to the great combination of the wild cherry and spruce, you will be producing quite the energetic sound, strong with the upper and mid register tones. The lacking low sounds are compensated for with the rosewood bridge and TUSQ nut and saddle. Still, the lower range could use a little more enhancement, as it does not stand on the same level as the other registers. Still quite the adequate sound.
Conclusion
The understanding a lot of people need to have is that affordable guitars cannot cover all grounds. Some of them might have outstanding qualities that everyone wishes their guitar had, but a lot of them will have an adequate level of sound. This is nothing to be ashamed of. Most players do not need anything more to produce the music they want to. In the case of this guitar, you are looking at incredible upper and mid ranges, while the lower tones are adequate. This is already amazing for the price you are picking this one up.
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