Seagull S6 Original Slim Guitar Expert Review (Updated 2023)

Hey! This site is reader-supported and we earn commissions if you purchase products from retailers after clicking on a link from our site.

I was down at my local music store today to try out some guitars and one of the guitars that I tried was the Seagull S6 Original Slim Guitar.

I’d heard good things about this guitar and, knowing how good the Artist Mosaic is, I was looking forward to jamming on the S6.

What This Review Will Cover

So, in this review I will:

discuss the sound of the S6 both in terms of what I thought of it and in terms of materials used on the guitar and how they affect the sound;
Provide videos of the guitar being played so that you can get some idea of the sound of the guitar for yourself;
Discuss the playability of the guitar, mostly to do with what I thought of it but also to do with the materials used and the specs, such as neck width, size of the guitar etc;
Provide links to user reviews so that you can get other people’s impressions; and
Finish off by giving my opinion on whether the S6 is value for money and who the S6 would be most suited to

The Sound of the S6 Original

The S6 is a dreadnought shape so naturally it has quite a loud boomy sound to it. I didn’t think this was more so than your average dreadnought and the sound was easy enough to control and had a good dynamic range.

If I was to think of the sound of a guitar from warm to bright on a scale of 1 being the warmest and 10 being the brightest I would give the S6 a 4. it’s slightly on the warmer side but bright enough.

The Materials of the S6

Top (Soundboard): The top is made from Cedar. This is a fairly warm sounding top and this helps to give the S6 its warm sound.
Back and Sides: The back and sides are laminate wild cherry. This is also said to produce a tone somewhere in the middle of warm and bright.
Bridge: Though you may not automatically associate tonal characteristics with the bridge, this is an important part of transferring the sound from the strings into the soundboard. The S6 uses rosewood for the bridge which is a great choice in my opinion.
Nut and Saddle: The S6 has a TUSQ nut and a compensated TUSQ saddle. Tusq is a synthetic material but it’s not like plastic. it’s designed to imitate bone but without the potential inconsistencies in bone. So it’s hard and dense which is great for nuts and saddles which also play a significant role in transferring the vibrations of the strings into the soundboard. it’s nice that a guitar at this price has something other than plastic – one less thing to upgrade.
Headstock: Seagull guitars have a distinctive looking headstock. But this isn’t just for looks. The design and shape of the headstock is supposed to help to keep the guitar in tune. Seagull also uses some pretty high quality diecast chrome tuners which also help to keep the guitar in tune.

Learn more in the video below

The first video here will give you more info on the guitar and some idea of the sound. A lot of this is covering the S6 Original in general but the S6 original slim will sound the same it’s just the neck is slimmer on the slim version.

O.k. so listening to the guitar through a video isn’t going to give you an exact representation of what the guitar will sound like but it should give you some impression to see if it’s the kind of tone that you like.

This next video is all just the guitar being played so you can get more idea of the sound.

The S6 Original Slim’s Playability

O.k. so how did the S6 play? I will talk about the playability in terms of both my experience, the materials used and the specs of the guitar.

The Action

My first impression of the S6’s playability was straight away that the action was definitely too high for my liking. This made it a bit of an effort to play and I felt it was a little slow and more difficult to slide and bend (which is natural byproduct of a high action).

But this I find is often the case on new guitars, particularly on cheaper guitars.

It is after all easier to lower the action than it is to raise it. So, if you like your action on the higher side, then the S6 might be just right for you out of the box but personally lowering the action would be the first thing I would do after buying this guitar.

The Fretboard

The fretboard (a.k.a. fingerboard) is made from rosewood. This is a great fretboard material and it was, like most rosewood fretboards, nice to play on. I just wish that it was closer to the strings! (see action above).

Neck Width

The S6 Original Slim comes with a slimmer neck than the S6 Original. In fact this is the only significant difference between the two models.

The neck width at the nut on the S6 original is 1.80″(45.7mm). Whereas the S6 Original Slim has a neck width of 1.72″ (43.7mm).

To be honest most of the guitars that I see these days tend to have a 43-44mm nut width so the “slim” model is really quite a standard width, and the Original is probably slightly wider than the average dreadnought guitar these days.

That said, I found the neck felt really nice and the width of the neck felt just fine. This width is fine for any player and will be particularly nice for those with smaller hands.

Who This Guitar is best Suited to

Disclosure: Links below may be affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you make a purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you.

Being a dreadnought guitar then anyone playing rock, pop, country, blues, bluegrass will be well suited to this guitar. Also best suited to strumming and flatpicking. You can certainly finger-pick on it if that’s something you do occasionally, but there are better options if that’s your bread and butter.

This is also a great guitar for beginners. It is reasonably priced but is of a high enough quality that a beginner will be able to learn quickly on it and won’t be frustrated by it provided the action was adjusted for them!

Ideally it would be a smaller shape for beginners but otherwise is almost the ideal balance of price and quality for the beginner.

Probably not the most suited guitar for kids, as it’s a full size dreadnought it may feel too big, which can make it more difficult to play.

Value for Money

Of course I can’t say this for sure, without actually having lowered its action, but I have a strong suspicion that if the action was set up better on this guitar (a relatively easy thing to do or to have done) then it would be considerably nicer to play. But I don’t think it would enough to make me want this guitar for myself.

However, my tastes run in the more pricey range and this guitar is definitely pretty high quality in terms of tone and pretty decent in terms of playability and for a price of around $400 you are getting your money’s worth. I would say that this guitar is priced just right for what you get.

More Info and Where to Buy

If you are keen to learn more about Seagull’s S6 Original Slim, or if you’re ready to buy, or want to research current prices and availability, check out the links below.

>> Seagull S6 Original Slim at Amazon.com

If you want to check out some other under $500 options or want to see how the S6 Original Slim compares to other guitars in this price range, check out my top 5 guitars under $500.

Some guitars I’ve reviewed on the blog:

Seagull S6 Original Slim Guitar: Acoustic Guitars Under $500 Review Series

What This Review Will Cover