What do you think? Seagull uke steel

Seagull rep answered my email and they said should see steel string in stores by Xmas. I’m betting March 2018 as I’ve seen Nothing on line. Seagull/ Godin Rep said no nylon version which contradicts UK Distributors claim. Personally I’d like to see and play both versions. Axe Music list it on line, no picture but price and they didn’t even know they had it listed on line or that it existed. Hope to see both versions in new year. Think maybe they nixed the Nylon version because of Multi Uke . Hope more info becomes available soon.
 
If you really want this type of instrument, just look for a cavaquinho and indulge some QAS before Christmas, why bother waiting when you can get one now for a lower price? It is nice to be loyal and patriotic to a company in your country, but it has been 6 months since the instrument was "released" and you still can't buy one. Unless you are getting an amazing price reduction, why should you reward the company by waiting?

"Why should you reward a company by waiting".........fans of Apple products do it all the time. Heck they sleep outside waiting in line for the stores to open just so they can buy a new product. If you like the company and the products they make I guess the wait is worth it.

When the Farallon was released I waited over a year until they introduced a radiused fretboard and sound port.........then I bought one. I am very happy I waited. But if someone wants a cavaquinho they should buy one instead, they are intriguing instruments
 
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If you really want this type of instrument, just look for a cavaquinho

The problem with going the cavaquinho route it that it is tuned much higher than a standard uke--more or less an octave above baritone uke tuning--so anyone used to C tuning will have to relearn their chord names.

Personally, I find the cavaquinho pitched too high for pleasing melodies--I usually hear it as almost a rhythm instrument in Brazilian music.

- FiL
 
Seagull rep answered my email and they said should see steel string in stores by Xmas. I’m betting March 2018 as I’ve seen Nothing on line. Seagull/ Godin Rep said no nylon version which contradicts UK Distributors claim. Personally I’d like to see and play both versions. Axe Music list it on line, no picture but price and they didn’t even know they had it listed on line or that it existed. Hope to see both versions in new year. Think maybe they nixed the Nylon version because of Multi Uke . Hope more info becomes available soon.
Cool. I don't have plans on buying one, but I won't rule it out either at some point in time. It'd be fun to at least try it. I just think it's a neat instrument.
If they did do a nylon version it should be less expensive than the multi-uke since they're using the same build style as the M4 (formerly Merlin) and their S8 mandolins. The lowest price S8 comes in at around $350 street seems like.
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This instrument was announced at NAMM. It's very normal for companies to show off products there that aren't going to be released for a while. It's just a preview sometimes.

As for cavaquinho: I owned one for a brief period of time years ago. It didn't stick with me. I remember not liking the string tension...I was thinking maybe I wasn't into the sound, but I can't remember for sure. It was a long time ago. Of course I didn't think to experiment with tunings and strings back then either...maybe something could've been done there.
 
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Update:
I've seen one store (Zzounds) that expects to have these in about the middle of December.
https://www.zzounds.com/item--SEAUKEST?siid=233393
There's also a pictrue of the back there as well as the specs.

- Top: Solid Spruce
- Body: 3-Piece Solid Silver Leaf Maple
- Back & Sides: 3-Piece Solid Silver Leaf Maple
- Finish: Burnt Umber Satin
- Fingerboard: Rosewood
- Scale Length: 13 3/8"
- Electronics: Seagull Proprietary Preamp
- Nut Width: 1 3/16"
- Machine Heads: Open Gear
- Nut and Saddle: Graphtech Tusq
- Bridge: Rosewood

It's interesting they chose the soprano scale. I'd really like to play one. I'd be more interested in the acoustic sound than the plugged in though. I wish they'd offer an acoustic only version. The body is similar to the M4 (formerly Merlin) and it has plenty of volume and sounds good. The tuning machines look the same as on the M4 too, and those are good machines.
 
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Has anyone heard of other ukes that are 1 3/16" at the nut? Or could this be a misprint from Zzounds or Seagull/Godin?
It could be a misprint. They also had "lead" instead of "leaf" up there. I corrected that myself. I saw the same thing on another site too, so I assume it's from Godin/Seagull. Then again, these are steel strings so not nearly as wide as nylon strings. Maybe it's just a more narrow nut. There are some mandolins with those specs for nut width. Since this is sort of based off what they already had as a mandolin design, maybe it's right.
 
Update:
I've seen one store (Zzounds) that expects to have these in about the middle of December.
https://www.zzounds.com/item--SEAUKEST?siid=233393
There's also a pictrue of the back there as well as the specs....

Thanks for posting this info and link.

Doing a search for all Seagull items on that site and sorting by price via:

https://www.zzounds.com/prodsearch?key=cat2&cat2[]=3904&pa=34&ob=p19

I saw that there is also a nylon-string 'version' for the same price, see

https://www.zzounds.com/item--SEAUKENYL

I wonder if it is in fact the same instrument, as in same bracing etc, but just strung up with nylon instead of steel strings.

Steel strings require the instrument to be built to handle about 4x the tension of nylon strings, and conversely a body built for steel usually does not resonate well enough with nylon strings on it because they do not provide enough torque to the bridge in order to drive the top, and this usually results in a much quieter instrument if nylon strings are installed. (with a pickup this might not matter so much if playing mostly amplified)

While you can play with string gauges to try and mitigate this, in my own hands-on attempts, you run up against the threshold of the nylon strings limits for string tension when using a much heavier gauge in order to approximate the tension of steel strings, and if not ending up with strings that snap even before you tune up to concert pitch, sustain is lacking greatly due to the excessive tension required of the nylon/fluoro strings.

In the end, I concluded that it was not worth it, and of course I had already spent about $50 on various (ukulele and classical guitar) strings to prove that it does not work well to put nylon/fluoro strings on an instrument made for steel strings if you want a useful tone and a normal amount of sustain.

However, YMMV as some folks WANT the choppy sound without any sustain at all. :)
 
Booli,
You beat me to it! I just saw the nylon one online too and was coming here to update the thread. haha.
Yeah, I agree...If they use the same bracing as the steel, the acoustic sound isn't going to be much.
The Godin company does make some really nice thin-body acoustic-electric hybrid type nylon instruments. So maybe they'll modify it.
 
I’m glad the nylon version has been confirmed. My last email with Seagull and their rep didn’t think they would do the nylon version. I’d like to try both but must confess I do like nylon I’ve played steel string guitars all my life and stayed away from classical guitar because of wide neck and stretching of nylon strings. Since taking up ukulele I really like nylon, flurocarbon, Aquila products etc. So, bracing will be interesting and I would expect nylon version to be braced different. Seagull/ Godin aren’t rookies at this. But for me gotta play and hear more comments. It is painful how long it takes new stuff shown at Namm to come out! They have met interest on both models. They make good stuff and are value for the money.
 
Bumping to see if anyone here ever got to physically play one of these
 
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