Simon&Patrick vs. Seagull

S&P's U.S. brand. Anyone have info on this--any
>experience with Simon&Patrick?

Your friend has it almost right, Bohannon - Simon & Patrick and Seagull are
both brands built by LaSiDo, a Quebec-based guitar manufacturer. They tend to
use the same molds and body shapes throughout their line, with the various
brands (Art & Lutherie, Seagull, Simon & Patrick, Seagull Artist) being
differentiated by the materials and design appointments.

LaSiDo also sends different versions of their lines to different countries,
with some significantly fancier versions of these instruments going to the
British market, for example.

Art & Lutherie is the entry level, with all that I have seen being
all-laminated woods (though some solid-top versions of A&Ls have been reported
on this newsgroup, in Great Britain.) These can ofen be finished in bright
colors as well as the more traditional natural finish, and are inexpensive but
quite good for the money.

Quite good for the money more or less sums up LaSiDo's approach, especially on
their low-end and midpriced lines.

Seagull is next - these feature solid tops and laminated cherry backs and
sides. They are characterized by satin finishes and a distinctive
straight-pull snakehead headstock.

Simon & Patrick is next, & has the same wood combination as the Seagulls but
with a more traditional-looking peghead, and other somewhat more elaborate
appointments. I believe that they start getting into high gloss finishes with
these. (There might also be some all-solid Simon & Patricks, though, again,
I've yet to see one.)

Then the Seagull Artist series is all-solid wood, with high gloss finishes.

As for the "Folk" model you like, it's my own personal favorite among the
LaSiDo instruments. Another newsgroup regular, Steve Yetter steered me that
way when I was salivating at the thought of the smaller-bodied Seagull Grand;
he said: "Hey, check out the "Folk" model - I think you'll like it better."
And he was right. Very nice, balanced sound, good volume and projection.

Hope this helps.

Wade Hampton Miller

Hojo2x wrote:
...Another newsgroup regular, Steve Yetter steered me that

Yeah, that SteveYetter guy is a genius. Humble too.
In fact, they once gave him a humility pin, but when he wore it, they
took it away!
-SY-

They do have models here in Canada with solid tops. I've seen and played
many.

There are a lot of Seagulls with Laminate Maple and Rosewood side and backs
as well as a bunch with Laminate Mahoghany back and sides. Heck, I just
played one on Friday with a three piece maple back. High gloss and LR baggs
duet, it sounded pretty good.

> LaSiDo instruments. Another newsgroup regular, Steve Yetter steered me

I wrote:

and Mark wrote:

I had heard about the maple ones, but just as a rumor, and didn't know about
any mahogany versions. I've never seen either in the US.

It would make sense that you'd see a wider variety of Seagull models there in
Canada, since they're made in Quebec and they really do have a large market
share there. I know the times I've been in Canadian music stores there have
just been lots of Seagulls for sale, far too many to try out and examine all of
them on any one visit.

So, obviously, I've missed a few.

Mark continues:

Yeah, but that's a Seagull Artist model, if I'm not mistaken. I saw a guitar
very similar to what you described in a Kansas City music store two weeks ago,
but it was more expensive than the regular Seagulls by a considerable margin.

I have seen and played a number of Seagull Artists while in Canada, too, and
they seem to come in a wider selection of woods than the standard models, while
retaining the same body styles and peghead shape.

Wade Hampton Miller

Coincidentally, just the other day while browsing at a local pawn shop I saw
a chewed up Seagull for sale (150.00) that had 'Mahoghany/ Cedar' typed on
the label. No other model markings. It is the first used Seagull I have ever
come across.

Len A

--
Mark Schulz
schu...@mc.net

Yes they make pricey Seagull guitars too.

I have a 1998 S6 Flame Maple CW which has a solid spruce top, solid flame maple 3
piece back, laminated flame maple sides with mahogany neck, rosewood fret board,
maple veneer on the head stock with white knobs and gold machines. It cost me
around $720 (without case) about 3 months ago. It is a beautiful guitar with full
binding on the body and head stock (not neck), a inlaid rosette but only painted
dots on the fret board. There is a very nice 3-D effect with the Flame Maple and
the spruce top has pretty tight even grain.

I could have paid around $100 or so less mail order for it but I had a bad case of
G.A.S. at the time and it sounded and looked better that the various Gibsons the
dealer had (Workingman's, J-45, etc.) except for the SJ200. Local stores in
Portland wanted the same price so I stayed with the local store here in Vancouver,
USA.

It's my office guitar now since I just bought a '79 Guild D-35NT in December which
is now my favorite. The 'Gull needs to be played more (and aged) to get the "good
broken in sound" and I really prefer the longer neck of the Guild for most of my
playing. Of course putting it up against my Guild which has 20 years of age to
the wood is not really fair. The Gull doesn't have quite the volume or bottom
end...yet.

KInd of wish I had waited but heck, now I have 2 great acoustic guitars after
20+ years of having a crappy Ovation Matrix. And the 'Gull does have many years of
picking on to look forward to.

The one thing I'm not sure of is if it is considered one of the Artist series
(which have either laminated or solid sides). Looking at the WWW site for Seagull
the S6 Flame Maple CW Artist description fits it the best.

CUL,
-barryc

--
Barry D. Chalcroft / N5NWI

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

In article <20000123111138...@ng-cq1.aol.com>,

--
Michael Lackey mi...@usin.com

I had a Simon and Patrick guitar for a bit. No tags or serial number
(somewhat early on, I'd imagine) but it beat the pants off anything
under the name now. Solid Sitka and EI Rosewood, with fine herringbone
purfling and rosette, ebony fretboard and bridge,.. You get the idea.
An honest to goodness American dreadnought with nothing to be ashamed
of.

I'd be curious to see it again, but that's another story altogether.

Michael

On Sun, 23 Jan 2000 09:59:23 -0800, Bohannon <jboh...@erols.com>
wrote:

Sheldon S wrote:

--
Alexander "Sandy" McLeod, PhD
Asian and Pacific Rim Studies
mailto:alexand...@sprintmail.com
URL http://home.sprintmail.com/~alexandermcleod

Meantime, let us count our blessings--I mean those
thousands of peaks, climbed and unclimbed, of every
size, shape and order of difficulty, where each of us
may find our own unattainable Mount Everest.
Bill Tilman, climber and sailor

Well, that's one way to look at it, but they are really just different brand
names built on the same production line with the same jigs and fixtures, by the
same employees. Using economies of scale, they can have all these different
brands with different appointments that are basically just variations on the
same few guitar models.

I'm not knocking this approach at all - I think it's clever.

Wade Hampton Miller