Seagull Coastline Momentum review

pollo, I'd also like to welcome you to the Cabin. Hope your stay is a long and enjoyable one.

Greg Ballantyne makes excellent points that any of us who own Seagulls or who have had on in the past would almost certainly agree with. One thing about set-ups and fret dressing is that while an experienced luthier will probably do a better and faster job, set-up and fret dressing isn't beyond the capabilities of an ordinary person.  If you don't want to spend the extra money and have the inclination, the time, and a lack of fear of 'ruining' your guitar, there are decent instructional videos out there that will show you how to do it yourself.

Poor set-ups (usually high string action) are common in less-expensive guitars out of the box. But if you like the sound and look of the guitar, that's not a deal-killer. (And hey, sometimes the dealer will throw in the set-up if you bargain with them...)

You know, I find this kind of weird.  It makes me wonder if Godin has their guitars set up in different areas where the guitars are sold.  Like, for instance, guitars being shipped to Ontario or anywhere in Canada are set up in "this place" and U.S. guitars in "that place" or something like that. 

The reason I wonder this is because I've bought a load of Seagulls over the years and know others that have them as well and pretty much ALL of them came with amazing set ups right out of the box.  Seems my experience here in Ontario is very different from other experiences in other places.  So that's why it makes me wonder that.



Also, what is all this talk about spending money for a set up on a brand new guitar?  This has come up before so I'd like to ask everybody for their info on their area.   Do the guitar stores in your area not offer a free set up when you buy a guitar from them?   All the music stores in my area do, even if it's some really cheap guitar.  This has led me to have the opinion that any guitar or music store worth their salt will do this, and I would not even buy a guitar from a store if they did not offer the free set up.

So, with that last part what I'm saying is, in my area at least, that the set up out of the box of any brand of guitar is irrelevant because all the stores will do the set up for free when you buy it from them anyways.

Any thoughts or info would be appreciated cuz I'd like to know how common or uncommon this is in your respective areas.

TonyKgull , RobertW , I don't think no charge setups are part of the deal routinely in my area. However, there is usually wiggle room in the pricing, so that kind of deal may well be possible, haggling for setup,rather than a lower price, or some combination of the two.

 In this area (US mid-atlantic) guitar tech work is fairly expensive as well. Makes the Stew Mac basic setup tool kit price almost seem reasonable......I've thought about such a thing before, but haven't pulled the trigger. I'm a sucker for measuring, so I haven't tried the more minimal approach as Derick suggests....

Entry level and/or younger buyers may also need some education on the subject. I had been playing guitars for a number of years before I got familiar with the how's what's and whys of guitar tech.

So they tweak the neck bow, and don't actually set anything up.....an extra set of strings is better!