# Troubled seagull s6 spruce



## petsha.fey (Jan 24, 2020)

A year ago I bought a seagull that needed some love.
The action at the 12th was almost 1cm and it had as thick of a dust layer on it.
The owner bought it more then 10 years ago as a second hand and judging by the rusting strings and the second string breaking on touch, he did not change the strings in the time he owned it.

It had a serious bow, but the truss rod had some movement.
I took the chance seeing it was dirt cheap, I mean really cheap I believed I payed 25 euros (36,23 Canadian dollars)

So I cleaned it off put on a fresh set of strings and tried a basic set up, did not work. The truss rod was going way to hard and it kept getting back to an high action.

Fast forward a year, I brought it to my workbench where I'm a fulltime carpenter.
Figured helping the neck into shape might help, still no luck.

I went on a chance and removed the neck,
So I could see the trussrod up close.
It had some sort of plastic wrapped around it eating into the nut.
Bolted it back on and stringed it.

Currently the action is 3.25 mm
Neck in a backbow no relief wat so ever. 
If I release it a little it goes a little over 3.6mm with relief. 

The comb is good hight and I thing the bridge is as well 


What do I do next to get it at 2.5mm? 


Ps serie number is 00442619





































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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

I'm not a Luthier or wood person, but the guy I brought my Seagull into a few years ago to setup a lower action shaved the bridge itself. Not sure if it'll work in this case but I suppose it may be an option. Good luck and welcome to the site.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

petsha.fey said:


> Currently the action is 3.25 mm
> Neck in a backbow no relief wat so ever.


With the guitar fully tuned up, capo (or hold) at the first fret and 14th/15th fret. Eyeball the gap at the 8th fret. The string should just be barely off the fret. Tighten (back bow)/loosen (relief) the truss accordingly to get this height.










If this doesn't bring the string height down, then you may want to consider a neck reset. Basically, changing the angle of the neck so that it tilts back slightly thus having the ruler resting on the bridge (pic 2). This involves shaving/sanding a bit from the inside the bottom of the heel. Being a woodworker, you should understand what's on this link. Liutaio Mottola Lutherie Information Website


















If you don't want to get that involved, maybe just filing the saddle down a bit may do a sufficient job.

Looking at pic #2, the ruler should just be touching the top of the bridge. It looks to be a mil below.
So, there's a bit of belly bow. It's very little considering the age (ser # 00442619 ~May of 2001 Seagull Guitar Serial Numbers: When Was Your Seagull Guitar Built).










What you can do is to file the bottom of the saddle 1 mil at first, reinstall and check. Repeat if it needs to go lower. Careful not to file too much or you'll get fret buzz. Just a note, by doing this, it'll also affect the break angle of the strings. In my experience, not a big concern, unless there's a piezo under the saddle (won't get into that unless we need to).

Good luck and keep us posted.


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## petsha.fey (Jan 24, 2020)

laristotle said:


> With the guitar fully tuned up, capo (or hold) at the first fret and 14th/15th fret. Eyeball the gap at the 8th fret. The string should just be barely off the fret. Tighten (back bow)/loosen (relief) the truss accordingly to get this height.
> 
> View attachment 290580
> 
> ...


Thank you very much, I will do a neck reset.
It did cross my mind but a source on YouTube told me that in tuned state the straight edge was allowed to hit the bridge.

The link you added is a great source even a calculator for the wedge, makes my wooden heart tick!

Will check the relief as you explained.
The bridge not have any pickups and the saddle is not sanded down yet.
I am considering buying a new saddle since age has made it crack under the weight of the strings.

Will continue on Monday, for now have a wonderful weekend. 

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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

petsha.fey said:


> I am considering buying a new saddle since age has made it crack under the weight of the strings.


Try filing the current saddle first to see if that works. Since you're buying a new one, this may save you time/effort.


petsha.fey said:


> for the wedge


Careful on how much you take off. Also, pull the nuts (screw out) from the heel first so that you don't damage them or your tools.


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## petsha.fey (Jan 24, 2020)

I sanded the saddle down 1mm which resulted in the first 0.5mm lowering.

Then went on to resetting the neck when I noticed that he heel did not have the same curve as the body to make the connection more sollid I went with the sand paper method.

With te proper relief at the 8th fret I'm now at 2.75 mm at the 12th fret.
Getting close but still have a little sanding to go. This will be my best playing guitar yet.

After contacting godin themself I'm now in contact with the Dutch importer about purchasing a new bridge saddle.

A colleague of mine already offered to take it off my hands after I'm done.
But don't think I will let this bird go any time soon. 

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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

In case it hasn't been mentioned, there's also a nut in there to tighten the neck to body. If you look in the sound hole you'll see a Godin patch where neck meets body. It's removable for access. I haven't done this myself, but the last guy to set mine up showed this to me when he did it. Not sure if that will help the issue at all, but it's probably worth checking anyway.


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## petsha.fey (Jan 24, 2020)

Ladies and gentleman we have reached our destination.
Got a 2.25 on the low e. With proper setup. I expect it to raise another 0.1 since all the restringing came at the cost of my g string.

Now the wait is for the new bridge saddle and order glue to fix the fretboard to the body again.

Then I have 2 other string related projects i need to get to.
Im building a cigar box banjo for a friend that is getting married this one needs to hurry up.
And I'm building a plycaster tele.









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## petsha.fey (Jan 24, 2020)

Dorian2 said:


> In case it hasn't been mentioned, there's also a nut in there to tighten the neck to body. If you look in the sound hole you'll see a Godin patch where neck meets body. It's removable for access. I haven't done this myself, but the last guy to set mine up showed this to me when he did it. Not sure if that will help the issue at all, but it's probably worth checking anyway.


Yes there is a maple leaf in this one

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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Nicely done. Congrats!


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## petsha.fey (Jan 24, 2020)

And now we wait....









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