GODIN GUITARS | GIBSON | FENDER HYBRID

I thought that I’d start this post by talking about some of the Godin guitars that I currently have for sale in my shop. I’ll start with the Godin SD22 Leaftop.

I currently have two on my wall, one is a transparent black top with a rosewood fingerboard and the other is an amber flame top with a maple fingerboard. All SD’s have a beautiful, highly figured maple veneer top. The color of the guitar is applied in a light transparent stain over the veneer top. They are really beautiful instruments to see.

But let’s get to the Godin guitars themselves.

The first thing to know about the SD22 is how incredibly comfortable it is. It’s got a short scale (24 3/4”) neck similar to a Gibson Les Paul with a rock maple neck closer in feel to a Fender Stratocaster. This is a great combination that, at least to me, is entirely new. The combination of short scale maple neck and compact body design make this a seriously fun instrument to play. By reducing string tension (to my mind always a good thing)the short scale neck makes string bending easier and gives the guitar a great low frequency response.

The three pickup configuration is the classic two single coils with a humbucker at the bridge. If you haven’t played Godin guitars before you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the sound of the Godin pickups themselves. Like everything else about these guitars, the pickups are fantastic.

Having said all of the above, the most amazing thing is the Godin SD 22’s price. The guitar sells for less than $500 (let’s talk) and that price includes a high quality, fully padded Godin gigbag.

Keep in mind that we’re talking about a guitar that’s hand-assembled in the good old USA, in Berlin, New Hampshire. You might well be asking how Robert Godin can sell a guitar of this quality for so little cash? Well, let’s let Robert Godin worry about that one. Just make sure you sit down and play one BEFORE you go to your local guitar megastore and lay down your hard earned cash for a guitar with higher name recognition but way less soul!

Discovering Godin Guitars

O.K., sorry for the delay in posting but here goes. To get back to the story, after playing lots and lots of guitars, the ones that I kept coming back to were always Godin. At the time they were making the Flat Five X, a solid top, thinline electric acoustic minimally based on the Gibson 335. I say minimally because the Flat Five X actually had a solid maple or spruce top as opposed to the 335’s laminate top. 

I also loved the LG90, mahogany body and neck, recessed Schaller bridge and Seymour Duncan SP90 pickups. There was nothing particularly fancy about the guitar but it played and sounded like a dream. The LG90 reminded me of a great old Les Paul Jr., the kind of guitar you never want to put down.

These were not expensive guitars, they were priced right and played beautifully. They were also extremely comfortable, the ergonomics just seemed right.

So, having a few thousand dollars on credit at Guitar Center from the crummy Gibson L4 that I had ordered and immediately returned, I went back to my guy at the store with a list of Godin Guitars that I wanted to order.

It was then that I found out that Godin had pulled out of Guitar Center and wouldn’t be selling their guitars through the store. This really peaked my interest and it was then that I decided to contact Godin about my selling their guitars.  

More next time, but suffice to say that after selling a lot of Godin Guitars, I’m more impressed than ever by their commitment to building quality, innovative, affordable and soulful guitars.

Welcome!

Welcome to my Godin Guitars blog! Let me first tell you a bit about me and why I’m writing this blog.

I am a professional guitarist and teacher from Walnut Creek, Ca. Walnut Creek is a city approximately 15 miles east of San Francisco. I’ve run a successful downtown teaching studio for the last 15 years and have now expanded my business to include a by-appointment showroom for Godin and Seagull Guitars, both based in Montreal, Canada.

I found out about Godin Guitars about five years ago when I was in the market to purchase a jazz guitar for myself. I had decided that I was going to buy my guitar of a lifetime and ordered a L4 from Gibson’s custom shop. The list price was about $6000. but I got a good price and was thrilled and anxious for the guitar to be delivered. As I recall, it took 4-6 months to arrive. 

I opened the case and the guitar was stunning, absolutely beautiful. It looked like the ultimate jazz box,  in the classic Gibson sunburst. This was the guitar that I had been waiting decades for, perfect! I took it out of it’s case, prepared to spend the entire evening playing this beauty.

And then I played it, but something was wrong. What was that vibration I kept hearing. Could something be rattling inside my custom Gibson jazz box? And is it really possible that the intonation is as far off as I think it is? And the tone, it’s just not that good. Well, you get the point, it wasn’t a very inspiring guitar, it wasn’t even a good guitar. 

Luckily, I was able to return the guitar. This started me on a quest to find a great guitar, regardless of price. That’s the next part of this story, what I ended up finding.

Welcome To The Godin Guitars Blog

Coming soon, tons of information about Godin Guitars!