Godin Exit 22

The majorfeatures have been covered in previous reviews, so I won't reiterate them here.
Made in 2004, I bought this Exit 22 second-hand. It's the rosewood fingerboard version. Mahogany body is heavy - more than some Gibson Les Pauls. It has minimal varnishing which is not high-gloss but looks very nice. The carved top edge of the back is comfortable, compared to a Les Paul.

I play blues, jazz and Christian worship music using Peavey Classic 30 and Fender Deluxe 112 (solid-state) amps. Overall the sound is surprising bright given the mahogany body. But it's easy to smooth things down by rolling the tone control back. The two single-coil pick-ups sound excellent either clean or driven. They are not overly noisy. As for the humbucker, with the tone control rolled off a bit, you can get great blues sounds with a bit of gain on the amp, and with serious amounts of overdrive it sounds great. Most of all I like the versatility of sounds. It can do Fender-style sounds as well as humbucking overdrive Gibson style.

The previous owner had this guitar set-up professionally, but the action is excellent - not too low or too high. The quality of finish on the Exit 22 is excellent. In my opinion it's far better than any Les Paul studio I've seen or played. It's hard to fault the finish. The tuners aren't the best though - fiddly to use. The other hardware looks good and does a good job too. Through-the-body stringing is an excellent idea.

The guitar is pretty solid and looks like it would stand up to regular gigging. With it's maple neck I'd be less in fear of a headstock crack than with a LP. I certainly feel confident to use it for gigs without backup. Might change the tuners eventually.

No dealings with Godin so far and not likely to, since bought second-hand.

I've been playing guitar for more than 20 years. I've had Tele's, strats and a Gibson Les Paul studio.
I would buy another is it got stolen. It's an excellent guitar that is extremely good value second-hand or new.
I like the ability to switch from Fender-ish tones to Gibson-ish. Not many guitars can do this.
I tried out Cort Z42 and some Yamahas.

I bought a new 2008 Exit 22 from Music Go Round. As the features have been well documented, I will not go into all of the specifics. The only real option is fingerboard and mine has a rosewood fingerboard.

I have been playing my son's HSS Strat which has an alder body and maple fingerboard. This Exit 22's mahogany body and rosewood fingerboard give it a similar sound but with more warmth and depth than the HSS Strat. The single coils are very quiet. The added warmth gives me just the sound that I want from positions 1, 2 and 3.
Here are the only two complaints that I have about this guitar. First the humbucker is a little weak sounding. Second, the humbucker cannot be split. I know that it has been said in other reviews but Godin missed the opportunity to give this guitar a greater range of sound.

I am considering replacing the wiring harness and the humbucker. The humbucker needs a little higher output and needs to be wired for coil splitting.

I would replace both of the 250K pots with 250K push/pull pots. The volume pot's push/pull would dump the neck pickup into the switch's output and allow me to use the neck pickup in positions 3, 4 and 5. The tone pot's push/pull would allow me to shunt one of the humbucker's coils to ground and allow it to run in it a single coil configuration. The control cavity looks like it is just deep enough to fit a push/pull pot. While I am at it, I will probably replace the sterile sounding ceramic disk type capacitor with an oil in paper cap.

The action, fit and finish were all just fabulous. The height of the action was perfect and the radius of the bridge matched the fingerboard exactly. The only adjustment that I had to make was to set the height of the pickups.

I have not had this guitar long, so it is difficult for me to judge how durable it will be. I can say that it is well fitted and finished and it is built like a tank.

I have not had any dealings with customer support. Their website, however, is sorely lacking. The manual is a joke even for a guitar player. If you need any technical information, it is just not there. I have had to e-mail Godin for the info that I need.

Looking for trouble with my wife, as usual, I was just poking around Music Go Round looking at second hand guitars and whatever overstock items that they had on hand when I spotted the Exit 22. They plugged it into a Fender Deluxe amp and I immediately fell in love with both the feel and sound of this guitar.

Using my Blackberry, I looked up the price on several websites. Music Go Round's $350 price on this brand new Exit 22 blew away the $500 prices that I found and Musician's Friend and others.

I just knew that this guitar would have to come with a marriage counselor (I suffer from GAS), but my wife seemed to like the guitar even more that I did. She asked the employee if the guitar should be on the 20% discount rack. He looked at her as if she were crazy (no comment from me at this point) and explained that the guitar was already substantially marked down.

She pressed him for any available discounts and he said that if we signed up for their e-mail newsletter, we could get a 15% discount on our first purchase. We signed up and he sold the guitar to me for $298.

Here is a list of the guitars that my son and I currently share (guess who paid for all of them):
Custom rebuilt Ibanez AF75 hollow body w/Phat Cat P90 SC pickups and Mojo ES-335 wiring harness
Custom rebuilt Ibanez AS73 semi-hollow body w/SH-2 and SH-4 HB pickups and Mojo custom push/pull wiring harness for coil splitting
Custom rebuilt Fender Deluxe Stratocaster HSS w/Tex-Mex SC and TB-11 HB pickups and Mojo Strat Blender wiring harness
Gibson Les Paul Studio
Peavey Horizon II
Gibson Flying V Faded Cherry
Taylor 110 Acoustic
Simon and Patrick Woodland 12 Cedar Acoustic

Godin makes its parts in Canada and does assembly in the US. 22 frets, 2-piece mahogany body, maple neck (and fretboard, in my case). 1 tone pot, 1 volume, 5-way switch, SSH pickup configuration. The pickups are Godin-branded. I've heard they're made to spec by Seymour Duncan, but I don't know if that's true. The finish is a semi-gloss polyurethane--it has not scratched at all in about four months of use. The body is basically Tele-style, but with a Strat-like contoured back. The bridge is a 6-saddle string-through hardtail. Unbranded non-locking tuners. The frets are medium jumbo, tall enough to have notes go sharp if you apply too much pressure. 24.75" scale, 12" radius, and stock .09s, so you can do some hellacious bends on this thing. Included gig bag is very nice. There aren't a lot of "extra" features on this guitar (e.g. coil-splitting for the humbucker), but it covers all the basics. Strap buttons are made for Schaller locks--nice touch.

I play mostly blues and blues-rock. The Godin is running straight into a Fender Blues Junior most of the time. Easy to overdrive the amp, even with the single coils. I like a brighter sound, hence the maple fretboard and I play the single coils much more than the humbucker. The mahogany body does give a fuller sound than you'd get from something like a telecaster. The neck pickup is very full-bodied and "sings." It's my favorite. Great for lead tone, clean or distorted. The 2nd position is nice for rhythm. With the tone all the way up the 2nd position is too clean and bell-like for me, but if you dial down the tone you can get anything from a Freddie Green sound to a dirtier tone if you crank the overdrive on the amp. The 3rd position (middle pickup) sounds a lot like a Tele, with "cluck/twang" in the sound. The tone is more focused/percussive but sustains less than the neck pickup. Can't speak very much to position 4, as I haven't used it much. The humbucker is probably the weak point of this guitar. It's very trebly unless you roll back the tone and the sound just doesn't grab me. You can't get very close to a Les Paul sound. Some people compare the Exit 22 to a LP because of the mahogany body and single cutaway, but I just don't see it. Maybe with a rosewood fretboard? With the maple fretboard, mine has much more of a Strat/Tele sound. It's probably closest to a Tele. I can almost wring the Albert Collins sound out of this thing at times. Oh, I should mention the single-coils are pretty quiet even with the gain cranked.

The factory action was too low for me. Neck was almost straight, leading to some fret buzz. The pickups were adjusted close to perfectly. Consistent volume across all switch positions. The neck pocket is extremely tight and the resulting sustain is great. The bridge, tuners, knobs all feel solid. I know in the past people had trouble with the pots, but I haven't so far. Maybe Godin fixed that issue. Lately I've noticed a tiny bit of noise in the selector switch, but it's not there all the time. The two body pieces are not especially well-matched on mine, but looks are pretty far down the list of things I value in a guitar. Overall I like the natural wood look of the Exit 22 and the black hardware avoids drawing attention away from the grain.

I don't perform in public, so I can't speak to those issues. It seems solidly built (pretty heavy compared to a strat) and I haven't been able to hurt the finish so far. The strap locks remove one potential source of worry.

I emailed two questions and got prompt, helpful responses. Not sure about the warranty.

I've been playing for about ten years on a junky Squier strat. I bought the Godin when I decided to get more serious about practicing. While I don't own any other guitars, I've played a friend's MIM strat, a USA strat, and a USA tele. If it were stolen I would probably get another one, but I would be tempted to get a G&L Legacy or ASAT.

My favorite part is the sound of the single-coil pickups and the comfortable neck/fretboard. The humbucker is pretty weak sauce.

I also considered a Yamaha Pacifica or a MIM Strat, but I think the Godin is significantly better than both. The finish is excellent and the Exit 22 delivers a variety of good sounds. You can tell Godin spent cash on good pickups and woods, not goofy finishes or advertising. (I think John McLaughlin is their only prominent endorser.)

This guitar features a solid, string-through mahogany body with 22 frets, h-s-s pickup config, six-on-a-side tuners, five-way pu selector, tone and volume knobs, fixed bridge, 24 3/4" scale length. It has Godin brand pickups.

I will plainly state that this guitar sounds great. I have had it for about eight months now and I really do go back to it frequently. I don't yet own a strat so this fills in nicely. The body style, as has been noted, is sort of a cross between a Les Paul and a Telecaster, which I love. It's just a very smooth guitar. It really isn't a metal guitar, but then again there are lots of pointy-looking, physically dangerous guitars out there. I play straight-up rock with this thing, and it very much delivers. I play this through a Tech 21 Trademark 60, and a Behringer GMX 110, and through both amps it just sings. The versatility of this thing is where it earns its points. You can get that notch position Strat bell/quack sound, or you can roll the tone pot back in the humbucker position and get a reasonable Les Paul imitation. Also, in the humbucker/middle position, it sound very similar to the middle position on a good Tele. Again, very versatile. Buy it just for this, trust me. Pickups are surprisingly good, very meaty with not much noise. The only downside to the pickup scenario is the inability to coil-split the 'bucker. If this were a stock option, there would be no stopping this guitar. I may upgrade to a standard four wire humbucker just to get this option. Really though, I can't say how cool this guitar is.

I bought this guitar used, so I can't say what the factory setup was like, but the previous owner obviously had this guitar set up by a tech, or was very good at tech stuff because I really haven't touched the truss rod or the intonation. Everything is about where it should be. I have noticed that the string alignment over the humbucker is a little off, but the magnetic field is big enough to overcome this small flaw. Overall, the biggest problem I've found with this guitar are the scratchy, low quality pots. It's really no big deal to fix, I think it cost me about $20 and about 20 minutes with the soldering iron to fix, but it's strange how the rest of the guitar is so sweet, and then these pots.... Anyway like I said it's not a huge problem, just take the time to fix it and you won't be sorry. Everything else is top-notch.

This guitar is very solidly built and will withstand every normal amount of abuse. The hardware is solid. Came with strap locks, which I gather is a standard feature. Pretty neat. I often do gig this guitar without a backup, stupid yeah I know, but really it is solid.

I have been playing for 15 years. I have five electrics, as follows:
Godin Exit 22, Fender Nashville Deluxe Telecaster, Westone Spectrum SX, a Partscaster, and a Carlson Tele-clone. I have the two amps previously mentioned, and a couple acoustics. I really love this guitar, no false glowing review here, just a freaking solid rock and roll guitar. Really, buy this guitar if you have the chance.

Solid multi-piece mahogony body that looks like it has just a thin veneer of varnish. Rosewood bolt-on neck. Dunno when it was manufactured, but I understand that the parts are generated in Canada and the assembly performed in the US - in which case Godin have made a nonsence of all those firms who have offshored to China and stupidly handed their technology over. If Godin can make a guitar of this quality at this (when new) price on the North American continent, then the other guys must be doing something daft.

Mine is second-hand. The shop had a brand new model at a ??100 more but I couldn't see the point - other than a slight scratch at the top of the headstock, mine seemed in perfect nick. Even better the shop gave me a gorgeous Godin gigbag, though I'm sure it was supposed to be for a new guitar (!)

Whoever owned this example had taken good care of it. It was strung with 9-42's (yak!) though, so I had the nut altered and stuck 10-46's on it - much better!

The rest of the guitar is as described by others - Godin HSS pickup config.

I was looking for a guitar that would do as a knockaround workhorse - that would through knocks, getting dropped etc. A few years ago I'd evaluated an Exit 22, but wasn't so sure of the neck profile - so in the end I'd ended up with a Pacifica 412V. However I was starting to find the 412 a bit limited pickup-wise, and I was sick to death of repairing the pot on the volume (some kind of fundamental wiring snag here.) The pickups too were a bit limiting for the nature of what I play now.

So I looked again at the Exit 22.

I love clean and overdriven tones - not much distortion! I play in a "progressive" style, so amongst my own stuff I like Hackett, Gilmour, Oldfield, Steve Howe, but also Mike McCready, Santana, SRV - so any setup has to cover a wide range.

The first thing to note is the nature of Godins single-coil pickups - no hum! And they are darn powerful - certainly as powerful as the Duncan-designed humbuckers on my JJ Retro (aka the best electric guitar in the world.)

Although others refer to the Strat-like nature of the Exit 22, I think it shares more affinity with a Tele. As you proceed down the pickups the tone becomes increasingly dirtier, and although I don't use the bridge HB pickup all that much, it plays fine. Best of all their seems to be no noticable volume drop when you switch from a single-coil to the HB.

Looks-wise, the Exit 22 is a weird affair - Les Paul single-cut with a Fender style neck, though short scale. Sound-wise to me its a mix of singcoil Tele mixed in with a HB Tele and...what? I dunno, a bit SG, a bit LP. I dunno, but its virtually impossible to get a bad tone from it.

Plugged-in clean to my (rather modified) Classic 30, with a decent cable, the middle pickup position (2 & 3) provide a fine, already compressed tone, spot on for blues or an overdriven solo. There's a twang in there that is decidedly Tele-like.

Another feature is the immense sustain available - thanks to the through-body stringing - and having no wobble-bar. For bolt-on the suptain is amazing, and it makes it easy to find the sweet spot for feedback when you have time to rock back and forth before the note decays.

Using a Weber mini-Mass attenuator, with the Classic equipped with a NOS Tesla (1970's) ECC81 in V1, and Mullard NOS ECC83's in v2 & 3, plus 4 x NOS Tesla EL84's then position 3 yields a blues tone, with some compression from the Weber that is indescribably good. I can't replicate it without the Weber (say winding the amp up and using a compressor pedal) and none of my guitars get near (though the JJ has the "JJ Love Tone" that is hard to stay away from.) For that alone the Exit 22 is near-perfect, but in reality the number of tones it can cover - from rock to blues to jazz and even country (as if) is unique.

As well as the Classic 30, the guitar is plugged into a Blues Junior and a Cornell Harlequin. Bizarrely it sounds best from the Peavey, but I think that's my personal taste (and I don't use the Weber for anything else.) I have two setups - one with a Zoom G7 and the other through a volume pedal, Dunlop Wah and an old Pearl OD-5 overdrive. The analogue setup works really well - the Zoom compromised of course because it is a digital multi-F/X - though probably the most responsive around. The Weber sucks some of the treble out of it, but for my tones that's preferable.
So I looked again at the Exit 22.

As mentioned - whoever owned this example had taken good care of it. The string height and intonation were perfect.

The body is made up of 3 or 4 bits of wood, but I can't distinquish the join. Being mahogony its heavy - though slightly lighter than my maple/mahogony JJ.

There is one "feature" I'm still not liking - upper fret access, beyond fret 19 isn't brilliant, simply because of the design of the heel. I'm used to my JJ (and the 412V) where access to anchor your stringing thumb/palm even for fret 20-22, even for the low E-string is a doddle. The Exit 22 isn't so good for that - I have wide hands and long fingers so I can do it - but it ain't as comfortable as my other guitars.

The tuners are fine - the smart knurled volume/tone knobs are well...classy - I use the volume pot quite a bit, as well as a volume pedal, and I haven't hit the pot problem others have reported (though the previous owner might have addressed this.)

Built like a tank and cheap enough to ensure I won't cry it it gets dented or dropped. Strap locks are a neat touch. There is no pick guard but this is a real workhorse guitar - despite the price it isn't a beginner axe (the weight will put any teenager off) indeed the quality of the finish would match a ??1000/$2000 guitar - this is mass-manufacturing with hand-built quality.

In the future it will probably get a Roland pickup (rather than get an LGX) although I am tempted to gut a Variax and ask Chris George to retrofit it as a Godin/Variax hybrid (now that would be weird!)

Despite the solid build I would always have a 2nd guitar with me for gigging.

Purchased from North West Englands premier Godin dealership - so I don't expect to have to deal with Godin direct. However being 2nd-hand its out of Godin warranty. A brand new Exit 22 was an extra ??100 (??349) in the shop.

It's a wonderful guitar - just missing, as others have mentioned, the coil tap on the bridge humbucker. Although Godin have tried to save on the looks - the combined slab of mahogony is pretty darn attractive, and I'm lucky to have one that looks like a single piece. It's a tough guitar too.

If it was stolen I would definately purchase another one (again probably second-hand, but I'd buy new if there wasn't a decent example about.)

Even the new price is extraordinary value - ??349, which is what, $690? At that price you expect to find just a mid-range 2nd guitar or expensive starter guitar - but the Exit 22 is a full-blown "proper" stage and studio guitar, albeit mass-produced, but to a standard you expect from Custom shops. Certainly the quality of the build, finish, pickups, tuners and bridge match anything that the likes of Fender (even its Custom Shop) are capable of - and the things not made in China/Thailand/Indonesia/North Korea/Iran or Burma (or wherever western guitar manufacturers have decided to offshore their production/hand their technology to this week.)

Solid multi-piece mahogony body that looks like it has just a thin veneer of varnish. Rosewood bolt-on neck. Dunno when it was manufactured, but I understand that the parts are generated in Canada and the assembly performed in the US - in which case Godin have made a nonsence of all those firms who have offshored to China and stupidly handed their technology over. If Godin can make a guitar of this quality at this (when new) price on the North American continent, then the other guys must be doing something daft.

Mine is second-hand. The shop had a brand new model at a ??100 more but I couldn't see the point - other than a slight scratch at the top of the headstock, mine seemed in perfect nick. Even better the shop gave me a gorgeous Godin gigbag, though I'm sure it was supposed to be for a new guitar (!)

Whoever owned this example had taken good care of it. It was strung with 9-42's (yak!) though, so I had the nut altered and stuck 10-46's on it - much better!

The rest of the guitar is as described by others - Godin HSS pickup config.

I was looking for a guitar that would do as a knockaround workhorse - that would through knocks, getting dropped etc. A few years ago I'd evaluated an Exit 22, but wasn't so sure of the neck profile - so in the end I'd ended up with a Pacifica 412V. However I was starting to find the 412 a bit limited pickup-wise, and I was sick to death of repairing the pot on the volume (some kind of fundamental wiring snag here.) The pickups too were a bit limiting for the nature of what I play now.

So I looked again at the Exit 22.

I love clean and overdriven tones - not much distortion! I play in a "progressive" style, so amongst my own stuff I like Hackett, Gilmour, Oldfield, Steve Howe, but also Mike McCready, Santana, SRV - so any setup has to cover a wide range.

The first thing to note is the nature of Godins single-coil pickups - no hum! And they are darn powerful - certainly as powerful as the Duncan-designed humbuckers on my JJ Retro (aka the best electric guitar in the world.)

Although others refer to the Strat-like nature of the Exit 22, I think it shares more affinity with a Tele. As you proceed down the pickups the tone becomes increasingly dirtier, and although I don't use the bridge HB pickup all that much, it plays fine. Best of all their seems to be no noticable volume drop when you switch from a single-coil to the HB.

Looks-wise, the Exit 22 is a weird affair - Les Paul single-cut with a Fender style neck, though short scale. Sound-wise to me its a mix of singcoil Tele mixed in with a HB Tele and...what? I dunno, a bit SG, a bit LP. I dunno, but its virtually impossible to get a bad tone from it.

Plugged-in clean to my (rather modified) Classic 30, with a decent cable, the middle pickup position (2 & 3) provide a fine, already compressed tone, spot on for blues or an overdriven solo. There's a twang in there that is decidedly Tele-like.

Another feature is the immense sustain available - thanks to the through-body stringing - and having no wobble-bar. For bolt-on the suptain is amazing, and it makes it easy to find the sweet spot for feedback when you have time to rock back and forth before the note decays.

Using a Weber mini-Mass attenuator, with the Classic equipped with a NOS Tesla (1970's) ECC81 in V1, and Mullard NOS ECC83's in v2 & 3, plus 4 x NOS Tesla EL84's then position 3 yields a blues tone, with some compression from the Weber that is indescribably good. I can't replicate it without the Weber (say winding the amp up and using a compressor pedal) and none of my guitars get near (though the JJ has the "JJ Love Tone" that is hard to stay away from.) For that alone the Exit 22 is near-perfect, but in reality the number of tones it can cover - from rock to blues to jazz and even country (as if) is unique.

As well as the Classic 30, the guitar is plugged into a Blues Junior and a Cornell Harlequin. Bizarrely it sounds best from the Peavey, but I think that's my personal taste (and I don't use the Weber for anything else.) I have two setups - one with a Zoom G7 and the other through a volume pedal, Dunlop Wah and an old Pearl OD-5 overdrive. The analogue setup works really well - the Zoom compromised of course because it is a digital multi-F/X - though probably the most responsive around. The Weber sucks some of the treble out of it, but for my tones that's preferable.

As mentioned - whoever owned this example had taken good care of it. The string height and intonation were perfect.

The body is made up of 3 or 4 bits of wood, but I can't distinquish the join. Being mahogony its heavy - though slightly lighter than my maple/mahogony JJ.

There is one "feature" I'm still not liking - upper fret access, beyond fret 19 isn't brilliant, simply because of the design of the heel. I'm used to my JJ (and the 412V) where access to anchor your stringing thumb/palm even for fret 20-22, even for the low E-string is a doddle. The Exit 22 isn't so good for that - I have wide hands and long fingers so I can do it - but it ain't as comfortable as my other guitars.

The tuners are fine - the smart knurled volume/tone knobs are well...classy - I use the volume pot quite a bit, as well as a volume pedal, and I haven't hit the pot problem others have reported (though the previous owner might have addressed this.)

The finish - a clear varnish or clear nytro-cellulose is spot-on - letting the grain show to ensure every

Built like a tank and cheap enough to ensure I won't cry it it gets dented or dropped. Strap locks are a neat touch. There is no pick guard but this is a real workhorse guitar - despite the price it isn't a beginner axe (the weight will put any teenager off) indeed the quality of the finish would match a ??1000/$2000 guitar - this is mass-manufacturing with hand-built quality.

In the future it will probably get a Roland pickup (rather than get an LGX) although I am tempted to gut a Variax and ask Chris George to retrofit it as a Godin/Variax hybrid (now that would be weird!)

Despite the solid build I would always have a 2nd guitar with me for gigging.

No opinion really - the shop I purchased from is North West Englands premier Godin dealer.

Naturally at ??1 = $1 even though it is well worth the dosh, a US/Canadian-purchased example would be evden more of a bargain. Of course shipping and import tax goes some way to explain the 1:1 currency exchange.

I think like everyone else I'd have loved to see a coil tap on the bridge humbucker. That would have been the absolute icing on the cake.

If it was pinched I would get another (2nd hand if available, just because I like the way older guitars wear in.)

I am too, revising my earlier (2 years ago) review. Bare bones, which I actually prefer.

Sounds great with any kind of music. Very strat-like when using the two single coils, but a little trebly when using the humbucker. Tends to get more bassy as tone is turned down. This is because there is a resistor on the volume pot which causes a broader effect of the tone pot.

Had to have it set-up for 11's. The 9's were a little too much like rubber bands and I couldn't keep then in tune very well. But it was well set-up when I got it

This is where I have the rub. The pots got scratchy right after the warranty was up. Got progressively worse until I had to thump on the pots to get any sound out of it.

The company is very helpful. I asked for a wiring diagram and they e-mailed it right away. Also, asked about replacement pots a few months earlier and once again, the e-mailed me an answer pronto. The resistor was not shown in the diagram, though.

I still think this is quite a wonderful sounding and solidly built guitar. I just think they could spend a little more on the pots.

I bought the Exit 22s from a used guitar place for $325. I was told the guitar was a 2000 or 2001, and for that price it was questionable whether it not it was a quality guitar. After playing it for about a day I learned that it is a quality guitar and more. I like things that stand out & are different. The unpainted mahogony solid body fulfilled my wishes for looks of a guitar fully. Each one looks different because they are unpainted, making each one unique. The cutaway body makes high notes easy on the 22 fret board. The string-through body bridge looks awesome and is very easy to maintain (changing strings, is sturdy, etc.) I got the rosewood fretboard, giving the guitar a cleaner, more acoustic sound. Although it must be wiped with lemon oil once a year, it's worth it for I prefer the rosewood over maple. It comes with an incredibly thick and sturdy Godin gig bag, with plenty of pockets and very cool looking. The 5 way control switch presents a wide variety of sounds given by the two Godin single coil pickups and the Godin Humbucker.

The 5 way pickup switch gives a wide choice of sounds. With the switch in the humbucker selection and some distortion, you can get crunchy hard rock tones you would expect from more expensive guitars. I use a 70's Univox 50 watt amp that this guitar sounds great with. What I really like about this guitar is the fact that it sounds great both in clear, crisp tones, and distorted chords. The Exit 22 excels in all types of sounds, whether you're into rock, jazz, metal, or anything. This guitar delivers.

My guitar contained not one flaw. The parts were hand crafted in Canada and put together in the US, and you can clearly see and hear the quality craftsmanship in this incredibly priced guitar. The guitar looked mint, apart from some small nicks and scratched from the previous owner, being a 5 or 6 year old guitar. Besides that, the guitar's action and fit feels great.

I would use this guitar anywhere and everywhere. Being just a starter at guitar, I haven't yet experienced any live concerts or gigs of my own. However, this guitar is built like a tank. Slightly heavy but comfortable, all the knobs, tuners, pickups, etc. are still entirely in tact and in the original position. The finish on the guitar still looks new. Unless I was to go for higher end guitars, such as a Les Paul above $1000, I would use this guitar no matter what the condition.

Buying the guitar used from a small business, I am not aware of any of it's history. However, I do not feel I will ever have problems with this guitar, therefore a warranty is simply nothing I worry about.

Overall: if you're looking to buy a decent guitar for between $300-$400, don't. Spend the extra money to get this high quality guitar for around 500 I believe. I plan on playing this guitar for years to come. It is an all around versatile, durable, and great sounding/looking guitar. The only feature the guitar lacks is a whammy bar. However, there are other ways to create that sound, such as shaking the neck. Therefore the guitar has all features and qualities you would expect in a much higher priced instrument. Go buy it!

see other reviews for this part... or check out the godin site
www.godinguitars.com
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i've been playing guitar for more then 5 years now. The scores i give aren't personal opinions, because i have only played on a few other guitars

live, we play this funky rock thing whitch seems to work great with the godin exit 22. I play it trough a vox ADT 50, with wah and fuzz.
great sound, exept for the high notes

action is very low, maybe a bit too low..., strings should be thicker
rest is great

I play this guitar for over 2 years now, I had it repaired once
I played plenty of gigs whit it (even dropped it a few times)

he seems to be fine , except he's heavy

no ida

great guitar for his price!
too bad he's so heavy

This guitar makes perfect sense.

I couldn't be more satisfied.

Fits my hand perfectly.

So far so good.

?

I have been playing for 47 years and have owned over 100 guitars.

This baby is a true jewel.

Three Piece Mahogany body, Maple neck, Rosewood fretboard. I chose the Rosewood fretboard because most of my favorite guitars have had a Rosewood fretboard. Volume,tone, black hardware. HSS config and String-thru body. Gets a 7 because well it's not packed with features, but it doesn't need to be. I hate complicated guitars.

I like to play blues, rock, surf rock, praise and worship and my own Celtic Rock style.
Right now I'm using a Epiphone Valve Jr and various Dano pedals.
No extra noise, the single coil pickups aren't noisy for humbuckers much less single coils. The pots are quiet, tight guitar.
Great even sound, very rich not a strat, but maybe like a Korina Flying V with strat pickups. Long story short, it's it's own man.
No real dislikes. It's definately unique.

Amazing set up. This is a premium North American guitar at an Asian built guitar price.
I would have to say the pickups are adjusted where they need to be.
It's a beautiful guitar. Great action, smooth fretwires, straight neck, it's tight tight tight to the body.
I feel like I should have payed about $2000 for this guitar.

I haven't played much live, but I belive this will hold up to a 3 hour concert.
The finish is natural so if it chips, I don't care...have you seen SRV's Strat or Willie Nelson's Martin Nylon string acoustic? Aged guitars are happy guitars. I don't think there's a real guitar player out there that wants a guitar that will look new forever. This is my first new Electric guitar. I've owned a G&L Legacy, a Mexican Tele, and a 1996 Fender Jag-stang. All bought used, all had some wear.
I can depend on it, I replaced the strap buttons with Dunlop locks. Right now I have no choice but to gig without a backup electric, but considering I play 3 songs electric and 2 songs acoustic on Sunday morning, I think I'll be ok.

No experience yet. But I've heard good things.

I've been playing off for 15 years and on for 8 years. I currently own a 96 Fender Jag-stang, Martin D-16gt, Goodtime Banjo.
I never played this guitar, I ordered it from Musiciansfriend based on all the good reviews I've read. I have played a Godin Freeway SA at a local shop and compared it to the Used G&L legacy and new G&L Legacy there and found it to be better quality than the New G&L. The Freeway(HSH config) has the same singlecoil and one of same humbuckers. I loved the way the neck felt. I only had $500 to spend and wanted a string-thru body so the Exit 22 was perfect for me.
No it's not like a Stratand no it's not like a Gibson Les Paul. Maybe Fat Strat pickup config with a String-thru body like a Tele, resonance like a string-thru body Korina Flying V and a neck somewhere between a Gibson SG and a 60's Strat.
If you want a strat then buy a strat ok! If you want a V buy a V... you get the idea.
If you want a unique guitar of good quality that will have people asking you what kind of guitar that is after your performance then this is your guitar! If you want a Strat, buy a G&L Legacy, if you want a Gibson Les Paul, buy a Hamer or a Heritage.
This is a great guitar at a great price and I can't believe I only payed $440 for it. Buy one before the price jacks up.

natural satin finish, mahagony body which looks like a cross of tele and lespaul. fix bridge which is good since coz i've started to love a guitar which stays in tune pretty well.maple neck that is not so wide n not so thin. i would say just nice. n not so fat or thin. again just nice. n maple fretboard. my first maple fretboard. it feels so smooth.22 frets which is not a problem for me. my first non asian made guitar. the whole guitar feels great 5 way s-s-h passive pickups

alternative,rock,modern rock n it nails them. except it does not sound that tight. it sounds a bit loose. probably needs to change it a to duncan to make it even better.
plug it through my ibanez 100 watt amp. no efx. doesn't sound too thick or thin. but like i said. it sounds loose n not tight enough for me. thats my only complain.

action was good enough.not too high or too low. but somehow the 6 string gave a buzz. not sure y. maybe its fitted wif a .09 gonna change it to a .10 soon. pickups were balanced well. finish were great. but not sure of the tuning head though coz it got out of tuned after i played a while. maybe the strings r not strecthed yet. intonnation was horrible when i got it. but after a few adjustment, its perfect. n yes. this guitar has perfect intonnation. was suprise coz i couldn't get a perfect intonnation from my Ibanez S470DX. but this was easy to set up. took me ard 10 mins to set up all the strings. neck slightly warped but its nothing dat couldn't be fixed. juz gonna pull the truss rod once i changed to a .10. i really love the smooth maple fretboard. one of the best fretboard n neck i've ever held.

juz got it. nothing has gone wrong so far.

never got it repaired or anything

been playing for close to 10 years. got an ibanez rg 270DX a hamer XT and used to have an Ibanez S470DX. but sold it to get this godin. n it was worth it. i didn't like the neck profile of the ibanez but the rest of it was sweet. but the godin. everything is sweet. if i have extra cash i'd probably buy 2 more of this guitar. juz love the smooth maple fretboard. n it has a crystal clear sound to it when strummed unplug. means with the right pickups this thing will sing. not that the stock pickup is not good. like i said before..it sounds a bit loose. i wish it had a really good tuners. one dat will stay in tune for 100 years of playing. besides that...its close to perfect.

2005 model Godin Exit-22, maple neck, mahogany body, arrayed with single, single, humbucking pick-ups, with a 5-way selector. It comes with a gig-bag (cool). It is made in Canada/US, with a 22-fret neck. The pick-ups say Godin, but they might be Seymour Duncans (made to order).

This guitar sounds amazing. It is mainly used as studio jack-of-all trades, and it suits this role perfectly. Blues, funk, R&B, light jazz
rock, this axe delivers. It sounds decent in Fender, Mesa, Vox, Pignose, and Roland modelling amps. My preferred choice is the CUSTOMIZED Traynor YCV-40 TUBE AMP for an all-Canadian 'sound'... Absolutely awesome. My floor pedal-board has Digitech Synth-Wah, Aria distortion, Boss MT-2, Boss Flanger, Boss DC-2 Dimension-C, and Boss RV-3 REVERB-DELAY. The single coil p/us are good and fairly quiet, way better than those on any Strat I've ever played, and the bridge h/bucker is just strong enough to work with distortion pedals without turning the sound into sludge.

The factory set-up was flawless, with very good low action. The pick-ups were so well balanced that switching from one to the other has no sudden jumps in volume. Mine has a maple neck, perfectly finished and fitted to the body. The tuners kept the axe in shape. I can hardly say anything bad about this guitar, especially considering the price.
Best 450 buck I ever spent.

I bought this guitar about a year ago. It's been played at gigs, jams, and in the studio. It survived all that with cohones. The hard-ware seems okay , so far. I always use it at all my live gigs without a back-up, and I can depend on it.

Never had any repairs. It is still under warranty. I met the Godin 'rep' at my local Long & McQuade retail outlet. He looks like a dude that would take care of you, if you had any problems with Godin. Besides my local retail guys and gals are always on the 'job' for me. Very good people.

Been playing over three decades. I run a recording studio, with all the usual gear..Trident console, Neve, and Focusrite tools, etc, etc. I also have a 1977 Music-Man Sting Ray Bass, Roland (Ibanez) G-202,303, 707 guitar/synth controller, and the all the Roland GR-series...1000, 300, 500, 700, GM-70 JP-6, JP-8, Juno-106, yadda, yadda, yadda..
If it was stolen, I would buy this guitar again. I currently own four Godins, and my goal is to have seven different Godin axes. I switched to Godins because all the other 'production' type guitar manufacturers are losing their 'mojos', and couldn't give a damn about their customers. I dislike spending big bucks to buy 'boutique' axes, that are so precious I can only use them on 'special' occasions. When I play the Godins, I'm reminded of the 60's Ford Mustangs, a production model car that really rocks.
All the Godin line of guitars and basses, are designed for hard-working musicians who prefer good value for money. Besides they are all made in Canada/US, keeping the jobs and skills at home.

Mahogany body, Maple neck, fixed bridge, 3 pickup, 5 way switch, satin finish. A carved top might have made it prettier, but would increase the price and would not have improved the sound or playability.

There is enough variety in the switch positions to handle most styles other than a big hollow body arch top type sound, which I have no need for. This guitar through a good amp covers most bases. I play it through a Boogie F50 with the usual rock effects. I have a Fender Strat and Gibson Les Paul and this guitar works as well as either of those and maybe better than the Fender on the neck setting.

I bought it used so I don't know how well the factory did the original set up. Since I have owned it I have not had to adjust anything. The maple neck seems to have shrunk a bit as the fret ends had to be redressed, but I like the action otherwise. No buzzes with light guage strings.

Overall durability is as good as any american guitar. You would have to abuse it to cause any problems, much like a Fender Telecaster. I'll probable give it to my grand kids in about 30 or 40 years.

I've been playing for about 40 years or so, mostly rock/blues. You could spend a lot more and get a Gibson or PRS and have a prettier guitar and all the paranoia that goes with that or get one of these and not worry about that first nick. This is a players guitar; a real work horse. Guitar snobs needn't bother.

Maple fretboard was my choice. Fast action & slightly narrow neck width makes for easy playing on lead riffs.
Hard tail is nice. String through body gives lots of sustain.
Satin finnish gives this guitar an earthy/casual look.

A genuine surprise for clean blues leads! Beautiful at every setting on the 5-way switch. Diverse & passionate sounds.

Only a PRS Santana would rate a 10 for me!

Has Schaller strap locks as standard issue! Nice touch!
I'm a hobbyist of 30 years & this is a true gem in my opinion.

No problems to report.

I like my Powerhouse Fender Strat for hard rock & this Godin for blues. I'd highly reguard this guitar as my blues favorite. Best $ I ever spent! Buy it & enjoy.

I wont' detail the features as they are described in almost all previous posts.

Personaly I realy like the neck dimension that allow me to play complex chords with a minimum of effort.

I regret that the humbacker is not splittable. It does not cost that much and would increase the sound palette of the instrument.

Maybe a model with locking tuners would be a nice to have also for an extra 20 euros ...

However the features realy fit my needs : a stratocaster like guitar, _without_ tremolo, simple elegant and efficient.

The sound palette is quite amazing ! Currently playing with a funky band, I'm fully satisfied of the sounds the guitar can provide.

I'm using a Fender Deluxe for studio sessions and gigs. The Godin has a nice and brigth sound on the first selector positions. When we get the overdrive on the Fender it sounds really bluesy ( nice for some solos ).

To be a little bit more critical, I'd say that the Godin mics have some sligh noise, but for the price, they are quite good.

I purchased mine by internet. I set up the pickups height in order to use some heavier strings, and excepted the change of string, I did not made any changes.

I already played on stage with this guitar and excepted the weigh problem, I have nothing to report. I used it and will use it again without backup.

Also, I hope that the hardware will last :), but honestly, if some pieces fall apart, they can be replaces or upgraded without a prohibiting cost.

Never contacted :)

I own this guitar for 6 months now, and I'm realy satisfied.

MY GODIN IS A 2006 MODEL,MAHOGANY BODY SATIN FINISH,STRAT STYLE
BRIDGE,22MEDIUM SIZE FRETS ON ROCK MAPLE NECK.IT HAS 3 P-U TWO
SINGLE COIL NECK AND MID PLUS 1 HUMB.AT THE BRIDGE.IT IS A SHORT
SCALE NECK 24 3/4,THE CONFORT OF THE NECK IS THE FIRST THING THAT
GOT MY ATTENTION.IT IS A FAIRLY HEAVY GUITAR!IT COMES WITH A TRULY
DELUXE GIG BAG.TUNERS WORK QUITE WELL.HARDWARE IS ALL BLACK WHICH
IS NICE AND DIFFERENT.I FORGOT TO MENTION 2 IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT THE NECK, 12"RADIUS PLUS ROUND EDGES AS STANDARD FEATURE!!.

I PLAY MAINLY BLUES WITH A PEAVEY DELTA BLUES AND A TUBE SCREAMER.
IT FEELS A LOT LIKE A GIBSON JR.AND SOUNDS LIKE AN EXPENSIVE STRAT.
I THINK THIS GUITAR SOUNDS PLAIN PERFECT!

FACTORY SET UP WAS CLOSE TO PERFECT,THE ONLY THING I DID WAS SLIGHTLY
LOWER THE FIRST 3 STRINGS. IT CAME WITH 9-46 GAUGE,I DID REPLACE WITH
10-46 MUCH MUCH BETTER.

THIS GUITAR SEEMS VERY WELL MADE AND FOR THE PRICE I PAID YOU CANNOT
FIND BETTER

DO NOT KNOW!

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR 12 YEARS,I OWN STRATS,TELES,GIBSONS WHICH ARE VERY COSTLY AND DO NOT GIVE ME MORE THAN THIS VERY WELL MADE
450.00$ GUITAR.IF IT WAS STOLEN I WOULD FOR SURE BY ANOTHER ONE.
BRAVO GODIN ,MERCI BEAUCOUP

2005 Godin Exit 22
Canadian crafted parts assembled out of country
solid body 22 frets
5 way selector, S/S/H(in order from nect to bridge)
Mahogany body, rock maple nect, birds eye maple fret board
satin finish (very nicely done too)
Body style is somewhere between les paul and strat
bridge is custom godin bridge, string through body design (awsome sustain, can you hear it? I could walk away and come back in an hour and it would still be going)
24 3/4 scale
came with a very nice gig bag, very durable and lots of space and protection

I enjoy every style of music save country (sorry country lovers)
I like to play bluesy ballsy guitar, and some very clean ballad type stuff, as well as heavier music like system of a down. I even dabble in jazz. This little beauty handles it all quite well, mind you its not the ultimate tone for each style, but its so damn good and close that you won't care (unless your a complete prude!)
I like the single coil pick ups - they are very quiet which is very nice indeed.
I dislike the tuners, they are so close together i often knock a string out while tuning another....maybe I'm just not dainty

set up from factory was bang on, intonation was perfect as well
pickups were set just fine
there was a slight flaw in the wood of the body on the neck saddle, turns out it was some finish in a crack, which is so minor that I let it go

I think this little tyke can handle a live performance just fine, the stock strap locks are a nice bonus you don't have to screw into the body its done for you.
Most definitly always bring a back up you never know what can happen but for the most part this is a solid performer

NA

I've played in bands and taken part in music since i was a wee teen. i'm older now (not that old!) but guitar hasn't always been my main interest, the bass has taken up a majority of that time, its just an awsome instrument.
I grabbed this on a whim and i couldn't be happier - its a jack of all trades and does it all very well (not top notch, but close enough!) you would be happy to pay double the price for this guitar and still think your getting a deal. Godin is fast becoming a very reputable company.

You've all read the features by now.
Everything is made by Godin, 100% Canadian, and what a great name to fly under our flag!

Feature light but that is a real draw.

5 way toggle for pickup selection keeps it simple yet versatile enough.

I must say that it sounds really good, I am finding that southern blues to system of a down tone that covers so many areas of musical taste. It isn't the best at any of them, but it does do them very well, good enough for me.

intonation came perfectly set up, no string buzz, no fret rattle, action was great (hey, i play bass, poor action would feel great to me)

I'm not 100% certain on the hardware, the only way to see how it does is the test of time.

I think the tone pot is a little dirty already, I may replace them, other than that, as I stated already, the test of time will tell. The price was excellent though and the playablilty is great and I am really enjoying the guitar, so I hope it does last :)

Not needed yet.

Overall this is a great little guitar for someone who wants a guitar that can do it all. Like I said, its not a style guitar, it sounds great it would be gig worthy no doubt and I am very glad I took the plunge and bought something away from the "norm".

Give one a strum, you'll be glad you did!

heads up, i wrote a previous review over a year ago when i first got the axe but my opinions have changed, i'll lower my ratings this time to balance it out with what i think now.
the guitar didn't run away and install itself some new electronics so everything's still stock.
however... pots are scratchy. tone pot is tough to nail your sound with since it tends to jump the treble around. volume pot at zero sometimes hits 10 if i turn it too hard.
tuners are decent. can hold pretty well. i play a lot harder live than when practicing so i pitch the strings a bit sharp.
didn't rate this section before so i'll give it a rating. if not for the pots, this would get near perfect. i don't like tremolos anyhow so that's a non-factor. this has everything i need.

heads up, my amp/eq settings are treble 10, mid 10, bass 0.
single coils alone and mid+bridge will give you noise.
neck alone gives a fat, acoustic sound with treble up.
neck+mid is very bell-like. can give an SRV sound
mid, i barely use alone. to me it sounds like the mid just closer to the bridge.
mid+bridge gives a hot p90 sound to me. i use this for leads
bridge isn't high output imo. sounds way too chainsaw like with high-gain. give some medium gain and it's got balls like an SG. low gain and you've got a great rythm sound. this pickup drives tubes alright.

sustains well, a bit too bright imo so i tone it down a bit. gave this a 9 before, so to balance it out, here's a 6.

setup with low action. had a bit of buzz on a few strings so it got raised a bit. maybe i'm more suited to a longer scale neck but other than that, it's all good. the mahogany body looks amazing at certain angles. gives a 3-d vibe to the guitar.
changed the strings to 10's. much more accomodating.

this guitar withstands live playing. it got knocked off the top of a stack. left a chip in the lacquer of the neck with the diameter of 1 cm and a depth of about 2 mm. considering the loud boom it made falling, i'm surprised there wasn't more damage. i guess it really is rock maple. good weight on a guitar. maybe around 8 lbs

haven't played a guitar quite like it. it's never gonna fully be a strat, or an SG. i don't really see how anyone thinks this sounds or plays like an LP but all i can say is this guitar's got character of it's own.

Might be one of my best finds. I'm a person who doesn't usually go for brand names right away, rather I go with intuition and feel. Found this guitar at a local pawn dealer, brand new. Bagged it for a nice $350. Features have been said numerous times, 3-piece mahogany w/ natural finish, which i find very eye catching, brushed aluminum tuners, my particular guitar has all black hardware. My 22 is the one equipped with the maple fingerboard.

When I first strummed this guitar unplugged, I could tell this would be a winner. The resonance is amazing. Once plugged in, this guitar blew me away. From clean bluesy, mellow tones from setting 2 to some nice bite when distorted from across the board. My musical styles vary greatly and this guitar handles all of them like a champ, the humbucker is not as hot as you would expect, but not by much.

The action on this guitar was perfect for my liking. I might put on some medium 10's on it or just a brand new set of 9's because I'm liking the flexibility and bends I can get from them on this fretboard. The guitar's finish is just a clear coat to show off the great looking wood. Only thing on my guitar's finish was dust from lying in the shop for how ever long it was in there for.

This guitar feels very durable and has now become my main guitar. I would definitely play with this live. The guitar came pre-installed with the female connectors of the strap locks, so it's just a matter of buying a strap and male connectors. I would bring a back-up just for easier switches between alternate tunings and incase of a string breakage.

Haven't had to deal with them but the guitar did come with a warranty from Godin.

I've been playing for about 4 and a half years and own 2 other electric guitars and 2 acoustics (Squier Fat Strat, First Act ME501[suprisingly good], Epi Acoustic, and Yamaha acoustic. I play through a Peavey Bandit 112 from the 70's or 80's?. If it were stolen I would definitely find the money and buy another one, and then go find out who ever stole my precious act and beat him with what ever remains of my original one.

I won't repeat the features. This is the 22 fret model with a rosewood fingerboard. The neck is nice, but it's a little thin for my taste - I have long fingers. The gigbag is great.

I'm a blues/classic rock guy and this guitar fits the bill. Use the humbucker for some nice lightly overdriven Freddie King type sounds, drive the amp harder for some Bluesbreakers and early 70's rock stuff, and I'm finding myself using the single coils for clean sounds. I'm playing through a Vox modeling amp, the one that has a low power tube amp stage. Seems like the single coils have a distinctive, woody tone to me compared to Fender guitars, probably due to the mahogony body and short scale. I don't particularly like pickup positions 2 and 4.

Action was medium-low, the neck had a slight bit of relief, no buzzing. Pickup output is even across all of them. The 9's felt too flabby to me, slapped 10's on and it felt good, the relief held. Fit and finish is excellent, frets feel and look fantastic. I did a tiny intonation adjustment on a couple of strings.

The volume pot got scratchy after about 3 hours, and after 6 hours or so the sound was cutting out. I had it replaced locally for $20.
The tone pot is holding out OK, and contary to a previous review, mine has a nice range to it.

This guitar will last but expect some work on the electronics at some point.

I knew I wasn't going to send it off for warranty work, but I wanted Godin to know what was going on. So I sent them an email, told them I didn't need a response. I explained that the guitar was worth more than I paid for it in my opinion, so why skimp on the electronics? Geez, upgrade it a little and charge $50 more. Someone answered in two days, offering warranty service and saying they were always glad to hear what their customers thought.

I've been playing for 30 years, strictly for a hobby. I own or have owned an American Fender Strat, an Epiphone Dot, some Danelectro reissue, and others through the years.

I don't think you can do better than this for the price if you want a versatile mid-priced guitar.

Features are covered many times below, on the face of it a very versatile guitar. Comfortable and one of the few that my wife actuallt likes the look of.

Blues through a tube amp is a joy - but it wasn't to start with. Now maybe I'm expecting too much or maybe I'm too cynical... I mean it has to be cheap marketing to get a load of good reviews on a site like this. How do you know who any of these people really are.

The electrics on this instrument really let it down. The pick ups seem passable but the pots were terrible. The volume cuts out totally at around 30% and the tone pot is basically a bright/muffle switch. If you can't rectify yourself you're looking at around #25-30 plus parts to sort this out. Perhaps a standard strat is a better option.

Came set up quite quite high but with a little work this plays as good as my US deluxe strat, if anything slightly easier due to the shorter scale length, surprisingly not flappy with the supplied 9's but with better tension using 10's. The construction and finish were fine.

nasty electrics replaced but usually take at least 2 guitars to a gig anyway

This is the nub... Godin is not a common guitar in UK shops. It was bought mail order. Godin, rightly I suppose, suggested I return the guitar to the supplier under warranty, this would have cost about the same as replacing the pots. No local shops had this instrument so remote purchase was the only option. Moral - Look out if you buy obscure budget guitars.

been playing a long time and I'm old as dirt. currently use a Deluxe Strat, LP junior with 2 P90s, Line6 500 but with a Warmoth neck (for acoustics) Highway 1 strat tuned and set up for slide. The Godin was bought as a "knock about" and that's pretty much it's rightful place in life. It is unusual though - you don't see too many and it has a good bright blues bite - I would buy another but only if I had checked the actual instrument personally

Purchased in Fall 2004. I think the features have been pretty well covered. Mine has the birdseye maple fretboard. I actually could not find one anywhere so I had a dealer order one for me. They got in a maple board and a rosewood board and after playing them both I bought the maple. Both sound good but the maple seemed a little brighter. No tremolo option but it wasn't a deal-breaker for me - I already have a Fender Strat so if I want a whammy-bar I just play it.
This guitar reminds me of a cross between a Les Paul and a Strat.
Great quality gig bag comes with it.

I play mostly rock-n-roll thru a tube amp (I have several). I usually just use the bridge pickup on my other guitars but this guitar has some great sounds from the 2 single-coil pickups. Oddly enough, there is not much difference in volume between the humbucker and the single coils--on most guitars the humbucker is a lot hotter. I have never had a problem getting a good variety of tones from this axe. One string seems to tune differently from the rest but I think it may be that I need to re-check the intonation. I have changed the strings quite a few times but haven't touched the setup since I bought it almost 2 years ago, so it probably isn't the guitar's fault.

The action was good straight from the store. No quality issues whatsoever. It is a great example of good quality North American craftsmanship at a very affordable price.

This guitar is solid. I break a lot of strings so I never gig without a backup, but as long as the strings are OK there are no worries about this guitar's dependability.

Never needed their assistance, except when I was trying to find one. They provided me with the names of some nearby dealers and one of them ordered for me.

I have been playing for 10 years. I own more guitars, basses, pedals, and amps than I can count. I like this guitar because it's different than anything else I have and it sounds good thru different amps.
Actually, this guitar was stolen in March of 2005 and I was fortunate to get it back. I attempted to beat the culprit about the head and face with it but the cops wouldn't let me. If I had I'll bet it wouldn't have even gone out of tune. I would have gotten another one for sure if I hadn't gotten this one back. It has some of the best features of Les Pauls and Fenders in one package. Awesome value.

2005, Mahogany body, bolt on maple neck, rosewood fretboard, 2 singles and a HB in bridge, string through body, all the usual features as stated in other reviews. And you gotta love the great gig bag they thow in.

I play mostly classic rock(Zep, AC/DC etc)with some country and blues thrown in the mix sometimes. This guitar suits these styles fine. As someone stated before the resonance on this thing is amazing! Both single coils are very good and also very quiet, the humbucker is a little weaker than I,m used to and it may be replaced in the future. This may not be really a fair comparison because my Ibanez has a SD Custom 5 in the bridge and has a much more ballsy tone. This is my very first bolt on necked guitar and also my first with 3 pickups. Palm muting with it took a little getting used to. The 5 way switch makes for great versatility with the tones. One thing I did do was to put on a set of D,darrio 10,s wich made it sound even better. I play through a Crate V series 1x12 and a Roland Cube 60 usually with just a bit of chorus and the guitar just sings through either amp.

Perfect, no flaws, great setup. I compared this to another maple fretboard model at the store and the other had a slightly higher action but was also flawless.

This thing is built like a tank. The only thing I,m a bit leery about is the electronics, a common problem with guitars in this price range. I guess time will tell.

I,ve heard they are good but hve not had to deal with them at all.

I,ve been playing for 29 years and own an Epi Les paul, an Ibanez SZ520QM , an old Eko acoustic and the two amps I mentioned above. I was looking for something with some mellower tones and with single coils. I compared this to a MIM Fender Strat, A MIM Fender Tele and a G&L Tribute ASAT and it blew them all away. It is far better built, much more versatile and a bit less expensive. As I said I,m undecided on the humbucker yet,not that it,s bad. It,s a great guitar for the money and I,d get another if it went missing.

made in 2005 you've read all the details but heres my view on the godin exit 22 and the sd guitar that i also have.I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER GUITAR UNLESS IT HAS THE GODIN NAME ON IT PERIOD! I have been through so many guitars in the last 30 years. fender , gibsons, hamers
the quality of todays guitars costing 1000 and up is just crap to put it mildly.until godin comes along. I found a sd in a music store siting all by its lonesome. No price tag was on it. and i thought this thing looks really good but it must cost at least a thousand or better compaired to everything else i've looked at.The fret work was perfect with no fret edges sticking out from bad work or wood srinkage etc. I mean i check the guitar out from top to bottom. i bought it. and its still the best guitar after 2 years. Noe i bought the exit 22 and its even better. beautiful finish, fret work, playability its just to good to be true! the 22 in tones, think the best strat you ever played. (Sweet home alabama) yes it is! This guitar is no piece of cheese ! believe me.

think strat with good pickups and a humbuckers but this guitar out classes fender guitars by a long shot! But the main thing is that they play really well where most fenders dont. With fender you might find 1 good guitar out of 20. listen! go check out a godin you wont be sorry. They play that good! I use mine with a cyber deluxe with a footcontroller. a real good match. no issues or dis likes

the best i've seen in all areas

better than most

godin aint playin games by the looks and playability of their guitars and might i say sound!i havent needed to contact them.

i've been playin for about 30 years. my other gear hm lots. jbl, mackie,2 godin guitars, cyber deluxe, br864 with krk studio monitors
lotsa toyz!

My exit22 is a 2002, made in Canada and assembled in States.The fretboard is in maple...for the rest, you already said everything on this guitar features. It's a gorgeous looking guitar, a little bit heavy but comfortable. Not much features...2 single coils, one humbucker, a volume and a tone knob and a 5 way switch.

I also own 2 fender stratocaster. Somebody on this review said that a Fender owner will feel familiar with the exit22...I'm sorry, but it look a lot more like a Gibson or an Epiphone than a fender. The 12" radius flat neck is so different than a Fender 9.5" c-shape neck, it's not even near.The guitar sounds very good for what i'm playing.(classic rock, blues and old rock)and the action is very good.No noise,no complaint...for the price, it beats a lot of more expensive guitars.

As I said, the action is fairly good to ecxellent, the pick ups are good quality, no noise or hum. The quality of the accessories ( knob,pegs, bridge etc. ) is lot better than a lot of more expensive axes. Godin is taking care of the quality.

It' not a long time I have it, but it looks very reliable and solid. I could certainly depend on it for a gig....but as I never gig without a back up...I'll never know :-)

I e-mail them a question about hardshell case, and I received the answer less than 8 hours after...so no complaint...there great.

I'm playing guitar for 40 years. I played my 2 strat, my Godin and an Ovation on a Fender Hot Rod Deville amp and a Crate GT212 as back up. My Exit22 is now part of my regular materiel to play gig. I would say that Godin is the most best kept secret of the industry. They have great instruments but not to well knowned.I would just like it to have a Fender neck...so it would be perfect...for the price, you will never find a better guitar.

This Guitar was built around winter 2004. As stated before, the Parts were manufactured in Canada and assembled in the States.
Basically this is a solid body guitar with a bolt-on neck. The body consists of three equal parts of beautifully textured mahogany. It is outlined a little bit like a les paul model because of the single cutaway, but has an ergonomic shaping similar to a strat. The neck is deep-seated in the body by four perfectly placed bolts, the junction zone is tapered for better accessability to the higher neck positions. Godin manufactures this instrument in two versions: rosewood or maple fingerboard. I own one with a maple board on it. The neck is made of one piece of hard maple, the fretboard features 22 medium size frets and is made of hard birds-eye maple. The neck has a flat D shape, the truss rod is accessible from the head stock, there is no truss rod cover, two string holders for the high four strings are attached to the head stock. The nut material is called tusq and although it is synthetic, it looks a little like bone. Except the headstock front, which is shiny and transparent, the rest of the instrument has a natural satin finish. The pickup configuration is H-S-S (Godin-PUs, passive) with a standard 5-way switch, a tone and a volume knob and no coil splitting options. There is a non-trem bridge with through-body string ducts on a massive brass block. The tuners are from Godin and look like regular Gotohs. All the hardware is black. The strap buttons are Schaller security locks or at least very good copies, but without the strap-sided counterparts. A very high quality gig bag is included. Actually it is a very simplistic and plain design, reduced to the essentials. I give it a 10 also because of the gig bag.

Very versatile guitar. Imagine a very good sratocaster. Add the sound of a bridge-positioned Humbucker, and there you go. This is a sophisticated instrument, so don't expect the guitar sound of bands like Korn, Slipknot or Pantera. I think this guitar is ideal for playing jazz, folk music, pop music, blues, classic rock, hard rock and classic metal. I love its tonal features.

Well, can't say much about the factory setting, because my guitar dealer did all the tweaking for me. I received this instrument perfectly set up. Could have taken it directly on stage without even touching it before.

Contrary to the opinion of the other reviewers, i think that tanks are not quite as well built like this guitar...

Never dealt with them. People who make instruments like this can't be bad guys.

I've been playing electric guitar for over 16 years now. I owned all kind of guitars, amps and effects, can't remember them all. My core equipment is a Fender limited edition iron maiden guitar, an Ibanez rg-550 dx ltd., a Charvel 6-string acoustic and an Aria 12-string acoustic guitar. I get my sound from a Marshall tube combo amp and the new Line6 PodXT Live (To all who dislike this device after personal experience: Initially i encountered the same problems like you did, but finally got all the good results that people praise to the skies, it is just a matter of tweaking. For instance, try setting the output mode to bose ps-1 when connecting to the power amp section of a Marshall.) The Godin Exit 22 is a superb guitar. Its strength is its simplicity. It lets you fully concentrate on your music. If it were stolen, i'd buy exactly the same in no time. If you have the opportunity to get your hands on one of those, then take some time to check it out. This IS a good guitar. If one of the major companies built the same instrument, they'd give it a stupid bird's name and sell it threefold the price - without a case, of course.

Solid mahogany body w/ natural finish, single cutaway almost Les Paul style body shape
Rock maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, 22 med. nickel frets
S/S/H passive Godin pickups, one tone, one volume pot, 5-position pickup selector
String-thru body fixed bridge
24 3/4" scale
Made in Canada, I assume in 2003
Came with a delux gig bag

Very versatile guitar. Appropriate for rock, indie-alternative, folk-ish, country-ish, metal and other sounds. The pickups give fairly differnt tonal qualities. Neck pickup gives a rich tone, which can almost emulate acoustic, the neck humbucker is bright and gives a solid rock tone; a variety of sounds can be achieved with the other pickup configurations.
Occasional hum when on the singles or the middle single and humbicker together.

The only adjustment I've had to make was lowering the upper end of the middle pickup to reduce bass response. Other than that, it was perfectly set up from day one.

So far this guitar has been very reliable. Everything is solidly in place after a year of play, sound hasn't degraded, I've not broken any strings, the finish is still immaculate...

I'm starting to have occasional issues with the e and B strings staying in tune if heavily bent though.

This was my first guitar, after playing other people's instruments for about 8 years; I primarily play bass. For the price, I couldn't recommend a better guitar than Godin and the Exit 22 is no different; it plays like a $800-1000 Fender for only $500. I love the versatility it has offered me at an economy price. If I lost this guitar, I probably wouldn't replace it with the same model, but I would probably replace it with a more expensive Godin, perhaps a Fender Jaguar or Gibson SG; this is a fantastic first guitar though.

i'm sure other people have stated the specs...
but as my friends say, the satin mahogany is gorgeous. personally, i love the satin maple neck/fretboard and the scale is perfect for my hands. however, one thing i might just love more is the gig bag that was included for free! that's about $50 CDN or $40 USD easy.
anyways, onward with the review...

I use a cheap squier 15W amp at home (soon i'll get a Roland 30W cube) and a boss GT-6 pedal, 75W Roland bass amp (=[) at my church.

i love the chimey, bell sound that single coils can produce. This guitar does just that. 2nd position treble up, the sound is ok throughout high and low range but the bells really come through in the mids.

bridge humbucker will give you some nice twang on clean and great SG-like tones with distortion. (atleast mine does)

the sustain is decent. it's a bolt-on so you can't really expect a whole lot in that department.

Another plus in the single coils is it's warm depth in sound. yes, it gets nice and trebly but the warmth never fades. good potential there as a jazz axe. i would assume the mahogany body's got something to do with it.

i always wipe my baby down after a good jam, practice or gig. still satinny smooth.

nice low action, and they've bolted the neck on properly... as parallel to the strings as you can get without sacrificing buzzing and all that crud.

frets stick out maybe 0.5mm but i like it since it's consistent with each fret

3-piece mahogany body but i'm not to picky about how many parts are involved as long as it does the job WELL.

i don't mind the strings but i'll change them after a few go's

nothing's lose. switch, knobs, strap buttons. maybe the 6th tuner a little but it does it's job.

good weight for an electric. glad it's not an agile lp copy but also not glad it's not a hollow body. i'd say it's a pinch heavier than a conventional strat.

tuners will hold a good while but aren't perfect.

nope, and hope i never will.

however, long and mcquade offered me 1 year of free setups and maintenance for free.

over an MIM strat almost anyday. sometimes you get a rare, brilliant. but that's the difference between fender and godin's QA. Godin QA > fender QA from what i've seen in consistency. beats it price-wise nonetheless.

you will get more than your money's worth. just how much is up to how you treat it and play it.

2004 model with black hardware, 24 3/4 scale with 22 frets, mahogany body, maple neck and fingerboard, non-locking tuners, S/S/H configuration (for now), natural satin finish, fixed bridge, deluxe gig bag included (suitable for short trips).

This was a present from me to me for my upcoming mid-life crisis (I turn 40 this year).

I'm still leaning how to play so I'm not the best judge on what may be good or not, especially since I've already gutted the electronics and the wiring! I've replaced the 250K linear pots with 500K audio log pots, replaced the unshielded single coil pickup wires with shielded Canare microphone cable, and eliminated the ground loops. The single coils are still a bit noisy when played through my Roland Micro-Cube (replaced the 4 ohm no-name Chinese made driver with an 8 ohm Jensen Acoustic 5" all-purpose driver -- more bass, less squealing, not as loud but still loud enough), but use the mid and neck together or the humbucker on its own and they're dead silent.

The single coils really have some nice tones either played separately or combined, slightly bright but still rich sounding. The humbucker produces enough distorsion for my needs without it sounding like it's made for a heavy metal band. I'm toying with the idea of making my own stacked humbuckers for the neck and mid positions just to hear what I can get and to get rid of any residual hum. The bridge humbucker however may be left alone considering I really like how it sounds and it's already dead quiet.

Again, I'm still new at this, but I find maple fingerboards less distracting while learning how to play. Before replacing the electronics, the pickups were indeed well balanced between them. After replacing the pots and wiring, the pickups were still very well balanced. In terms of fit and finish, I really have no complaints. The guitar was beautiful right off the rack with an impeccable finish and very solid construction. Even the three-piece body was matched well enough that you can miss where the sections are connected together.

My main beef was truly with the electronics which were I'm sorry to say a bit substandard. The pots were noisy and unmanageable, the wires were unshielded, there were ground loops everywhere, it was simply not a very decent set-up. But since electronics are very easy to replace and I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron, I pretty much "upgraded" the guitar myself. I didn't penalize too much on this aspect since the guitar itself was still in excellent condition, and that's what makes it sing.

It survived my gutting it! That's saying a lot! But honestly, it's built like a wooden tank and should survive my tinkering for years to come. Eventually, I'll learn how to play it! :-). And will I gig with it? Probably. I'm not the kind of person who will feel the need to buy a new guitar just because it sounds different. With my abilities in basic electronics, I'll simply wind new pickups whenever I feel like it.

Considering I've already worked on the guitar mnyself, the warranty is pretty much shot. But at this cheap price, losing the guitar would be no worse than a night at the casino. :-)

This is a perfect guitar for someone who not only wants to learn how to play the guitar, but also wants to learn how they're built and want to experiment with different components. Since it's not too expensive, anyone who'se used to "upgrading" their possessions won't worry too much about making a mistake that might ruin the guitar and make them lose a huge chunk of money. There are computer components out there that are more expensive than this guitar! Besides, it can really handle a certain amount of abuse without any trouble. Another reason not to worry too much. And if Heavens Forbid I do have an "accident" or even worse it's stolen, I'll most likely buy it again.

It's a keeper!

Made in 2004. Parts made in Canada assembeled in U.S.A. 22 frets 2 singles one hum. Very nice maple neck and comes with a much better than average gigbag. Very simple looks and very simple controls which is good.

I play blues, classic rock and some retro metal. I play through a Hughs and Kettner Edition Blue 30 and I must say that this guitar sounds great. The pickups are balanced beautifuly and are much warmer than a tele in my opinion.

The action on this neck is awesome. Really low with no buzz up and down. The frets are a bit rough on the ends but I realize this is not a $1000.00 gibson. The glowing part of the review ends here. When I got this guit home and plugged it in I was bummed to find out the volume pot did not work. It was just on full bore no matter what. I live about a 45 minute drive from the store so I took it back and after a couple of days I was called back and told it was fixed. After making the trek there I tested it out and took it back home. The very next day it quit working again! I took it back again and the dealer replaced it with an aftermarket pot that works geat but with a washer looks ugly as hell. I wrote the Godin to express my displeasure and a sales person named Michel said that they were having problems with the volume pots and tone pots ( yes, mine is scratchy) but offered no solution. I wrote him back and asked if he could just send me a stock pot that I could install myself and he sent a terse response stating that all warranty parts would have to be ordered through the dealer even though he was aware that I have already made 4 round trips!. I guess I'll live with the ugly vol pot to avoid the drive and replace the tone pot myself but what a pain in the ass.

Once I get the electronics resolved this will be a great guitar. Despite my being upset with the customer service I love the way this plays and sounds. And since that should be all that matters I can live with the rest.

Please read above

I am basically a hack that has been playing as a hobby and a vice for over 30 years. I have owned more guitars than I can remember with my fave being an early 70's Tele. If it were stolen or lost I would look hard for another brand to fill the bill for $400.00 but I have a feeling I would come back to this one.

Bolt-on rock maple neck with 22 frets, parts and wood from Canada assembled in US!

Mahogany solid body, S-S-H Godin pickups with 5 way selector.
Mine is 04 Silver hardware with Rosewood Fretboard. Cut away body with jumbo frets and quite flat fingerboard. Godin brushed silver tuners. 04 version with 1 volume and 1 tone control.
Fixed bridge with brushed silver hardware. Comes complete with solid Godin gig bag and allen keys. Beautiful matt finish (satin)

Fantastic variable tone - cannot commend highly enough. Good action out of the box and sounds great unplugged - better than my Semi.

Straight out of box - is very well setup. Bit of lemon on teh rosewood fretboard and some FastFret and you're off!

No flaws noted. Cannot be faulted for build quality and finish.

Seems to be very solid indeed. FInish looks good and the guitar looks dependable to play live. Would I gig without a backup? - maybe not :)but I wouldn't anyway in any case.

No opersonal opinion. Heard they are great - haven't had to deal with them and hopefully won;t have to. One year warranty out of box.

Playing for last (geez) 22 years. Own an nice old EKO acoustic htat is currently under repair and a Hohner ES335 semi.
I researched the guitar well on here and elsewhere and hav yet to find someone who really dislikes it. I wish Godin had a better profile here in the UK as they REALLY deserve it. Maybe it is starting to happen. As a Luthier said to last week they are guitars made for guitarists who know a quality build and who don't just want a well-known name on the headstock. Well put. Perfect for me!

Godin Exit 22: bolt-on maple neck with 22 frets, natural mahogany string-through solid body, single-single-humbucker Godin pickups with 5 way selector plus volume and tone controls. Comes with excellent Godin gig bag. No tremelo option.

Unbelievable range of sounds available......the single coils will cover everything an American Strat will do but the bridge humbucker just sings. Imagine a slightly brighter Les Paul sound with every bit as much sustain.....very clean without the high end harshness. The pickup output is really well-balanced across all 6 strings. Even sounds great at low volumes. I play it through a small Fender Champion 110 and a '65 Twin Reverb and it performs well in both!

Everybody knows Godin makes quality instruments and this is so exception. The neck is superb with expert fretwork and great fits. I cannot find a flaw anywhere. The parts are made in Canada and the guitars are built in New England and it shows! The quality and feel is very similar to that of a G&L Legacy Special I once owned. If you like the feel of Fender necks you'll like this guitar. The action is fast, low, and flawless. The fret edges are clean and smooth. The mahogany body is contoured on the back making it comfortable to play.
The woodgrain on the mahogany is fairly wild but it looks good on the minimalist body (no pickguard, no pickup covers, no pickup surrounds)

This thing is built like a rock with quality parts and workmanship...I now use this as my main guitar and my American Strat has become the backup.

Never had to deal with the company but I understand that some people have called there and actually have spoken to Mr. Godin himself.

I have been playing for 40 years and currently own an American Strat, an American Tele, a Rickenbacker 330, a '65 Fender Jaguar, an Ibanez Artcore, and a Dean XM. If I had to rank this guitar it would be right up there with an old G&L Legacy Special I once owned (a $1000+ guitar). Where else can you get a North-American built instrument for under $400? I bought it based on the review and Editor's Pick Award it received in Guitar Player...I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

This is a very basic guitar. Two Godin single coils, one Godin humbucker pickup, a five position switch, rosewood fingerboard and and a very nice gig bag.

I play a variety of styles and this guitar provides the tones. I play through a Traynor Custom 40 tube combo straight with no effects. This guitar sings in all positions in my opinion. Others have mentioned the eveness in volume between pickups and I have to agree. Even though it can sound like many different guitars this Godin has it's own character if you lean into it I find.

I tried a few in the store. All had the rosewood fingerboard but I prefer that anyways. The setup varied between all three I tried but all three were setup nice. Incredible for the money.

I've own a Godin LGX and it was excellent as well. I have no worries when it comes to reliability or durability. This company cares about their product.

Can't say as I've never had to deal with them.

I've been playing over 30 years. Been there done that. I also own a 1976 Ibanez Destroyer original from my youth. I have a Larrivee D-03 acoustic. Overs the years I've bought some pretty expensive equipment. Numerous Marshall, Hi-Watt, Boogie amps. Numerous guitars including Fender Strats, PRS, etc. I just jam with friends now for the fun of it and also do some writing and recording with my computer. I can pretty well afford any guitar or amp right now but I've come to believe that you don't have to or shouldn't have to spend a fortune on quality equipment. This Godin Exit22 guitar is a great guitar period regardless of price and I would highly recommend it to anyone regardless of what they can afford. If you want a nice affordable tube amp then chek out the Traynor Custom series. Another great canadian value that competes with much higher price amps.

2004 Godin Exit22 w/gig bag
Pickups: Godin single-single-hum(passive)
5-way selector volume and tone control
Body: mahogany
Neck: maple (1 pc)
Fretboard: rosewood
Bridge: string through
It has everything I like in a guitar.....simplicity.

Sound is good and clear. I play mainly rock and rhythms played with lead notes and everything is very apparent. No muddy sound at all really, good crunch but lacks a little in the clean dept. Quite impressed with the stock pickups.

Factory setup was okay. Intonation was perfect, strings were just a bit high so the action suffered a bit until I got it home. Pickups were a tad low as well. With a quick change of strings to 11-48s, lowering of the saddles, struss adjustment, pickup adj. and intonation check this guitar was ready to go.
I must add that this guitar has very very little string buzz whatsoever.
Guitar finish is low gloss, but still a very attractive guitar and the back of the body near the cutaway is contoured for a very comfortable fit with your palm. Very nice craftsmanship.

I can't really say anything bad about this guitar. Maybe a bigger flange on the strap buttons.... but that's being picky.

Haven't dealt with them....haven't had to. But I hear great things.

I've been playing for over 13 years. Semi-pro. I actually bought this as a starter guitar for my wife but I quickly fell in love with it. I honestly can't beleive the quality for the money I paid.
No flaws whatsoever. I compared this to a Fender highway 1 tele and strat and the same Exit22 w maple fretboard. I'd buy this guitar again in a second!
I'm simply amazed at the quality. I've been playing a fender tele deluxe(japanese) and a 1979 Gibson SG custom and I'd rate it BETTER than any tele other than the american deluxe and not far from my SG custom.
Simply....I don't think anyone makes a guitar that even comes close to the quality for the cost of this guitar. Buy it!!!!

As all above. Bought new, 2004 model with silver hardware.

Wonderful balance between pickups, all voiced well. I play mostly indie and rock along with some jazz and the Godin does it all effortlessly. Only loses one point in comparison to my tele and les paul which i have fitted with bareknuckle pickups (see separate review) and so sound out of this world.

Could not be better made. Everything is quality from the chunky 5 way selector switch to the beatifully slinky neck and perfectly formed body. Often have to blink in disbelief at how little this thing cost.

Still fairly new, but I would be astoundingly surprised if anything went wrong. Built like a tank. Though with somewhat more finesse.

N/A

I bought this guitar on the strength of reviews as a back up guitar. It is so good that is rapidly becoming my main guitar, feeling and sounding better than guitars many times its price. I have been playing for close to 20 years now and have owned a wide range of instruments. No exaggeration to say that this is by far the best vale guitar ever.

Just got it last week. s/s/h pickups volume, tone, 5 way switch. Beautifully satin finished mahogany body and a similarly finished maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. Neck is nice a slender also. Got probably the best gig bag I've ever seen with it.

What I like is how the volume stays relatively constant when you switch pickups. I prefer blues and I get great sounds from the single coils and good solid rock sounds form the hum. Very mellow, rich sound thru my little 15w orange amp.

Everything seems to fit perfectly on this guitar. I couldn't ask for a better finish (I prefer satin finished woods to high gloss finishes). Everything seems to be adusted well. I may go up to a .010 on the e string.

don't know yet, but seems well built.

Got a 2 year warranty from Godin and a 1 year from the shop where I got it (restring, setup, etc. service stuff).

I just started playing again from 20 years ago. I would definitly buy another. My wife even noticed how good it sounds

Mahoghany body, maple neck, Hmb/s/s pups, string-thru-body design, 24 3/4 scale, 22 frets, 5-way switch, black hardware. No trem so I can't give it more than 8.

I play mostly blues and rock (hendrix, SRV, ZZ top, Gilmour, etc.). A
versatile guitar in terms of the range of sounds one can get. I changed
the strings to a regular set of .10's and that improved things quite a
bit. My main guitar is an american strat with lindy Fralin Blues special
pickups. The exit 22 does not rival my main strat but for the price, I
think it sounds great and really is an excellent buy. For the high sound-to-price ratio, I give it a 10.

I'm really impressed here. This guitar is really well-made. Again,
quality/price ratio is such that I give a 10. That said, the exit 22 I
bought sounded a lot better than another one in the store (which still sounded good). So, I don't know how uniform the production is.

This guitar really seems built to last. Have not had it long enough
to comment.

Sent email to the company twice and they replied very quickly (even though the web site says that it could take a while). They were
helpful both times.

I went to the store to try semi-hollow Gibsons. I saw a bunch of Godins on the wall and tried them out. Normally I would not have tried them because they were too cheap (I'm a snob and I'm not proud of it). However, I saw some good reviews so gave them a try. I tried a few different models in their "performance" line (the cheap ones) and I was really impressed. The guitar I picked sounded terrific and I just went to the counter, bought it and went home. I'll get that semi-hollow another time (that one will put a hole in my wallet). If you are looking for a first guitar, I really, really recommend the exit 22. If you can, go to the store and take them for a spin. As I said above, the exit 22 I bought sounded a lot better than another exit 22 in the store.

Godin guitars are CANADIAN made, assembled in America. That means that the necks and bodies are handcrafted up north, in Quebec. The brains behind the company, Richard Godin, keeps the Godin headquarters in the west side of the city of Montreal, in a small little suburb called Baie d'Urfe. I have tremendous respect for American guitars, but give credit where it's due, Godin's a Canadian guitar.

My Godin was a stock 2003 Exit 22 with a Rosewood neck, H-s-s setup. It is kind of a Les-Paulish guitar but with a Fenderish neck. The tuners arent locking but it stays in tune well.

This is where I was disappointed. Yes the single coils are quiet. But the guitar seemed to lack character. There are Fenders which you have to drag the sound out of, but this makes for an intense lead sound. There are Gibsons that sing with sustain. But this guitar just made what I will describe as a midrange "honk". There is no resonance when chording. I was very disappointed.

The action was on the high side when I got the guitar. Lowering the action made the sound proportinately degrade. But I must say that the guitar was well made with quality components. But again it just for some reason didnt sound right.

This guitar is built like a tank.

I didnt keep it long enough to have to deal with the maker. I gave it to a rhythm guitarist.

I have been playing for 25 years. When you buy online you are taking a chance. My friend bought one and his simply sounded and played far better. The guitar wasnt bad, it just wasnt for me.

The features are listed for you in the other reviews. This one is an '04 model. I think what drew me to this guitar was the lack of features. No locking anything, no whammy bar, no active anything, just a simple, pure guitar.

This guitar sounds wonderful. One of the reviewers hit the nail right on the head--how do they maintain an even level of volume thru each of the five pick up settings on a guitar at this price? Nice job on the pickups, Godin. This guitar has more tones/sounds than any guitar I have played. The selector switch gives you five distinct voices, not just variations of one tone---pretty cool. Even the tone control really changes the tone, rather than just knocking a little edge off the treble.

Looks to be hand built--excellent fit, finish, and quality. Very solid. How Godin does this for this amount of $$ is beyond me. I guess the only niggle could be the grain does not perfectly match--but hey, that is real mahogany--that's they way it looks. It would be prohibitively expensive to make the body from one solid piece, so I can live with the differing grains. The neck is fabulous, very nice fretboard--mine is rosewood. No rough edges on the frets, either.

Very nice strap buttons to go along with everything else that is nice about this guitar. It looks very solid, and I would be amazed if it does not hold up. Even the selector switch and tone/volume knobs feel solid!

Something will have to go wrong with one of their guitars for us to find out how the support side of Godin is. I'm not sure that will happen.....

I am not an experienced player, but I know quality and value from bloated prices for mundane equipment. This is definitely worthy of your attention if you are looking for a great guitar at a reasonable price. I have played strats, various Ibanez', a G&L, and a Les Paul or two. For the money, I don't think this can be touched. Of the guitars I've played, only the G&L and a Strat 60's re-issue impressed me with this type of quality--and they cost a lot more.

Mahoghany body, maple/rosewood neck, Hum/single/single p.u.'s, String-thru-body design, 24 3/4 scale, 22 fret, 5-way switch

Guitar sounds great! Fantastic strat sounds, great bridge humbucker detail without mush. The most amazing thing they nailed about this guitar was the balance between the pickups. All five positions offer great tones with no volume loss between singles and humbucker. The tone also hangs together. Not quite sure how they got it so balanced, but it does the job better than my PRS.

I can't really believe how well made this guitar is for the money... scratch that... for any amount of money this guitar is extremely well-crafted. I chose silver hardware as the black hardware version I saw had some finish issues on the bridge.

Seems to be built like a tank. I really like the natural satiny mahoghany finish. The neck is set in a deep pocket with no play at all. I play music for a living, and my guitars get much abused from touring... I wouldn't have bought it if it needed to be baby'd

Haven't needed 'em. Interesting that there's no e-mail on their website. Points off for that...

Been playing for 27 yrs. Owned just about every guitar you could own. The only thing that almost stopped me from buying this guitar was the low price ($500.00 list) I did say almost... I think that some of the other guitar manufacturers need to take a hard look at what Godin can offer at this incredible price point, and stop resting on their laurels. There's been very few guitars I've pulled off the wall lately that felt heavenly right from the get go. This one did, and I almost let it get away because of price and namebrand. Do yourself a favor and don't make that mistake....

This is a new model with a maple neck with 22 frets and Black hardware. The guitar has 2 single coils and 1 humbucker in the bridge position, with a 5 way selector switch and 1 Tone and Volume control and a string-thru bridge
The body is Mahogany with a transparent finish.
It comes with a very nice Gig Bag.

There is quite a range of sounds availible. I like both a jazzy, George Benson type sound and also am partial to a mildly distorted high sustain and you can easily get both with the Exit 22.
The humbucker is very quiet and even the single coils are not too noisy.

This is a beautifully made guitar. How they can sell it for this price is beyond me.They could ask for twice as much money and it still would be worth it. The wood work and the look of the wood itself is just great. All I did was lower the action a bit.

Very solidly made.

Never contacted them

I've only been playing guitar a little over a year.
I've never seen an American made (okay...along with Canada), guitar for anywhere near this price. Frankly, it's astounding.
I would definitly buy it again.

Strings thru, fixed bridge w/6 saddles, 24-1/2" neck w/22 meaty frets, 2 single coils, 1 bridge humbucker (all made by Godin, all sound SUH-WEEEET!), 6-on-a-side good quality tuners with brushed finish, 5-way switch, 1 vol, 1 tone. Neck is a tiny bit skinnier than I normally like, but it does feel good and is growing on me! I got the rosewood fretboard version, also comes in maple. Main 2 features are QUALITY and VALUE. Well, that and TONE and PLAYABILITY!

Just awesome. Very convincing Strat "in-between" sounds, but the bridge humbucker is just a beast--overdrives my Peavey Delta Blues 210 in a good way. Lots of variety with the 5-way switch.

In a word, excellent. Like every other single Godin I've played or owned (owned 3 or 4 of them in the past), they all had airtight neck pockets--I love that! Good fretwork, no apparent flaws. I like the stained 3-piece mahogany body.

Seems solid; I think it'll hold up well.

Dunno.

What an awesome value! Includes THE nicest gig bag I've ever owned--it's practically a case! The playability of this guitar is first-rate, makes me play and sound better than I am. Godin makes great guitars, and the Exit 22 is no exception.

2003 Canada/USA-made guitar. 22 frets, maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard (24 3/4" scale). The neck is a little more baseball bat-like than Godin's old, slim necks. Very comfy. Solid, three-piece mahogany body with Godin's signature LP meets Tele shape, plus the usual contouring on the neck heel. Both the body and the neck are lightly finished and feel great. One volume, one tone and a five-way switch that controls two single coil pickups (neck and mid) and a bridge humbucker (the pickups are apparently of Godin's own design). The tuners were very solid feeling and worked smoothly (they had a silver paint over them). The bridge is like a hard-tail Strat, only with smoother edges (string-thru body, too).

This grain of the mahogany under the clear finish is beautiful. More elegant than figured maple tops, in my opinion.

I own an LG-SP90, but this Exit 22 really turned my head. I played it in my local music store through a Crate Club Series 50-watt. I hate Crate amps, but this guitar made that amp sing. The single coils were surprisingly quiet, and there really wasn't a volume drop off when switching pickups.

The sound was rich, full and detailed. The sounds echoes its looks -- Les Paul meets Tele. The single coils were a little richer than a Strat, but they also had a little funk in them. The bridge humbucker could cut, but it wasn't overly harsh and not as powerful as an LP.

Very cool tones. Enough to cover the bases from rock, country, jazz, rockabilly and just about anything else you'd like. You might want a hotter humbucker if you're a complete metal head, but the bridge does put out a generous amount of gain.

This guitar played like a dream. It was set-up to perfection. You can tell that where Godin saved cash in cosmetics, they made up for it by really making sure the nut fit perfectly and the neck joint was snug. SOLID guitar with no gaps anywhere. You can't ask for more here.

The Exit 22 is like all the other Godins I've played...they all stand up to gigging abuse. My LG has lasted me a long time. It may be dinged up a little, but it sounds as good or better than the day I got it. I didn't purchase the Exit 22, but I looked it over for a long time and put it through its sonic paces. It'll last.

I've contacted Godin through e-mail a few times. They've at least responded most of the time. If I had a serious problem, they'd take care of me.

I didn't buy this guitar, but I'll have one in the future. I'd been really wanting a Dennis Fano Satellite, but some of Godin's new Performance Series guitars stand up to 'em. Sure, the Fano's cost a whole lot more and damn, they sound and feel AMAZING, but Godin knows what they're doing. I was really surprised with how the Exit 22 sounded and played. The guitar I played had its act together. Great sounds and amazing feel. I'll be getting one of these soon.