Godin LG

Mine has Seymour Duncans in it. A JazzII in the neck and a Custom Custom at the bridge. 5 position switch. Year of manufacture has been identified by the factory as Jan 97. I think I'm going to have to verify that with the Godin people as I believe the LG's built then all came with Tetrads. I believe this one is a year or two newer than that.

When I was in the market for a new guitar I went out with an open mind. The one that had the quality, played and sounded the way I like and had the right price was the one I was going to get. What brand it was was of no concern to me. The SD's are terrific, exactly what I wanted. The jazzII is clean and articulate. The Custom combined with the switching options seems to be whatever you want it to be, very versatile. I'm using a Peavey Classic50 with 4- 10"s in it as well as a new Twin.

This guitar was purchased new although it had been hanging on the rack for a year or two. Obviously, it needed some truss rod adjustment, nothing serious, Stays in tune no matter what I do with the thing when I'm playing it. Very clean, understated, no glitz appearance. The sound says it all-no cosmetics required to make up for poor construction or playability. This is a point I find especially impressive with this guitar

My main guitar, built like a brick ****house

Excellent. All emails as to the date of manufacture, etc were answered fast and completely. What do ya expect???Godin is Canadian.

Was a Srat and Les Paul guy until I latched onto the Godins. Sold all of 'em. I got a Godin SD that is an exceptional guitar at an exceptional price to replace the Strat's and my LG replaces the LPaul's. Both Godins cost less than one Les Paul A 3 position switch aka Les Paul would be something I'd like on the LG

1996 methinks. Made in Canada. 24 fret 24 ?" Scale. solid body baby (yeah!) volume, tone w/mid cut boost. Pick up config: 2 humbuckers, Godin Tetrad ceramic magnetic pickups (passive) 5 way selector. Mahogany neck, Indian Rosewood finger board, Mahogany body, Schaller Tune-O-Matic style bridge and i think schaller machine heads? I only give it a 9 coz the LGX and stuff has the acoustic transducers and stuff. (But hey, it's also more than double the price!)

I play rock, metal, alternative indie pop what ever, churchy stuff, mellow stuff, ambient stuff, jazzy stuff, funky stuff, full on aggressive noise stuff. this guitar is completely versatile. you truly must hear this giutar through a decent tube amp, it absolutely shines. this can go from a thin stevie ray twang to full thick fat crunch and beautiful sparkly stuff. Seriously everything. If you can't find a decent sound from one of 10, yes 10 pickup combinations, then you have either super fussy anal-retentive taste or no taste at all. Kicks ass over guitars 3 or four times it's price.

Action and intonation needed looking at a bit, and i have since gone to heavier 11s. Pickiups were perfect. Perhaps finish wise the only thing i find strange is the finish one the neck doesn't fully cover the top ei its about 1 mm off in some spots. my godin is a low gloss black, so the the sound wouldn't be super dulled by heaps of laquer. i prefer the look. The bridge is also quite sharp and has required lube and filing to stop breaking so many strings. I've lost count of the times i have broken a D or G mid song. Also the pick up switch was a bit dirty, needed cleaning and lubricating.

I am fairly energetic on stage, this giutar seems to hold up. the tuners are top notch, really hold well. would i gig without a back up? I do, but only coz i can't afford another. But i always have a spare guitar around incase of broken strings, even if its the cheapy jap strat copy.

1 year warranty? I think that's failry standard for stuff bought in Australia. never dealt with them. doubt i'll ever need to.
n/a

I've been playing about 9 years now (yikes). Have not found a better over all buy yet. This is a pretty special instrument. plays like a guitarist's wet dream. Everyone who plays it has commented on how amazing it is, people dig the sound. I fully love the look of it too. the shape is sorta more like a gibson, but feels better balanced than gibsons in my opinion. if she goes, i'd definetely get another, maybe go up to the LGX if i ahd the cash. i shopped around heaps. This guitar holds its own against jus about everything. Truly inspirational. Sound, feel, weight, looks, comfort, playability, versatility. This has it all. Gibsons do not. Tele's do not. Strat's do not. Godin LG's do.

Gorgeous simplicity... Les Paul style all mahogany solidbody w/ bolt-on mahogany neck/rosewood fingerboard made in Canada/New Hampshire? sometime in '98 (had to wait two months for a backorder sight unseen) 24 frets, volume tone fiveway, two seymorduncan hums... custom custom bridge, jazz neck, both direct mounted to body, string thru body design running 10 guage regulars over a tun-o-matic to sperzel locking tuners, deep reddish stain... a beautiful and classy looking bare bones guitar.

I play hardcore, indie, and pop rock with this guitar going direct into a Mesa Dual Rectifier and 4x12 halfback cab. Doom. The sound is super thick... bridge pickup sings and bites and the neck is warm and chunky. It seems as though this setup over resonates on palm muted e thru f# and a chords... strange? As I turn up amp volume (full gain and presence) the guitar feeds back like a bitch (possibly too much boogie goodness combined with a wierd resonance factor between wood/pickups/etc?) I am probably going to switch over to Dimarzio pickups in time (tone zone bridge, air zone or air norten neck) and see what that does for me. The high e also sounds a bit dull to me.

The action was so/so on arrival, but the dopes where I bought the guitar set the tune-o-matic on upside down and filed out the hige e groove to accomodate the low e (thankfully no real side effects). I've been having some problems with the intonation, but seeing as how my intonating skills are somewhat lacking, we'll see what a pro can do to remedy the situation. The volume pot has recently been a little noisy, but it's no big deal for me to replace it. A couple of the sperzels were a little loose in their mecanisms and one had a bur on the threading of the locking rod which had to be disassembled and filed for it to work properly. Everything else was satisfactory although construction was not anal.

Yes this thing works live, and gets all kinds of looks and comments from the crowds. It seems very reliable to me and I actually do play it without a backup. I can see some wear in the finish from the pick scraping it, but I haven't really tried to clean it up. Strap locks are holding up fine on the stock buttons so far. I can forsee some sort of electronics overhall in the future, but again, that is something I wouldn't mind doing.

Don't know, don't care. It worked the way I wanted when I got it and if it breaks, I'll fix it or buy a new one.

Playing for 10+ years with all kinds of stuff. This is my dream guitar. When I saw it I fell in love and when I played one I decided to buy it over a PRS. It's simplicity and features are right on with what I wanted in an instrument, and I would definitely purchase another one if the need arose.

This guitar has a solid body with a bolt-on neck. It has 24 frets, 5 way switch, two humbuckers (godin Tetrad), a fixed bridge, indian rosewood fingerboard and a coil split. My favorite spec is that the stings are comming right through the body (no tailpiece) so the resonance is pretty exceptionnal. It is all made out of mahogany. The one I bought didn'T came with a case, had to buy a cheap gig bag because of the lack of funds!!!! So I give it a 9, because it would have been a 10 if it had a case.

This guitar suits my style like a glove (jazz, fusion, blues, sometimes rock). Although it can somehow rock, it is not a Ibanez or a Jackson. This guitar is made to sing! It sounds relatively perfect with a tube screamer or clean in a tube amp. To discribe its tone, I'd say that it's fat, sustainy, rich, well balanced and it sings like an angel!!

I changed the strings because I hate to play with 0.009. It souds way too thin. The rest was perfectly done.

It's brand new, so I haven'T delt with those problems yet.

I've been playing for 6 years and I've been using a fender strat(American) for 3 years. THe LG is by far different, almost the complete oposite. I've tried many gibsons, fenders, ibanez and this one is the best axe I ever tried (on the humbucker side). The new gibsons are made to play heavy metal, and I wanted an axe that could sing, with humbuckers. Now I gotta go, cause I can't wait to plug it in and play like if it was the first time!!!!!

8/10 I got this guitar in '95 about 3 months after Godin introduced it. Thre are some features that it is lacking, that were added later. It has different pickups than current models and it came with strat-style volume and tone knobs (which I have since replaced) that were somewhat slipery. They also made the pull-pot used for the mid-cut hard to use. I do like the 34 fret fingerboard, the short scale neck (24 3/4") and the fact that the neck is slender and the fingerboard is really flat. I was a little dispapointed witht eh tuning machines. They are a little gritty and not very durable (I'm a clutz). The guitar has splitcoil pickups

8/10 I really like the way this guitar sounds for my music (punk-pop, alterna-rock), but it lacks versitility for usuable tones. I use a Marshall Valvestate 8280 with it and the distortion is unbelievable, but on lower gain settings it tends to sound a little blah. I use an Aliesis Nanocompressor with it and have found that it adds a lot to the quality of the tone, especially the clean tone.

The guitar was set up well by the factory, but I have some major concerns in this department. The finish on the neck disappeared after about 3 months. Imporvements have been made on later models though. My brother owns an LG that was made in '96 and he hasn't had the same problem. Perhaps the biggest problem is a flaw in the nut, taht puts the high E string too close to the edge of the finger board. It tends to slide right off the side when I'm playing. That problem, also, doesn't exist on my brother's ax.

As much as I love the way this guitar sounds, I have to say it's a little lacking here. I've had problems with solder joints breaking inside, rendering bridge humbucker useless until I got inside to do the repair. It has also got a lot of scratches and dents. It doesn't take well to banging around. My stap locks also wore through the strap pegs, so I had to replace those.

never tried

I really love the way this guitar sounds and plays, but there ares some flaws in workmanship. I think I would buy it again if it were stolen becasue I've never heard another guitar in its pricerange with tone as good as it has. I've been playing for over 5 years and This guitar kicks the butt of almost every other electric I've ever played (tone wise) except for a '63 SG, but I think that's a little out of my price range. The flaws that i have found seem to be unique to my particular model. They're probably due to the fact that I got one of the first guitars of this model off the line. Lots of improvements have been made since.

O.K... here goes....
THis is last year's LG (1997 i think) because it still has the tetrad pickups... solid mahogony body and neck, rosewood board with 24 frets, 2 humbuckers (godin Tetrads) VBOl, Tone, mid cut, Five way, TUne-o-matic bridge, passive electrics, semi flat neck, medium frets.. came with a case.

WOW! I play a little blues and a little metal, and this guitar does them both perfectly... I am really impressed with it. My setup includes a crybaby, a Peavey classic 30 (with extension cab) a Zoom 505 DOD Death metal and Metal maniac and a Boss G7 eq. personally I find it noisy, opening the control cavity I noticed there is no sheilding. AT ALL!!!! so that will beo ne of the first things I change about the ax. otherwise, rich sustaining tones all round. the neck and bridge being my faves I don't find too much use for the mid cut, I find it cuts a little too much off the top and gets too bassy for my Ideals... but I like a bit of scooped midrange tone...

Setup is bad, but I bought it used, so no harm there... as far as fit and finish the thing looks amazingly good... seems to have held up well... as I can figure by the abuse... (bad strings, dirty as hell) THat must mean something!

relieable as all hell... It was abused all to hell, and lived, as far as I can tellt his thing is built like a tank. ask me again in a few months.

Never dealt with em,

playing around 10 years now... own lots of other guitars, and with a little work this one is hands down going to be my favorite... all I can honestly say is TRY ONE!!! they are a great unassuming instrument... it looks pretty plain jane (especially int he natural finish) but when the chips are down, this guitar has what it takes to get the job done....
Oh yeah,,,, 530 CANAIDAN!!!! WITH TAXES!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA that equals out to about 340 US!!!!! WOHOO!!!!!!

-First Impressions- The first thing you'll notice about this guitar is its uniqe shape and styling. The headstock resembles that of a Seagull acoustic guitar (Also from Godin) and gives you a straight-string-pull from the bridge to the tuners. You'll also notice the unique pickups set down into the body of the guitar. Also, the strings are strung thru the body. All of these things along with Godin's unique neck joint and thick rosewood fretboard creates the Godin LG's seemingly infinate sustain and incredible sound.
-Pickups- I can't very well describe the technology of the Godin Tetrad pickups. I'll leave that to Godin. Check out their website at www.LaSiDo.com. I can, however describe the sound... well almost.. (You REALLY have to play this guitar to know what I'm talking about.) The sound is full, rich, fat, sustaining, etc.. etc.. This guitar pumps out probably the best tone of ANY guitar I've ever played. Simply put, these pickups "kick booty!" Hooked up to a good tube amp, you'll find yourself locked in amazement at the guitars full- sound and unique tone. There isn't another guitar on the market that sounds like this one, folks. Trust me. Godin knows this and thats what they had in mind when they designed this guitar.They designed it from the ground up to be revolutionary, and it IS!
-Controls- The Godin LG is equipped with a 5-way selector switch and a push-pull tap to activate the onboard midrange EQ which drops the mids -8db for an incredible strat-like or tele-like tone. (I personally don't use this much because I am more interested in this guitars native sound, but its nice to know its there) Therefore, essentially this guitar has a whopping TEN different pickup configurations. You can even activate all four coils at once for a VERY full-sound.
Note: The tuners on this guitar are made by Schaller and are Kluson-style. These are very good tuners - better than Gibsons.

See above.

-Feel/Materials- The Godin LG is made from one of the best and most resonant woods you can use on a guitar. The WHOLE guitar -except for the rosewood fretboard- is mahogony. This wood is one of the key elements in the LG's tone. The tuners are Les-Paul style and are made by Godin's Seagull division. The bridge is a Gibson-style tune-o-matic. The electronics are ALL Godin and ALL new designs. This guitar feels incredible in your hands. The neck is so precision you have to play it to believe it. The neck is wide/thin and has medium-jumbo frets. The neck has 24 frets. The fingerboard is EXTREMELY flat and allows for some incredible bends. The fingerboard takes a little getting used to at first... I found myself bending notes right off the neck! The scale and design of this guitar makes the strings feel REALLY loose and light under your fingers. The action is INCREDIBLE! You'll find your fingers FLYING on this guitar with little or no warm-up.

The five-way pickups selector is going out on me after having it a little over a year. This hasn't been heavily used, either. I think that Godin didn't use a very good switch.
Otherwise, no problems with the guitar The Schaller Kluson-style tuners seem real durable and the volume/tone controls are solid. The finish seems good and the strap buttons are very solid.

-Overall- I've never played a more precision or versatile guitar. This guitar looks great, plays great, feels great, sounds great, and doesn't cost much. If I could only have one electric guitar, this is the one I'd choose. This precision instrument allows you to focus MORE on creating and LESS on fighting with your guitar. I LOVE it. I've played a lot of guitars and I consider this one exceptional. One of this guitars greatest features is its low price. This guitar is handmade in the USA and includes a high-quality custom hardshell case. It is available in satin-natural and high-gloss finishes. Go check one out. You'll like it!

I bought this guitar just a month or two ago, just out prowling for an electric axe to go with the acoustic I've been thrashing on.
You may have heard about the LGX; this is the same thing without the fancy maple top and acoustic output jack/mixing knob.
I didn't try out very many different guitars. I kinda fell in love with this one and made an Impulse Purchase. Since then, I've played a number of guitars in various price ranges and have not found one I like better. This is an outrageously great instrument, especially considering how cheap it was.
It's Canadian made. The whole thing is mahogany, except for the rosewood fretboard and a thin curly-maple laminate on the headstock (the one dumb thing Godin did on this guitar was that maple veneer. It took the stain differently than the mahogany and it looks funny up there.) Mine is stained a rich red color and has an elegant, understated look -- the fretboard markers are tiny dots along the left hand side of the fretboard, not huge squares of mother-of-pearl. The knobs are simple black metal, and the pickups are those elegant looking blade jobs (Tetrads, they call them. Four coils in each, and there are two of them -- that's 4 humbuckers, arranged HH-HH.)
Body style is kind of like a combination of a Les Paul and a Telecaster, but more contoured. Single cutaway, no rhythm switch up top; it's got a 5-position Strat-style switch which, alas, doesn't split the humbuckers. It also has an on-board mid-range EQ dampening switch which they claim causes it to emulate Telecaster or Stratocaster sounds. Well, it doesn't. But it comes close enough for shemps like me. (I dunno. Maybe I'm just not amped right.)
It's a solid hunk of bookmatched mahogany, so no special tops or anything, and it's flat on top. Strings are strung thru the body. Tuners are non-locking, work fine, I don't remember who makes them.
And finally, the neck. Oh my God. The thing is like, less than an inch thick, I mean really FLAT, and wide. I have touched nothing that plays quite like it. (But I've led a sheltered life.) It's got 25 frets, so you can really make it squeak.
They're available in gloss colors, white and black and a few others I think, but I just love how the wood looks!

I don't have a music style yet. I'm developing one, but right now I'm dabbling in all sorts of things, from bluegrass to blues to heavy metal. The versatility of the sounds you can get out of this guitar is a real plus to me. I have a Korg AX300G which I plug it into; I use this box to make it sound like a Tele and play bluegrass on it; I crank up the gain and play the Shemps National Anthem ("Smoke on the Water"); etc. I can get incredibly full sound out of it with all 4 pickups going, which is nice for trying to play along with old Boston albums.
I do have one complaint; the Tetrads don't seem to be well shielded, and occasionally will respond to electronic equipment like TVs by developing a hum. I have not yet figured out what causes it, but it's barely noticeable anyway. That occasional hum is the only reason I'm not giving it a 10 in this category.

There is not one flaw on this guitar. Quality control is excellent. And you have to look very closely at the bookmatching of the mahogany body to realize that it is not a solid, 14-inch-wide slab of wood. No complaints here.
The body-to-neck mating is exceptional, by the way. Maybe that's why this thing sustains like it does. It does, by the way, have awesome sustain.
I've already commented on the action. I'm sure some of you guys with the $10,000 Dragons and Les Pauls would think it was crude and clumsy, but to me it plays like butter.

Stumps me. I've only had it a couple months. It *looks* solid as a railroad tie, but ask me again in a year. The finish is solid and although there is no pickguard, I've nailed it a couple times with 1.4 mm. picks and I can't see a scratch in it, so it is tough!

Also drawing a blank. Never needed to use the customer service, and don't know how long the warranty is.

I'm a recent convert; used to play wind instruments, but got into guitar last December. I also play an Ibanez AG300 acoustic cutaway; that's pretty much it for me.
If this guitar were stolen, jeez, I hate to think about it. I would probably buy another just like this one, although I might scrape together a couple more shekels and buy an LGX instead (same guitar with a curly maple top and six saddle transducers (one for each string) providing acoustic output as well.) Either way, I would get another Godin. No question about it.
I compared this guitar to an Aria Pro 40th Anniversary Les Paul knock-off; an Ibanez Joe Satriani Special; another Ibanez double-humbucking humdinger; a US Masters Strat knock-off; and a bunch of under-$300 jobs like Peavys and Lotuses. Also a Japanese Telecaster (which I had a hard time resisting.) I picked this one because it is more versatile, with the Strat Emulation Switch and 8 on-board pickup coils. It also just plays better, what can I say?
I know there are better-sounding, smoother-playing guitars out there. But I'd be willing to bet they all cost twice as much as this one does. Nothing I've handled comes close.