Godin LGX

The most beautiful guitar I've seen...Mahogany body and neck, AAA quilted maple top with dark trans red finish, 22 frets, 2 Seymour Duncan Humbuckers with smoked chrome covers, active acoustic pickup in the bridge piece with 3 band eq and volume control for acoustic sounds. 3 inputs (electric, mix, acoustic). There's a volume and tone knob, a blend knob for when the electric and acoustic sounds are combined, and a 3 way switch to choose between the electric and acoustic sounds when using the mix input. Mine came with the hard case.

I set mine up with 9s and raised the bridge pickup a little bit and this guitar sounds great now. There's a five way switch to control the two humbuckers and every position has a different sound. 1 is the bridge humbucker, 2 is the bridge humbucker coil tapped, 3 is all coils, 4 is the neck humbucker tapped, 5 is the neck humbucker. I'm running this through a Peavey Ultra 212 and it's nice and quiet with the gain cranked.

The guitar was setup great but I needed to do a couple changes for my personal preference. The AAA top looks amazing. The only problem I can find on this guitar is the design of the strings coming up through the body and digging into the wood a little bit when they slant towards the bridge. I haven't asked the store about this yet though.

This guitar seems really solid. Schaller straplocks were on it when I bought (I believe they're stock). It's very dependable but I'd still bring another guitar along to a gig, just in case.

I've been playing for about 3 years and have owned at least 10 guitars. I just always like trying something new. I played a discontinued Godin Artisan (strat style with 3 SD lil 59 pu's). It played nice and was cheaper than the lgx, but it didn't have the acoustic pickups. This guitar feels great and is very comparable to a Gibson. However, have fun trying to get an AAA quilt top on a Gibson for under $1000. Gibson's are way overpriced for what they offer. I guess the only other thing I could wish this guitar had was another volume knob so I could do the cutout trick by turning one volume off. That's no big deal though.

This Canadian made Godin LGX with transparent blue finish was made about '96. The features are extensive: A mahogany body and bolt-on neck with rosewood fingerboard (22 fret) and flame maple top. There are two sets of pickups, H/H Seymour Duncans and L.R. Baggs tune-o-matic style active 'acoustic' transducer. Top controls are 5-way selector, 3-way switch, volume, mix and tone for the electric pickups and volume, bass, mid and treble for the acoustic pickup. Three output jacks; electric, acoustic and electric/acoustic mix. On back is the 9V battery compartment under the onboard acoustic EQ controls. The body style is best described as a Paul/Strat mix. The body is beveled like a Strat so it doesn't dig into your rib cage. The strings are anchored at the top but fed in at the back. Neck scale is 25 1/2" and 1 11/16" at the nut. A case came with the instrument.

I play in an ethnic wedding band and this guitar came at a perfect time when we started playing more songs that contained acoustic guitar. We play a mixture of folk and top 40 type material (Beatles to Celine Dion) that may require switching from electic to acoustic to electric in one tune. I use a Boss ME-10 so I am able to use the two separate output of the instrument; electric output to the ME-10 and the acoustic output to the FX return of the ME-10. This allowed me to switch from electric to acoustic without having to use my hands. In a normal playing situation, you would use the mix output and use the onboard 3-way switch to select between electric, acoustic/electric mix and just acoustic sound. The sound quality of the mix output is not as good as the separate outputs. For the electric output, the 5-way selector allows you to switch from BH, BS, BS/NS, NS and NH. The Seymour Duncans here are rather plain jane and Perhaps a bit too much bass. As with most Hum/Single style pickups there is a noticeable output difference. I considered replacing the Duncans. I fear the thick poly finish on the guitar is killing the natural resonance of the wood. The active acoustic output is dead quiet and the EQ is very nice. The treble is tuned very high, the mid is musical and the bass not too boomy. The acoustic output does not sound like an acoustic guitar, it sounds like and acoustic guitar with a pickup. If you were to compare the two by sound alone, the LGX does a very good facsimile of the 'acoustic' sound. I usually leave the EQ at flat which goes straight out the PA and sounds fantastic. You will have to engage the HPF on the console since the acoustic pickup is very sensitive down to rumble frequencies. Just hitting the top of the guitar will make subwoofers thump. I don't know why they don't put an HPF in the onboard preamp.

I never rely on factory setups so after a fresh set of strings and a few adjustments the guitar is ready to go. There are no dead spots on the neck and intonation is very good but not perfect (10-46 strings). The mat finish on the neck is good for me and feels more like a Paul up to the 12th fret even though it's bolt-on. Frets are medium in size and the position markers are very small. The body has a very thick poly finish that can take just about anything. One thing I didn't like, the Seymour Duncans are mounted to the body of the guitar by two screws at the center of the pickup. This allows the pickups to flop about in the pickup cavity and doesn't allow for angle adjustment.

I've been using this guitar exclusively since '97 and have had no problems with it. I don't carry a backup since you can break a string and keep playing 'til the end of the song. The battery will last about a year and as I mentioned before, the finish is durable. Some of the hardware has begun to rust but that's just my corrosive sweat.

Haven't contacted them.

I have been playing for about 15 years and have used various solid state and tube amplifiers, numerous other guitars and outboard effects. It's an all-in-one instrument for me but could never replace a real Les Paul or Stratocaster or even an acoustic guitar. But instead of taking three guitars you just have to take one. I am not a recording musician but live, it's great. As I mentioned before, the thick poly finish may have something to do with the plain nature of the sound since the guitar doesn't light up like other instruments I have used. I just recently had a guitar custom made by a local guitar shop and the features are pretty close to the LGX so I would say if it were lost or stolen, I would get another one. For versatility, it's very good.

As a side note, I recently saw a band playing where the singer changed from an 80's Ovation acoustic to the LGX. The LGX sounded better!

Not even a question of anyone coming close. Seymours in the neck and bridge (SH-2 and CCC); LR Baggs piezo saddle w/active EQ; mahogany neck and body with AAA flames maple top (mine is Lightburst finish). MIne was a 2001 factory 2nd and I'm still looking for the imperfections. I got this new from Canada for an ungodly price w/case.

Note that the neck is extremely thin and radius is almost flat. I love it this way...some won't.

I'll give it an 8 based on the fact that I'm comparing the acoustic sound to the active fishman in my Martin and the electric sound to a MM Axis Super Sport with DeMarzio's. The Duncans hold their own and splitting the coils give it a passable Tele twang.

Action was high...I lowered it. The problem you run into with these guitars (and any dual-voice with a piezo) is that the normal slight buzzing that you get on an electric when you shoot for super low action becomes unaccaptable when running through the peizo bridge. This is the only real problem I have with the guitar..but you sacrifice to get the duality this axe offers.Offsetting this is the unreal AAA top for something in this price range thats MADE IN THE USA....DID YOU HEAR THAT?!?! The parts do come from Canada though...

I usually have need of another guitar anyway (alt tuning) so I always have a backup if need be. In my mind, bringing along a backup isn't a case against any particular guitar-it's insurance against a disaster. Any guitar that couldn't last a gig thru normal circumstances shouldn't be used anyway.

Never tried but I hear great things from th Canadian music stores and hell from US. Hope I never need em....

18 years of playing and I can finally stop looking at guitars to buy. I now have a Strat (US made Kramer), Japanese Fernandes for metal and crazy whammy stuff, Martin acoustic and an Old Westbury that plays like a dream (I've also an OLP and Applause for open mic nights and travel). I'm done...

For the money, you're nuts to get anything else given you like it's feel.

This guitar is just jam-packed with features, which have already been thoroughly covered in other reviews, so I won't get into it except for a few particulars:
-flame maple top
-Duncan Humbuckers
-2001 model

This guitar has almost a plethora of sounds-- with the use of the humbuckers as they are, the ability to get a single coil sound, the ability to get a very convincing acoustic sound and be able to blend it with your electric sound, there is a never-ending supply of tonal variety. This is a guitar that does virtually everything, and does it well (but not perfectly). It would take some kind of disease to get bored of this guitar.
The strong points of this instrument's sound are the distortion and the acoustic emulation. The distorted sound can range from a nice, thick jazz type of sound to an almost (not exactly) strat-like sound, to a crunching, Metallica, heavy-metal thrasher type deal. This guitar does a lot, but it has its own sound-- if you want a Les Paul sound or a Strat sound and nothing else will do, buy a Les Paul or a Strat. But if you are not too concerned with brand identity in your sound, and you simply want a guitar that you will love, it's worth a try.
The acoustic sound also is surprisingly good. It has to be heard to be believed, especially considering that this is a solibody guitar. Once again, you have to pick this guitar up and let the sound speak for itself.
My only little quibble is the clean sound. Although it is good and punchy, the sound seems to be a little muddy for my taste. The humbuckers sound good and as they should, but I was hoping for a brighter sound in the single coil mode. Maybe I'm just being picky.

In quality of manufacturing everything has been done right. The neck is straight and true, bolted snugly into the body, and the pickups were at acceptable distances from the strings, etc. The action was a bit too high for my taste(which I haven't yet had adjusted), but not unbearably so, and some people like it that way, so I can't fault Godin with that. There is a tiny patch (TINY) on the back of the guitar which has no colour, it is just the lacquer. But it is on the very top, right near the cutaway, so that it looks like there is always light reflecting from it. I doubt that anyone will ever notice

I'm sure the LGX can take a beating, but, let's put it this way, if you used it as a weapon against somebody who had a Les paul, for example, you guitar would break first, and you would lose. Something else to be wary about is the active EQ. If you look inside, you will see that there is a lot of technology in there that looks like it would not like liquid, and the slider slots could easily let liquid in.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing guitar for 4 or 5 years, and I either own or have owned a Squire Strat, Epiphone Les Paul 100(cheapest version), Norman acoustic and Godin A6. Obviously this guitar kills both the Squire and the Epi, and surprisingly it gives a superior acoustic sound to the A6. If this guitar were stolen I would hesitate only long enough to cry like a little school girl, and after I was finished I would hurry out of the closet (no pun intended), wipe my eyes, and rush to my nearest Music store and buy a new one.
And folks, if you are serious about buying a new guitar, I promise, you will be doing yourself a favour by picking one of these up.

I like this guitar so much, I don't even use the piezo acoustic sound on it right now, I just use it electrically, that's how much I like it. You can get a variety of sounds via the 5-way switch and tone knob coil splitter. Needless to say having a solidbody electric guitar with an acoustic side with a preamp to it is really cool. This is the second one i've owned, (I got rid of the first one to get a Parker Fly, great guitar but I missed the Godin, so I got another one). It's all mahogany, and has a thick rich sound. I love the neck, usually, on a guitar such as this, the neck would be fatter (like a tree-trunk Les Paul) but the profile on this neck is perfect.

The sound is great, but I'll elaborate! Starting with the electric sounds, the pickups are clear and don't have any annyoing overtones like biting mids or shrilly highs, just right. I actually use the neck pickup for my funk clean sound, and it's very bright and clear. It has a coil tap push/pull tone knob that doesn't quite do what it boasts, while activated, the sound doesn't actually get much thinner like a single coil, and actually acts like a boost, so that's how I use it, as a boost! The acoustic pickup/preamp is great, very full, loud and clear and you have a separate bass/mid/treble/volume control, as well has a mix volume between electric/acoustic sounds.

I bought both guitars used so I cannot judge the factory set up, but I do my own set ups on my guitars, and the Godin plays awesome. Really low action without buzzing, the fit and finish is pretty flawless, I can't pick anything out that needs any work. The body is a nicely grained piece of wood and the top is great. The ONLY little complaint I have about this guitar is the back of the neck has a finish on it that leads to stickiness after playing for a while. I could be the certain oils in my skin, or the neck, but I just polish it and it goes away immediately.

After some time with both guitars, they are reliable, trustworthy, and I would definitely gig without a backup.

I've not had to deal with the company as of yet.

I should have never gotten rid of my first Godin, and I currently plan to get an LGX-T so that tells you that I love it. I run mine thru a LINE 6 Flextone II Head and a Marshall 4x12. I'm basically a strat-shape guy, so I love that it has a stomach contour like a strat, and the longer scale like a strat. I don't like Les Pauls, and if I had the money I'd probably own a PRS, but not at the expense of the Godin, it's a keeper.

2001 Canadian Parts US assembly. Figuered maple top with mahogany back and neck. Rosewood fingerboard. Two Duncans (Jazz hum at neck, hotter hum and bridge) and Baggs active piezo at bridge. Very nice hard shell case. Two voices available, three if you count the blend of passive and active. Perhaps too many features.

I play blues, swing, a little jazz and some rock. I play through a fender hot rod deluxe, some chorus (pedal) occasionally. This guitar sounds too good to be true. When I first picked it up I loved the feel and finish. When I plugged it in, I had to have it. I have played many guitars over many years. This Godin flies above everthing new or old that I have played. It can sound like a jazz box, a strat, a Les Paul (not as muddy as the Les Paul) and like a moderately good amplified acoustic. Ity is the sound of the Duncans that is truely inspiring. The neck pick up is unbelievably clean, rich and versatile. It makes the hot rod deluxe, already a good amp, sound great. I don't play or listen to metal or other shredder crap so I cannot judge how noise would sound on this guitar. But if you can play and taste and sound appeal to you, there may not be any better guitar at any price.

When I picked up this guitar and fondled it, I was impressed with the finish and the craftmanship. The action was too high but easily adjusted. This guitar is beautifully built. It feels right in your hands.

Who knows? I expect that it will hold up as it is well made and well put together. I put strap locks on all my guitars. It is solid but not a log (e.g Les Pauls)

Godin is a company that seems to be trying to make a quality guitar at a reasonable price. They have a very artfully dome web site. I hope to not have any problems, again, we shall see.

I have been playing for many years. I have played strats, les Pauls, teles archtops etc. This guitar is very impressive. I pick it up, plugged it in and after a few minutes had to buy it. I have said to others "this guitar plays itself you just have to hang on to it". I am lookiong at other Godin models. For the price, this is unmatched quality

Mine is a 98 model is a beutiful deep quilted top blue model. The previous owner placed sperzel locking tuners on the guitar, and that seems to be the only modification that he made. The pickups are Godin tetrads with coil tapping and an LR Baggs acoustic pickup activated by pulling one of the knobs. It has three Jacks on the guitar, one for magnetic, one for piezo, and one for mix. The onlyreason that I give this a nine is that some of the controls are complicated at first.

I mostly play blues, Alternative, metal, and classic rock. The tetrads, to my suprise sound really good. Usually stock pickups on a guitar sound weak and muddy but these sound clear and warm. The acoustic sounds are great, but not quite like an acoustic. The clean tones are very bright and have a bunch of sustain. Where this guitar really shines is when you kick it into distortion. The notes are clear and emphasize the highs and lows. Once I got my action adjusted there was no buzz from the pickups. It can play all styles very well.The only reason for the nine is the buzz when I first bought it see (action).

The action was a little low, and was giving off a fret buzz, but when I had it professionally set up then the buzz was gone. Everything else was in good condition.

The only thing that isn't solid on this guitar are the strap holders. Strap locks would take care of that. It would be fine without a backup but I believe in Murphy's law.

It is a great value, and sounds like a guitar twice the price. If it was stolen I would buy another one in a heart beat.

Godin LGX with Seymore Duncans and LR Baggs piezos. Quilted maple top over mahogany body. 22 frets on bolt-on mahogany neck. Strings through body. Hard case included. The electronics have most of the features here. There are so many tones in this guitar! The absolute best value around. The only thing I would like is for the blend knob to work on the 1rst & 3rd outputs.

This guitar sounds excellent! The Duncan pickups are very versatile and sound great. I have not had any problems with the 5-way switch. The coil tapping is great and very useful, especially comming from a Gibson Explorer. The LR Baggs piezos sound incredible. I plug it into a Digitech RP20 then usually streight into the board. Sometimes into an old ADA 50watt el34 stereo power amp into two 1x12 cabs. Even streight to the board it sounds wonderful. I play covers of classic rock with some hard stuff and some acoustic type stuff. This guitar is much better suited to the variety of sounds I need than any Gibson, and much lighter too. It can go from Hootie to Creed with no problem.

I was nervous about this as the eBay seller said it was new, but had been hanging in a store for a while and had some light pick scratches. The scratches are barely noticeable, and the guitar was $700 new, so I'm not complaining. The top is AA quilted maple, not AAA but still looks good. The neck is finished, but not glossy and feels good. The guitar plays wonderfully, better than my Explorer. I just had to change the strings and tweak the action a tad, five minutes later it was playing great.

I don't generally like bolt-on necks, but this one seems solid. The guitar seems well built, everything's tight and feels quality-built.

I've been playing for 27 years, but only get to play about 5 hours a week and don't own a lot of gear. I would buy another one of these in a heartbeat. It sounds/looks/plays great, very comfortable, feels good in your hands. Nothing for under $1000 can touch this guitar, and $700 is even better! I'll probably never be able to buy another guitar, and with this one, I won't need to. It can do it all. I looked at Parkers and Carvins and would've easily spent twice the money for either. This guitar rocks.

The model (bought new about three or four years ago) I had was the solid body with two Godin humbuckers and the Fishman acoustic bridge piezo with active EQ. Finish was dark stain, ebony fingerboard, came with a Godin case.

The acoustic/electric setup was what I needed at the time, especially the ability to switch instantly between both sounds, for the style of stuff I was then playing live and recording. It was quiet with no hum problems. There was a good tone range, especially the acoustic sounds which were powerful and clean, and quite authentic for a solid body. The electric sounds were OK, although I would have preferred a Strat style three pickup setup (nowadays they do this type as well), rather than two average sounding humbuckers

The guitar worked well- which was just as well, as it had to, as I took it to a gig the evening of the day I bought it. The general fit and finish was excellent BUT WHY did the maker spoil it with some fragile plastic parts?? One of the plastic tuning key buttons crumbled after just three days- replaced by the dealer after about a week or two wait for the part to come from Canada/USA to Australia- good thing I did not have another gig the next week becaause this was my main instrument at the time.The output jacks were also mounted on a plastic plate on the body side-NOT durable enough..

See above- I was NOT impressed with the early faults especially after paying about $1,600 (approx $US 900)

Used live , I had the magnetic pickups going into a guitar amp, with a separate lead from the acoustic pickup going direct to the PA desk. Worked quite well, but when singing and playing in front of the stage monitor wedge, the acoustic pickup kept feeding back. The electric sounds had a reasonable variety, but the output was weak. I had also tried a Carvin AE 185 (I think) which had a similar setup except that the magnetic pickups were also active, as well as the acoustic bridge pickup- a better guitar I felt but even more expensive- about $2,400 compared to the cash discount price of $1,608 which I paid for the Godin.

The local dealer was helpful but did not carry any suitable spares, and the only other Godin model in the shop was a dearer LGX with the MIDI unit, which had different sized and type tuners, thus the dealer could not replace the tuner by borrowing a part from the other guitar..

I don't think I would buy one again-the resale value was lousy when I traded it in on an archtop electric jazz model a couple of years ago-once again if it ain't got Fender or Gibson on the headstock, it doesn't have decent resale value-sad but true...

2000 LGX with Sunrise finish, Seymour Duncan pickups, L.R. Baggs accoustic pickups, Shaller tuners and strap locks, string thru body with L.R. Baggs saddle/bridge. I did a bit of homework before I bought, hope its not too wordy.

The Duncans are nice. Very warm, jazzy tones at the neck and biting bridge pickup. I found the bridge p/u especially useful, breaking up nicely when pushed hard/clean, vintage crunchy at quarter to third gain, and very capable at creating several heavy metal tones. The 2 and 4 position of the p/u selector use half the humbucker, for true single coil tones. Usually, this results in tinny or thin sound, but these sound pretty good, very usable, almost like the out of phase sounds at 2 and 4 on a Strat.

The L.R. Baggs systems sound ok thru a electric amp, useable. However, when plugged into my Laney acc. amp, it really shined. Any good kb or similar amp should get similar results. After a bit of "V"ing the eq, the tone was 90% acc. guitar. I imagine stepping up the strings from the 9's would raise this a percent or two. It wins any comparison w/ the Washburn or Fender guitars with similar setups, hands down.

I will still use my Tele for some Tom Petty and Stones tunes, but the single coil settings will get used for most of my Country tunes.

Worth noting: The guitar sounds GREAT when not plugged in. Smooth accoustic tone.

The wood looks great, mahagony neck, 2 piece mahagony body, 2 piece figured maple top, carved, with the headstock getting the same treatment. What looks like binding is actually the maple top masked from the front finish, with just a clear finish. Simple, and it does look nice. The overall quality of the finish is better than average, and much better than average in its price range. The neck joint is well designed, with 4 screws offset. Access to the upper frets is pretty good, with a slim joint, but not as easy a good neck-thru. It is sturdy though, and I see very little "flex" in the neck, which really helps it stay in tune. The shape is confortable, fitting the body easily. The neck is moderately slim, and has nice C curve, similar to older Gibson necks, but smoother. The only real gripe I have is that my pinky seems to always migrate to the bridge p/u screw hole, which looks just fine, but could be smaller, or designed a bit different.

The black nickel plated nickel silver pickup covers look GREAT. (thats a mouthful!) I hope they continue to.

Very sturdy, well built. My only concern is with the L.R. Baggs saddle system, which seems well made, but "looks" less sturdy than the typical tune-o-matic or Fender bridge, due to having more pieces, etc. The pots have a nice firm feel to them, and the p/u selector switches are good quality. I would normally prefer a metal jack plate, but this black plastic plate is very thick and sturdy, and since there are three isolated jacks (elec only, both, acc. only) it makes sense to have it plastic.

Although I play only locally now, I would have no concerns about dragging it on the road. I also bought a factory case. (sug. retail $109). Its an ok case for local use, but would get better for serious road usage.

In a nutshell, it is the perfect working musicians guitar for the money. (retail about $1600US w/ case, $1300 street price, $750-900 eBay used typical June 2001) It won't replace your other guitars (well, maybe one or two), but it will allow you to change guitars much less often.

For reference, I have played since I was a very young child (I'm 36 now) I play a Laney G-80 acc. guitar amp, Laney LC50 tube head w/ eight 10" speakers (Celestions and Peavy Blue Marvels), a Fender Hotrod Deluxe and a Fender Sidekick 65. I also play a 92 USA Strat Plus (LSR nut, Gold Lace Sensors) and a 95 Mex Tele w/ Fender Custom Shop p/u,(etc), Ibanez 335 knockoff (not bad), a Danelectro Hodad w/trem, 83 LP Jr, Fender D22 acc. and Ovation 1865 acc., and a big box of parts from every manufacturer known to man :-)