Godin LGXT

2003 model, 22 frets, ebony fretboard, mahogany neck, maple body, locking tuners, whammy bar, humbucking pickups, piezo pickups and of course the MIDI output, which is why I bought it. All sorts of onboard mixing and signal routing options. Gloss finish, very nice hard case. As a synth controller, this is an amazing guitar. The tracking is excellent. I use it with a Roland GI-20 to perform with my Powerbook and Reason. The LGXT makes a very expressive synth instrument.

I'm primarily an acoustic guitarist and bought this to use as a synth controller. Having said that, the pickups on this sound fantastic to my ear, whether clean or distorted, and there are many sounds available between the pickup settings and the tone knob (which has a huge sweep range). The neck pickup is particularly appealing to me, very "fat" while still having a nice attack to it. The piezos are piezos, but do OK as far as that goes. I play through a Boss VF-1 for effects, to blend with my synth sounds for ambient progtronic sound sculptures. Sounds great clean, hyperfuzzed and anywhere in between. I love the tone(s) of this guitar.

The neck is a bit thick for my liking, but amazingly comfortable nonetheless. Body sculpting (especially where the neck meets the body and the cutaway) is genius- it's a VERY comfortable guitar and easily playable up to the highest frets. Intonation perfect. Beautifully assembled an finished. However, 2 negatives: it's very heavy (understandable given all the electronics, but still not good) and the neck has a few dead notes, primarily in the areas where you want t really singing, sustaining tone. This actually isn't so bad when playing electrically, but it wreaks havoc with the MIDI pickup, limiting certain notes to nothing for sustain.

Seems very solid, but with all those electronics, something's bound to go bad sooner or later. And the specialized circuit board makes DIY repairs unlikely.

Again, I'mnot really an "electric" guitarist- I play acoustic guitar, electric tapping guitar (which is a totally different beast) and program synths. But the LGXT is so nice it's got me playing electric quite a lot now, even aside from the synths. Overall a really beautiful instrument that inspires me to play.

Year made: 2002 - made in canada USA
22 frets
seymour duncan pickup volume; synth volume; acoustic volume; master tone; 3-band EQ on acoustic preamp; 5-way pickup selector for SD pickups; 2-way toggle switch for synth patch selection; 3-way toggle switch for synth,SD and acoustic pickup mix/selection; 3 outputs- synth, acoustic, and electric
dual humbuckers configuration
neck pickup: seymour duncan Jazz 2
Bridge pickup: custom custom custom
active acoustic preamp... rest is passive
body: rockwood maple from canada
Neck mahogany
Finish: Translucent Blue with quilted maple finish on top
Body style: unique to Godin but probably most similar to Tele
Brige: Floating Non-Locking Wilkinson
Tuners: Locking, Gotoh
Neck: feels similar to strat neck in thickness, with a 16inch fretboard radius, 25 1/2inch scale, ebony fretboard, Medium Jumbo frets
Accesories: Hard case by Godin, Lead!!! Freebies from where i bought the guitar

Styles I Play: Funk, Rock, Blues, Pop, Punk, Metal, Reggae, Jazz.... This List Goes On and On Except Classical
The guitar is so versatile it works for any style i play
Rig: Peavey Studio Pro Amp W/ Celestion G12T-100 speaker; Boss GT5 with Midi setup
No noise from any pots
volume pedal changes on the GT5 cause a bit of noise but that could be just the effects pedal
it seems like there isn't enough gain boost from the acoustic preamp probably due to the fact that i haven't plugged it though a PA system yet so i sure i'll find that problem solved quite soon!!
seymour duncan pickups sound really warm yet have heaps of clarity and body to the sound
Haven't got a synth module yet so i can't do much there

The guitar was set-up almost perfect for me except for a few things...
The bridge peckup had been set on a nasty angle( ie high on the 6th string side and low on the 1st string side)... the neck pickup was a little low and the action seems a little high although my other guitar has an action that is nice and low!!!!! good for all that shedding!!!!
The tuning pegs seemed a little bit loose but that was easily fixed with a bit of tweeking

Apart from the standard adjustents that i had to make( that generally you have to make on every guitar that comes into a music store.... considering i worked in one for a few years you see some really crappy set-ups come through!!!) the guitar is solid as and i'm sure will handle a lot of hellish gigging!!
Will definately use without a backup guitar

N/A

Have been playing for 8 years and this is definately the best guitae i have ever seen for it's price range and the amount of features that you get.
The quality of the workmanship on the guitar is absolutely beautiful and i would definately buy this guitar again if it got stolen

Most of the layout on this guitar have been explained so I wont bother, I will go straight to the point. This guitar has it all for the adventurist guitarist, has synth access via the saddles on the tremelo bridge that are hidden away from sight, the output appears as a 13pin socket, these also act as the accoustic piezos which are powered by a 9 volt battery for the pre amp. Very nice feature through a PA system loads of beautiful tone here. The synth of course can be anything you want it to be, sax, piano, whatever your module has to offer, but you do need a midi converter to go between the guitar and synth module. I use the Yamaha G50 but I hear the Axon is superior at tracking. The G50 aint bad though does the job for me. The conventional pickup are very well balanced and provide everything from lead solos with sustain, to choppy rhythmn thinner sounds, I have pulled the pickup in and out of my strats many times than I can remember to try and get a versatile sound. This baby has had all that covered rhythmn, lead, thick, thin, top and bottom. A lot of thought has gone into this guitar and it is whatever I want it to be. I have to carry around a PA at all my gigs but I did that already anyhow, I now dont have to carry an acoustic guitar and set it up. The neck is mahogony and the fingerboard is ebony and has a very smooth fluid and easy to play feel. More features than any other guitar out there at a very good price, very very competitive.

I Play all types of music mainly rock and blues with a three piece band but it gives us a five piece sound, Synth is a Korg NX5R, Converter is a Yamaha G50. Magnetic/Conventional goes through a Marshall JMP1 midi pre amp, Marshall JFX1 for the effects, also use a Boss GT5 for compression, floor controllers and patch changes and overall conventional volume, also Cry Baby wah, all the conventional sounds are put through 2 x Laney VC30s in stereo at both sides of the stage. The acoustic sound goes through the PA and has subtle reverb/chorus in stereo from a Lexicon MPX1. The only way I could operate all this gear live is with this guitar, the only other option was a Parker MidiFly, alot dearer and unavailable in the UK. This guitar unlocks all those chains that cramp you down, sculptered heel for high fret access.

This guitar came to me with the action slightly high and the neck pickup too low in the body, which I changed easily. The only thing that annoyed me was the strings creaking in the nut. divebombs leave strings 1-4 low, (out of tune). If you gargle the trem the other way you get a similar problem. I read a previous review about polishing the nut slots with powdered Trflon, not sure where I would find that, not a hard problem to solve but I wanted to use it the night I got it and could'nt because of this problem. Dont know how common this factory fault is. Paintwork is excellent, hardware even better. Only comsumable is a little 9V battery. Would give a 10 other than the nut and string creakage.

The guitar weighs alot which accounts for something, have a look behind the backplates and they have also been paint finished, nice touch, unlike my Strat Plus delux. The 5 way switch seems to have dampers between positions, Good quality feel to the guitar, very well made in the USA with parts from Canada.

Not used them yet although I emailed them and still have not heard anything for about four days, growing pains for Godin I expect the more guitars they sell the less resonse turnaround you will get but quality product at these prices are sure to sell more.

Been playing for over thirty years, If it was stolen or lost I would have to get another, if fact I'm gonna sell my other guitars in case I need another. You also get a nice cloth usable gigbag. The only other guitars on the market that offer this quality and features are over twice as much in price. Godin are taking their quality and making their name known. Have not heard anything bad about them at all. Here in the UK this market is a bit slower than the USA, but things may change once they get more guitars on show. When I go to see a band 8 out of 10 guitarists have Strats/Les Pauls, I notice people look harder at the Godin and quiz you on it at the break and end of gigs. I should get commission from Godin!!!!.

This is an updated review of one that I filed last year. In the time since, I have aquired another Godin LGXT with a maroon/pinkish finish and a curly maple top. The new Godin with the curly maple cap is somewhat brighter and more responsive, hence I play it it in DADGAD tuning exclusively and have it set up for that. Everything about this new Godin is very cool. Although it seems that I can't quite seem to get it broken in or used to it as well as my black LGXT. The black one just feels incredibly light and is now feeling played. Either that or I am just very accustomed to the neck. There is so much psychobabble with guitar reviews already, hence I will try and restrain myself.

The guitar sounds brilliant. Like a really good version of one of Luka Blooms acoustic/electrics. I have been using a Carving AGC-100 amp dedicated to running the LR Baggs piezos and the guitar synth exclusively and it makes a huge difference. The sounds are pretty lush and three dimensonal. I feel like it gives me alot of tonal options. I can blend in the humbuckers playing an insanely distorted/wah sound against a really pristine sounding acoustic electric and it sounds massise. Plus it is much more comfortable to play an electric for me because of some hockey injuries. Plus it is less to carry for more sounds. I am convinced that acoustic guitars are not really well represented in a bar gig/church gig context unless you have an absolutely brilliant soundguy, a killer system and time to tweek the living heck out of it. The synth pick-up still tracks like a bloodhound. Considering that I play like an 800 pound mountain gorilla this is pretty impressive.

There are very few flaws. My Luthier, Chris Herbert at Acoustic Music Revival, is damned magician. He can take any guitar and make it playable and sounding brilliant. Well practically any guitar. The frets seem to be poking out along the neck a little bit. That however is a climate thing. The high and dry nature of Colorado does that to most all guitars here.

This feels slightly more dainty than my Gibson Explorer that I played constantly for almost a decade. But I tend to baby it in the care and maintainence department just because that is how I am. It appears very durable and consistent, like a Volvo. I never use a backup. I am honestly so lazy that it doesn't really fit into the plans. I try and scrape by. The only time I would ever carry a bunch of spares is if someone else is lugging them. I have only ever done one set of shows with a guitar tech and I doubt that I ever will again. I have no delusions about ever going back to being a full time pro.

I have sent one e-mail to Godin almost a year ago and it never came back to me. Perhaps being an English speaker didn't help. My attempts to use my High School French would've been only a great amusement to them. I am lucky that I really have never genuinely needed to speake to them.

Yes I would replace it. It has become a great extension of me and is very natural. I am blessed.

Features include: maple body, mahogony neck medium jumbo frets, Sperzel locking tuners, ebony fingerboard, duncan humbuckers (jazz neck, super custom custom not trem spaced), L.R. Baggs tremelo with RMC transducer saddles (for both synth access and acoustic sound).
Controls include: master volume and tone, synth volume with 2 program change switches, acoustic volume slider with 3 band eq sliders, 13 pin synth connector, 2-1/4" jacks for guitar and acoustic. Also, the hardware is an odd mix of chrome (tremelo unit) and black (knobs and tuning keys).

What we have here is the 'swiss army knife' of electric guitars. I would give it a 10 for that alone, but I feel that they got the body and neck woods ass backwards, and I would rather of had all hardware chromed, so I deduct 1 point. One other very worthwile feature is the unique body style, with a very nice blend of Fender and Gibson without looking bland or goofy.

Let me start off by saying the synth driving abilities are among the best I haver ever tried (let's face it, that's why you are probably reading this). However, I wanted this guitar to stand on it's own as an electric. That said, the sound is a bit less than perfect.
First off, I think it has a little too much maple for my taste, I would have preferred a mahogony or alder body with a maple neck. Second, I love duncan pickups, but these don't do it for me, I swapped the bridge pu for a Duncan JB trembucker, huge improvement. I think the neck will be traded for a '59 model.
Third, the 5-way pickup switch on a 2 humbucker guitar is useless to me, I have yet to hear faux single sounds that are good. I went with a 3-way ala Les Paul, much improved.
Last, the volume control-I do a lot of volume swells with the knob and the taper on the control sucks, replaced pot and all is well.

This guitar has some great qualities though, the acoustic setting is damn good through a keyboard or acoustic amp (almost not quite as good as a Parker, but very close), for being a maple bodied guitar it sounds surprisingly mellow and not nearly as bright as I assumed.
One feature that is a bit annoying is not having the ability to run all three voices to individual amps. I would be curious to hear from anybody who has had any luck in doing so.

This guitar has some really good and bad points in this catagory.
Pros: I got this mail ordered to me, the overall setup (action, fret buzz, intonation, ect.) was fantastic, I think the dealer had a lot to do with that.
However (cons) the neck feels like shit in my hands, the finish sucks big time (on the neck that is). I ended up sanding down the neck and refinished it with tung oil, HUGE improvement.
Finish work on the body is nicely applied. Mine is trans-blue (almost more of a teal green, very cool), it looks very nice, only minor problems with color bleedover onto white binding. The cavity routing is decent, would have preferred a cleaner cavity with less dust and crap inside.

Durability- Rock solid baby! I think this thing will be around for a while, seems built to last (heavy too). Body finish looks like very thick/too thick polyurethene. I have a feeling the finish is robbing a little tone from this sucker. Strap buttons are small BUT they will except Sperzel strap locks.

Have had no dealings with the company as of yet.

I'm sorry if I sound too nit pickey, Thats what happens when you read too much Guitar Player mag. gear reviews.
All I can say is I love this thing.
Bang for the buck-I would give it an 11, it doesn't do everything perfect but it sure does an awful lot very well, and it sure smokes the competition for it's price (Mexican Roland Ready Fender = Dog Poo). Most all of the minor gripes I had were easily remedied for minimal cost. So far it is the Best Roland compatible guitar I have played (okay, I'll admit that i haven't played the 2800.00 Brian Moore, but I will put my 'tweaked' LGXT up against anything).
Best of all, I would gig with this guitar as stand alone guitar only, and synth access is the icing on the cake. Mission Acomplished!

Bought the axe 2000. Looks awesome in translucent red. The flamed maple top is perfect. 22 frets; the neck has an acoustic feel but plays easy like a perfect electric.
If you need a real versatile instrument get the LGXT! Nearly every sound imaginable can be produced. 2 Humbuckers, both splittable, Piezo and Synth. Everything can go together or separated. Great! Don't know any othe guitar with so many really great working features. I own about 15 guitars and play about 20 years now. The Godin ist top of the line!

What music do you want to play? Take the LGXT and it will suit your style! From crisp clean to ultrafat lead. Perfect. Especially the bridge PU has an awesome lead sound. I play it through a Mesa/Boogie Mk IV (stereo with a Simul Satelitte). The sound blows anything away! Perfect synth tracking, much better than the Roland GK-2 system. Use a GI-10 Midi Converter and a Roland JV 1010 Synth. Works great. The Piezo works as a perfect addition to the electric sounds. I prefer the Piezo together with the synth or together with slightly distorted sounds. You get some crispy notes.

Almost perfect!

Really good. Only problem: The PU-switch became noisy. My luthier managed it.

Didn't need support.

Love the axe. Would buy a new one if broken or stolen.

This is a quick update to a couple posts ago on this guitar.
Just a note to anyone else out there who might be considering getting this guitar and changing around the switching configuration, like I was. I took it into a local, very reliable tech shop in Kansas City (where many stores send complicated or serious repairs) and they informed me they couldn't do any of my requested switching modifications, because this guitar is wired with a circuit board. No standard or traditional wiring involved. Wow.

This was pretty disappointing, as I was looking forward to customizing it to work best in my playing situation.

In my earlier review, my main beef with this guitar was the neck: I was expecting something different, especially in neck width. This Godin neck is 1-11/16, which after some research is also the width for most other guitar necks (Les Paul and PRS, especially). It still doesn't fit your hand that beautiful way that PRS guitars do, but it certainly is a well-made neck. I guess it's the fatness/thinness that makes the feel so much different.

Maple body; bookmatched AA Maple top with dark red transparent finish; bolt on maple neck; 25.5" scale; Ebony fingerboard; tiny offset fret markers; 22 medium frets; small headstock; Schaller locking machines; Seymour Duncan Jazz and Custom Custom Plus pickupswith 5-way selector and volume and tone; floating, recessed Strat style trem 'LR Baggs X-Bridge' with piezo pickups in the saddles; volume slider and 3-band EQ for the piezo; 13-pin Roland GK-compatible synth output; synth volume; synth/guitar/mix switch; synth function switch; schaller strap locks. That's a lot of guitar. It has everything. versatiel and up to date electronics with synth access in a guitar that is hand built.
I am marking it down a notch because of the non-locking trem. I guess I will get used to it pretty quickly, but I do like Kahlers.

I play everything from Blues and Jazz to experimental metal but mostly progressive rock. It suits all this very well with its amazing versatility. Unplugged, it is fairly mellow and warm, with a rich resonance that you can feel against your body, with masses of sustain. Not quite as warm as my Roland G303 with its Les Paul construction, but not nearly as bright and tinny as my Strat construction Gordy Redshift.
Plugged into my Boss GX700 processor and a small PA system, it really delivers. The neck humbucker is clear and mellow, without boom. The Bridge has bite and punch in a vintage kind of way. The in between positions tap the coils and give usable Strat type tones.
The Piezo output is very versatile with its 3-band EQ. You can go from hollow Ovation type sounds to a pretty good impersonation of a Strat bridge pickup. Plenty of attack. Fretwork is excellent. The neck is very comfortable, with a fairly complex profile, and a very low action.

It is a beatifully made guitar. The build is pretty close to perfect, but still carries that hand-made vibe. The top is stunning. I don't usually like red guitars, but this looks like congealed blood - nice! Two things let it down slightly. Being an ex-demo guitar, it had been strung with 10s for some guy who was going to buy it and changed his mind. I don't thing the setup was changed to compensate. There is a little too much bow in the neck, so with the action set so low, there is a bit of rattle. And the strings catch in the nut when the trem is used. Both easy things to put right, and I do prefer 10s.

Seems very solid. The hardware is good quality, and the factory fitted strap locks are a nice touch, although I don't understand why they don't supply the strap part. Finish is good and thick on the body, but there sre some fine scratches where it has been played by someone with a watch or bracelet on their right wrist. This suggests that the finish is not all that hard.
I have taken a look at the electronics and everything is very tidy, with good quality compnents and circuit boards used throughout. Roadworthy, but I will be taking a backup.

I've heard that the company are pretty good for support, but I emailed tham about battery life and afew bits and pieces and have received no reply yet...

I love the build quality, the feel and the finish. We are in PRS territiory here, with more facilities and for less money. I am marking it down a notch because we pay so much more for them here in the UK.
The shape is cool. It can look a little ungainly in pictures with its exagerated upper bout, but is better in the flesh, and very comfortable on a strap.
I love the versatility - having the best of everything on the one guitar from the start. The synth tracking is noticabley better than with a magnetic synth pickup such a sa GK2. With a Roland GR30, I noticed NO ghost notes or missed pitches. With a Yamaha G50, there are some stray notes triggered well over an octave above what you are fretting. These can be minimised with the threshold settings on the G50.
My old Number One, a modified Roland G303 - is now relegated to backup duties and may be sold. My old Number Two, a Gordy Redshift Custom, may go in the loft.
I've been playing off and on for 17 years. I wish I had found out about these and bought one sooner. Yes I would buy it again.

I write long reviews, but hopefully helpful (alliteration, ha!). Hope this is useful to someone:

I won't go into every little detail of the specs...other reviews here have done a superb job with that. To confirm, however: this is the dual-Seymour Duncan, LR Baggs tremolo/piezo acoustic bridge/Roland synth output model. Ebony fretboard. Mine is a pearl black...not opaque, little sparkly when you look close. Nice. Has all the appropriate knobs and switches to make it all work. Three output jacks as mentioned previously in reviews. One volume and one tone knob for Duncans, one volume knob for synth. For the features it has, I give it the highest rating.

I play most often in a contemporary church worship band, which covers all styles, from very hard rock to country to mellow acoustic. I run this through a Line 6 Pod 2.0. A little history: I have been using, for the last 6-8 months, a heavily modified Am. Standard Strat, with the same LR Baggs X-Bridge that's on the LGXT, a single-coil size Seymour Duncan Li'l 59 humbucker in the bridge position, Sperzel locking tuners, and a Roland GK2-A pickup attached to the Strat's face. I was happy with this setup, but after reading reviews here about the Godin's tracking, and great acoustic sound, I decided to try it. Unfortunately, no Godin dealers in Kansas City, so I traded a guy in Quebec my Gibson Les Paul (goldtop with P-90s, which is a fun guitar, but didn't really work in the church setting well, not versatile, too much hum) sight unseen for this guitar.

All that said, the sound is "okay" in general. First, the acoustic bridge: it's active, so it's a louder signal, but I was disappointed that the tone no better or richer or deeper with the Godin than with the Strat (I assumed maybe the fact that the wood is nicer on the Godin, that might help). It's still very good, but I guess I expected more there. My Strat sounds just as good with the piezo bridge.

Next, Duncans: Bridge sounds very nice, though to my ears it doesn't sound thick and rich like a Les Paul humbucker (the pickups are seated in the body, instead of in pickup rings, which is nice). It sounds just a little bit bigger and fuller than the minibucker on my Strat. I'm a little disappointed here, but it's acceptable. 2nd position is single-coil from bridge, and I was pleased here: it didn't thin out, in fact through the Pod on the Marshall hi-gain setting (but I have the gain only about half-way, and usually clean this up with my volume knob on guitar, makes a respectable clean sound) it doesn't sound much different, maybe a little less thick and compressed. Cleans up better, though. The 3rd position is one coil from each pickup. This is interesting: I had two different pieces of documentation come with the Godin: one said that this position was one coil from each pickup, one said it was both buckers on. I'm pretty sure it's the former, as it doesn't sound too thick at all. I'm debating (as I'll mention later) whether to have this altered to the 2-bucker setting. It's definitely useable as is. The last two positions (neck coil-cut and neck bucker) are fine, I don't use them that much. Most of the time, both on my Strat and this guitar in the three weeks I've had it, I use the second position. My only complaint is I wish it sounded a little more LP-ish in the bridge position, but it ain't a Les Paul, so there's the rub.

Synth: Wonderful tracking. My Strat would sometimes hit weird harmonics, and have volume differences on different strings. Nothing at all like that so far, but I don't use that feature a ton in my playing. I wanted it more for home recording versatility.

Overall, this guitar is superbly done. The other main player in our band plays a PRS, and to me that guitar is the pinnacle of feel and tone in electric guitars. I love my Strat, and I love the feel of a Les Paul with it's carved top. The top on the Godin is not radically carved, I wish it felt a bit more like a PRS, but it's its own animal. The natural wood "binding" around the top is nice (there's even a very small strip of natural wood "binding" around the headstock-very cool) and the paint job is perfect. It really is a lovely, graceful design, different yet sort of traditional. The ebony fretboard is flawless, the frets are perfectly leveled and shiny.

One disappointment, from reading other reviews (which is largely how I based my purchase) was the feel of the neck. I kept reading about comparisons to PRS necks, and like I said, I think those (and fat Les Paul necks) are soooo comfortable in the hands. One single reviewer somewhere said something about "thin, narrow, flat". I find that to be true. One reason I was attracted to this guitar was that it appeared to be built from the ground up to do what it does (acoustic, electric, synth) very well. I would think this would include at least a wider neck for acoustic fingerpicking. It's about the same width as my Strat, has a flat radius, and thin back. Mostly I just wish it was wider, I could live with flat and thin.

Knob setup: I'm sure the designers at Godin thought this through carefully, but the knob, switch, and output jack setup is not really working for me, and I'm thinking about changing it, which is a little scary given the complexity of this instrument. The Baggs bridge that I have in my Strat comes with a stereo out jack, so I run one cord out, then it splits to separate 1/4 in. jacks. One goes to Pod, then to board, one goes to Tech 21 Acoustic DI, then to board. I "assumed" the "mix" output on the Godin was similar, but it's not. I find this output useless, since both electric and acoustic signal go wherever the cord does. I don't understand the thinking here. When would you want your acoustic signal to go to an amp? When would you want your mag pickups' signal to go to anything but an amp, or Pod-type unit? I plan to make this a stereo jack, if it will work. Now, you can run three cords from all three output jacks on the Godin, but this seems a little extreme to me, you start to look like a computer or something. Godin, if you're listening, what about this setup: 3-way switch as follows: top is acoustic, bottom electric, middle is both. In this scheme (the way it comes is top: acoustic only, bottom: synth only, mid: all three) my synth volume knob would control the synth alone, in other words it would always be accessible, regardless of the switch position.

I was somewhat excited to read in the manual (which is pretty good and extensive, which for this guitar it needs to be) that you could run all three voices through the synth (so just one cord), but for me this didn't work, because again it sends the acoustic and electric signals together. Often, with my Strat, I use both acoustic and slightly overdriven electric together, sounds like two guys playing. Can't do this with the Godin unless you use both 1/4 in. outs.

Lastly, one big problem in this category: the upper bout strap button will not stay in. I've tried the trick jamming toothpicks in there twice, but it's not working. Last night at a practice, after the second try of this, the guitar actually fell to the floor, putting a small ding in the natural binding. Bummer. By the way, I replaced the teeny strap buttons with bass guitar string trees (a trick I read about elsewhere here on H-C), similar to what PRS does. But I used the same screw that came with the guitar, so it should not be falling out. Not sure how to proceed here. Bigger screw? Glue?

My rating is for how it works for me, given my demands, and for the strap button thing.

Feels very quality, and solid. Case is nice. See strap button comment above. Maybe that's just an anomaly.

I've written Godin two or three e-mails, a couple with quick questions, which they answered, one detailed one asking for instructions on how to make the above mods I'm interested in. That last e-mail they simply told me to take it to a Godin-authorized dealer for tech work, which as I stated I don't have in KC. They have no phone number on their website, which I'm assuming is cuz they speak French or something and don't want people disappointed when they call, cuz most Americans have trouble with English, let alone French.

Been playing for almost 20 years, have owned a couple Gibson Les Pauls, a couple Strats, Teles, G&Ls, Fender amps. Currently I have this guitar, my Strat, a Danelectro, and a Fender acoustic. I have tried to pare my gear down to achieve consistent tone, and this Godin was an attempt to step further toward that goal. I believe the quality is there, and perhaps my needs are different than others', so my desired mods may be mine alone, though I think they make sense. In any case, the material is there, and I can change the configuration of the switches and jacks probably to suit me. My only real issue with this guitar is its neck: I wish it was wider. This may seem minor, but I would encourage you to play one before you buy.

The humbucking pickups and their wiring are very versatile. You can go from round and jazzy on the neck pick-up to very distorted on the bridge. The five position switch allows you to get some pretty Telecaster sounding split-coil sounds in position 2 and four. The piezos sound lovely as long as you use the dedicated output to feed a full range amp. They are really full and round. Let's face it, Piezo pick-ups have a sound of their own, not quite acoustic and by no means electric. You won't mistake this for a perfectly miked Lowden. The real magic is in the synth pick-up. This is where the Godin excells. I drive a Roland GR-33 and the thing tracks beautifully. I was using my Gibson Explorer with a GK-2 and it was professionally installed and tweeked maximally but still was terribly nuanced. The tremolo arm is smooth and tight. After my repair guy set it up for my thicker string preference, it stayed in tune relatively well and was pretty headache free. As fo the neck of the guitar, it seems a little sticky and strange feeling finish. That is just a subjective perception.

The pick-ups and the ability to blend them are very versatile and give you quite a few possibilities. I am using a Roland GR-33 for synth sounds. My pedalboard contains a Digitech RP-12 multi-effects unit,a Danelectro Daddy-O distortion, A Danelectro Dan-O-Wah, a Line 6 Delay modeler and an Ernie Ball Volume pedal. The Godin responds well and sounds great. The piezos aren't terribly clear unless you plug them through the PA or a dedicated acoustic amplifier. Style-wise, this guitar is perfect for what I need. I play in Worship Ensemble at my church, in a pair of Celtic-Pop bands and do very rare session and soundtrack work. Alot of bases covered with very little to carry.

The guitar was set up with a much lower action and lighter strings than I would ever use. I had my repair guy set it up with a heavier gauge of strings and raise the action to allow me to play slide. It worked out nicely. I really cannot judge the factory set-up just because I didn't play with it much. The pick-ups are adjusted well and sound even. All of the workmanship is solid and well-crafted. No complaints there.

The guitar seems very solid and doesn't have the percieved delicacy of alot of other boutique type guitars. The hardware is efficient and workman-like, not a spectacular work of art, but instead spectacularly functional. Finish is solid black, no noticable flaws. The strap buttons are just the standard pegs. I do gig without a back-up for the Godin. I would never gig without a back-up if I can help it. Also, I don't want to drag too much crap around.

I am yet to deal with Godin directly. The guys at the shop have been very supportive.

See above.