Godin SD

I fell in love with this guitar. I like the shape of the instrument that look like a les paul who fucked with a telecaster. The nech is better playing then a telecaster and much thinner then a lp. The pick up of origin rocks for the two single coil but the humbucker could have been more torkee so I change it up for a gibson burstbucker pro and now it is a freaking rocking axe. It got personality. The tuner may be better but just change it and you will keep your axe in tune.

Single coil rocks but not the humbucker so change it

It so simple, it can`t go wrong. So easy to repair nd customize

Let me start off by saying I'm a very picky player. In terms of guitars I usually only play strats, and due to the current quality of strats be it california or mexican I only play exceptional stratocasters. Yeah I've owned some other guitars, notably an SG and an Ibanez Jem, and this guitar is comparable in tone and capability to those instruments.

It's got 22 Frets, 23 and 1/4" scale, H/S/S pickups that are Godin designed and Seymour Duncan built. My model has the Quilted maple finish, and an Indian Rosewood neck. This is the tightest neck pocket I have ever seen on a bolt on guitar, I seriously didn't even know it was bolt on until I saw the screws on the back. It has a vintage style tremolo, which is fine by me, and Godin tuners. The tuners, despite what some people have said seem to hold the tuning very well for me. I'm betting there actually made by some other company and then Godin puts there name on them, Schaller perhaps?

The Neck is made out of Hard maple, the body is made out of a blend of woods and of course a silver leaf maple top. By the way there is a reason they advertise all these woods as being tone woods but we'll get to that later.

It comes with a deluxe bag probably worth 50-75 bucks.

Honestly my only qualm in the features department is that it doesn't have locking tuners. Despite the trem staying in tune quite a bit I will probably replace them with locking tuners just to give it that little "push over the cliff" into the abyss of tuning stability.

I play alot of different music. These days it's mostly classic rock tones though that I'm after. It works great for almost anything I can throw at it, and oddly enough even heavy metal. The noise is minimal in comparison to a stratocaster that hasn't been shielded. I'll probably be using a gate most of the time though simply for the fact that I don't like any noise when I'm not playing.

It's got a very harmonic rich sound, I really wouldn't say it's bright, it is in the bridge position, but not nearly enough upper mids to call it a bright guitar. Think SG through a later marshall. Very usable tone from a stock humbucker.

The single coils are excellent, I have had tex mex, texas specials and Seymour Duncan pickups in my strats and these sound every bit as good as the seymour Duncans.

I was skeptical of the woods because I knew I liked one piece maple necks but they seem to be very smooth and mid-heavy, almost muddy at times. The rosewood neck works great though, took a bit of getting used to, but it tames some frequencies that really annoy me and brings out a really lively snap thats great for country, blues, hardrock and jazz.

The body reaffirms my belief that wood selection is critical to an instrument, this guitar sounds fantastic. It is as clear as any production model Paul Reed Smith that you can buy, I was almost disturbed when I plugged it in. The Bridge pickup compliments the body nicely bringing out those rich harmonics even through digital amplifiers.

I would even say that this guitar is very versatile simply because by varying your playing style you can coax everything from mayhem to softly finger picked ballads.

The only knock it gets in the tone department is that the trem block is one of those tiny little zinc pieces of crap. That will rob any tone from any guitar you put it on. In fact, I see alot of people blocking stratocaster trems not realizng that you can leave them alone if you simply add a better string-block to the guitar. Overall though, this doesn't really add to much against the Godin SD, in fact, I'm considering leaving it stock just because I might screw up a good thing.

From the factory the action was a bit high for my taste, on a short scale guitar you can get by with some rediculously low action without buzzing through an amplifier so I had the action adjusted while I was giving the guitar a run through. Plays fantastically. The shorter scale really adds some tone in it.

The frets were flawless.

The pickups were a tad bit out of kilter, the pole pieces on the bridge pickup were missaligned and the pickup it self was to high to be in balance with the neck and middle pickups. Nothing a screwdriver wouldn't fix though.

The bridge is fairly good, Graphtech didn't just make the nuts on these guitars, they also made the saddles. I have to say that as a trem abuser this guitar holds it's tuning well as a result of the bridge, nut and excellent string trees.

The nut was seated properly but there was one slight flaw there, I could see a little glue on the side of the nut. Nothing major, in fact when most guitars these days have nuts that stick out a bit this one was perfect so the glue was a marginal thing.

THe Schaller strap lock pins have got to go. Had them on two strats, absolutely did not like the design, half the time the guitar would fall off because it wasn't just so so. I've already bought some dunlop straplocks to replace them with.

The electronics are fairly good quality parts, and I've had good experiences with graphtech regarding burs and other string breakage related problems. I don't really forsee having to replace any of that stuff for a long time.

General rule of thumb for professionals... DON'T EVER GIG WITHOUT A BACKUP, just don't do it, it's stupid and it's wrong.

Godin is a small company, they've been having trouble keeping up with demand here in the U.S. as well as there customer service department. This all being said I can always, and I mean ALWAYS expect a reply from there customer service department. They are really nice there, and I've asked them a lot of questions regarding the guitar. My hat is off to them for being able to respond and deal with the crazy requests of guitar players with a relatively small staff.

I really love this guitar, perhaps not more than my custom Stratocaster, but I am actually beginning to wonder. The biggest problem I have with Godin is it is extremely hard to find a dealer which stocks the Performance series. I got lucky with Naperville music as they only had about 12 guitars and only 2 were performance series models. They had one other Godin and a bunch of Gibsons.

When I initially saw this guitar the Quilted maple made me miss it completely I thought it was a Gibson in fact. I saw it a second time and grabbed it to try it out.

I had been to 5 stores that day and played all sorts of Godin guitars, namely the multiple output system solid bodies they have put together, and in all honesty I was wondering if Godin had not discontinued the Performance series. I was later told that Godin has indeed been cutting back features, and certain models from the Performance series. Initially the SD was supposed to have 24 frets, and that they are now even going to discontinue the flame and quilted tops.

My guess is that Godin is competing against squire, and fender as well as epiphone and all those little copy companies for a market share in the lower midrange guitar category. Frankly, this instrument is far superior to any knockoff guitar, mexican made fender or epiphone.

I've owned lots of guitars as I've said earlier, and have diminshed my collection down to a select few for space sake. Amplifier wise I have a Marshall Silver Jubilee with a 1960A cabinet, Bogner extacy[bogner v-30 cab], and a Vox Ac-30 with celestion blue bells. Each of these amplifiers makes the guitar sound great and adds a different quality to the sound. Classic amplifiers I guess? Guitar wise this thing is replacing a Fender American Series Deluxe stratocaster that I've had for a little while. All kinds of mods were done to that guitar but it just wasn't really what I was after.

As for the Gig bag that this guitar comes with, it's a really good quality bag, I don't really like Gig Bags because they don't protect the instrument that well, but for travelling around town this thing is excellent.

This guitar is a steal at only 250-500 bucks in fact I'm already planning on getting another, even if I have to buy off EBAY or locally through the paper.

Mine is a 2004 model, made in Canada and the USA. Black Pearl.
Solid Maple w/ Maple neck. Short scale.HSS.These have excellent tuners,
solid bridge, o.k. pups, and solid electronics. Gig bag is as good as one can expect, but theese soft cases mean you have to tune up every
time you transport your axe. No problems with a hard case.

I'm a no talent hack on the Guitar,play (or try to)classic Rock and Blues. I'm currently using a Yorkville 50 watt Bass amp. Actually sounds quite good. My previous amp. was a Hot Rod Dlx. I've owned a Mex Strat.,Jackson ?, Gibson LP Standard. Strat. HR American Texas Spec.
I love the Bridge Hum on this axe. Nicer than the Tex. Spec. Not quite as warm and hot as the L.P. Great near bell like tones but can distort nicely without that schrill sound the Strat produced. The neck PUP has a nice warm Jazz like quality. All I really need are the 2 pups. The shorter LP like scale makes this an excellent guitar for bending. I paid more than double for my HR Strat. I loved the Strat bye the way, but its not any better than the SD. I like the versatility more on the SD. Even better range of tones. I may someday replace the neck pu for a mini Hum.

I had to tweek the action a bit, but I changed the 9-42 to 9-46 right away. Action was fairly low, but with a minor neck adjustment I was able to lower it even more. Pups were adjusted perfectly. I'm a bit anal, so I really went over this axe before purchasing it. It wasn't a rental unit but I was able to rent it for 3 Mos. before finally deciding to purchase it. This has a neck equal to the Am. Strat. and both are better-finished than my LP Stand. Paint was excellent, fretwork very good,hardware equal to any Am. Strat. Not a peep from any pots or the switch. No binding at the nut and the tuners are A+.
I have to add the Black Pearl, w/ Black over Wht. 2 ply pickguard
look fantastic. Paint is very close to the Am. Strat and better than my Gibson.

No question this axe will stand up.
Hardware is far better than anything in its class.
Finish is first rate.
Comes with Schaler Strap lock studs.
As dependable as any Axe can be.
Foolish to gig w/o a backup.

Haven't dealt with them.
Don't know what the Warranty is.
I'm not concerned.

I've been playing about 3 yrs.
If stolen I might opt for the similar Godan Freeway Classic with
dual Hum. Pups.
I love the fit and finish, but most important the sound range is awsome!
This is certainly the best built axe under $900. U.S.

2004 22 frets short scale. Canadian hard rock maple in the center with Poplar wings. Maple neck, rosewood fretboard.Volume, tone, 5-way selector, S/S/H). Godin passive pickups (I hear they are made by Seymour Duncan). Vintage style trem. Godin tuners (needed to be replaced). Fairly thin neck profile. Gig bag.

Sounds great for almost any style. Running through Fender Pro Reverb with minimal effects. Sounds really full with excellent sustain. Very flexible. I am blown away by the sound and playability of this guitar. Short scale takes a little getting used to. I play 10 gauge strings, so the tension drop (from a shorter neck) was not a problem. I imagine 9's could get a little slinky. Tuners needed to be replaced as they did not hold tune. Put a set of planet waves auto-trim locking tuners on and put a wood block in the tremelo (to stabilize). Now it stays in tune great. This guitar now easily compares to anything under $900. As a matter of fact, I think it's pretty damn close to my US Strat Ultra (with lace sensors).

Plays great. Had to raise the action a bit and put on locking tuners. Intonation was right on. For a $310 total investment, I got a guitar that feels, plays (with the slightest adjustment), and sounds well over $500.

Feels solid. Parts manufactured in Canada, assembled in US. No problems.

Never used customer support, but they appear to care about their instruments and customers.

I've been playing over 15 years. Was looking for a back-up and was close to buying a MIM strat. Thank God I ran across this. Blows away any mexican strat. I like strats alot, and this compares to my Fender Strat Ultra (S/S/H), but it is the best value guitar I've ever seen or played. I won't be using this solely as a backup as I expected. Instead I'll probably be using it half the night along with my strat. Fullest sounding guitar with at least as good sustain as my strat (if not better). I couldn't be happier.

Made in Canada. This is the newer 22 fret model, HSS pickup config,1 volume 1 tone control 5 way selector switch Blue burst finish, beautiful tigerstripe maple "leaf" top, Body is Maple with poplar wings, This one has a maple fingerboard. The body shape is in between a les paul and telecaster. Non locking tuners but feel very solid and hold tuning. Vintage strat style trem bridge. Best gig bag included, has lots of storage, and great neck support! Another thing, is the neck body joint. There is no air anywhere, it's tight, precise, and has a great feel. I'm partial to set necks, and this feels just as good as any set neck guitar I've played.

I play through mostly a marshall TSL and a peavey JSX, am able to get the best of both worlds really, the neck and/or middle strat sound, and a great humbucker sound. The humbucker has about the same tone as a gibson 498T on my SG, the neck and middle balance well volume wise, sound warm and open, and aren't noisy at all. The guitar has more natural sustain of any guitar I've ever played, with or without an amp. All notes in a chord are clear, and with the JSX can do some serious metal chugs.

My wife got this for me as a Christmas present, she got it in UPS, hid it under the bed in our spare bedroom (no case, gigbag only, shipped in gigbag/in box). Came out PERFECTLY set up, intonated, and IN TUNE. Amazing. I've had custom shop Gibsons that I had to work with for days before they were right.

Haven't had it long enough to tell. Let's hope...

no issues so far. They are in canada, and the dealer was in Minnesota (I'm in GA), so let's hope I don't need them.

Here we go: Been playing at least semi-pro since 1980, I'm normally a 1 guitar man (SG), but I play this guitar at least half the night anymore, and it gets all the play time at home. I like this better than the Deluxe Strat I was GASing for, The pickups are great, neck is awesome, fret work is top notch. Finish is extraordinary! I would get another in a heartbeat, actually, I have another on the way (good deal on ebay!), should be here in a couple days!

an update on my previous review. Godin has there tremolos set stock to be cranked down to the wood, this makes it go out of tune if you use it. If you take out 1 spring and make it "float" so that the back of the bridge is off the body, it stays in tune perfectly. (so no complanning about going out of tune because thers a way to fix it.

MIne is a new model (2005) with the blue transparant finish, and what a finish!! it has the most amazing peice of flamed AND spalted maple iv'e ever seen on ANY guitar PRS, gibson, ETC ETC... so the finish is ausome and im very happy with the looks. It has the black pickguard black bickups and rosewood neck (killer looks). It has a short scale 24 fret neck, and the neck has some ausome figure on it. Over all i think im very lucky that i got this perticular one, the figure in the wood not to mention the tone is jsut amazing, better than others SD's ive seen and they were excellent too!!!!

It is mostly a classic rock kinda guitar, it holds very well to a vintage tube like overdrive. The first thing i noticed when playin this guitar is how amazingly vintage it sounded, the single coils sounded really good, and im not gonna say "well it sounds almost like a fender"
that may be true for an older fender (pre 90's) but recently fender has gone down the drain, i played this guitar heads up aganist a amarican series fender, now forget price lets say they both were the same, the godin played better sounded brighter yet you can get a really warm overdrivin sound out of it, the fender sounded really steril and played like junk. the fender's hardware was junk and the build quality seemed bad altogether, the godin on the other hand had very tight tolerences and sounded and played amazing. So over all this guitar will cover almost any style of music and cover them very well too. move over fender godin is here to stay!

It was the best built guitar under 1,500 and no im not exadurating, i know your like uh huh sure, but seriously it was better action finish wood grain and part fit of any guitar under 1,500 dollars ive ever played. the neck felt perfect and had an ausome satin finish that ou just glide over.

Ok i think ive said enough about this guitars ausome durabibity already, I could see this guitar goin many years without breakin.

This is the most ausome guitar under 1,500 you can get, i highly encourage the first timer or intermideate player to pick one up and give it a try youll like it for sure. ITs just amazing and I can see me using it for many years now. I think this is the only guitar ive ever givin a 10.

I believe I purchased my Godin SD in 1998, I could be off a year in either direction. Its my favorite guitar, I have owned many and played many, and nothing yet comes close to my godin. 24 fret short scale neck, (which happens to be maple all around fret board and neck, the neck is actually birds eye maple, but godin never made a birds eye maple neck for the sd, but the serial numbers match, I have a misprinted neck, meaning my neck was ment for something higher on the godin ladder) The contoured body, fits to me perfect. They do tend to be a bit heavy, but i like the weight, and if they used less dense wood, you wouldn't have the killer sustain. It is a S-S-H configuration, single volume and tone and switch by a 5-way, Stock pickups, body is also maple. She has a pearloid pickguard and a cream body(no longer available on the SD.) My head stock logo is also different, (they changed logo following year)It is a cross between a tele and a les paul, vaugely Carvin appearance in body shape. floyd rose's(ish) tremelo/bridge. non locking standard godin tuners( i do however have the head tapped for some custom tuners i own( but did not like them on the godin) and a Godin Hardshell case.

This guitar matched with the right amp(s) will and has suited many styles of playing. I play alot of blues and rock and she was made for it, but i have used it to play nashille style pcik to metal and still it rocked hard and never waivered. I am getting some minor crackle when i turn the pots or switch..but it is 6 or so years old, and she has been played hard all her life, so they just need to be cleaned/replaced. Also contributing to some background electric hiss on certain settings..that and my amp is kinda of half blown( hehe )
A rathered full bodied sound, due to the maple all around..it has a great crisp high end, and to the density of the body and construction of the body, it has full rich melting lows. (with the right amp) she can handle what ever she is thrown. I like her all.

When my intonation is right, she purrs, i recently switched up a gauge using 11's and my sound is slight off, just needs to be reset. From the factory it was perfect, set like it was custom set for me. pickups were great, all body routing was amazing (i check as soon as I purchase any guitar) the meck mounting was picture perfect. the only thing i noticed was that it had a slight ding in the back body edge straight from factory(big deal) that and the birds eye maple neck that it should not have had.. :) lucky me free neck upgrade!

This guitar is soild as a rock, it can take live playing but also makes a great studio guitar, the hardware is A+, and its 6 years old. With the abuse this guitar has recieved over the last six years(not from me, from people using without asking) its amazing that it has only 2 or 3 minor dings(one from factory) and a handful of skratches i can probably count on one hand., Strap buttons are soild I would take it to a gig with no back up and not have to worry. I can totaly depend on her.

not sure on the warranty thing, I have had it for 6 years, and it is just needing tuneups now..I am not complaing. As for dealing with the company, yes I have and they are amazing, I dealt directly with the Daughter of Robert Godin. I am having my godin shipped to Robert godins home office to have it autographed(and probably tuned up whiles its there) and its not costing me anything, I just emailed the contact address on their webpage and asked if i was ever in town could i get my godin signed, they said sure..and then offered to have it shipped up when they found out i wouldn't be making it on my trip. Straight from the big mans daughter. Now that is amazing customer service

I have been playing for 12 or 13 years, I have at the moment a squier tele(its only a squier but it sounds great, strange)and some obscure jackson, not sure what it is. Never bothered to look it up, it sounds good so i play it. Various amps. I would have to buy another one is lost or stolen. I love everything about her and hate nothing. If I were to comapre it to anything, well appearance, a tele/les paul cross breed. Sound wise, it reminds me off a PRS, ya folks that good.

2002 model. Black Pearl. HSS setup. 24-fret. 5-way switch. All Godin material. Tremelo (don't use). LP shape with a carved back to fit the body when playing. Very comfortable. Rosewood fret Maple neck. Very smooth neck, but not as smooth as my LP Studio.

Decent tones. Some major fret buzz. Had it checked a few times, but still buzzes. I was told my style is "rough". Nevertheless, the guitar is acceptable for the price paid.

Action had to be adjusted for my use. I always replace the strings when buying a new guitar. Using D'Addarios 10's-4?. I have it set very low which could explain the major fret buzzes. Fit and Finish however, is great.

All Godin guitars are built very well. This is my fourth one, albeit not my favorite. I've owned a LG, LGX, and Radiator. The LG was by far the best damn guitar I ever had. I regret selling it.

N/A

I plan on giving this guitar to one of my nephews (maybe my second God son). I gave my first God son my Radiator. Would probably buy something else. Recently purchased a beautiful new Carvin CT4M guitar.

Guitars I've had - Carvin CT4M, Gibson Les Paul Studio, Godin SD, Radiator, LGX, and LG, Fender Am Std Dlx, Fender Sqr, Ibanez RG, Fender Bass (how did I get this mixed with my guitars?), and Celebrity Applause.

This Godin SD is made in USA from parts manufactured in Canada.
- 24 frets, short-scale neck
- solid Canadian Rock Maple body and neck with Rosewood finger-board. The shape is kind of like the bastard offspring of a Telecaster and a Les Paul. For a guitar of it's size it's very heavy.
- pickup configuration S/S/H.
- comes with good quality multi-pocketed gig-bag and necessary tools

I am a novice guitarist, although surrounded by experienced players as I sing with a semi-pro rock band. Our band style is classic 70s and 80s rock which I love (Free, Bad Company, Thin Lizzy, etc). I'm also into learning to play blues guitar.

The bridge humbucker seems strong with very good low end response. Our lead guitarist who plays a PRS Custom 24 and an Ibanez Steve Vai JEM was quite impressed. The single coils are a less little response, but can handle a decent enough "stratalike" sound. All in all much better sound than I would have got buying a Squier Strat or even a Mexican Strat.

Action was not really set up well. The neck was a little too flat which caused some mid-neck fret buzz. The fitted strings were also a little tired ( I suspect that this guitar had been sitting around at the retailer for a while,perhaps used infrequently as a demo unit - even though the rest of the guitar was in immaculate condition). Intonnation was a little off. However with a little attention from our band's prefered guitar technician (including fitting some new strings Ernie Ball 10s) all these issues were quickly solved.

Generally the quality of finish,materials and hardware on this guitar cannot be criticised. The guitar body has a beautiful and striking transparent "amber burst" finish with lovely wood-grain showing through. The control knobs are soldi high-chromed steel (much better than found on any Fender guitar), I don't use the trem-arm, so no comment there. The neck (rosewood on rock maple) seems quick and well fitted. All in all, for the money the finish is fantastic, and certainly this guitar offers far better quality than other potential first time guitars.

As previously described, this guitar is a solid, if not a little heavy piece of kit. I am sure that it would stand the physical rigours of live playing. I would be keen to buy a hard case, so if anyone has any suggestions as to what I can get and where from, I'd be grateful. If I ever get good enough to play at our gigs, then I'd probably consider upgrading the neck pick up. The guitar was supplied with Schaller locking strap buttons, but not the locking pieces, that go on the strap - so I had to buy another complete Schaller set (small moan here!). Can I depend on the guitar? - YES, no reason to think otherwise.

- I sent back the warranty card to Godin but haven't heard anything back from them. There seems to be no customer support link or email link on their web-site either, which makes direct contact a little difficult.
- I've only had the guitar for a few months, so no need so far for any warranty repairs. I understand that the warranty is for 2 years. I bought the guitar from a music dealer in Manchester, UK from their ebay site. Service was friendly, and the product arrived next day securely packaged.

- I did a lot of research before buying this guitar, and I believe I made the right choice. As far as build quality is concerned, I don't think I could have done much better at the price (or indeed at twice the price).

As a beginner, I play mostly through a small Marshall amp, however, I do get to play through the amps owned by my fellow band members - Mesa Boogie combos, Fender Cybertwin, Carvin valve pre-amp head / Marshall valve amp / Marshall cabs. The Godin makes a lovely noisy rock sound in the mid position and particularly with the HB selected.

I looked at Squier Strats, Mexican Strats, Epiphone SG310/400s and the Godin was the one I chose (also I think sometimes it's nice to have something different - i.e. that's not a cheap Strat copy). I love Strats though, and will eventually purchase a "real" Strat (Texas Special?) and perhaps a Les Paul (would seriously consider a Tokai Love Rock MIJ as an alternative to a Gibson LP Standard), but will always have affection for the Godin. I think this guitar offers fantastic quality (at any price) and thus exceptional value for money.