Godin SD

This SD is a blue flame (laminated, I believe) top with creme pickguard and pickups. Not sure of the year of manufacture. This is a 24.75" scale maple neck and fretboard. Bridge humbucker and a single coil in the middle and neck positions. Has a strat style 5 way pickup selector. The body is maple (based on their website). Overall body weight is quite light. The body style is a single cut with a softer horn. Neck is a bolt on, and with four stagged bolts which feel pretty darn solid. 12" radius finger board. This has a factory strat style trem, but I doubt I'll ever use it, since I'm not a big trem fan. The frets are fairly low and small. This is a short scale strat set up with a bridge humbucker. Has one volume and one tone. Would have been neat if it came with a series/parallel/single selector for the bridge pickup. I am really considering making this mod.

The bridge pickup has two adjustment screws (for height) on each side of the pickup. Nice little feature.

It has twenty four frets, but upper fret access is kind of difficult.

I've got a Les Paul style guitar already, and put Rio Grande Bastard/Fat Bastards in my old Ibanez, so I wanted to get a Strat to round it out. I was looking at various strats when I came across the Godins. I liked the shorter scale length, and for the price, I think Godin has a nice product here. It gets very close to the strat tone, and I prefer the humbucker in the bridge. I also tried their Exit 22, but thought the SD was closer to the strat sound. This guitar is fairly bright tonewise. I don't have another guitar with a maple fretboard. The maple board probably contributes to the brightness, but the lightweight maple body is probably the biggest reason for the brightness. I like the 2 and 4 positions for clean playing, and when the volume is rolled back, it cleans up well. The pickups aren't high output, but for factory, they sound pretty good. I will eventually change the bridge bucker out for one with four wires to make the Series/Parallel/Coil tap mod.

I play this guitar though a Marshall JMP master volume (50 watt) and a THD BiValve. It does classic rock, blues, and if I wanted to, some country as well.

The action was high on the Low E thru D, and that was corrected. Adjusted the pickup height slightly. The finish, fit, and function are really nice for a guitar in the price range. I would have liked a pickup ring around the bridge humbucker for a cleaner look. I may add that later. The intonnation was about spot on.

I am a little suspicious of the string trees. They look kind flimsy. I hope they hold up.

I haven't has this guitar too long, so I can't comment too much about it yet. It appears well built, and should survive. The finish doesn't appear exceptionally thick, and would probably succumb to road wear.

I bought this off of Ebay, so I don't believe I could get any warranty support. I can't seem to find an email link off of their website. It would require some work to get a hold of them. Hopefully this won't be necessary.

For the money I paid, I think I got a great deal. This guitar should be pretty versitile and I especially like the clean tones it produces. I am a sucker for blue guitars, and this one sure looks nice.

I am liking the feel of a maple fretboard the more I play this.

I think Godin has a nice value here. I got it for less than the price of a new one (which is around $450, I think). I wouldn't hesitate to replace this one if something happened to it.

2002 Godin Preformance Series SD.
Parts made in Canada, guitar assembeled in the United States.
24 Frets.
Solid Top.
Volume and Tone knobs, 5-way selector.
S/S/H pickup configurations.
Pickups are made by Godin.
Passive Electronics.
Body is made of Maple. Neck is made of Rock Maple.
Transparent Finish.
Body is reminiscent of a telecaster.
The bridge is a vintage tremolo type.
The tuners are made by Godin, but are reminiscent of Gotoh tuners.
24 3/4" scale, maple fingerboard..
Comes with a Godin gigbag, allen wrenches and a tremolo bar.

I mainly play indie rock and some classic rock.
I use a Behringer GX212 Amplifier, EH-Big Muff, Digitech Whammy, Crybaby Wah, Boss BF-2 Flanger.
The guitar has a 5 way selector so you can get great sound out of it, no matter what your looking for.
I really like this guitar, it sounds amazing for a guitar in it's price range.

This guitar was put together well and I haven't found any flaws yet.

Godin SDs are built sturdy and they can take a beating. I have a few guitars, but when i play my Godin I dont need a backup.

This is a great guitar and I recommend it to anyone who's looking for a low-priced guitar with high-priced features.

This is a update of the review I submitted on 1/28/04. I continue to be amazed by this guitar! Im' still trying to figure out how Godin can sell such an excellent instrument so cheap!

My guitar just sounds incredible! I've been playing for 14 years---and have owned a number of electrics--and nothing compares to this for the money, or even two or three times the price! I've already had a couple of folks try and buy it off me! I was concerned back in January about the selector switich making noise--turns out it was just some dust that needed to be blown out. I know this may be hard to believe--but there's nothing about the guitar that I don't like!

I continue to be amazed how good the action is! A guitar tech/pro friend of mine said it was even better than his $2,500 PRS! He works on--and builds guitars for a living so he would know. Godin has done a superb job in quality control with the SD--and for that matter--all of their guitars.

I've been using this guitar for a few months now and I'm even more impressed than when I first bought it! I sold my other two electrics because this is so good! The music store where I bought it can't keep them in stock for very long!

I received a very nice e-mail back from Godin after I wrote them a letter thanking them for their product! I was very impressed!!!!! I plan on purchasing future Godin products in the future.

I've never given anything I have purchased a 10 rating---but I will with this! It is beyond me how Godin can sell this guitar for less than $500.00 dollars! I would rather have this than a $2,000 dollar PRS! I've had other musician friends look at this and all of them to a person are amazed at the quality for the price. If you want a professional quality instrument at a modest price buy the SD--you won't be dissapointed!

This is the 2003 model, finished in Midnight Blue - which is a very attractive and suttle dark blue sparkle finish, in my opinion far better than the ever so slighty overdone flame tops on the 2004 models.

This one has 24 medium sides frets mounted on a maple neck with rosewood fretboard, bolted directly into the thin tele-esque body with 4 inset bolts <no plate>. The solid body is apparently of Canadian silver maple, for such a small bodied guitar, very heavy!

All the hardware is made in-house by Godin themselves, with generic tuners, strat-style tremelo, and electronics, the pickups set in a S/S/H configuration, with a 5 way selector and single tone and volume controls. Everything you need! It comes supplied with one of the nicest gig bags i`ve had come with a guitar, lots of little pockets and quite attractive in a desert tweed kind of way.

Even before that moment when jack plug meets Marshall JCM, it`s quite apparent that there is something quite different with this wee fella. The small scale and small body would suggest that it would sound puny unplugged, that the electronics would have to do a lot of work... I found myself strumming along at a fair old volume without even hitting the standby switch!

Starting off with the clean channel, the Godin exceeded my expectations plugged in too, with the neck pickup providing a whole manner of sweet blues tones, wholesome rhythm sounds, and everything inbetween. Switching to the humbucker, there`s a bit more of a volume shift than I expected, and there`s a very bright, rugged sound there, not even politely asking the clean channel of my Marshall to crunch. The in-between positions are very strat-like, maybe lacking in power a TOUCH, but all in all, not bad. The fun starts when you start to dial in a little gain, maybe about two fifths of the overdrive channel. The neck pickup suddenly turns to liquid, the guitar coming alive, blues licks just appearing from underneath my finger tips. The bridge and middle give a very `country-fried` tone, with no shortage of mid-range honk. Neck and middle is twangy and bright, certainly a nice choice for live use at volume, cutting through most mixes without bursting too many ear drums. At this stage there`s lots to satisfy the Sonic Youth/post-rock crowd, with plenty of crunch while still being able to hear the snappy attack, sustain and dynamics of every string.

Getting silly with the gain, everything turned up to full, gives the whole gamut of solo tones. In fact, despite the bright nature of the guitar, with it`s Canadian maple body, it doesn`t make a half bad run at a full-on rock guitar, the humbucker absolutely capable of any rock sound you might want to try. Theres even a decent attempt at a scooped metal tone, through any amp worth it`s salt. And the neck is quick enough to make tapping runs and sweep picking seem sensible. In fact, it might even be quicker than the Wizard III neck on my Ibanez, which is absolutely insane.

Well, you know about the neck. Straight from the shop I actually had to RAISE the action a little, mostly for the benefit of the bass strings, which had been set optimistically close to the body. Everything else is absolutely fine, the fit is miles ahead of what you would generally expect for a guitar for this price. I have never EVER played a Mexican Fender that has felt quite as nice as this. And the Mexican Fender`s are more expensive.

The finish is lovely and entirely without flaws <and believe me, I HAVE looked!>, the neck is set at a slightly odd angle - maybe i`ve been playing acoustics for too long - but it plays excellently so no complaints here, people.

I`m more than happy to take this on the road, although maybe a hard case is in order, like with any guitar worth its beans. The hardware seems durable enough, dust gets everywhere and you can expect to have to clean it up every few years, but this is common with any guitar with a Fender-style selector.

The finish seems thick enough to withstand most of the stuff that would scratch my Strat, obviously thin enough to allow the wood inside it to be resonant. Strap buttons are tiny, seemingly made like that so you do go out and buy those strap locks for them, instead of just thinking about it. Top marks for this, Godin! This guitar is made to be gigged, and at the price you can afford two, so that answers the backup question quite convincingly.

It seems quite difficult to get into contact with Godin themselves - i`ve yet to see a telephone number for them, or an email address for that matter. I`ve sent off the warranty form. You get 2 years. Not that ANYONE except maybe pete townshend is going to need it.

I`ve got a few guitars, i`ve had a few which have since been passed on. This is by far the best, and nowhere near the most expensive. With the right distribution Godin could sell TONS more of these, you`re basically getting a US built guitar, of a genuine design, that has been excellently crafted, well set-up, with a beautiful short-scale design perfect for a guitarist with smaller hands, like myself. Okay so maybe the pickups could be louder, with the exception of the Humbucker, which is louder than something that is extremely loud indeed. I love the neck pickup too, it`s got a character sadly lacking in most manufacturers generic pickups. I might swap the middle pickup eventually for a lipstick pickup off a tele, that would be interesting.

My advice for anyone even thinking about buying any of Fender`s budget range would be to try this first, and do the maths. Like this.

Godin SD Fender Mexican <strat or tele>

price #299 #379ish
built in... US Mexico/US parts <the dodgier ones>
gig bag yep nope
body maple alder. if you`re lucky.
tone lots of it not much of it
looks original classic <boring>

i guess you could also compare it to the Music Man Axis Sport, similar looks, similar pickup configuration, maybe the Axis gets the nudge in terms of balls-to-the-wall sounds, but the neck is much clubbier. Oh, and it`s about #1000.

My only opinion is try one, buy one. In fact, walk right away from that prs mccarty and get 10 of these instead. You`ll feel MUCH better. Trust Me.

Made in 2003 and purchased early 2004. 24 fret/volume and tone controls/SSH configuration. These are Godin designed pcikups. Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Body is I believe maple...Red finish. Body style is unique. Tremelo/Godin tuners.

This is the best sounding (and playing) guitar under a $1,000 dollars! I like it much better than my American Fender and my Custom Fender Tele FMT! The sound is just amazing and it plays like a dream! A tiny bit of noise is selector switch.

Superb fit and finish. Even better than my American Fender! It was set-up very well from the factory. I had it set-up again because I changed the strings from 9's to 10's. The guitar speaks of quality! The only thing I'm a bit concerned about is a tiny bit of noise in the selector switch. I just bought the guitar--so if I noitice any addtional noise I'll have it looked at.

This guitar is built very well! It is built to last a lifetime
I'm sure! Everything just looks great! I would use it on a gig
and already have! I plan on selling my other two electrics because this is so good!

Haven't dealth with the company but I have heard good things. Good website but they need to update it to 2004!

I've been playing guitar for 14 years, but I quit playing for about 5 years. I own two other guitars and a couple of amps. If it were lost or stolen I would buy another SD in a heartbeat! This is just a great guitar! I compared it to everything I could get my hands on in the under a #1,000 dollars price range---and this won hands down! I've owned (and sold) a number of electrics the last 2 years and have dissatisfied with the quality except the American Fender. My favorite feature is how it sounds and then the quality of build! My advice to anyone looking for a quality instrument without paying a fortune is to look at this!

Features have been covered in the numerous reviews.
Mine was a quilted flame burst finish.
It has all the features I was looking for except looking tuners which I replaced I think they cost me $40 or $50 for the upgrade.

The guitar sounds sweet. When I first bought the guitar I was sure I was going to change the bridge pickup, but could not happier now. You can cover a wide range of music and get almost any sound from the stock pickups. I am using it with a peavey classic 30 or a pod xt.

The action and set up was near perfect. One slight adjustment of the truss rod and it was set. I only think it needed that because of the string change. Finish was flawlwss. My only complaint was the trem was super stiff and the strings would bind in the nut when using.After some use the trem loosened a little, and the string binding was because of the thicker strings. It was easy fix and with the locking tuners it just doesn't come out of tune. The locking tuners were more for my preference than a needed upgrade.

I have had this guitar for a year now and love it. It is a tank. My children 4 and 9mths (beat on) play the guitar all the time I use it hours a day. The guitar just is very well made. If I didn't have another guitar I wouldn't be uncomfortable useing it to gig without a backup, but I do have one.

I don't know I have not needed to call

I,ve been playing for about 15 years. I have had numerous different guitars over the years, American fenders, gibsons, to name the higher end scale, but this has been the finest quality for the money.
I don't consider this a cheap backup which is what it was purchased for it is now one of my main guitars. The guitar is just sweet.

Used cream color that I got on EBAY. I know that the creme color was discontinued a few years back so I'm guessing it is circa 1996 to 2000. I really don't know.

I got this guitar because I was so impressed (and still am) with a Godin LG I also own. When I first got the SD the previous owner had installed an EMG 81 in the bridge. It was MUCH more powerful than the other stock single coils so I found an original Godin HB on Ebay and installed it in place of the EMG. I was really disapointed with the sound. Dark, dull, low output etc. Because of this I rarely played the SD. One day I decided to purchase and install a complete EMG S/S/H set to see if I could 'revive' the SD. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! If anyone is contemplating getting rid of their SD because of the dull sound try putting EMG's into it. It is now my favorite guitar. It sounds lively, articulate, agressive, smooth...words fail me. My rating for this category is a six because stock it sucks (3) but with the EMG's it is near perfect (10).

I received the guitar used. The previous owner had not set it up well after he/she had installed the EMG 81 in the bridge. After I installed the EMG set I then spent the time to set the string height and intonation. It plays really nice now.

It is a very solid guitar. No complaints....well one. Like a lot of other reviewers my SD goes out of tune whenever I use the vibrato bar. I will eventually put a wood block there and lock it down.

Never tried.

Been playing since 1975.
If it were stolen I would get another one, maybe a little flashier.
I chose the Godin SD because I also love my Godin LG, but I didn't have to mess with the LG at all. It was perfect as is.

2003 model, 2 piece rock maple as I remember. 24-frets which is a great plus considering it has the Les-Paul body (I love Les-Paul's but they almost never have 24 frets). H-S-S combination, 5 way selector switch, and a volume and tone (which actually CHANGES the sound of the guitar). I got the black pearl finish which is just a beautiful guitar, I only wish that the pickguard was more a Les Paul style rather than a strat shape. A nice die-cast bridge, holds tune very well as long as you don't use the tremolo. It comes out of tune immediately if you do more than just a quiver with it. But for the price, you really can't complain. Finally it came with some nice non-locking tuners that keep tune very well.

This guitar can fit almost any type of music, except country. Although the stock pickups are pretty darn good, I do plan on changing them soon. The single coils are great, but I don't think they're sensitive enought to play lead. The humbucker is one the deepest darkest sounding I've heard, it picks up the low end sound NO problem. I play with a cheap 65-watt Kustom amp, it even makes this amp sound good and the sounds I can get are pretty good.

The guitar was near perfect from the second I got it. The only problem I have is that the strings that came with it were very light. Although it increases the playability (which is already pretty high on this guitar) it doesn't do the pickups justice. The action was perfect, though there was a little string buzz if you don't plug it in and hit a chord hard, but who cares. I love the way the guitar looks, but I don't like that they have Godin printed on everything (the pickguard, the tuners, the pickups, the bridge, and of course on the headstock).

I've only had it a few months so really can't comment here, except I've banged the headstock a couple of times by accident, and there isn't a scratch on it.

I haven't dealt with the Godin company directly, but their represenatives here are some of the best people I've talked to. They're very helpful with anything I would need concerning their product.

Although I've only been playing for about a year now, I have researched a lot of things before I decided (in the store suprisingly) that this was the guitar for me. If it were stolen, I might get it again, or I might get a different kind of guitar, just to experiment, but I' not saying that this isn't a great guitar. If you're a beginner I highly recommend this guitar because it is very easy and a joy to play.

This has already been covered. Mine is transparent red and has a maple fingerboard. I'm not really missing any features, so...

I play a lot of heavy metal, hard rock, grunge, blues and such music. I haven't changed the pickups and I like the sond very much. I use Dean Markley Blue Steel strings, gauge: 0.10-0.52. and all of the pickups have a sound I can do with! The single coils don't produce that much noise, but sound kind of Strat-like, yet unique. The humbucker really screams! When I play the neck pickup and the middle pickup together, I get very juicy sound.

As I said before, I put in heavier strings. This made the action a bit higher, but that can be fixed. The 23. fret was a bit too high from the beginning, causing a bit of a buzz on the 22nd, but the store is going to take care of it for me.

Otherwise the guitar looks very solid. I've played it live several times, and it stays in tune very well. I think I can depend on it as well as any serious guitar. Though, I ALWAYS break a string during a gig,(my style is rather rough)so I always have a backup:-( The Volume knob and the plug-in seem a bit weak though.

I contacted Godin some days ago, with some general questions. But, since it was only days ago, I don't expect them to answer right away! The store though, have been very professional in answering my questiones!

I am 22, and I've been playing for about 10 years. I play it through a Peavey Duel 212 amp. I use a Big Muff (russian), a Marhall chorus, Cry Baby and an Equalizer from Boss.

If I would loose it, I would definetly replace it. I obviously love the sound, the feel of the slim short-scale neck (I have short fingers)and, perhaps most importantly, the 24 frets! You may call me eccentric, but I really need 24 frets on a guitar! That's why I don't usually play Strats, Teles, SG's or Les Pauls. This guitar is really what has been missing from my life;-)

My Godin SD was "Assembled in the U.S from parts hand crafted in Canada" - at least that's what it says on the headstock and came with a lower-end gig bag. The single cutaway body is made of solid, dense maple and has a beautiful Sunrise finish, while the short scale neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard and is extremely comfortable to fret.
The S/S/H Godin pickup configuration is controlled by a 5-way selector and single volume and tone controls which both have an excellent range. The guitar has a tremelo as standard, but I have never used it. The tuners have Godin stamped on them and appear to keep the guitar in tune very well.
The guitar was strap-lock ready and included accessories were allen keys for the truss rod and bridge saddles.

I like a lot of 70/80's blues and rock, particularly Rory Gallagher, and find that the range of Godin sounds suit this particular style from the beautiful warm tones and Strat-style bright and in-between sounds of the single coils to piercing bridge humbucker solos. I don't find the single coils as noisy as some Fender Stratocasters I have played.

The action was a bit high when I received the guitar as a gift, and the factory fitted strings (9's) were too light for my liking. The intonation was perfect. I don't know if the action was the Godin setup or if the store had set it up this way, however they were happy to work on it for me and restring it with 10's which really improve the guitar's overall sound. The Sunrise finish on the body looks terrific and has only one small flaw in the lacquer. The chrome selector switch screwheads look a bit mashed. Overall, though, the guitar is beautifully finished and looks far more expensive than the list price.

I don't often play live but I play a lot - I don't doubt it would stand up to live playing. It stays in tune well, and the locking strap buttons look solid.
I would always have a backup at a gig - you never know what might happen...

The guitar came with a two-year warranty, but I don't think I will need it since the guitar is solidly built and shows no signs of needing attention.
I did email Godin about a hard shell case and some other questions and received a reply in two days.

I love this guitar - I hadn't played for years until a friend let me borrow a Fender tele and a Strat as well as a Gibson ES335 and I considered buying a solid body guitar again. The Godin is, in my opinion, a great buy for the price - it sounds great, has a great neck, and looks amazing - and I preferred it to the Squiers and lower end Fenders I compared it to.
I would definitely replace it with another SD - probably with the quilted maple top - if this one was to get lost or stolen...