Godin SD

I just bought this fine little guitar a couple of weeks ago for use as a backup, but I'm enjoying playing it so much that I'll probably put my other electrics away for a while.
This is a pretty basic Strat style guitar, but with a Gibson scale - which makes it really easy to play. Superb neck (maple neck with rosewood fretboard), great paint job (Black Pearl), quiet electronics, strap locks! - its a real winning combination. And the price is great. This guitar absolutely smokes anything in its price range, and I've bought a lot of guitars over the years.

I play mostly blues and a bit of jazz. The sound is a hybrid - neither Strat nor Gibson. It has a sweet, well-mannered tone, with a touch of spank and quack that comes from the single coils, maple neck, and bolt-on construction. However, the Gibson scale length warms the sound up a little, and takes some of the edge off. It's a good sound. I'm not crazy about the humbucker, and I'll probably drop a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge position. It might be a bit of a hassle because the SD's humbucker is set up for two mounting screws on each side, while the JB has only one hole on each side. It can be done though....
I play through an old Fender Deluxe, a newer Hot Rod Deluxe, and an old Music Man 65. The SD sounds sweet through all of them.

The SD was set up almost perfectly, but there is a slight buzz on a couple of frets on the E and A strings. You can't really hear it through an amp, but unplugged in a quiet room you can. Again, not a big deal, and easily remedied (simple bridge adjustment). The guitar came strung with a set of .09 (light guage) strings. It sings much better with .10s.
Otherwise, this guitar has been set up remarkably well, considering the price. And made in N. America too. Bonus.

This is a great little guitar to pack to a gig or a jam. It's very durable and versatile. I'm so glad that it came with strap locks because I put them on all my guitars, and its one less thing I have to change.
I usually don't play without a backup because you just never know what's going to happen.

I've been playing for over 30 years. I own a bunch of guitars, mostly Ibanez oldies that I have worked on, modified, and changed all the hardware with the best stuff I can find - very good guitars, and they play very well.
But I haven't had just a basic little stock guitar in a long time, so the SD was kind of an impulse buy. I'm very glad I got it because it has rekindled my passion for playing again.
I would buy another one of these guitars without hesitation, and I recommend it as a very good buy.

A Canada-USA joint venture, and one destined for success.
Features per other reviews. My example is finished in the
darker of the 2 "burst" finishes. Pretty comprehensive
(and well-executed) feature set, even for twice the price.
Ergonomically excellent. The one very minor beef I have with
the design is that the volume control is a hair too close
to the pickup toggle switch -- pinky-finger volume swells
are a little cramped when you have the bridge pickup
engaged. But how minor is that?

My playing is straightforward blues-derived rock -- think
Creedence with a smidge of R+B substituted for their smidge
of country. Throw in a pinch of Sex Pistols-derived rhythmic
drive. Confused? Me too. Late Chrysalis-era Rory Gallagher
mean anything to anyone? Didn't think so. Non-modern, fairly
hard rock, then. Enough about me -- how's the Godin sound?

I have to say I'm going to need to change a few things
here.

There's nothing wrong with how the guitar sounds -- it's
quiet and pretty classy sounding. To my ears, though, it
completely lacks any semblance of bite. Even the bridge
humbucker yields no pick attack. There's an annoying
bump in the low-mids, which accentuates whatever's going on
on the E and A strings, burying the high strings in the
process. The single coils don't have as much bite or twang
as I'd like, either, and they sound strangely out-of-
phase no matter what switch position I use. The middle
pickup actually sounds good this way, but I'm planning
to swap-out at least the bridge pickup, and maybe the neck
as well. While I'm at it, a coil splitter on the humbucker
would not be such a bad addition, either, to filter out the
squishiness inherent in all humbuckers. I'm leery of all
humbuckers anyway, but this one does sound mellower than most.

I think that I will also need to swap-out the strings (I
believe the Godin web site states that they're 9-46's.)
I can't get anything out of two top strings that light, so
I'll probably swap up to some 10-46 or 11-52's when I get
the pickups done (if I don't do those myself.)

That having been said, I suspected all this when I tried
the guitar in the store, but as I wasn't using my own amp,
I couldn't be positive. I still liked the guitar enough to
buy it, which says a lot.

Even factoring in a set of replacement pickups, the overall
quality of the instrument made it still look like a bargain,
and it is. The stock sound may not be to my personal liking, but
$450.00 does not entitle one to expect something to be perfect
off the shelf. If a guitar feels this right, it can always
be made to sound right. Another reviewer mentioned a particular
Duncan humbucker, which I'll try. And I'll skip the Stew-Mac
which somebody also mentioned as being too dark -- thanks...
My gripes are strictly based on my personal tastes (I'm a swine
for treble bite) but quality-wise, the electronics still deserve
a good grade, so...

All in all, pretty classy for the buck. It looks like something
in the $900-$1200 range. The fretwork, in particular, was
flawless and clean. It stays in tune well, and looks great.
It's also very comfortable (unless you happen to play seated,
in which case it's a bit thin for right-arm comfort.) The control
knobs and switches are all cleanly and solidly installed.
My particular guitar stays in tune even when using the whammy
bar (gently.) I'm a wiggler, not a dive-bomber, so your
mileage may vary, but this is a classic place to discover
design and setup flaws, and I have found none. The bar is
a tad stiff, but I prefer a stiff bar to a bridge that rocks
forward every time you bend a string (or even tune up.)
Very nicely done. Since I can't find anything nasty about
it, I must give it full grades...

It's not a toy. The headstock is not a tilt-back design,
so the junction with the neck should be able to withstand
a face-forward fall if you're stupid enough to let that
happen.

The guitar body is fairly heavy for its size, but since
it's thin, the overall weight of the guitar isn't excessive --
just heavy enough to feel solid.

I would recommend some sort of locking strap button, at least
for the button on the shoulder (neck end) of the guitar.
The guitar hangs at an angle which would make it fairly
easy for the SD to come out of the hole in the strap --
especially, as I found out, with a cheap, thin strap such
as I temporarily employed. Mine didn't fall (one benefit
of having poor left hand technique is that you can almost
always prevent your guitar from dropping) but I won't get
fooled a second time.

I backed my car over my '79 Strat once, without damaging it.
That's a combination of durability and divine intervention
above and beyond the call of duty. A Gibson SG would have
been in at least three pieces -- broken at the body and
headstock ends of the neck, for certain. The Godin looks
to be pretty durable. Despite its slightly Gibsonesque
cosmetics, it's a bolt-on neck with a non-tilt headstock,
like a Fender. That's generally a tough combination to
break without trying. You will like this guitar too much
to want to break it.

I'd say that if you don't drop your SD from too high, or
from the wrong angle, it should survive normal use, and
mild misuse, without much difficulty.

Haven't had the pleasure. The web site looks user-friendly;
they do a good job of presenting the company history and
philosophy. If they behave in a manner consistent with their
self-image, then I'd expect their customer service to be decent.
I can't, however, rate it until I've used it, so...

I play through one of 3 Fender tube amps (Deville, Princeton
Reverb, and Rivera-era Concert) as well as a Carvin 16/5.
My other guitars are (2) '70's Strats, a '78 Tele, and a
couple of more recent, imported Fender Strats.
This obviously puts me in the "bright" category tonally
(think Rory Gallagher, if you know who he is, John Fogerty
or Richard Thompson if you don't.)
So that's why my only dislike of the SD is pickup-related.
I read a review of the SD which referred to it as "polite-
sounding" which is a good, non-defamatory way of putting it.
Once I can get one or two new pickups into it, and get my
all-important pick attack back, I have a feeling that I'm
going to really love this thing. I already kind of do --
it's just the idea of turning the mids and bass down to "2"
and the treble and presence to 11 (of 12)just to get some
note definition strikes me as a bit absurd. A neck pickup
with Tele clang, and a bridge pickup with some sizzle and
pinch (not punch), will set everything right. This sleeper may
become #1. The SD deserves raves as one of the best values out
there. Add style points for the Canadian-American lineage
(goodbye Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, etc.) and only the Russian
or East German judge could score it less than a 10 -- at twice
the price.

2001,I have 2 of them one with a maple fret board and the other Rosewood.
Rock Maple neck
12" fingerboard radius
24 3/4" Scale
1 11/16" nut width
Contoured Silver Leaf Maple body ('Leaf Top' model features a highly figured veneer to the top)
Godin-Design pickups
5-Way
5- springs on the tremlo instead of three
12gauge strings
Color on both..... Lightburst Quilted 'Leaf Top'

I play blues,rock,and alternative.In my book the SDs are the jack of all trades and the master of all except deep hard Les Paul tone.Thats why I have two.The one with a Rosewood neck is stock....the one with the maple fret board has Seymour Duncan Hot rails in it and now it gets that "Classic Paul" tone.Either way the sustain is amazing and I have sold all of my other guitars from lack of use.These axes replaced them all.

The fit and finish is equal and in most cases better than guitars costing tripple the price.The quilted tops on these guitars are perfect.Ive owned many flametop and quilted Gibsons over the past 26 years and how Godin produces this equal of quality at that price is a mystery to me.The tuning gears work great,frets are smooth out of the box....no work needed at all.The workers at Godin should be very proud of themselves for such a good job.

These guitars work great live....no out of tune problems here with these axes at all.
came stock with strap locks....nice feature
I use 12Ga strings so that should tell you how hard I play....the guitar sounds better the harder I play it.These things are built like a rock.

So far no need to call

Ive been playing for 26 years,my other gear includes:
50W Penn Pennilizer
50W Ampeg Reverbrocket
20W Gibson GA20
?W Gibson BR6
Planet Waves cables
DOD/490 Phasor
TS9 Tube Screamer
These guitars WILL be the last electrics I will ever need.

This is an update to my 11/12/2001 post.

I commented earlier on how the guitar had a warm/dark sound. In an effort to brighten it up, I installed a set of Golden Age single coils from StewMac. These proved to be darker than the original Godin pickups!

I then installed the neck and middle pickups from a set of Fender Texas Specials. I also replaced the stock humbucker with a Duncan JB. Now the SD absolutely sings! It's bright, bitey and definitely "in-your-face"!

I've now owned and used the SD for 2 years and the only visible sign of wear is on the neck bolts. I guess my skin oil and sweat is a little too caustic as they've oxidized a bit.

The original satin neck finish has nicely glossed over this time also.

It has been perfectly dependable.

A couple of email questions to Godin were handled politely.

Again, just an update.

Fat Strat pickup configuration, excellent machined tuners, decent tremelo bridge. They did a nice job on the electronics, very quiet.
5 position switch offers a wide range of sounds. Sweet neck, 24 frets, rosewood. I think the body is hard rock maple. Mine is vintage white, and it looks really nice. It came stock with Schaller strap locks.

I play a mix of folky rock, christian praise songs, and blues. The guitar has a great sound, as flexible as a Strat, with a better overall tone. Electronics are extremely quiet.
My setup is pretty basic, a 71 Fender Champ, a Crate CA1P preamp (offers some nice reverb/delays and chorus), and an Ibanez TS7.
This is the most versitle guitar I've ever owned.

The factory setup was excellent, harmonics perfect, no string buzz, action was low and fast. Pickups needed slight tweeking only. I found no flaws in the finish at all. Absolutely perfect in every way.

Solid as a rock, in every way.

Never play without a backup.

Great company. I own a seagull acoustic as well. I will continue to buy products from this Canadian family.
I've never had a problem that required repair though, so I will not offer a rating.

I've been playing the guitar for 28 years. I've owned many guitars:
Fender Strat, fender Jaguar (67 model), '83 Model Gibson Firebrand, Ibanez Artist, Gibson Reverse Firebird, '86 Rickenbacker model 360, Ovation Breadwinner, Epiphone LP Junior, Kramer Ferrington...geez, I give up..I don't even want to get into the acoustics.

If stolen I would buy another. I love the way it plays, very easy and natural for me, and the tone is incredible.

This SD compares with the best of the best IMHO.

Canadian guitar, assembled in the US, I think. That was a major buying factor for me. I can't stand all these junky indonesian guitars, and after sept. 11, buying American is a priority. and hey, canada is close enough. 24 frets, and yeah... all that is covered by the other guys. (lol, guys. are there ANY girls who reads or posts these things?) The body style... that is interesting. it's a cross between a tele and a les paul, I'd say. it sits pretty comfortable and you have no trouble getting to the highest frets. at first look, you might think it looks a little bit abnormal, but now I think it is one very nice looking geetar. I got it with a free les paul type hard case, which has turned out to be very handy. I probably would have spent near $70 if it weren't free. it has a "vintige trem" tremolo bridge with wammy bar, but I don't see myself ever needing it. It thows off the tune some, especially on slides so I might disable it. the feautures on this guitar are diverse, yet with a kind of edgy normality. love it.

I play mostly on a Fender cyber-twin, and I am very pleased with it. It says on the Godin website that this guitar "lends itself to classic rock and r&b sounds". if that were true, I would NOT have bought it. it is much more versitile than that, in my opinion. I like the sound of overdrive with the humbucker. as for clean sounds, position 4 is what I like best. I love to put some fierce long delay on it, and do some nice vintage U2 sounds, which tingle in my ear. this guitar is VERY quiet, even with heavy gain applied. much less noisy than any indonesian guitar for the same price. I really like the sound. very warm, and the solid wood body gives good sustain, even with a bolt-on neck.

the action has been great, with no buzz. I don't have to apply much pressure at all. I must say a word about the tuning machine for my g-string. 2 days after I bought it, the small white 0-ring that goes between the tuning peg and tuning machine snapped, making the tuner lock up. it was very easy and free to replace and has caused no further trouble, but must give it a 9 for that reason.
I love the finish! I got the transparent honey-burst color, and it looks so beautiful. the wood is very high quality and the finish on it makes it look so rich. absolutely stunning. this is the first guitar with a maple fretboard I have bought, and looked a little strange, but now I'm sold on it. the maple fretboard shows more dirt and grime, so I wipe it off more but it more than makes up for that in great tone and now I think it looks pretty cool.

I gotta say, it is irritating sometimes how HEAVY this guitar is. it's even heavier than my ibanez bass, and I haven't actually weighed it or anything, but I think its heavier than an american strat. it is heavy, because it is SOLID. and I really mean SOLID. nothing much has happend to prove this to my guitar, but I imagine it could take a lot of abuse. the finish is done very well and except for minor scratches I believe it will endure a long time. the strap buttons are solid enough. one other thing is the cord doesn't stay in very tight. I mean, on some squiers I've played you have to yank your hardest to get the cord out, but the jack this guitar is kind of loose. the cord has fallen out on me before because of things you wouldn't think would pull out a cord. I recommend lacing the cord through the strap, over the button, then plugging it in, just to be safe. I think I would gig with this guitar with no backup, but would still be worried about a broken string. that happens no matter what guitar you play.

Have never needed to call them, so all I can say about Godin is the website looks very friendly, so I imagine the people there are friendly. I think it's made in a small town called La Patrie, Canada, where they seem to care a great deal about guitars, and have a hospitable attitude towards their buyers. it's at least better than some factory in indonesia that cranks out guitars, motorcycles and yo-yo's. you know? 8 sounds good.

unless you play the HARDEST of all punk/thrash/metal/rock, this guitar will suit you fine. I have been completely satisfied with this guitar. it is a solid guitar, and great looking. this is actually the first guitar I have bought which is not black, so I find myself asking myself if my shirt will go with the guitar when I'm getting dressed! pretty pathetic, huh? well I love the guitar that much. it's just awesome, with great pickups and super playability. I got a GREAT price on it too, when you consider the case I got free. since I have bought this guitar, THREE of my friends have offered to buy it from me. THREE! I was happy about that.

Features are the same as mentioned below.

I've played the SD as my main guitar for about a year and a half now and I'm still amazed by it. It is incredibly versatile. The other guitarist in my band has an american Fat Strat and I still like the sound of my SD better. And I get a way broader range of sounds than he does. I also find the sounds to be much thicker than the fat strat. The humbucker in the bridge is incredibly hot. I honestly have to turn down my amp when I switch guitars mid-set. It can scream when turned right up, but when you ease off a bit on the volume it turns into to total cream. The only complaint, and this is totally minor, is that the sound could be a little warmer. Again you'd never expect the kind of sounds, quality and versatility of any guitar in it's price range.

Factory set up was great. Took it in to get the re-strung and intonated. I'm pretty sure they didn't do anything to it, and if they did I sure didn't notice. No finish flaws. It had a nick in one of the frets but they fixed that in my initial set-up.

After a year and a half of hard gigging the finish has taken a couple of scratches and dings. I've dropped it a couple times and it didn't even go out of tune. It's been my only guitar on stage for the last year and I've never even questioned that. I've never even so much as broken a string on stage.

never dealt with them.

I've been playing for 20 years, gigging for 10 of that. I absolutely love this guitar. I hate the way it looks (mine has has the plain bone color), I hate the goofy headstock...BUT I WILL NEVER GET RID OF THIS GUITAR. You can not beat the quality and sound for the price. You just can't. I recently bought a Hamer standard (korean) as a back up guitar. I paid double the price I paid for the Godin. I'd play the godin first any day. It's such a comfortable guitar and the neck feels exactly like I want a neck to feel. I'm already considering getting rid of the hamer in favor of buying another Godin.

this has been covered by the rest, i will add that mine is a early model with pearloid pickguard, vintage style brige and regular strat style knobs, not tele style. mine is transparent red with a beautiful subtle figure to the maple body! fantastic neck. the look of the wood on this puts many over hyped guitars to shame.the workmanship is a1.

my style is anything and everything with the exception of so called music that has no music in it! i wanted a guitar to cover whatever sound i needed, only one way to do that. if you use only one guitar it will be a strat styled( single and humbucker equiped). i can't get what i want out of a 2 humbucker guitar and a set neck is lacking twang, to me anyway. this guitar is soooo resonant it is scary! and the tone is warm with some snap. lots of variety with the hum, sing, sing and 5 way switch.these pickups sound good. but someday i will put seymour duncans in to tweak it to my sound. i also am so impressed with wilkinson trems that i may add one some day, as well as sperzels.this doesn't mean i don't like what it has , it just means i have prferences for certain hardware.i love this guitar. do yourself a favour and try out godins, they put so many guitars to shame!

there is nothing second rate about the workmanship here, in fact there are some companies that rest on their past that can learn something from godin!this has so much hand work i don't know how they do it in north america and sell them so reasonably priced.

this is solid as a rock. the finish is poly but it is not the thick crap that most cheap guitars have , it may dent or scratch but it doesn't choke the tone. its a guitar not a hammer or shovel.i certainly can depend on it! it comes with strap lock compatible strap buttons. this is the first guitar i have owned that didn't need screws tightened and strap buttons fixed. every guitar i have owned has needed something(tuners, strap buttons,bridge, pickguard screws and whatever) tightened. i guess most factories need to get them done as fast as possible for maximum profit, where as Godin seems to move the guitars out of the factory when they are FINISHED. there is a concept!!!

i have emailed them 2 times and even after reading the warning that they are busy and sometimes don't have the people there to deal with the email( apparently they are actually making guitars!!) they still responded within hours! i can't count how many times i emailed another manufaturer and waited weeks for no response!godin is like no other. they are #1 in my book.

20 years of playing and stting up guitars for myself and friends, i use a pod to keep the peace at home and have since given up on playing out, i am looking into home recording.i would replace this for sure if it were stolen. i love everything about the beast. check out godin , do yourself a favour.

being an SD the same features disscused, Canadian, Solid Maple s/s/h pickups 5 switch, tone+volume controle. Basic but excellent.

I LOVE the sound, when I first played it at a huge crowded music store sale I tried 20 widly different guitars in quick succession and no matter what the price on them this was by far the best sound and feel. I play psychedelic rock and roll as well as spacey gentle sounds. The guitar handles both very well especially on the trippy sounds. It could have a little more bite on the hard edge sounds but that too is my digiteck guitar peddle I play through. In fact this guitar sounds so good I often feel it's a waste playing through a digital peddle. The guitar has a pleasing round warm tone that can sparkle and bite, it seems to do a bit of everything without being average. I love that it has hummbuckers and singles and has more bite than a strat and smoother and softer than a les paul with a sound all its own.

Came ready to play, felt great from the moment I touched it, though I had to re-set it for heavier strings because I kept breaking them at 1st. I got a real steal on this guitar and its probably due to the color, its called aqua, but its very turquiose. I thought it was hiddeous at 1st but it sounded so good for the price. But I love the guitar so much i've grown to like the color. No flaws at all' very solid

I play live with this guitar all the time and I now leave my others at home becouse its so versatile and dependable. There's not a scratch on it except for one problem, possibly in its design. When strumming the neck seems to come in further than I'm used to so I've really chewed up the wood at the bass of the neck with my pick.

e-mailed once with a curiosity enquiry about the guitar (having boght on impulse at a sale I knew nothing about it) and they got back by the next day, very friendly too.

Been playing 12 years. mostly accoustic though. I would definatly replace this guitar it is now my sound I LOVE it! I run a studio so I have a lot of gear. I still try other guitars becouse I'm obsessed with music but I would have to spend so much money to even come close that theres no comparison.
One MAJOR FLAW I personally find is that the pickup switch is right in the strumming path and on the same angle so when I'm dancing arround on stage I often hit it which is increadably annoying. I've dealt with the problem by using a piece of plastercine like stuff used to stick pictures to the wall to hold it in place which works becouse I rarely change patterns within a song. That along with the neck comming in so far into the body make it better for subtler playing but I love it to much to realy care.

This is an update to my previous review.

I changed the neck and middle pickups on this guitar. I liked the sound of the pickups, but I wanted slightly higher output, a more strat-like sound (when you have one guitar and your band plays some covers, you need to be able to cover some more bases), and a better lead tone. the stock SCs are great, but I wanted a different tone. It seems to me that the SCs are too dark, like they overcompensated for the maple body and neck.

I put in Rio Grandes, a Vintage Tallboy in the neck and a Halfbreed in the middle. They work great and really bring out a better blues-rock lead tone (one of the reasons for the change was to get a SRV, Hendrix- like vibe) and nail that classic Strat "out of phase" in between tone. I also am now using a Fender Super 60 tube amp as well as a Dunlop 535Q. I will post seperate reviews of the pickups on here soon, the main reason I put this on here is because the guitar is so well-crafted and playable that if you just want a different tone, put in some new pickups and you can probably get it.