Godin SDxt

Has the features that you want. A trem can be locked, rosewood, little things done right like the string hook thingamajigs next to the tuners that keep things in line.
Nothing out of the ordinary, just good quality. My guitar is 6 years old yet its tuners feel much better than a new comparable asian $400 range, a guitarist friend recently made a comment about that.
And after 6 years of light use it still looks great! To me the style is 'man in a tux'. Black with black pickguard.

Knocks for not staying in tune when my beginner hands would yank the whammy. Not experienced on how in tune a guitar should stay when using the trem...but during a punk gig when borrowed it def needed retuning a few times.

After 6 years....still sounds great. Feels great. Is loud when played unplugged compared to a regular elctric. Has a FULL RICH sound that has been better imo than ANY of the midrange guitars I hang around and better than ANY asian guitar. This this is solid, rich, and classy.

10 in its price range!!

I did notice a new gibson sounded a bit better on crunch. Cost 3 times as much, fit and finish is comparable.
so in terms of ANY guitar comparison, it's probably a 6 maybe even a 7.

great. don't remember how the setup was stock. but never took the guitar into a shop the past 4 years. there was some white stuff presumably from painting/grease when i opened up the tremolo back, and 6 years on I can barely see the seams in the wood on the back side only, but it still looks mint, classy, and feels new.

10 in its price range, or 7.5 when including any guitar. Not much more solid a guitar i ever felt.

see above. built like a tank with a tux.

friendly customer service, good vibe from them when communicating asking questions. but n/a

I am a semi pro drummer with a good ear, theory, piano, guitar, accordion. I can tell a good player and a good guitar. I play guitar just for fun through previously a Traynor YCV80.

Not sure of the year, bought it used at GC. Made in the US with Canadian parts. This SDxt has a 22 fret, 25.5 scale maple on maple neck. It is an orangy sunburst plain maple veneer top on a maple and poplar bady. White pickguard with H-S-H configuration. One volume and one tone knob with a 5 way Strat switch. It has a 2 screw newer style Strat-type bridge with a recess in the body so it floats. It has 6 on a side Godin tuners and the stock Godin pickups are still in it. It has a kind of half Strat half Tele look to it. Not my favorite, but a very workable shape playing wise. It has the neck bolted on in a Ernie Ball style neck joint using bolts instead of screws ala Ibanez. The neck join is contoured and is very comfortable when reaching the higher notes on the neck.

Mine actually came with the original hardshell case, trem arm and tool kit. A rare find buying used.

This guitar is very "full" sounding. Great resonance and natural sustain. The 5-way switch can get you anything from full on rock to a country twang. The stock pickups sound ok, but are a bit microphonic so I will probably swap them out. Maybe a Tone Zone or a JB in the bridge and a PAF or Jazz in the neck.
I have a couple different amp setups and it sounds great through them all. My main rig is a Mesa Single Recto head feeding a Hartke cab, my practice amp is an older Peavey Bandit and in my home studio I record through PODs, Digitech RP2000 and Genesis modelers. It sounds full and lush through them all.
The Maple neck and body give it more bite than an LP or PRS, especially in the in-between switch settings. All in all it has some very usefull tones. I really like the neck pick up. Cleaner amp settings will get you an SRV type tone from it and heavier gain sounds very Blackmoreish.

Can't tell you how it was setup from the factory since I bought it used. When I got it the trem was pulled all the way down into the recess causing the strings to almost sit on the neck. Funny thing is the neck/ frets were setup so well the was no string buzz even with the action set almost touching the frets. Good sign!

The trussrod was set right, but the intonation was way off. I put a new set of XL 10's on it and set it up right and the action is flawless.

I Have never really paid much attention to Godin guitars because of their odd (too me) body style, but I am truly a fan now. Their attention to building a solid guitar is on par with guitars costing thousands more. I am amazed at how solid this guitar feels in my hands. I am a convert and started looking at maybe getting a Velocity in the near future.

I won't judge it on how it came when I bought it, I will judge it on how it came out after I set it up and its potential. For that I give a 9. Its build quality is on par with much more expensive guitars. After researching Godin a little bit I found that each neck/body is carefully mated to each other at the factory. How many other guitars in this price range can say that.

I see no problems here. As I said, this guitar is built solid. I wouldn't ever play without a backup, so the same can be said for my Parker or PRS as well.

Don't know....

I've been playing for about 35 years now. I have all kinds of gear at all price points. I was looking for a maple neck guitar to keep in my home studio to replace a guitar I gave to my son. I was kind of stuck on what to get (I didn't want another Strat), and I saw this on the used wall at GC. I picked it up and played it for a while, and was sold. I couldn't believe how solid it felt in my hands.

I was never a Godin guy. I've looked at them and never really cared for most of their body shapes, so I never actually picked one up and played it. Stupid me. Godin makes a great guitar! And most of them are under a grand! I am an amatuer luthier and have built quite a few guitars for myself and others, so I know a little bit about build quality. This SDxt is on Godin low end and it is built as well as my 1991 PRS CE24. It may not be as fancy (carved top or natural binding), but it is built just as solid.

My only complaint is the pickups being a little microphonic. They probably aren't potted very well, or at all. But for less then $200 I'll deal with it....

Mine is the blue flametop/cream pickguard & rosewood fretboard (rock-maple neck). HSH configuration. I had purchased this guitar brand new in Canada, over 7 years ago.

Everyone has a personal opinion on guitar sound and feel. Over the years, I seriously grew fond of this guitar (I love the neck, flawless assembly, it's finish, it's look, etc). An electric guitar's sound is not only produced by it's electronics, but also by it's inner wood tone. When is the last time you tried an electric guitar, and actually played it for 30 minutes "unplugged"? That's how you can appreciated the quality of wood used, and Godin's attention to fine details (the fact that the paint in the neck-joint has been removed by hand).

As a luthier, I was so impressed with this guitar that I decided a few years ago to use it to build "my" ultimate guitar.

Using my stock SDxt, I modified/added the following:

- Replaced the neck pickup with Seymour-Dunkan SH-2 Jazz ($85)
- Replaced the bridge with a Seymour-Dunkan Dimebucker ($95)
- Replaced the volume pot with a coil-split pot ($10)
- Added a swith to inverse the current in the single coil ($2)
- Blocked the tremolo, and added 2 extra springs to make it behave like a hard-tail ($free)

My musical palate is all over the place... I'll go into a blues phase for a month, then more into classic rock, than I'll go for the cleanest "clean" tone I can get - then I'll dive into my inner darkness, then go into a heavy metal "Lamb Of God" mode.

Stock, this guitar played all of the above very well - 9/10. Good sustain stock, stayed in tune (although I hardly used the tremolo). I could not find a better sounding guitar for that price range (or even for a few $100 more). What impressed me with about this guitar is that not only does it have a versatile palette, but it also covers them well... it doesn't just kind of sound bluesy in one setting, and kind of rocks in another - it has a nice bluesy tone, and it really rocks!

Now that I modified it, I will never part from it! With the upgrades I made, I went from 5 pick-up settings to 13 settings, incredible sustain, and for the love of g_d, I spent all summer last year trying to buy a new guitar, and with a price cap of $2,000, I could not find a better sounding/playing & more versatile guitar!

Flawless - Absolutely no issues from the day I purchased it (over 7 years). The neck varnish is starting to become a tad more yellow (getting that cool "vintage" strat neck color). No paint chips otherwise. I do love my action very low, so I lowered it, and it's running flawlessly. This is actually the lowest I have been able to drop the action without any fret-buzz.

Rock solid - no complaints

Never had any issues, so I can't comment.

For the price, this guitar can not be beat. But what some owners fail to realize is that it is made with a selection of great quality wood. Everybody's tast differs, and if you don't particularely enjoy the sound of one of the pick-ups, do trust that this instrument is worty of swapping a pick-up - and like an old dog, it will be your loyal companion for years to come.

Although I made changes to mine to suite my taste, after adding parts for an extra $200, this guitar now has an absolutely incredible sound and sustain. For metal, this axe now wails like a Banshe, with pinch-harmonics on demand. Yet I can grab a beer, kick my feet back, close my eyes, and tap into some really saucy blues.

2004 Godin SDxt. Made in USA. This was a long and mcquade special order guitar.. it has a slightly different finish from most SDxts. (not that that matters much).

I purchased this guitar because I wanted a cheap practice guitar that I could take around town. Twin humbuckers were a requirement (i'm a jazz guy), and I wanted a maple fretboard and neck so I could string the guitar with ultra high tension strings. Unfortunatley, I hate tremelo bridges, but the price on this guy was pretty irresistable. (Wish they made a hard-tail model for those of us who think tremelo bridges suck).

Given the price, this guitar has decent hardware. Stock godin pickups are passable for most styles (more below). Tuners are tight, although I would prefer them to lock. And of course I detest set or bolt-on necks... but whatcha gonna do at $350 bucks? :)

I'm a jazz guy. I own quite a few high end guitars, including three Jackson USA Selects, a Hofner Verythin JS, a Rainsong JM1000, a Ramirez, and a Godin LGX. I have owned three different godin LGX's in the past. (I used to be enamoured of them, until I encountered jackson)

I'm using this as a practice guitar. It is strung with a custom set of strings (14-60). Normally I use 13's, but I wanted my practice instrument to be a bit heavier.

As you can expect, those strings exert a lot of force. I had to add extra springs to the trem, and rack up the tension inside by adjusting the nut. With the load fully engaged, the guitar is very stable in terms of tuning. The sound is very warm and open. Tons of tone, due to the extra current induced by thick strings.

I'm only fond of one setting on this guitar, which is the intermediate position between teh neck humbucker and middle single coil. The neck humbucker by itself is brash, with pronounced lows. it is too brash for jazz, even with the treble wound back. Switching to position two gives a good tone with a hint of blues. The single coil on its own is not particularly impressive, and has a fair bit of noise. The single coil and bridge pickup split position is nice for a nastier blues sound. the bridge pickup is passable for getting crunch, but it is NOT going to send you to hard rock or metal heaven.

In terms of amps, I have a few. Evans Jazz Preamp, Mesa Formula preamp, digitech twintube, rocktron gainiac, fender M80, VHT 2:50:2 poweramp, Boogie 2:50 poweramp, F100 head, seymour duncan convertible combo. (plus a whack of rack effects) I use ear candy cabs exclusively.

(I notice a lot of guys running this guitar through beginner-level amps... that's all fine and dandy, but I'd hate to see a bad review of a guitar posted by someone who didn't realize that the amp was the real bottleneck in the sound-production pipeline. If you are running this thing through a micro-cube or 15 watt randall, please don't post a review without a lot of humility)

For jazz, I usually run this through the evans, a GMajor, a graphical eq, and the VHT. With some EQ tweaking, I can get a pretty nice solid jazz tone. It doesn't sound like a hollowbody, but more like a twangy version of Ed Bickert's sound. There's a hint of blues to it, no matter how much you aim for a dark jazz tone.

I haven't actually used this thing for blues much, as 14's will kill your enthusiasm for whole note bends pretty quickly.

I have, however, used this thing for metal. My current jazz combo consists of guys who also grew up playing metal, so we run some heavier stuff as easy warmup material. This guitar is NOT a high gain shredding instrument. It has problems with feedback at higher volumes, and the tremelo under my current string weight has a habit of vibrating.. the springs rumble, and that in turn is caught by the pickups, yielding a strange reverb-like effect. Not a high gain guitar. (although guys who use 8's and 9's may have a different experience, since the weight on the bridge is much less)

I'd say this guitar is good for anyone who needs decent clean sounds, a bit of twang, and enough dirt for a bit of rock and roll. it is not a metal guitar, nor a jazz guitar.. it won't thrill people who want to shred or to do super heavy distortion. But for beginners, intermediate players, or generalists who want a solid instrument at a low price point, this thing does a great job. (If I were a girl, I'd rather have this thing in black than some daisy rock beginner guitar... sexier, and far more versatile)

bear in mind that when I rate this instrument's sound, I am comparing against much much better instruments. For a guitar that retails under 400, 7 is a good rating. I'd rather have this thing than a 400 dollar fender anyday. But it is no mcinturff. For a <400 dollar guitar, it's a 9. For a guitar period, it's a 7 at most.

I couldn't care less how it was set up originally, since I prefer high action and thick strings. And I figure that if you can't adjust your own pickup height and string height, you shouldn't be in this game.

The workmanship on this guitar is solid. Just what is needed. the ONLY issue is that the treble pot is a bit scratchy. But I can fix that pretty easily.

It's a solid instrument. To date, there has been no warping of the neck, no buckling or cracking, even under that 14-60 load. The maple neck is fun to play, and has held up really well. I take care of my instruments, and after 14+ rehearsals and long sessions at home, this instrument looks as good as new. No structural flaws, period.

That, of course, is what i am used to with godin. I'm not a huge fan anymore, as I switched my allegiance to jackson on account of their superior designs (neck through body joints in particular). I also find their instruments to be very clunky in terms of weight and mass distribution. But in the 10 years I have been a godin owner, I have never ever had a problem with a godin guitar. And I used to gig frequently.

Haven't had to contact them ever, which is a good sign.

I've been playing a while. Most of my gear is high-end stock stuff. (I don't go for custom instruments.. just high level stock gear).

I like the build quality. It has stood up under heavy playing and a massive string load. I like the neck a lot.. fat, but very playable.

I'm not a huge fan of the neck humbucker. But i'm not willing to swap it out either. (not worth the effort).

I compared to a bunch of other low level guitars from epiphone and fender, schechter and washburn. For a $350 dollar instrument, this thing is a GREAT deal. Great build quality, solid woods, a lot of pickup options. When you consider that korean-made guitars go in the same price point, this usa/canadian guitar is a good deal. Especially compared to fender MIM strats.

If someone stole it, I would buy another. I might look into a yamaha pacifica, but this is a great instrument. And contrary to some opinions voiced below, this is NOT just a beginners guitar. As a former pro jazz guy, I would have no reservations about relying on this thing in a variety of contexts. It just won't cut it for metal and high gain playing. Get an ESP or something for that.

I give it a '9' in value FOR AN INSTRUMENT AT THIS PRICE RANGE. Of course it not a PRS, jackson, parker, mcinturff, warrior or whatnot. It's not even 1/3 as good as any of those. But for the price, it is a great deal.

mine is black, with the regular h - s - h pickup confiuration. no locking tuners so i guess it gets an 8 for that.

my style is screaming rock solos and a bit of jazzy stuff. funk, and i like a strat out of phase sound too.

this guitar can play these styles well at a semi pro level which is how i would describe my playing.

it is not a noisy guitar. it's got a good strong healthy stable and balanced sound. BUT i feel that the sound is a bit plastic. it's a cheap solution for having a strong reliable guitar with a large veriaty of sounds, but lacks the depth that the expensive guitars have.

my guitar was set up well and it has a nice small neck. no flaws in the finish or anything, BUT i do feel that this guitar could benefit from having the top curved more then it is at the area at which the picking hand rests on, above the bridge. i feel that having the top almost completly flat makes it hard to play and screws up the right hand's muting technique.

Good intonation! strong reliable and everything.

been playing for 20 years. i've owend fenders gibsons and what not. in my oppinion this guitar sounds great for the price and has good intonation. i would suggest to see whether it's comfterble for you. otherwise i would strongly recommend buying one like this, especialy if you're a begginner - to moderate level player.

Normal features for a H-S-H Guitar. I think the headstock isn't so pretty, or at least doesn't go with the rest of the guitar, awfully thick too. I bought mine used. Someone had put schaller locking tuners on it which does a good job of keeping everything in tune. If you're having a hard time keeping yours in tune add a set. Plus, it makes changing strings a lot faster. The only thing that bugs me about this guitar is that the saddles are a satin finish, while the base of the bridge is chrome. It just looks a little funny.

It has a good sound. It does get a touch muddy down low and lacks a little warmth, but overall, pretty good.

This thing is a tank, but doesn't feel like it. When I brought it home I was having a pretty ungraceful day. I knocked it into just about everything possible. Luckily, there were no dents. Again, I'm still wierded out by the 2 different finishes on the bridge. I bought it used from Guitar Center. Either these guys didn't set up the intonation or someone did a terrible job at it. It was a solid 25 cents off on every string. The bridge made it a quick fix though.

It seems incredibly tough. I'm not sure I could hurt it if I wanted to.

I would probably buy another depending on how much money I had to spend. I've been playing for 12 years or so, and have gone through quite a few guitars. This thing is quality. I hope it lasts a while.

2005 model with gold leaf finish, made in US of A and assembled in Canada. All the standard features so I don't need to write them all for you.

My style is just that - my style. I borrow heavily from rock-a-billy, alt country, Pink Floyd and surfer music. I don't know, I just play for fun. I run the guitar thru a Fender G-Dec and if I do a show I'll mike that and run it thru the PA. I love the variety of sounds that can be coaxed out of this guitar. Very verstatile and good at it too!

Action, fit and finish were OK. I need to have the action lower than the factory but thats my preferrence. The finish is clean and beautiful, sometimes I just sit and look at the guitar. My only complaint is that the 5 way selector keeps getting in the way if I make a down sweep, I play like Pete Townsend used too, lots of arm motion. I keep knocking it into a different pickup config. and it blows the sound. I love the guitar otherwise.

Very dependable, holds tune reasonable, I dont use the trem arm so that might held it stay in tune for me. In fact I dont have the arm on. I installed $2 plastic strap lock buttons. I move when I play and was losing the guitar constantly. Why don't factories ship these things with locking strap buttons? I have a vintage Silvertone (1960's) for backup, not the same sound but still a good guitar, if the Godin got lost or stolen I might buy another, but I might also shop for one that doesnt interfere with my sweeping style of picking.

Never had to contact Godin cause Long and McQuade (where I bought it) are very good at customer support.

I have been playing since 1972, when I got my first guitar. This is my third electric. I traded in a Samick thin line AE for this plus case and I don't regret it. This is a good instrument and very verstatile. For a cover band this would be a great gig guitar because it is so versatile.
Just wish the 5 way selector switch was positioned somewhere else.

My Godin SDxt is about 5 years old (2000), has the nice satin fretboard, and is overall very versatile. The floating trem. was my only concern. This guitar will NOT stay in tune unless you block the tremelo. I used these thick business cards, now I can dive, but can't go up. Expected for this type of tremelo. The features are perfect for the beginning guitarist. '5' means middle of the road features, not that it's crap.

Again, it's very versatile. It crunches without too much garbage in the sound, very bright. Not for metal, but I play some satch, four pieces by vinnie moore, and the gain setup is squicky clean.

I read in a couple of reviews about dings in the fretboards. I have a lot, but I don't remember if they were there in the beginning. The worst part about this guitar is the damn screw by the middle pickup. Replace it with something flatter - it'll drive you crazy when you want to do an upsweeep.

I've seen fretboards worn at ProSound. My fretboard is not worn after 5 years of playing on this guitar. The pickguard is a good feature for the beginning guitarist, they won't scratch the beautiful finish. The finish, by the way, is solid. I have a few dings (to be expected) but the finish covers it up.

N/A-Heard they are helpful (better than Ibanez, at least).

Don't buy this as anything else than a serious beginning guitar. And by serious, I mean you're going to stick with it for more than half a year, shack it, and lose that part of your life. It's a great middle of the road guitar. Relative rating (comparison to other beginning guitars): 10 - 2 times better than those fenders, or any other cheap piece.

2002 SDxt with lightburst quilt maple veneer over a silverleaf maple body with poplar wings, rock maple neck, maple fingerboard with some beautiful bird's-eye figuring, Tusq nut, cream-coloured 2-ply pickguard, h/s/h, etc.

I love the sound, esp the neck p/up, which is rich and full - killer blues tone - can also dial in a decent jazz tone. I really enjoy the in-between positions too, although I detect the loss of just a touch of volume (and highs?)in postitions 2 and 4. Bridge p/u can be quite bright - really screams. Single coil sounds good alone, but I prefer the other four settings. My amp is a Fender Princeton 65.

This guitar is gorgeous to look at and to hold. The neck is sublime - I love the satin finish. The bookmatching of the quilt top is flawless. The p/u selector is quiet. My only esthetic issues are a miniscule silver flake (metal from fretwire?) trapped beneath the clearcoat (In truth it's all but invisible, but I did find it - a small dimple in the wood (on back) and a very light nick on one of the frets - a very minor filing oversight, I guess. There were traces of polishing compound in the bridge cavity.
The cut out is very deep on all the Godin single cut models, and I sometimes find that the guitar tends to slip off my leg when I play sitting down. I think I might have preferred a slightly shallower cut out and more of the lower bout resting on my leg Great upper register access, though. Sculpted back at neck connection is very comfortable and attractive- not a feature I would have expected on a guitar in this price range.

The sealed "Godin" tuners are excellent - very precise and stable. I like the frosted finish on the tuners and bridge sadles - very classy. I had the floating trem blocked shortly after I bought the guitar, tuning was fairly stable before, but I wanted maximum tuning stability, and had no real use for trem. Tuning is rock solid now. I don't play in a band or anything, although I have played a few informal gigs - no problems.
Black nylon gig bag adequate, but nothing special. For regular gigging a more protective bag/case would be a worthwhile investment.

I have e-mailed Godin on several occasions. They have always responded politely within a couple of days. Have downloaded a little set up manual from Godin web site. The people at Avenue Guitars in Edmonton, Alberta were amazing. First year set ups free (no limit to number of adjustments), friendly, helpful.

I have had a Seagull (same family of companies) 6-string acoustic since 1987. Bought a used Squier Strat in 2001, but sold it, looking to upgrade to a Standard Series Strat or Tele. Mark at Avenue Guitars suggested I looked at a Godin, and I quickly forgot about the Mexican Fenders! As decent as they are, they just didn't capture the look and feel of quality that the Godins had in the same price range, and they don't come with any gig bag. My choice was narrowed to the Godin SDxt, and the Godin LG (24 fret, mohogany body with p-90s). I went with the SDxt for the sound - it could just do everything! For the money, the SDxt (and Godin guitars in general)are excellent value. I would definitely buy another Godin!

blue flame leaftop, rosewood fingerboard, humbucker-single-humbucker pickup configuration, 1 volume pot, 1 tone pot, 5 way pickup selector. rock maple neck, maple core, poplar wings. etc etc

go to godin's website

i wish it had a solid wood body, but besides that it's great

with hum-sing-hum configuration, there's virtually nothing out of it's range. the most versatile guitar ever!

my only beef is that the stock pups sound a wee bit bit muddy, but put some seymour duncans in there and you'll hear the difference. i mainly use it for ultra distorted thrash/hardcore (NOT numetal) type stuff, but it can sound country, jazzy, bluesy, or anything in between.

i run it through a crybaby>>boss tu-2>>boss md-2>>ernie ball 6166>>boss dd-3>>ampeg vt22 100w tube amp (2x12)... sounds brutal with this amp and the md-2

i tightened up the trem springs because i dont use the wammy and it stays in tune better this way.

everything looks very solid, stays in tune surprisingly well.

the action is easily adjustable to whatever you want.

the guitar itself is beautiful. the blue leaftop finish is amazing! everything looks very high quality, from the tuners to the bridge. i love just putting it on the stand and admiring the craftmanship. it looks and feels a lot more expensive than it is.

also, the neck is probably the best i've ever seen, at ANY price. godin is famous for it.

the only thing here is the pickguard... it seems to be slightly warped up in the middle, and when the pick hits it it makes a sortof hollow sound (hard to describe). not really a problem, i guess i'm just anal.

i thrash this thing to no end, and it takes a beating like a champ. everything still looks impeccable, and i have no doubt that the hardware will last. i would definitely use it in a gig without backup. the first thing i'll probably have to replace are the pots and/or selector switch, which i might add are still in perfect shape, and wouldn't be a big deal to replace anyway.

haven't had any problems, so n/a here

this guitar is a great value. one of the best quality to price ratios out there. i would especially recommend it as a starter guitar or an all-purpose guitar that you wouldn't be afraid to bash a little bit. i would rather have this than a les paul and worry about getting a scratch on it at a show. this is a guitar that begs to be played to its full potential.