Godin ST Signature

I bought a 1999 ST Signature. The parts were hand crafted in Canada and assembled in America. It has a 22 fret african rosewood neck(regular neck). A solid top with volume, tone, and a sweet 5 way selector. It has black oxide hardware. The 1999 has to have some of the coolest Seymour Duncan pickups(S/S/H). It has a transparent blue finish with natural birds eye. The natural birds eye cost a good bit but looks beautiful with the transparent blue finish on this strat styled godin. My two favorite accessories have to be the locking Duncan tuners and the tremlow bar. Came with a gig bag, a custom strap, two 10' cords, around twenty picks, guitar polish, polish cloth,and a cool Tringas shirt. It also came with a 15 watt Custom amp with alot of options which cost $139.99. I got it free with the purchase of the guitar and accessories.

I as a person like playing loud distorted music and its looks and sounds just the way I wanted it to sound to me. Thats why I bought it. As of now I am using a 15 watt Custom amp with distortion/ and clean sounds with reverb treble middle ect.... It can be very noisy if you have the reverb setting on the guitar almost off. I was very impressed with the sound in the way that it can sound noisy,but it also can sound bright or full. It almost has a endless variety. When it comes to the sound I really have no complaints.

As far as set-up was pretty good. The guitar had no flaws, no misaligned bracing,no finish flaws. All the controls are working perfect so far. The only complaint is that the strap locks should be imbedded in the guitar instead of on the out side. They don't look right, but for 50.00 they will put imbedded ones in for me.....

I think the reliability/durability are great. If you want a guitar that will be dependable you could probably use it on a gig without a backup. I once got a bad scratch on the back of my guitar. The scratch made me cry. Then the next day I took a polish cloth with some polish and rubbed the scratch hard the scratch came off. I have been using this on my ST and it has worked with every scratch. My friend tried it on his Peavy and guess what it didn't work...

You can probably figure out the overall rating just by looking @ the top. I compared it to the Fender stratocaster American and found the sound to be better. If it could have any other option I wish it had a tap switch. I am always tring new things so if it got stolen I would probably buy a B.C. Rich Nj Virgin $449.99 or a ESP F-200 $499.99

Bought used from a friend. I've owned this instrument for 3 years, and have used it extensively for gigging. Canadian made, Strat style body with Quilted Maple Top, 3 single coil sized blade-style humbucking pickups, Wilkinson Trem, locking tuners (they appear to be Sperzels, although they're not marked) , 25 1/2" scale, rather wide neck with ebony (I believe) fingerboard. Stunning, dark antique violin finish. One volumne, one tone controls - tone pot is push-pull with coil tap. Schaller straplocks, best in the business. The trem is Wilkinson's "convertible" trem, which I believe they are no longer producing. No wonder. It is a tremendous hassle to setup and maintain, and is not convienent to use. Basically, the intent was to have a trem unit that could be floating or locked, thus allowing for multi string bends, alternate tunings, etc. The idea is commendable, the reality less so. When in locked mode, the trem arm is held in place right over the pickup selector switch. This wouldn't bother some players, but it drives me crazy. I want to be able to use all my guitar's controls, without looking. This is a definite design flaw on Godin's part, although it is common to many manufacturers. I just don't get it, does no one think of this before a guitar goes to production? I have seen countless guitar models where the trem arm doesn't allow unhampered access to the volumne knob and/or the pickup selector. My way of dealing with this has been: (A) I set the trem all the way backwards, so it rests against the body. To do this, I added an extra spring. (B) Often, I simply leave the trem arm in the case. I understand Godin used these trems for a limited time only, and now equips their guitars with the regular Wilkinson, I just happened to get one of these monsters.
The fit, finish and attention to detail on this instrument, aside from what I see as the aforementioned "design flaw", is superb. Many people have commented on it as a beautiful instrument, and it does look very impressive.

I play a great variety of styles at every gig - Blues, Rock, Country, Jazz, Folk, through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10, and a Tech 21 Trademark 60. I usually use a CryBaby wah and a Rotovibe pedal. This guitar, in spite of having single coil sized pickups, is really more of a Gibson, sonically speaking. It's incredibly ballsy, with a deep, dark sound. Anything you'd play a Gibson for, this guitar will do well: ZZ, Santana, Joe Pass, BB, Carlton, etc. However, getting a thinner, brighter, Fender tone is quite a stretch, even with the coils tapped, and the treble on the amp increased. I've thought about dropping a thinner sounding pickup in the middle position, and may eventually do that yet, but I hate to mess with the basic tone, which, for what it is, is full, rich, and beautiful. Anything my Les Paul can do, this guitar can do without a problem, no tweaking needed. For the variety of styles and genres I have to cover, this is not the instrument to take to a gig as my only guitar. Having said that, this guitar's got gorgeous tone, and that's why I chose to by it.

Excellent setup, no detectable problems. Everything fits exactly as it should. The only problem I've had is the blades on the pickups rusting, which I noticed has appeared in other's reviews of this guitar. I have to give the pickup blades a few swipes with steel wool every couple of weeks. Since I bought it used, I cannot comment on factory setup.

I've scratched the face of the guitar slightly, but that's just a facet of playing style. Normally I don't use guitars without pickguards, but the tone was so good I couldn't resist. The gold finish on both control knobs and the tailpiece/bridge assembly has worn noticably, but as much as I play, that is to be expected, and I don't fault it. Gives the instrument some of that elusive factor, character. This axe has been to many gigs, without giving me any problems except a broken pickup (see Customer Support). I always bring at least two guitars to a gig, just to allow for Mr. Murphy's possible appearance.

The middle pickup plastic broke, right at the spot where the mounting screw passes through the pickup. I emailed Godin, to see if I could purchase a replacement, and they informed me that they no longer produce that model pickup. (They now use Duncan Little 59's in the ST series) I was informed they would "Assist you in any way possible" in aquiring a replacement. When I responded back as to exactly what that entailed, I was informed that I had to purchase a replacement at my own expense, using my own sources. No discount from them, or any other assistance, was offered. Huh? That's "Any way possible"?

23 years playing experience. I have a large assortment of gear. As stated before, I bought this guitar for the tone. Fabulous tone. Also, it plays very, very well, with a great neck that fits me well. I feel the design is faulty, but that is a very subjective matter; what works for me may not be suitable for someone else, and vice versa. This guitar combines Fender style looks and feel, with Gibson style tone. If I lost it, I'd not replace it with another Godin, more likely something along the lines of a PRS, but I don't regret the purchase, it has served me well in numerous professional situations.

This guitar has all the classic "strat" features, but is appropriately fitted with more modern technology. It has a "strat" style body, but no pickguard, and it has a three-single-coil set-up. The pickups are Godin designed blade-style, but are not actually single coil, instead they are stacked humbuckers. The bridge is a Schaller trem that is solid as a rock, my best Van Halen whammy dives have almost no affect on the tuning! The amazing part is this is not like the bulky, hard to use, ugly, double-locking Floyd Rose, rather it looks classic and clean, a functional trem on a "strat" is a huge plus! It also has a push-pull tone pot for a more traditional single coil sound, but I rarely use it. The tuners are locking, which aids in tuning stability during trem use. The most striking feature has to be the AAA grade, quilted maple top, finished in violin brown. The ebony fretboard has very small fret markers positioned on the low "E" side. This contributes to the very clean appearance of the guitar. The neck is 22 fret and is the standard 25.5" length.

In one word, TONE! The salesman at Northridge Music has been a friend of mine for about 12 years, and he helped me choose this guitar. When we took it in the amp room and plugged it in he was probably more impressed than I was. He said it sounded as good as his $3,000 Custom Shop Strat, and this baby went out-the-door to me for about $1,250, including a very nice hardshell case! Anyway, the tone variety on this guitar exceeds my ability. I have been playing for about 13 years but I have never learned any country licks. This guitar has inspired me to study-up on the country greats! The number four position on the selector switch is bluegrass heaven! The overall tone is pretty similar to a Clapton Circuit equipped Strat but this is more versatile. As a huge SRV fan, it was very important to find an instrument that would cover those vintage fat-strat tones. This guitar is perfect. I am also a big fan of Phil Keaggy, who plays a Les Paul quite a bit, and this guitar, with the help of a Mesa/Boogie V-Twin, comes pretty close. I play through a Fender Hot Rod DeVille (4-ten).My signal goes first into a Crybaby, then to a volume pedal and out to a Digitech Valve FX. This guitar has become my main live-show axe because it is so vesatile. I have played some screaming solos on this guitar, and turned around and played very tender clean tone arrangements and my ST always seems to be built for whatever I am doing at the time.

Everybody at the music store raves about Godin's set-ups right out of the box. I have to agree, my guitar is so playable! As far as fit and finish - it's perfect, flawless. I have had this guitar next to two different Custom Shop Strats and it has out-classed them both! The quilted maple top is the cream of the crop, it should be in Godin's ads. The bird's-eye maple neck is gorgeous, and the quilted headstock with cream binding is a nice touch. Neck feel and fretwork on this baby are finished to perfection. I have never taken my ST apart, and never will, but I am told that Godin builds the neck pocket a hair too small for a tighter fit. This is evident in the incredible sustain. First class all the way, from the nut to the fretwork!

I have had this guitar for about a year now and still feels brand new! I typically play about three to four nights a week for about four hours a night and this guitar has yet to show any signs of fatigue. I haven't even had to have it set up since I got it. My only gripe is that the chrome is starting to rust on the middle pickup, but I think that has to do with my PH, because I have had a rust problem on every guitar I have ever owned.

I have never required any customer support, however they still get a ten rating from me because I had the opportunity to meet Mr.Godin at the music store, and he signed my ST, and took a picture with me there in the store by the Godin wall, about three weeks later the picture came back to the music store mounted on a plaque type piece of wood and it was signed by Mr.Godin! How classy!

I have already given so many reasons why I love this guitar, I don't think much else needs to be said! It's the second of the two Godins I own, the other is an LG. I also have a Strat and a hand built custom design guitar, none of which even compare to the ST. I had originally tried to make my Strat into the guitar of my dreams but it always seemed to fall short in one way or another, but my ST was perfect from the start!