La Patrie Concert CW

My Godin La patrie CW was made in 2004 in Canada/USA.
It's features are described well by the previous reviewer, it is a standard cutaway classical design with 19 frets, and a 12-fret neck.
Actually, the high quality cedar top is crafted from logs that have lain at the bottom of a lake for centuries, and this is claimed to improve the sound.
This guitar is very well made, tho I was a tad disappointed that the bindings are only plastic. I'd have expected wood bindings on a guitar of this quality, even if the price were a bit higher.

The neck is fairly slim and fast, for a classical.

The electronics are Godin's own, with an active preamp, and 3-way EQ, and it gives a great sound plugged in to an acoustic amp.

Plugged in, wonderfully sweet, clear, and rich -with my Kustom AA65 acoustic amp! I play classical, folk, and gospel.

Unplugged, the sound is disappointing, only 2/3 as loud and rich-toned as my K Yairi and R. Matsuoka classicals, which however would cost 50% more to buy.

Great low, easy action out of the box, wonderful not have to have to get it set up. Very well made.

With normal care, this guitar should last indefinitely. The only thing to watch is the piezo pickup, which I've had to replace. This would be the main reason for taking a backup guitar to a performance.

I contacted Godin about another matter, and found them to be prompt and helpful.

This guitar is all that I expected, maybe more, except for the plastic bindings, and especially the weak unplugged sound. If this could be improved, it'd be a really great guitar!

I've been playing classical guitars for 30 years, now mainly gospel. I also play a Cort nylon-string electric acoustic, and bass guitar.

The 2004 La Patrie Concert CW Classical Electric with cutaway is a fairly un-adorned guitar. There are few frills on this guitar, no intricate headstock shaping or fancy binding. Instead, La Patrie has obviously tried to put their manufacturing dollars in all the places where it will matter the most; and the guitar's playibility and sound shows they have succeeded admirably.

Made in Canada, this terrific guitar has a very tightly grained lovely solid cedar top, and laminated mahogany sides and back, mahogany bolt-in neck, Godin EPM Quantum EQ and pickup system, gloss lacquer finish, rosewood fingerboard, a slim neck profile and 2 3/32" at the nut and (hallelujah!) a truss rod, something you don't see on very many classical guitars. The guitar is outfitted with what seem to be normal tension strings.

The purchase price included a hardshell TKL case, truss rod tool and two manuals, one for the guitar and the other for the Godin EPM Quantum acoustic guitar pickup and eq.

I had been looking for another classical guitar for live playing to round out my guitar collection. Mostly, latin-tinged jazz and some folk and pop applications where a nylon-stringed guitar would work well. I have a Seagull Artist Rosewood Cedar CW guitar, which I consider one of the best sounding and playing acoustics I have ever played. I was very curious to see if the La Patrie line could live up to that guitar. I can tell you, they didn't disappoint.

I was originally looking for a good classical without electronics; I had intended on putting either a Fishman Matrix or an LR Baggs I-Beam into the guitar. But when I plugged the La Patrie in, I was very pleasantly surprised by the very musical sound. No horrible piezo quack, no plasticky un-natural sound. The store had a Kustom KAA65TH with a horn and 12" speaker, which is a fairly good-sounding acoustic amp. I set all the controls to flat and dialed up the Concert CW. The controls on the La Patrie are straight-forward, volume, treble and bass. It was very easy to get a good sound out of the guitar through the Kustom.

I'm always suspect of my initial impression of guitars when I first play them, so I didn't buy the guitar that day, but instead came back a few days later to play it again. (and buy it!) I was also curious to see if the guitar would still sound great in a more controlled environment. So when I got it home, I immediately plugged it into my ProTools recording rig at home, straight through an outboard Class A mic pre, and subsequently through an L.R. Baggs Para Acoustic DI. In both cases the, guitar's amplified sound opened up, revealing a wonderful even resonant sound that I had not heard through the Kustom amplifier. Again, no horrible piezo quack, no plastic yuckiness. Just open, well-rounded nylon-string loveliness. The guitar has a sweetness across all the strings. I did have to roll a little bass off on the guitar because of a little bit of boominess the louder you turn up. Speaking of which, it took quite a bit of volume to get the guitar to get anywhere near feedback level in my studio. I also had the Kustom amp at concert volume with no feedback problems.

In case you're wondering, the guitar sounds terrific even when it isn't amplified. It is surprisingly loud and and has a very detailed acoustic sound. I wouldn't hesitate to record this guitar. It sounds that good.

Off the rack, the guitar's action was just a few mm's too high for my taste, and the neck already seemed to be fairly straight, so I had the store shave a tiny bit off the saddle to get it where I wanted it. Other than that, the guitar was the picture of set-up perfection. No dicey fret tangs, no finish flaws of any kind, the tuning pegs were easy to turn and the nut is well notched.

I haven't yet taken this guitar out on a gig but will in a few weeks. I'm not terribly rough on guitars, so I'm thinking this guitar should only get better playing and sounding with age and use. If there is a piece of hardware on this guitar that may need to be replaced at some point, it will most likely be the lyre-style tuning pegs.

I had to have a luthier put a strap button on the heel of the guitar because it doesn't come with one. Its no big deal though, and Godin has instructions for installing a strap button on their web site. I contacted Godin via e-mail and they said to put it in the middle of the back of the neck heel, so as to not interfere with the two bolts and two reinforcing dowels in the neck and heel.

I've been playing for over twenty years. I have a house full of guitars and am always on the look-out for great-sounding and playing instruments. I generally do a lot of research and will play an instrument a long time before purchasing. I played a number of guitars, many which were much more expensive than this guitar including a Cordoba FCWE Flamenco, which is also a terrific guitar but three times as expensive. I preferred the fuller body and better acoustic sound of the La Patrie to the Cordoba. There was another guitar in the Cordoba line that had a full-size body and laminated sycamore sides and back with a spruce top, the 30F that I liked very much. It is in roughly the same price range as the La Patrie but didn't have a cutaway, truss-rod or electronics. Still, I liked its very trebly well-rounded presence, indicative of a Flamenco guitar. I also tried a number of other terrific guitars including the Ramirez 2CWE, $2K, which has a solid red cedar top and laminated rosewood sides and back. In the end, the La Patrie still sounded better acoustically, and the La Patrie's EQ and pick-up system really gives the 2CWE's amplified sound a serious run for the money.

I wanted to let everyone out there know what a great guitar the La Patrie Concert CW is, regardless of its price. If you are in the market for a nylon-stringed guitar, be sure to include La Patrie on your short list.