Product: Simon & Patrick Songsmith folk
Price Paid: Can. 379
Submitted
12/01/2008
at
08:36am
by
Bernie
Features
:
9
Made in 2007 by the Godin company in Canada.
Solid spruce top, wild cherry sides and back, silver leaf maple neck. Rosewood fretboard. Satin finish.
It has beautiful vintage sunburst top, and a black faced headstock with cream "Simon & Patrick Luthier" lettering. Half the reason that I bought it. Black top and bottom body binding.
"Tusq" (man made bone substitute) saddle and nut.
Body is the compact folk size:
14 3/4" across lower bout.
11" across upper bout.
4 1/2" deep.
Normal 25" scalelength.
Medium /thin neck.
Tuners are the typical excellent quality ones that Godin uses on all their gutars.
Sound
:
9
The other half of the reason I bought it.
Great balanced sound for blues and acoustic lead . The S&P is a decent strummer, but it really shines as fingerpicking guitar. With a smaller body volume, it does not have the throbbing bass of a dreadnaught, but that's not it's thing. It doesn't drown out a solo voice.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
The setup is excellent, with medium low action ideal for medium strumming and fingerpicking. Godin's quality is first rate: Thin, even finish with no globs at inside corners. Nicely filed fret ends. The cherry shows a lovely wavy grain on the back. The two piece back shows grain mismatch at the seam, so subtract a bit here, cosmetically.
Inside the visible braces are neatly cut and shaved, no visible glue.
The kerfed ribbon lining is perfectly cut.
Godin makes 4 great lines of steel string guitars. I have had a Seagull, Art and Luthier, Norman and now, this S & P.
Godin shares several components across the four lines: The bridge shape appears to be the same, as do the nut and saddle. The tuners are also identical except for (sometimes) the knobs. The necks are all three piece, with minor differences in the heel and headstock shapes. All good.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
I have had this one for several months with no problems.
I have had an Art & Lutherie Spruce dreadnaught (The S&P 's cousin.)for two years. It also has been stone reliable, with a lot of playing and near abuse inflicted upon it.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never needed customer support.
Overall Rating
:
10
I'm a "mature" player, playing seriously for about 4 years.
I've owned several mid priced acoustic guitars in that time. Besides several Godins , I have owned several Yamaha FG series, a Takamine, and an Ibanez. I keep the guitars for a several months up to two years.
(I just can't evaluate a guitar in 10 minutes, in a store.)
I love the the sound and appearance of this S & P. The black faced headstock, and the half round shape of the tuning knobs adds to the vintage vibe. It's cool. Godin makes terrific guitars and this one is worth every penny.
