Godin LGX-SA

This is a great, Canadian-made guitar. I've been using it for a little over 5 years now and haven't so far felt the need to purchase a new electric because this guitar is so multi-faceted.

It has all the normal specs of a great electric. 22 frets with a really nice ebony fingerboard and mahogany neck that isn't too thick or too thin. It's really playable and feels great from the first note. It would already have been a great buy just as an electric, but it's also equipped with an acoustic transducer output and a 13-pin MIDI out for the best synth guitar experience I've ever had.

UTILIZATION

Sounds great and plays great. It's a bit heavy but for that it has beautiful sustain and the over-tones are to die for.

The fretboard is easy to jump around. I don't usually go too crazy on the upper frets in my playing but I never noticed it being uncomfortable. Really nice feel to this guitar.

After 5 years I haven't had a single technical problem and the only work I've had done on it is your standard tuning/setup. I even fell pretty hard onto it during a bike accident and it was essentially unscathed.

SOUNDS

I use this guitar for just about everything from country to reggae. I played it most often with my Vox AC15 (a great combination) and the tone was majestic. The acoustic transducer works great for when you don't feel like/don't have time for picking up an acoustic mid-show. The ability to mix the acoustic and electric sounds gives you a nice warm tone with that nice shiny acoustic high-end.

For the synth function I haven't found anything better. I took a Synth-Guitar course when I studied at Berklee and the guitars they had for the students were Godin. They just know what they'Re doing when it comes to synth guitar. Everything about this guitar was designed not only to sound and play great, but also to improve the synth capabilities of the instrument and it shows. As a composer who isn't terribly proficient at piano, this instrument has also really sped up my ability to work with midi.

OVERALL OPINION

Like I said, this is a great instrument and I expect to have it my entire life. It's simply a high-quality, well-made guitar. I actually lucked out and had a friend buy it for me with his Guitar Center Pro discount so I only paid about 750 for this, but I would gladly pay double with what I know about it now. If you're looking for one dependable and versatile axe, you may have just found it.

$1300 + 13 s/h
Sweetwater.com



I like EVERYTHING about this guitar. Play, feel, sound, and incredible versitility.

Seymor Duncan pickups (Jazz II on neck, and custom made on bridge). PLUS peizo pickups on bridge with 13-pin connector for midi synth. So total of 3 !!!! output connections (1. standard electric pickups that go from Jazz to hard and heavy; 2. piezo pickup on bridge that does a pretty good acoustic sound; and 3. 13-pin midi that tracks sooo much better than standard GK-2A -- uses different technique). You can fade from piezo to regular pickups or totally fade either out, then with a GR synth (i have a GR-33) you have total control among ALL three sound sources. Actually very easy to use if you're familiar with synth guitars. Plays great, tremelo bar. Wide neck. AND absolutely beautiful. I own a lot of guitars (all the standards -- strat, gibson, rick, etc.) This one is in a class of it's own. I don't know when i'll have enough time to explore all of it's capabilities. Seymore designed the bridge pickup especially for this guitar. They're Canadian made (make Seagull acoustics too -- also incredible instruments). Sweetwater.com (Sean Parr) did me good on this. I'm ellated.

I'm afraid to play it, touch it, and scatch it, and i don't have time to explore it to it's fullest. I'll get there.

I just can't nit-pick with this guitar -- it is just a premium boutique guitar that does it all.

Can it be TOO versitile?? Maybe some might get frustrated -- NOT old school basic and simple (but i do appreciated old school blues -- and many diverse old styles). This guitar still speaks to me like no other. Expensive, but for what you get (about 5 different guitars in one), it's more than worth it -- just as an art piece, it's worth it. Way to go Godin. Go USA !!! but my hats off to these Canadian luthiers.

Obviously TOP quality, solid and very well balanced. Beautiful top. Excellent feeling electronics (knobs, switches). Very cool tuning peg mechanism (no need to wind strings -- slip in and screw tight, then tune.) Thru body strings -- sustain like you dream of (go 'ave a bite, and you'll still be 'earing that one...).

This one goes to 11.

If you want a boutique synth guitar, you should check out the Godins. Even if you want a versitle electric you should check em out. Even if you dream, you check em out.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I purchased this guitar at Mars for $1400.
I mainly got this guitar because it had electric and accoustic sounds. Later I bought a VG-8 and a GR-30 to make use of
the thirteen pin output for Roland midi
devices.

Looks:With it's amber flame finish sitting
next to my PRS with a black flame finish,
Fantastic. (Hard to believe but I won't be
looking for another guitar while I have these two.)It has a maple capped mahogeny
body with a four bolt mahogeny neck with a
maple capped headstock.
Playability: Great! It has an ebony fret board and I seem to be able to play it
better than any other guitar except the PRS



I've had this guitar for around three years
and the only thing I could find fault with
is restringing the lighter strings. It
restrings from the back like the telecaster and needs a ferrule to run from the back side to the front side. Maybe it could use a
larger hole on the front side.

Neck: mahogeny with a maple capped headstock
Body: mahogeny with a maple capped top
Pick-ups: two Seymour Duncans
Controls: five way switch for the magnetic
pickups. Selects humbucking or single coil.
Volume and tone for magnetics.
Volume, bass, mid and treble for accoustic
pickup (LR Baggs)
Volume and two selector switches for the
Roland products.
Outputs: one quarter inch for magnetic pickups, one quarter inch for combination
magnetic and accoustic pickup
one thirteen pin for all three sources

This is one guitar I couldn't do without.
I would buy another if something would happen to it.
When I had a problem with the thirteen cable
making noise at the output, I emailed Godin
and they sent me another pc board with the
output on it for free and with no hassles.
It was nice dealing with them.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The guitar I will be describing differs a bit from the picture above. It is the model with the tremolo bridge and has a hi-gloss black finish and the pickups don't have any covers. Since I don't know what is built into the guitar in the picture I assume that the Seymour Duncans mine was sold with differ from that as well.
The guitar was built in Canada and has 2 Seymour Duncan Humbuckers and 1 Piezo Pickup (for acoustic sounds and as a pickup for the integrated MIDI Interface). Everything is built very solid - almost like a tank. The frets are jumbo frets and the neck is very slim and easily playable. The body and neck are made of magagony and the fretboard is made of ebony. Godin used locking tuners for this guitar - probably to complement the tremolo system.
The Piezo Sound can be adjusted with a built in EQ and the Humbuckers as well as the volume of the MIDI pickups can be regulated with the three knobs under the bridge.

UTILIZATION

The guitar is formed very well and can be easily played everywhere. Reaching the 22nd fret is no chore and the sound is very punchy and deep. If you are looking for vintage tones don't pick up this guitar though. It is definately made for more modern sounds and sounds best over a Mesa Boogie or similar amp.
Next to all these plus points there are a few annoying setbacks. Due to all these electronics and the solidbody construction this guitar is one heavy mother! It was in the end the reason why I chose to sell it. I loved how well it integrated the MIDI pickup and the response was always very fast and precise (best on the market). The Piezo Pickups I never really cared for as they sound quite shallow. At best they complemented an overdriven sound. I think the idea is to use a stereo cable at the output and then split the signal into two different amps. But along with MIDI applikations amongst other things this started to be quite a lot of setup just to play guitar. Who knows - maybe I am getting old

SOUNDS

As I already said - the guitar sounds very nice. Eventually I realized that I need more of a Stratocaster and after I bought my Fender Twin Amp it was clear that this guitar was not 'my baby' anymore. For a while I tried myself in ProgRock and for that it was truly amazing (probably also due to the Seymour Duncan Pickups).

OVERALL OPINION

I really think Godin is making very good guitars for the money. I have become much more of a 'Strat'-guy the last couple of years and my style of playing just doesn't suit this type of guitar anymore. It is built rock sold and stays in tune very well. But it is also very, very heavy and I started to have back pains just from playing this guitar! This is something I cannot deal with and I really think they could have thought about this before they put a bunch of electronics in an already heavy guitar.