Godin (guitar manufacturer)

Last updated
Godin Guitars
Type Private
Industry Musical instruments
Founded1972;51 years ago (1972)
FounderRobert Godin
Headquarters
Montreal, Quebec
,
Area served
Worldwide
Products Electric and acoustic guitars, basses
Number of employees
1,000+
Subsidiaries
  • Seagull Guitars
  • Simon & Patrick Guitars
  • Norman Guitars
  • Art & Lutherie Guitars
  • La Patrie Guitars
  • TRIC
Website godinguitars.com

Godin Guitars is a Canadian manufacturing company headquartered in Montreal [1] that specializes in string instruments. The company was founded by Robert Godin CM , [2] [3] and is currently led by Simon Godin. [4]

Contents

Range of products currently manufactured by Godin includes electric and acoustic guitars and basses. The company also produced ukuleles, mandolins, [5] and ouds (named "multi oud") [6] in the past.

Overview

Godin started building Robert Godin's guitars in 1972 in La Patrie, Quebec. The head office is located in Montreal, and they build instruments in five factories in three locations in Quebec, Canada.

Godin Guitars makes instruments under several different labels. Norman makes entry- to pro-level acoustic guitars. Art & Lutherie makes entry-level budget acoustic guitars. The Simon and Patrick brand make mid- to high-range steel-string acoustics. La Patrie manufactures classical guitars. Seagull makes solid wood entry- to professional-range acoustic guitars. Guitars under the Godin brand are primarily mid-range to top-of the-line electrics that are made of high quality wood from the northeastern part of North America. They have many models that feature synth hex pickups (MIDI-equipped [7] ) and some with piezo pickup-equipped bridges. Godin 'SA' guitars have piezo bridge pickups which provide six separate outputs via a Roland GK 13-pin output jack, making them compatible with Roland GR, and other guitar-synthesizer units, and the Roland VG series of guitar modelling units.

Leonard Cohen with a Godin guitar (2008) Leonard Cohen at Edinburgh Castle.jpg
Leonard Cohen with a Godin guitar (2008)

Godin's guitars have won several awards, including Guitar Player magazine's Editors Pick for the LG, Exit 22, and Freeway Classic. Godin's popular LG Hmb is made of mahogany with a mahogany neck and a rosewood fretboard. The scale length is 24.75", the neck radius is 14" and it has 22 frets. The 2004 model features a five way switch for neck, neck-split to single, neck and humbucker in parallel, bridge-split to single and bridge. The pickups are ceramic. Godin is well known for the Multiac series of hybrid guitars which are available in steel string or nylon string versions, incorporating both piezo and magnetic pickups.

Brands and products

BrandProducts
Godin Guitars Guitars
Seagull Guitars Acoustic guitars
Norman Guitars Acoustic guitars
Simon & Patrick Guitars Acoustic guitars
Art & Lutherie Guitars Acoustic guitars

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steel-string acoustic guitar</span> Musical instrument

The steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar that descends from the gut-strung Romantic guitar, but is strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. Like the modern classical guitar, it is often referred to simply as an acoustic guitar, or sometimes as a folk guitar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electric guitar</span> Electrical string instrument

An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickups to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals, which ultimately are reproduced as sound by loudspeakers. The sound is sometimes shaped or electronically altered to achieve different timbres or tonal qualities from that of an acoustic guitar via amplifier settings or knobs on the guitar. Often, this is done through the use of effects such as reverb, distortion and "overdrive"; the latter is considered to be a key element of electric blues guitar music and jazz and rock guitar playing. Designs also exist combining attributes of the electric and acoustic guitars: the semi-acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guitar</span> Fretted string instrument

The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand. A plectrum or individual finger picks may also be used to strike the strings. The sound of the guitar is projected either acoustically, by means of a resonant chamber on the instrument, or amplified by an electronic pickup and an amplifier.

Ibanez is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as well as the first brand of guitars to mass-produce the seven-string guitar and eight-string guitar. Ibanez manufactures effects, accessories, amps, and instruments in Japan, China, Indonesia, and the United States. As of 2017 they marketed nearly 165 models of bass guitar, 130 acoustic guitars, and more than 300 electric guitars. After Gibson and Fender, Ibanez is considered the third biggest guitar brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archtop guitar</span> Type of steel-stringed acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar

An archtop guitar is a hollow acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with jazz, blues, and rockabilly players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pickup (music technology)</span> Transducer that senses vibration of musical instruments

A pickup is a transducer that captures or senses mechanical vibrations produced by musical instruments, particularly stringed instruments such as the electric guitar, and converts these to an electrical signal that is amplified using an instrument amplifier to produce musical sounds through a loudspeaker in a speaker enclosure. The signal from a pickup can also be recorded directly.

Washburn Guitars is an American brand and importer of guitars, mandolins, and other string instruments, originally established in 1883 in Chicago, Illinois. The Washburn name is controlled by U.S. Music Corp., a subsidiary of Canadian corporate group Exertis|JAM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parker Guitars</span>

Parker Guitars was an American manufacturer of electric and acoustic guitars and basses, founded by luthier Ken Parker in 1993. Parker guitars were distinguished for their characteristic light weight and the use of composite materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gibson J-160E</span>

The Gibson J-160E is one of the first acoustic-electric guitars produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation.

A solid-body musical instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on an electromagnetic pickup system to directly detect the vibrations of the strings; these instruments are usually plugged into an instrument amplifier and loudspeaker to be heard. Solid-body instruments are preferred in situations where acoustic feedback may otherwise be a problem and are inherently both less expensive to build and more rugged than acoustic electric instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resonator guitar</span> Fretted string instrument modified for loudness

A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the bridge to one or more spun metal cones (resonators), instead of to the guitar's sounding board (top). Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than regular acoustic guitars, which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion instruments in dance orchestras. They became prized for their distinctive tone, and found life with bluegrass music and the blues well after electric amplification solved the problem of inadequate volume.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acoustic guitar</span> Fretted string instrument

An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, resonating through the air in the body, and producing sound from the sound hole. The original, general term for this stringed instrument is guitar, and the retronym 'acoustic guitar' distinguishes it from an electric guitar, which relies on electronic amplification. Typically, a guitar's body is a sound box, of which the top side serves as a sound board that enhances the vibration sounds of the strings. In standard tuning the guitar's six strings are tuned (low to high) E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guitar synthesizer</span>

A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical instrument systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities.

Tacoma Guitars was an American manufacturing company of musical instruments. It was founded in 1991 as a division of South Korean company Young Chang. Instruments were manufactured in Tacoma, Washington. The company and brand name were later acquired by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. The Tacoma plant closed, and production ceased, in 2008.

The Megatar is a stringed musical instrument designed to be played using a two-handed tapping technique. It is manufactured by the American company Mobius Megatar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duesenberg Guitars</span>

Duesenberg is a brand for electric string instruments founded in 1986 and located in Hannover, Germany. The headquarter is in Hannover, Germany, they are known for using a Plek machine for the levelling of frets and setup. The actual place for production of guitar bodies and necks have never been revealed by Duesenberg e.g. by showing a factory Tour video.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parker Fly</span>

The Parker Fly was a model of electric guitar built by Parker Guitars. It was designed by Ken Parker and Larry Fishman, and first produced in 1993. The Fly is unique among electric guitars in the way it uses composite materials. It is notable for its light weight and resonance. It was also one of the first electric guitars to combine traditional magnetic pickups with piezoelectric pickups, allowing the guitarist to access both acoustic and electric tones. Production ended in 2016 and the company has not released a new model of any kind since.

Cole Clark is an Australian manufacturer of guitars and other fretted instruments. The company is based in Bayswater, Melbourne and was founded in 2001. Cole Clark uses unique construction and designs, advanced live pickup technology and have a strong focus on sustainably sourced timbers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classical electric guitar</span>

Classical electric guitars, also known as nylon-string electric guitars, represent a unique fusion of traditional classical guitar design and modern electric guitar technology. These instruments combine the rich and warm tonal qualities of nylon-stringed classical guitars with the versatility and amplified sound capabilities of electric guitars. By integrating nylon strings with onboard electronics, pickups, and preamp systems, classical electric guitars offer musicians a wide range of sonic possibilities for various musical genres and performance settings.

The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele, is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful solid-body electric guitar. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music.

References

  1. "Godin Guitars' Montreal Premiere Hollowbody". jazztimes.com.
  2. "Builder Profile: Godin Guitars". premierguitar.com.
  3. "How Montreal's Godin Guitars strummed its way to the top". theglobeandmail.com.
  4. "From The Top: Simon Godin I Godin Guitars". musicincmag.com.
  5. "Godin A8 Mandolin", Peghead Nation, by Teja Gerken, August 18, 2015
  6. Multi-oud encorey nylon string on Godin website
  7. Camp, Victoria (1997). Making Music on Your PC . Abacus. p.  160. ISBN   9781557553270.