Godin Guitars is a Canadian
manufacturing company
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a range ...
headquartered in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
that specializes in
string instrument
String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.
Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the ...
s. The company was founded by Robert Godin , and is currently led by Simon Godin.
Range of products currently manufactured by Godin includes
electric
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...
and
acoustic guitars and
basses
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass ...
. The company also produced
ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
s,
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
s, and
oud
, image=File:oud2.jpg
, image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921
, background=
, classification=
* String instruments
*Necked bowl lutes
, hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum
, ...
s (named "multi oud") in the past.
Overview
Godin started building Robert Godin's guitars in 1972 in
La Patrie, Quebec
La Patrie is a municipality of about 815 people in Le Haut-Saint-François Regional County Municipality, in Quebec, Canada. It is located at the base of Mont Mégantic.
Some industries specializing in the field of forestry have settled in La P ...
. The head office is located in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, 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
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...
hex pickups (
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...
-equipped
) 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.
Godin's guitars have won several awards, including ''
Guitar Player
''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print si ...
'' 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
Hybrid may refer to:
Science
* Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding
** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species
** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
guitars which are available in steel string or nylon string versions, incorporating both piezo and magnetic pickups.
Brands and products
References
External links
Official website
{{Guitar brands
Guitar manufacturing companies
Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Canada
Manufacturing companies based in Montreal
Manufacturing companies established in 1972
Canadian brands
1972 establishments in Quebec
Design companies established in 1972