Gibson vs. Godin

Iamnobody

maltingsaudio said:

Interestingly no one has mentioned the fact that Godin are Canadian 

Except in the opening post.

Parker said:

Just wondering how Godin can make guitars in north america at thier pricepoint. Yet Gibson are so much more expensive. Any real reason why?

Re. Godin - I’ve never played one. I was Godincurious at one point but it was a just a phase.

Whitecat

Canadian company yes but have factories in both Canada and the US... some guitars are US-assembled. 

maltingsaudio

Iamnobody said:

maltingsaudio said:

Interestingly no one has mentioned the fact that Godin are Canadian 

Except in the opening post.
 

The opening post says North America not distinguishing between the two, as I remember the Canadian support for their manufacturing businesses far outweighs the United States support which gave Godin a competitive advantage

Iamnobody

maltingsaudio said:

Iamnobody said:

maltingsaudio said:

Interestingly no one has mentioned the fact that Godin are Canadian 

Except in the opening post.
 

The opening post says North America not distinguishing between the two, as I remember the Canadian support for their manufacturing businesses far outweighs the United States support which gave Godin a competitive advantage

Yeah sorry you’re right. When I read or hear North America my simple brain just processes it as Canada! I think OP might have implied it but as you say it’s not distinguished from the USA the way it’s worded.

Bridgehouse

I have a Godin.

It’s an A8 Mandolin.

If you want to do feedback-free plug in Mandolin live and actually want it to sound like an acoustic instrument then there are very few other choices. 

Gibson mandolins are superb in a 1920’s kind of way, but for practicality and usability, only a Godin is good enough....

DB1

Bridgehouse said:

 only a Godin is good enough....

I see what you did there... 

Bridgehouse

DB1 said:

Bridgehouse said:

 only a Godin is good enough....

I see what you did there... 

I know, cunning huh?

And the headstock is still attached to my Godin Mandolin...

DB1

Bridgehouse said:

DB1 said:

Bridgehouse said:

 only a Godin is good enough....

I see what you did there... 

I know, cunning huh?

And the headstock is still attached to my Godin Mandolin...

I suppose it cuts down the risk of it getting stolen.  ;-)

Bridgehouse

DB1 said:

Bridgehouse said:

DB1 said:

Bridgehouse said:

 only a Godin is good enough....

I see what you did there... 

I know, cunning huh?

And the headstock is still attached to my Godin Mandolin...

I suppose it cuts down the risk of it getting stolen.  ;-)

Most people assume it’s a violin when in it’s case and stay well away

Samgb

You get quite a lot of Godin's in my local couple of music stores here in BC (Long & Mc Quade and King Music).
I have tried a few out at various times and would like to echo the previous statements that they are nice guitars with meh pickups. One Tele type thing in particular that i completely forget the name of had an active pickup system which sounded quite good (some kind of boost type thing to give more output?) but without the switch on they sounded utterly shite which begs the question why bother having the option if you made the passive sound so weak.
There are some models with upgraded Seymour Duncan pickups - its possible these are better but i havent tried them.

I am not a name snob though tbh. The worst guitar-bought-for-decent-cash-money i ever played was my brother's full fat Les Paul Standard which he scrupulously saved for and then bought a dog. Which makes me more than usually wary of Gibson snake oil. And my brother's judgement of course.    

Whitecat

They’ve got models with Duncans, Lollars, Bareknuckles, TV Jones, all sorts... almost all of them superior to the stock pickups for sure. 

octatonic

tekbow said:

Babones said:

Godin are like the well-built, sensible, reliable car, that hasn't got a fancy badge. Gibson, like Fender, adds a markup for its name.

Godin are Volvo?

Nope, Mazda.

joetele

I've had two Godins - an LG P90 which was a beautiful, omfortable guitar with a lovely neck. The P90s were Seymour Duncan so sounded very nice although the bridge was too 'vintage' voiced for my preferences. Sold it, but regret it.

The second was an Artisan TC - their Tele - which was lovely to play, again comfortable, but the pickups were bland. And it had a push pull dial which sounded worse when pulled. My main regret with that one is not upgrading the pickups. 

I'd definitely buy again, and prefer most of their stuff over Gibson, but I'd definitely consider alternative pickups. 

Jez6345789

It’s odd in this day and age that the pickups are still the negative thing you hear most about Godin. When getting in the ball park of good pickup tone is pretty well understood. Certainly have some nice guitars in the catalogue but the ones with branded pickups jump up in price pretty steeply

Neil

p90fool said:

maltingsaudio said:

Interestingly no one has mentioned the fact that Godin are Canadian 

"North American" means Canadian.

Mexico is also in North America. 

joetele

Jez6345789 said:

It’s odd in this day and age that the pickups are still the negative thing you hear most about Godin. When getting in the ball park of good pickup tone is pretty well understood. Certainly have some nice guitars in the catalogue but the ones with branded pickups jump up in price pretty steeply

I should probably state that both my Godins were from the early 90s - I can imagine nowadays the stock pickups are far better. 

carlos

octatonic said:

tekbow said:

Babones said:

Godin are like the well-built, sensible, reliable car, that hasn't got a fancy badge. Gibson, like Fender, adds a markup for its name.

Godin are Volvo?

Nope, Mazda.

What's their MX-5? Because I always fancied those.

kin

  In the R8/9 threads there are people that have immediately swapped out the pick ups on £2500 guitars as they preferred them to the stock ones  so it's hardly just Godin pick ups that people have a problem with.

   I have a Godin that i'm happy with but i'm hardly a fan boy ( upper fret access is quite poor, not unlike a Les Paul really.)

  One of the reasons i went for the Godin was the Seymour Duncan P Rail pick ups, i have no interest in sounding like whoever from whenever,  i just wanted a decently built guitar with options to get lots of different sounds.

   When i first started playing i would have killed for a white strat like Jimi or a Les Paul like Koss, now i have more interest in Parkers, Trussart, Electrical guitar compnay and any number of other makes that are a bit different from the traditional.

   Each to their own, tone is subjective just like playability , there isn't a one size fits all solution to any thing.



 

Rocker

Jez6345789 said:

It’s odd in this day and age that the pickups are still the negative thing you hear most about Godin. When getting in the ball park of good pickup tone is pretty well understood. Certainly have some nice guitars in the catalogue but the ones with branded pickups jump up in price pretty steeply

The question that needs to be asked of Godin is: what amps do they use to voice and test their guitars? Someone in the factory must be happy with the sound of the stock pickups as they probably cost the same as aftermarket (better?) pickups. 

Whitecat

Rocker said:

Jez6345789 said:

It’s odd in this day and age that the pickups are still the negative thing you hear most about Godin. When getting in the ball park of good pickup tone is pretty well understood. Certainly have some nice guitars in the catalogue but the ones with branded pickups jump up in price pretty steeply

The question that needs to be asked of Godin is: what amps do they use to voice and test their guitars? Someone in the factory must be happy with the sound of the stock pickups as they probably cost the same as aftermarket (better?) pickups. 

https://reverb.com/news/guitaronomics-how-much-does-it-actually-cost-to-build-a-guitar

"The High Cost of Upgrading Components

“We have this debate often. We build our own version of an ES-335 and put our Chinese-made version of [boutique brand pickup] in there. If I’m street pricing that guitar for $500, that means I have to sell it to the dealer for $320, so there’s enough profit in it for them. I need to be making it for $150 – certainly under $200 – to make it profitable for me,” he says. 

“If I put actual USA-made boutique pickups in, they cost almost as much as the guitar itself. Even if they give me those pickups for $100, that brings my cost from $150 to $250, and I have to almost double my price to the dealer,” he explains. “Then the dealer has to sell it for almost $900 just because I added $100 pickups. It’s just the distribution model. That’s why you rarely see guitars with boutique pickups for less than $1,500. There has to be enough profit for the manufacturer, the pickup maker, the distributor and the dealer.”"