Gear |
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All the guitars I use are Godin ones. Being a guitarist and what's more a great fan of Uzeb, one has to know at least the name. As time passed, I've being playing with all sorts of guitars, but I've always ended up stabilizing on Godin ones, from which I appreciate the versatility, the variety of colors and the sound textures which are way out of stereotypes. Here are the 5 guitars that I play on a regular basis:
Godin LGX SA
This guitar features 3 different outputs: electric, acoustic (piezo
mics) and hexaphonic (synth access). Mine is equipped with Godin mics,
but it is also shipped with Seymour Duncan ones. To me, its first good
point is the great variety of sounds. The electric mics just sound
great almost as-is. The mix of electric and acoustic sounds offers
many research paths (Louis Winsberg is a reference on this
matter). I even recorded once the electric output directly plugged
into a console, and the resulting sound was amazingly acoustic ! It's
second strong point is its usability. The neck is very comfortable to
play. Besides, the guitar's back is cut out, which allows a very
ergonomic positioning on the torso (well adapted to the way I hold my
guitars anyway). I'd have a single negative remark about this guitar:
the hexaphonic captors are so sensitive that they constantly trigger
high synth notes at random all over the place. I had to shut down
parasite harmonics by stuffing some foam rubber under the strings to
decrease vibrations. Some people would say that I just have to improve
my technique in order to get a cleaner picking...
Listen to it: The CD "@-quartet" was recorded with this guitar (except for the tune "Song for L.", played on the guitar below). You will find samples here.
Godin ACS SA
This one is an electro-acoustic nylon, but it's a solid-body. The neck
is
wider than a normal electric guitar, but thinner than a classical one.
It is thus more comfortable to play with, for a mainly electric
guitarist. It is also equipped with hexaphonic captors for driving
synthesizers. Another notable comfort element (as for the LGX SA): the
cut out of the guitar's back. As far as the sound is concerned, one
should note that its solid-bodyness leads to much sustain, which is rare
for a nylon instrument. Despite this interesting particularity, I must
admit that little by little, I got less and less impressed by its native
sound. Right now I find it too metallic. Basically, I cut all the
treble and 50% of the medium on the embedded equalizer. In the future, I
might turn to a Multiac Nylon.
Listen to it: The tune "Song for L." from the CD "@-quartet" was recorded with this guitar. You will find samples here.
Godin Multiac Nylon Fretless SA
Here's a really amazing one: nylon strings, hexaphonic output, but
most of all fretless ! The fretless nylon sound is truly incredible.
So surprising that it triggered a bunch of composition ideas while I
was trying it for the first time. The perspectives are huge. I've
always wanted to play fretless. 20 years ago, I even bought a bass,
just for the fretless experience, but I quickly realized I wasn't a
bass player. Today, I find again this feeling of freedom that you
get on a fretless neck only. This includes the freedom to play out
of pitch (But what's "playing in pitch" other than a matter of
convention; one just has to consider oriental scales to be
convinced).
Godin Acousticaster
This one is a steel strings electro-acoustic, only shaped like an
electric guitar (a telecaster actually). The sound is however narrower
than a real electro-acoustic. To get an idea of the sound, this is the
guitar used by Michel Cusson, guitarist of Uzeb, on the great "Not
Even the
Shadow of a Tail of a Lizard" (Uzeb Club and World Tour 90). If one has
to find it some defects, one can regret the lack of cut out on the
guitar's back, the lack of hexaphonic output (at that time, I don't
think any guitar featured synth access), but above all, an incredible
pain in the neck to change batteries. You have to completely remove the
front panel, along with the whole circuitry, the wires dangling, the
welds that end up cracking etc.
Seagull S6 CW
Seagull is a brand of Godin. This one is a real steel strings
electro-acoustic guitar equipped with an active LR-Baggs circuitry. The
Seagull sound is very specific. Nothing to do with the more common sound
that you can get from Ovation, Takamine etc. You really have to hear it.
However, I do have a big grief against this guitar (maybe it's just
mine): the neck is curved and I fail to adjust it as I want. I regret
that I didn't see this when I bought it.
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Didier Verna www@didierverna.com Last modification: Thursday April 23 2009 at 08:38 |