Guitars

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 is the electric guitar that I use for Jazz, warm sounds. It features 3 different outputs: electric (2 humbuckers with a 5 positions selector), acoustic (piezo pickups) and hexaphonic (synth access). Mine is equipped with Godin pickups, but it is also sold with Seymour Duncan ones. To me, its first quality is the great variety of sounds. The 2 humbuckers just sound great almost as-is. Besides, the mix of electric and acoustic sounds offers many research paths (Louis Winsberg is a reference on this matter). I even once recorded the electric output directly plugged into a console, and the resulting sound was amazingly acoustic ! It's second quality 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).

Listen to it: The CD "@-quartet" was recorded with this guitar (except for the tune "Song for L.", played on an ACS SA). You will find samples here.

Godin Freeway SA
This is the electric guitar that I use for Jazz-Rock, Funk, Blues sounds etc. It is quite cheap. It features 2 different outputs: electric (2 humbuckers and a single coil, with a 5 positions selector) and hexaphonic (synth access). 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). On the not so bright side, I reckon that the floyd is of poor quality (no blocking system), and consequently, the guitar can detune quite easily. In fact, I don't use the floyd that much. On the other hand, if this guitar is good enough for John Mc Laughlin, the rest of us can probably make something out of it. right ?

Godin Multiac Steel SA
This guitar replaced my former acousticaster. It's a steel electro-acoustic guitar featuring a small body, which makes it morphologically closer to an electric guitar than to an acoustic one. It is also equipped with an hexaphonic output for synth access. As on the electric models, I would have liked a slight cutoff in the back, although this is probably incompatible with the presence of an acoustic body.

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).

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.

Former Guitars

Godin Acousticaster
Replaced with a Multiac Steel SA. 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.