Godin 5th AvenUe Uptown Custom Havana Brown

first play
GODIN 5TH AVE UPTOWN CUSTOM HAVANA BROWN & A6 ULTRA DENIM BLUE FLAME
26
Guitarist november 2019
4. The A6’s control centre
offers volume and three-
band EQ for the acoustic
voice, and volume
and two-band EQ for
the electric side. The
preamp runs off a single
nine-volt block battery
5. Godin has embraced
the eco-friendly and
very stable synthetic
Richlite for fingerboards
(and bridges). It’s the
most-used fingerboard
material within the
Godin range
356mm/14 inches) and the smaller-size
frets (around 2mm wide, just under 1mm
high) with slightly sharp ends, all combine
to give a different feel. The wider neck has
an extra half millimetre in terms of string
spacing at the nut (35.5mm) compared with
the A6, but the bridge spacing is narrower
at 51.5mm and there’s quite a bit of distance
from the outer strings to the ’board edge.
As a standalone electro-acoustic, the
A6 is certainly no slouch, even though it’s
supplied with standard electric strings
due to the neck humbucker. But with the
three-band EQ, it’s simple to get a credible
amp’d acoustic sound, albeit with less
zing to your wound strings but still with a
typically fast piezo attack.
The neck humbucker is sensing a more
acoustic-like response that’s actually quite
acoustic pickup. Directly above these are
mini rotary controls for treble and bass EQ
of the electric sound. The dual sounds can
be outputted via two standard jack outputs
– one for mixed mono, or acoustic and
electric separately if you have the luxury of
using both an acoustic amp or PA plus your
regular electric rig.
Feel & Sounds
The neck of the A6 feels very good. Its light
satin finish has a slight open pore texture,
and the shape is quite a full C with a hint of
V and quite mainstream in depth (21.9mm
at the 1st fret, 23.9mm by the 12th) with
reasonably large ‘electric’ frets (around
2.43mm wide with a good height of about
1.3mm). The fingerboard edges turn slightly
in, as they should, and the top edge is
rounded off. Good craft, smartly done.
The 5th Ave’s neck feels rather different.
It’s wider overall by a couple of millimetres,
slightly shallower in depth (20.2mm at the
1st fret, 23.5mm by the 10th), with a more
D-like feel, or a C with fairly full shoulders.
There’s less in-turn to the fingerboard
edges (bound with thin strips of Richlite
so you don’t see the fret tangs), which
have been barely rolled. The ’board radius
seems relatively flat (measuring around
archtop-like. The string-to-string response
is a little uneven and, like us, you might want
to compensate for that with the adjustable
polepieces. Fully up, the two EQ rotary
controls provide a lot of low-end and dialling
the bass back would probably suit most.
Now, it’s gloves off. Combining the two
different voices – either in mixed mono
or through separate amps – seems to offer
a limitless palette. Adding a little piezo to
the neck ’bucker, for example, produces a
very credible contemporary jazz clarity;
vice versa you can thicken up the ‘acoustic’
voice. Running with two systems you can
add effects and/or a volume pedal to both or
either. With a looper or two, you can easily
have duelling acoustic and electric parts and
lines. For the creative musician it’s quite a
tool, but equally usable for higher-volume
acoustic slots or, frankly, some surprisingly
authentic old-style jazz ’n’ blues.
Speaking of which, if that’s where you’re
coming from, the simpler 5th Ave does that
exceptionally well. The neck single coil is
one good reason why the P-90 style is still
hugely valid for jazzier and cleaner blues.
The pickup mix adds a little texture and
voiced solo the Seymour Duncan ’59 at
the bridge is matched volume-wise with a
smoother high-end that avoids too much
4
5
With the A6, the
money lies in mixing
the outputs, the
potential of which
is only limited by
your imagination
GIT452.rev_godin.indd 26 02/10/2019 22:54