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86 Guitarist November 2008

GODIN SUMMIT CT, VELOCITY HDR, TRIUMPH & XTSA

£541-£1,044

ELECTRICS

Based in Canada with five factories there and one in the USA,

cosmopolitan North American guitar maker Godin sends a

selection across the pond by Trevor Curwen

Godin Summit CT, Velocity

HDR, Triumph & xtSA

£696, £666, £541 & £1,044

The fourth guitar, the xtSA, is a

showcase of Godin’s design ethos:

a ‘three voice’ guitar that not only

has electric and acoustic sounds

onboard, but also functions as a

synth controller via a standard

13-pin output that will connect to

a Roland guitar synth or others

that use the same protocol.

Godin’s design ethic is also seen

in the HDR (Hi-Definition

Revoicer) system that is fitted to

the Summit CT and the Velocity

models. This is an innovative

system designed to ‘revoice’ and

augment the frequency range of

each pickup at the push of a

button. Effectively what it does is

bring in an active preamp so that

you can switch from passive to

active pickups in an instant. It’s a

true bypass system that, says

Godin, keeps the integrity of the

passive pickups while making

them active without any

degradation in tone quality.

All of the guitars are classily

finished with fine attention to

detail in all the important areas.

The necks, in particular, have a

very comfortable feel. This

probably reflects the fact that they

are hand-finished, but is also

likely due to Godin’s ‘Ergocut’

shaping technique that bevels the

edges of the fingerboard and frets

back in towards the centre of the

fingerboard. All necks are

bolt-ons featuring four recessed

screws rather than a neck plate.

The neck pockets are extremely

tight for a snug neck-to-body fit,

which can only help overall

resonance and sustain.

The Summit CT has a string-through-body design and two Seymour Duncan humbuckers

With just a few strums the Summit

CT reveals itself to be a resonant guitar

that’s a pleasure to play unplugged

odin may not be as well

known in the UK as some

of its North American

counterparts but, over the 20-odd

years since the company was

founded, it has become a

respected brand admired for its

innovation. The stated goal is to

find the perfect balance between

the finest traditions of guitar

crafting and new design concepts

and the company has, for example,

been at the forefront of building

guitars that offer acoustic tones

from bridge transducers alongside

the standard electric sounds.

What we have for review here are

four guitars from the range that

constitute a good representative

sample of just what the Godin

brand is all about.

Three of the four are variations

on the standard electric guitar

theme: the Summit CT (the CT

referring to its carved top) comes

equipped with a pair of

humbuckers; the Velocity offers

a variation on the three-pickup

souped-up rocker theme, with a

humbucker in the bridge position,

while the Triumph combines a

three-pickup single-coil

configuration with a very

tidy retro vibe.

PHOTOGR APHY BY JES SE WILD

GIT309.rev_godin 86 8/10/08 3:49:24 pm

Summary of content (5 pages)

PAGE 1
GODIN SUMMIT CT, VELOCITY HDR, TRIUMPH & XTSA £541-£1,044 ELECTRICS Godin Summit CT, Velocity HDR, Triumph & xtSA £696, £666, £541 & £1,044 Based in Canada with five factories there and one in the USA, cosmopolitan North American guitar maker Godin sends a selection across the pond by Trevor Curwen PHOTOGRAPHY BY JESSE WILD G odin may not be as well known in the UK as some of its North American counterparts but, over the 20-odd years since the company was founded, it has become a respected brand admire
PAGE 2
GODIN SUMMIT CT, VELOCITY HDR, TRIUMPH & XTSA £541-£1,044 ELECTRICS All four guitars sport Godin’s own branded tuners and other hardware, but the pickups are a mix of Godin’s own and Seymour Duncans. Each guitar comes complete with a heavy-duty gigbag that has plenty of useful storage pockets. Summit CT The Summit CT is Godin’s newest electric, introduced at this year’s Winter NAMM show.
PAGE 3
GODIN SUMMIT CT, VELOCITY HDR, TRIUMPH & XTSA £541-£1,044 ELECTRICS scale length gives the guitar a different feel from the more Gibson-like Summit and Triumph, with a little extra resistance from the strings. The Rivals Four distinctly different guitars and quite likely a range of rivals for each, but we have to be brief so… there are not many ‘threevoice’ guitars around but you may wish to check out Brian Moore’s iGuitar range and Carvin’s SH575 (£1,234).
PAGE 4
GODIN SUMMIT CT, VELOCITY HDR, TRIUMPH & XTSA £541-£1,044 ELECTRICS excellent with instantaneous response, which is all you could hope for – the synth sounds are up to you! Verdict Four fine guitars, all with their own particular character, and at a price point that seems reasonable for the level of workmanship that you are getting. The HDR system in the Summit CT and the Velocity is an innovation that is both well thought out and beautifully implemented.
PAGE 5
GODIN SUMMIT CT, VELOCITY HDR, TRIUMPH & XTSA £541-£1,044 ELECTRICS Godin Summit CT Godin Triumph Godin Velocity HDR Godin xtSA PRICE: £696 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: Canada/USA TYPE: Single-cutaway solidbody electric BODY: Solid mahogany with a high figured carved flame maple solid top NECK: Mahogany, bolt on SCALE LENGTH: 628mm (24.75-inch) NUT/WIDTH: White synthetic/42.