GODIN G-TOUR
As Canada’s foremost manufacturer of steeland nylon-string acoustics and electros, not to mention an increasingly broad line of electrics, Godin combines its past into the G-Tour
It’s been a little quiet on the Godin front in recent months, but the Canadian giant announced anew UK distribution partner towards the end of 2023, so the expansive range will hopefully be more accessible. And when we say expansive, we mean it. Just under the Godin brand –other house brands include Norman, Seagull and Simon &Patrick –we have regular steeland nylon-string acoustics and electros, stage-aimed ‘crossover’ models such as the long-running Multiacs, instruments for ‘world’ musicians, and an extensive range of hollow, thinline and solidbody electrics.
Before we get to look at some of the new-for-2024 models, we managed to get our hands on a pretty unique model that launched during the distribution changeover period: the G-Tour. This instrument certainly blurs the line between the electric guitar and the nylon-string electro-acoustic, the latest in a long line of stage-aimed nylon-strings that lie within Godin’s range. The term ‘crossover’ is often used for such modernist excursions –for example, a nylon-string with a narrower neck, a cambered fingerboard and often a thinner-depth body –but the G-Tour is more a thinline, mainly hollow electric with nylon strings.
Here, we have a matt black top finish with dark brown-stained back and sides, which have a more satin finish. The modern Stratocaster-inspired body has a solidbody depth of 47mm and employs a solid cedar lightly braced flat top with a silver leaf maple back that’s heavily chambered and braced. The top-edge is bound; the small soundhole isn’t. On the back is a pretty sizable ribcage contour.
The neck continues the classic electric vibe, screwing to the body via a neckplate that’s shaped to match the contoured body heel. It’s also a 22-fret neck with a standard Fender scale, only a couple of millimetres shy of the standard 650mm classical scale length, and has a 305mm (12-inch) fingerboard radius. Unusually, while the tuners appear to be regular die-cast types,
