Godin Guitar

Godin started building Robert Godin's guitars in 1972 in La Patrie, Quebec, Canada. (The Canadian guitar manufacturer)
Godin Guitars makes instruments under several different labels. Norman makes entry- to mid-level acoustic guitars. Art & Lutherie makes entry-level budget guitars. The Simon and Patrick brand make mid- to high-range steel-string acoustics. La Patrie manufactures classical guitars. Seagull is known for manufacturing solid wood entry- to mid-range acoustic guitars. Guitars under the Godin brand are primarily mid-range to top-of the-line electrics that are made of high quality wood from the northeastern part of North America. They have many models that feature synth pickups and some with piezo pickup-equipped bridges. Godin are notable for their use of synthesizer pickups as a standard feature in their high end models, and many of their electric models use piezo-acoustic pickups integrated with the bridge assembly. Aside from their technical innovations, Godin has a strong reputation among guitarists for their product quality. Most Godin guitars have the same distinctive, yet traditional, body shape, which has been described as a hybrid of the Gibson Les Paul and Fender Telecaster bodies.

Godin's guitars have won several awards, including Guitar Player Magazine's Editors Pick for the LG, Exit 22, and Freeway Classic.

Guitar players
Notable Godin players include Leonard Cohen, John McLaughlin, Daryl Stuermer, Steve Stevens, Habib Koité, Andreu Zaragoza, Michael ATONAL VVVick, Rumesh De Mel, Michael Holmes, Elliott Sharp, Hugh Cornwell, Jandek, Curtis Merriman, Hiran and Vinnie Moore. They are also very common among session players and sidemen. Robert Godin was also mentor to Master luthier Mauro Liberatore.

Godin Guitar Series
Progression Godin Guitar Series - Introduced in Fall 2009, the Progression is a double cut-away design made out of Maple body with Poplar 'wings', either a Maple or Rosewood fretboard, and is available with Black, Sunburst, Trans Cream, and Trans Caramel finishes. The Progression has three single coil GS-2 pickups as well as Godin's High-Definition Revoicer. The Progression has a larger body than Godin's other double cutaway designs including the Freeway and Velocity series.

Radiator Godin Guitar Series - A unique Godin design with a pickguard over the entire body and Godin designed single-coil pickups
SD - Somewhat of a cross between a Fender Telecaster and a Gibson Les Paul. This model has the pickguard, bolt on neck, and single coil pickup configuration of the "Strat", While bearing the Bridge humbucker and Scale Length of a Les Paul. This yields a tone that is most similar to a Les Paul or SG, despite the guitar's mostly "strat-like" appearance.
Redline Godin Guitar Series - a double cutaway body with one active EMG pickup and no tone controls, available with flame maple tops. The Redline was introduced in 2007.
Exit 22 Godin Guitar Series - Similar to the SD in pickup configuration and scale length, but with a fixed bridge and solid mahogany body. The Exit 22 does not have a pickguard, and is available with a solid maple neck, or maple with rosewood fingerboard.
Freeway series Godin Guitar Series - A recent addition to the Performance line, it is a Dual cutaway body with options such as MIDI and Acoustic pickups, Locking and Non-Locking tremolo systems, and flamed maple finishes. It is also available with two EMG 81 pickups, or a Floyd Rose tremolo system. The Freeway line was expanded in 2005 to include the Freeway SA and the Freeway Floyd. The Freeway Floyd is no longer in production.
LG Godin Guitar Series - The LG is a fixed-bridge, mahogany solid body with p-90 pickups or Humbuckers. It is also available with flame maple tops as of 2008.
xtSA Godin Guitar Series - The xtSA is a solid-bodied electric with conventional pickups as well as acoustic pickups and MIDI pickups (Synth Access). It features a non-locking tremolo bridge.
Freeway bass Godin Guitar Series - Available in four and five-string configurations, and active electronics.
Triumph Godin Guitar Series - Introduced in 2006, the Triumph is a single cutaway guitar. It has 3 Godin single coil pickups, and is available with either a sparkle finish or natural mahogany finish. The sparkle model has a silver leaf maple body with poplar wings while the mahogany model has a mahogany body. Both models have a rock maple neck.
Velocity Godin Guitar Series - The Godin Velocity features a double-horned body, consisting of a silver leaf maple center with poplar wings and a natural, solid high-flame maple top, unique to each guitar. The new Velocity is the first of the Godin Electric models to feature the Godin High-Definition Revoicer. The H.D.R. revoices and augments the frequency range of each pickup and allows the player to go from passive to active pickups with the simple push of a button.


Godin Guitar Signature series
Godin Summit CT - A single cutaway guitar with a carved flame maple top and 24 3/4" scale length. It has a string through body design, two Seymour Duncan humbuckers and flame maple tops. Like the Velocity, the Summit has H.D.R
LGXSA/LGXT - Similar to the LG signature, but with Acoustic and MIDI pickups. The LGXT comes with a non-locking tremolo.
Montreal - Semi-hollow electric with optional Acoustic pickups. Aimed more at Jazz and Blues players than hard rock players like other Godins. The Montreal was introduced in 2004.
Multiac Jazz - Based on the Multiac acoustics with acoustic and MIDI options, but with a Mini-humbucker in the neck position and flamed maple tops for warm electric sounds.

Godin Guitar Multiac and A series
The Multiac and A series are acoustic/electric guitars with thinner bodies than traditional acoustic guitars (Godin's sister companies produce traditional Acoustic designs). They are offered with hexaphonic pickups as well as steel or nylon strings. There are various models of the Multiac. These are the Multiac Nylon SA, the Multiac Concert SA, and the Multiac Nylon ACS-SA. The A series are similar, but offer basses and mandolins and no synth-access options.

Godin Guitar Passion Series
RG-3 - Godin's "top-of-the-line" electric, a 3-single coil chambered solidbody available in Sitka Spruce or Cedar bodied versions with maple or rosewood fretboards. This guitar also features the H.D.R. circuit present on other models such as the Velocity (see above). Each RG-3 guitar is entirely hand-made in Quebec, Canada, unlike most other Godin models (parts crafted in Canada, guitars assembled in New Hampshire).

Godin Guitar Glissentar
The Glissentar is a unique Godin design. It is a fretless nylon 11-string acoustic/electric guitar with the five high strings doubled like a 12-string guitar, and a single low-E string. It is aimed at players who want to incorporate non-western sounds into their music, and is based on a combination of the tradition Western guitar and the North African oud.
Godin Guitars head office is located in Montreal, and they build their instruments in six factories in four different locations, three in Quebec and one in New Hampshire.

Gretsch GUITAR

Gretsch (musical instruments) being manufactured under contract in Japan and Korea. The only current U.S. made instruments are the Fender "Custom Shop" instruments.

Gretsch was founded in 1883 by Friedrich Gretsch, a young German immigrant. His Brooklyn shop was made for the manufacture of banjos, tambourines, and drums. In 1895, at the age of 39, Gretsch died, and the successful company was taken over by his son Fred. By 1916, Fred had moved the company into a larger 10-story building in the Williamsburg district, becoming one of the most prominent American musical instrument makers.

... In late 2002, Gretsch and Fender reached an agreement giving Fender most control over marketing, production and distribution of guitars (although the Gretsch family still owns Gretsch Guitars).

Fender quickly set about improving the line by upgrading substandard electrical components and bringing modern production more closely in line with designs and practices of the classic era. Body and headstock shapes, which on reissues from the 90s and early 00s had varied from 50s-60s practice, were made more vintage-correct. Hollowbodies were returned to 3-ply construction rather than the 5-plies of the 1990-2002 period. Filtertron double-coil pickups were redesigned by TV Jones to sound more like vintage pickups. Duo Jets were more extensively chambered, again in accordance with vintage practice, and the trestle bracing of the 1959-1961 era was re-introduced on the Setzer line and other selected models.

An array of models based on vintage designs has been introduced, with widespread approval among players and even collectors. While such judgments are always subjective and sometimes contentious, many feel FMIC-era Gretschs exhibit the highest level of overall build quality, attention to detail, and consistency in Gretsch's long history.

Gretsch has also introduced new models consistent with their heritage but aimed at modern players, with features like premium pickups manufactured by TV Jones, locking Sperzel tuners, and ML bracing designed by Mike Lewis of FMIC and Masao Terada of the Terada company in Japan, where all Gretsch pro-line guitars are now built.

In January 2007, upon an agreement with the Atkins family, Gretsch announced the return of Chet Atkins as an endorser. The Country Classic models became Country Gentlemen once again, the name "Chet Atkins Hollowbody" returned to the 6120 Nashvilles, and the Tennessee Rose became the Chet Atkins Tennessee Rose. In July 2008, a limited run of Chet Atkins 6120 Stereo guitars was introduced, based on a famous prototype from 1956 which featured in several landmark Atkins recordings, but was never produced in series.

Billy Zoom, of the Los Angeles punk band X, was honored with a limited-edition Gretsch Custom Shop Jet model in 2008; this guitar is based on Zoom's own vintage Jet, and includes more extensive internal chambering than any other modern Jet, exactly reproducing the construction revealed when Zoom's original guitar was CAT-scanned at a medical facility during development.

At the same time, FMIC has refined and improved the mid-priced Electromatic line by discontinuing the low-end bolt-neck models of the late 90s and early 2000s, which incorporated generic humbucking pickups and wraparound bridges. The Electromatic Hollowbody line has proven particularly successful, from the 5125 - 5129 series with its US-made DeArmond 2000 pickups (which honor the vintage Gretsch combination of powerful full-range single-coil pickups in a hollowbody guitar) and the similar 5120 series. The 5120, a single-cutaway model inspired by the 6120, has become the best-selling guitar in Gretsch history, with an active after-market in replacement pickups from TV Jones and other makers for players who feel they provide a more characteristic tone than the stock "Gretschbucker" double-coil pickups. The double-cutaway 5122 model, introduced in 2008 and inspired by the 6122 Country Gentleman, fills out the Korean-built Electromatic Hollow line.

The Electromatic line also includes Pro Jet and Double Jet chambered solidbodies based on Gretsch's venerable Duo Jet line; these are equipped with Gretsch mini-humbuckers unavailable on any other guitar. Final members of the Electromatic line are the Corvette series, thin mahogany solidbodies based on the identically named and same-shaped model of the early sixties – but with the newly designed Mega'Tron double-coil pickups exclusive to the Corvette line. Both G. Love and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy have been honored with signature-series Electromatic Corvettes, the G. Love introduced in January 2008 and Stump's "Stump-o-matic" in January 2009. The Stump model has the distinction of being Gretsch's first-ever three pickup model.

Gretsch Drums were/are also in high demand with drummers playing both jazz and rock. During the 1950s and 1960s, many renowned Jazz drummers, such as Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Max Roach, and even Billy Cobham (during the early 70's in the early Mahavishnu days.) They were all playing the now classic "round badge" kits. Micky Dolenz also used Gretsch drums during the filming of the Monkees TV series. Phil Collins used a Gretsch drum kit for many years while touring with Genesis, also legendary studio and all around drummer Vinnie Colaiuta plays Gretsch. Charlie Watts (the Wembley Whammer) of the Rolling Stones has played Gretsch drums for forty-five years. Brad Wilk from Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine has also used Gretsch Drums. Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters and Steve Ferrone of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers also use Gretsch Drums.

Multi effects - multi-FX, digital multy effects

A multi-effects device/multi-FX" device is a single electronics effects pedal or rackmount device that contains many different electronic effects. In the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, multi-FX manufacturers such as Zoom and Korg produced devices that were increasingly feature-laden. Multi-FX devices allow several of the effects to be used together, and most devices allow users to set "preset" combinations of different effects including distortion, chorus, reverb, compression, and so on. This allows musicians to have quick on-stage access to different effects combinations. Some multi-FX pedals for contain modelled versions of well-known effects pedals or amplifiers.
Multi-effects devices have garnered a large share of the effects device market because they offer the user such a large variety of effects in a single package. A low-priced multi-effects pedal may provide 20 or more effects for the price of a regular single-effect pedal. More expensive multi-effect pedals may include 40 or more effects, amplifier modelling, and the ability to combine effects and/or modelled amp sounds in different combinations, as if the user was using multiple guitar amps. More expensive multi-effects pedals may also include more input and output jacks (e.g., an auxiliary input or a "dry" output), MIDI inputs and outputs, and an expression pedal, which can control volume or modify effect parameters (e.g., the rate of the simulated rotary speaker effect.