Godin Summit ClaSSiC SG VintaGe BurSt P90 & Summit ClaSSiC SG matte Green £679 & £659
Godin may certainly be better known for its innovative Multiac models, 5th Avenue semiacoustics and a hugely eclectic catalogue of ‘world music’ electro instruments, but the company is no stranger to solidbody electrics and simple rock ’n’ roll machines. These new Summit SGs are the latest in a line that has included models such as the short-lived (Godin sub-brand) Richmond Empire and Godin’s own-brand Core CT P90. Whatever the background, both these Canadian-made Summits are exceeding well turned out for the money. From the packaging, the sturdy gigbag (with Velcro strapped neck support) to, obviously, the guitars themselves, you get the impression that Godin remains far from a cynical boxshifting enterprise. These guitars might appear ‘low-end’, but there’s a huge whiff of quality and an aroma of class – and that’s before we even strum a chord.
As we say, the inspiration might seem obvious and these are very much ‘start-up’ electrics, but as history has proved, Gibson’s Les Paul Juniors and Specials were aimed at the student and yet have powered many a big-selling band. It’s the same thing here, and in many ways the ‘cost-cutting’ elements such as the semi-gloss finish (the ‘SG’ in the name) of the slab bodies works in their favour, distilling the instruments down to their basics: very workingman, gigging tools.
Like the Gibson platforms before them, both chassis here are identical. The body outline is a classy single-cut design with a lower bout that hints at Fender, a rounded bass-side shoulder and a slightly slanting cutaway – there’s as much of the original Multiac, not to mention that Richmond Empire, in this outline as there is anything that ever came out of Kalamazoo. Godin invariably uses North American woods wherever possible in both its various acoustic lines and here on the electrics. Instead, then, of the time honoured all-mahogany you might expect, the 45mm-thick body is Canadian Laurentian basswood (named after its area of origin), while the neck is maple, despite the fact that its dark-stained smooth satin finish looks very different. The body is clearly twopiece and centre-joined, visible through
the ’burst finish of the P90 model – though the opaque Matte Green of the twin-pickup model hides any constructional detail. It’s not particularly matched, but the visible basswood has a light wavy figure that certainly adds interest to the nicely ’bursted body face. The sides and back are black and there’s a slight ribcage chamfer that removes some of the slab feel, along with quite a large edge radius, played seated or standing. This wood choice also means both guitars are very nicely weighted.
The necks adopt a well-shaped, quite full ‘C’ with approximate depth at the first fret of 21.3mm and 23.6mm at the 12th – very mainstream. Rosewood is the exception to the otherwise North American wood choice, and its classic 305mm (12-inch) camber matches the 629mm (24.75-inch) scale length. The mid-brown streaked ’boards have simple cream dots with tidy fretting from a medium gauge (approximately 2.35mm wide by 1.2mm high). The 22nd fret sits right at the end of the neck, necessitating a slight fingerboard overhang under which the pickguard (a thick black and white five-ply plastic)
there’s as much of the original multiac in this outline as there is anything that came out of Kalamazoo
tidily fits. Those frets are highly polished, too, although a little more rounding of the ends, and indeed the fingerboard edge, would just add a little extra to the feel.
As to the neck construction, the heel on the P90 is black ’bursted, but it’s isn’t on the Matte Green model and you can clearly see a single-piece heel stack. The headstock is spliced on, but higher than usual, just in-front of the two E string tuners. And don’t forget, Taylor uses a similar threepiece neck construction, as does PRS on its S2 Series and CE 24 and Silver Sky bolt-ons. The lip inside the treble cutaway – slightly thinner than on an original Les Paul Junior – also suggests that most, if not all, of the width of the neck fits into the body.
Godin’s headstock proudly displays the country of origin and is another classy, classic design. We’ve criticised Godin before for adding an unnecessary number of brand logos to its instruments. Hey, maybe they listened: there’s just the headstock script logo here and a sneaky one on the dog-ear P90 pickup cover and the bobbins of the zebra humbuckers.
Hardware is impressive, not least the Graph Tech ResoMax Sonic 1 one-piece ‘wraparound’ bridge. Graph Tech states it’s made from a “proprietary lightweight high-strength ResoMax alloy, that leaves each note dripping in tone and harmonics”. It also magnetically locks to the steel posts, so it won’t drop off while you’re restringing. But it’s the curved lozenge-like feel that’s impressive, along with the string anchor slot (you don’t have to thread the strings through a hole), and the very curved back of the bridge with no sharp angular edges to potentially damage the string, which can, of course, lead to premature string breaks. The bridge is pre-intonated, while overall intonation can be set with two small set screws as usual. Under the hand, it feels really good and offers a string spacing of 52.4mm with a radius of 305mm (12 inches). Godin has been using these tuners for some years now, and not only do they have a proprietary retro appearance, they boast an unusually high ratio (which means they are finer to tune) of 18:1 on the bass side and 26:1 on the treble.
Whereas the classic Les Paul Junior’s dog-ear P-90 screwed directly to the body, the only height adjustment being the single row of pole pieces, here, as we’ve seen on previous Kingpin-equipped Godins, the pickup sits in a dog-ear sized cavity and is height-adjustable via the two outer screws. The humbuckers on our Matte Green model are zebra coiled; the Matte Black and Burst versions are covered and sit in conventional rings. Again reflecting Gibson protocol, the P90 has just a volume and tone, while the dual-pickup guitar has those for each pickup plus a shoulder placed three-way toggle selector. Finally, the output jack is the screw-in Tele barrel style. Functional? With a capital F.
the twin-’buckered Summit almost seems a little polite, but there’s no shortage of classic rock voices
sounds
Acoustically, there’s a lively but not overbright or honky response. Neither guitar really needs any dialling in, but raising that Kingpin P90, more like our reference ’57 Jr, seems only fair; likewise, the twin ’buckers. Having warmed up things with a variety of similar guitars – that Jr, a ’76 Guild S-90 and a modded Seth Lover-equipped Tokai Love Rock – the SG P90 holds its ground.
It’s not quite as ‘big’ sounding as the vintage Gibson (it’s not alone there!), but the character of the sound we hear is very similar with that addictive snarl and midrange peak, through a crunchy Marshall voice. It cleans up pretty well, too, although the tone cap might be a little excessive with the tone rolled fully back. A surprise for the armchair experts might be the roomy low-end response, perhaps at the expense of a slightly attenuated bite that sounds a little compressed compared with our Jr and a more Les Paul-like Knaggs Kenai – both, of course, much more expensive pieces.
The twin-’buckered Summit almost seems a little polite, but while there’s less of the P90’s raspy snarl, there’s no shortage of classic rock voices, again underpinned by a nicely woody thickness. Yes, there’s bite and a good power from the bridge, but both volume and tone shade very well, and if you run your twin-humbucker/four-control guitars with the tones and the volumes pulled back a little to set your basic sound, this Summit really does become nicely versatile. Overall, a slight treble lift seems to enhance what we’re hearing, especially when you roll back the volumes for cleaner, snappy, older blues voices or the nicely textured and bouncy mix. Conversely, there’s a solid thickness to the neck voice full up with some gain, while the bridge easily slips into cranked Foo Fighters territory with no effort whatsoever. Yes, it’s a simple recipe, but when it’s done this well it’s extremely tasty.
Tuning stability out of the box is extremely good with the usual string stretching, as is the strapped-on feel and light weight. Aside from those slightly sharp fret ends and fingerboard edge, we’re struggling to find any negatives.
verdict
These might be start-up models from Godin’s expansive range, but they illustrate so much about the brand’s ethos. The use of North American woods (with the exception of the rosewood fingerboards), original body designs, modern-style electronics, innovative hardware, strap lock buttons, all wrapped up in an excellent gigbag, are typically positive attributes.
They offer a highly usable take on the Jr/ Special style with very tidy construction, classic style and highly usable sounds to match. Yes, as we see increasingly, colour choice isn’t vast, the P90 model only being available in its classic ’burst, but it’s hard to knock what is a very tidy package. And while the P90 model might well be one of the best Jr-alikes out there, the dualhumbucker version takes the style and runs with it – a guitar that will move from classic blues and soul through to much heavier styles courtesy of the well-chosen pickup designs. These are great choices for the serious student, perfect spares for the gigging musician, or simply highly usable additions to any arsenal. Never played a Godin? Shame on you.