In the late 1990s it became clear that I needed a new electric solid body guitar. So far I had been using the George Benson GB10 and the Kist 02 for my electric needs. Also since I now was using a guitar synth with the Godin Multiac I thought an electric with a synth pickup would be a good idea.
If I remember correctly affordable guitars with synth access were somewhat rare then. A call to Sweetwater Sound in Ft. Wayne, IN, convinced me to make a trip there. At the time they were the only dealer relatively close to me carrying Godins. Out of the dozens of Godin electrics my sales rep Kenny showed me, I picked this beautiful LGX.
These guitars have three pickup systems.
- The two humbuckers, which work pretty much like on a normal electric guitar.
- A set of piezo pickups in the bridge which are supposed to deliver a somwhat ‘acoustic’ sound
- The Roland synth pickup, also in the bridge
Very versatile and in the beginning also a little confusing with all the sound possibilies. This guitar uses a 5-way toggle switch a la Fender Strat while I was used to a Les Paul-type pickup selector with seperate volume and tone controls for each pickup. I spent more time searching for the right setting than thinking about the music. But eventually I did get used to it and now prefer this configuration.
One thing I noticed early on (actually on the sales floor at Sweetwater for the first time, but I thought I imagined it) was that the two magnetic pickups didn’t really put out a strong signal. They sounded great, though! I started using a SansAmp preamp to boost the signal a bit and soon forgot about it.
Early 2000 or so I ended up buying a second Godin LGX. This was a slightly less fancy guitar although it had the same 3 pickup systems, played the same and had a tremolo. The main difference was that it had Seymour Duncan pickups and they were so much more powerful than the stock Godin pickups. I had these two Godins set up differently for many years. The LGX here as a ‘Jazz guitar’ with .11 D’addario Chromes and the LGXT with .10 D’addario Round Wound strings for Rock and Fusion. When I ended up using the LGXT more than the LGX I realized I really didn’t need two identical guitars and I ended up selling the LGXT.
Around 2009 I finally decided to replace the Godin pickups by a pair of Seymour Duncan blues pickups. It was a pretty ‘wiry’ affair. After all, the Godin pickups each had a coil tap which could be engaged by pulling the tone knob out. So lots of wires to cut. With the new pickups this instrument sounds powerful and much rawer than before. I have to admit since I am in my ‘7 string phase’ I currently don’t play this guitar much unless I need access to the guitar synth. But it is one of my favorites!