Godin Multiac ACS SA (Nylon strings)

[Mojo]

Went to the local music store to buy some AlaskPic pics, and since they had the Godin and a bunch of Taylors with nylon strings, I decided to sit down and try them out.

The Taylors:

Prices ranged from $899 to $1590... and the cheaper one sounded just as good as the more expensive ones. To my ears, anyway. Fine guitars, but after the shoulder surgeries, the full-body depth becomes painful in no time.
Still, fun guitars. Wouldn't mind owning one.

The Godin:

First impressions upon picking it up were 1. better finish than expected and 2. heavier than expected.

Not that it is all that heavy - just heavier than expected.

Plugged it into a small Roland acoustic amp and started playing. 40 minutes later I was still playing. The neck is thin for my tastes, but still comfortable and was not a hindrance. Loved the tones, even through a not-so-expensive amp. Of course, it can't be played unplugged. Well, not loud, anyway

The controls are intuitive and well placed, no problems with the electronics.

Then I plugged it into a GR-20 and it was fun, but while I could do some stuff right away with it, it felt like it would take a while to transfer that into a live setting, and I am not sure I have that kind of time to noodle around until it's ready for prime time for me.

The tracking was miles better than the last time I tried such a system, and you gotta love the fact that the synth pickup is integrated.

Bottom line: I loved the Godin and would love to acquire one. Price new was $899. My reason for wanting a nylon string guitar is that playing three times a week, my nails are absolutely shot. I'd love to have a guitar that could be not as harsh on the nails. The synth is fun, and I would eventually buy a GR-33 for my house to play around, but I don't think I'd be able to use that in a live setting for a while, so I'd only consider it a fun addition for the home studio for now. Maybe when my skills get better I could use it live.

Now to find a way to buy it

[rayden44]

Nylons are nice and easy to play. Not quite so nice to bend, since they're softer you have to bend further. You can get a nice vibrato by pressing down on the string and doing sort of a push / pull motion with your finger in line with the string - instead of usual vibrato that is more moving the string left and right (I tried several ways of explaining that!).

I have found the inbuilt synth stuff works better than say buying and mounting a GK-3. I do want to try it again tho - got some good keyboard sounds of out some 7th chords

[Mojo]

I had fun w/ a patch yesterday in the store that had piano tones from high E string to D string, and bass tones for low E and A strings. And the tracking was OK and allowed for some cool fingerpicked stuff.

[rayden44]

Yeah I do seem to remember muting being an important aspect of it to. I'll have to try again at some point. I've got my recording area kind of setup so time for a bit of fun heh

[Mojo]

a bit of fun is always good!

[rayden44]

You're not wrong. Our band just took a month off over the holidays from practising - I'd been getting a bit tired of the songs on the set list; I've been playing them for months while we're getting newer members sorted. So I've spent the time doing stuff that isn't in the band setlist.

This week I've been going over the band list to make sure I can still play them it for this weekends rehearsal! They seriously sound better and I'm getting more ideas to mix some of them up too (largely thanks to some Cropper style inspiration of late). So nice to come back fresh.

[Mojo]

Very cool. And Cropper is always a fabulous font of inspiration, and not only for guitar players either!

[lessonsthatrock]

I've messed around with some of the Godin stuff, and yeah, they're definitely attractive. Have you considered any of the electric Yamaha nylon string guitars?