From the land of Godin comes another great guitar at a shockingly good value. The Godin Empire P90
has all the classic elements of a great rock and roll guitar: Mahogany
body, punchy P-90 pickups, high quality hardware and and true musical
soul. The Godin Empire scores big on value, looks and sound.
This is a Godin
B-Stock guitar that was either returned to the factory or used by an
employee for test or demo. You get a great guitar with full warranty at a
great savings.
The Godin Empire P90 scores big on value and sound:
- Mahogany body and neck, 6.4 pounds
- 24.75" scale mahogany bolt-on neck, 12" radius
- Dual action truss rod
- 1-11/16" width at the nut
- Rosewood Fingerboard
- Kluson-style tuners
- 2 Godin P-90 pickups
- 3-way pickup switch
- Wrap tailpiece
- Schaller strap lock buttons
- Godin deluxe gig bag
- Made in Canada
- List price: $775
For 2014, Godin dropped the Richmond sub-brand, and now the Richmond series is part of the Godin
lineup of guitars. The Empire is slick single cut-away mahogany-bodied
guitar that is somewhat reminiscent of the old Gibson Melody maker, but
with its own unique Godin
styling that keeps it from looking totally retro or dated. The body is
nicely contoured and very comfortable to play, and at around seven
pounds, the trim mahogany body and wrap tailpiece resonates wonderfully.
The Empire P90 uses the same pickups are their Godin
Kingpin. These pickups obey the golden rule of a good P-90: Don't
over-wind them and make them into dull, stuffy blobs. Far from dark and
brooding, the neck pickup of the Empire has pleasant upper brightness, a
full but balanced midrange, and plenty of characteristic P-90 punch.
It's got a pretty strong output, and overdriven tones full, somewhat
creamy in nature. Fortunately, they don't smear the notes or totally
lose definition when gained up.
The bridge pickup is clean, and
like the neck it's commendably open sounding, and does not suffer from
the midrange darkness of hotter P-90 pickups. The mahogany body provides
it's own midrange enhancement, but this guitar is perfectly capable of
clean, jangly
rhythm tones. Distortion tones are textbook P-90: Chunky, tight, with a
lot of snap and dense harmonic content. Both pickups also turn down
really well, and some of the best sounds -- especially with distortion
-- are not with the controls full up. We found the coolest rock tones on
the bridge pickup were with a slight roll-off on both the volume and
tone controls. Explore a bit and you'll find some hidden gems.
In typical Godin
fashion, the 22-fret neck features nicely polished medium frets, and
rounded fingerboard edges that feel broken-in out of the box. The
Gibson-scale length provides comfortable string tension, and the satin
finish mahogany neck feels as smooth as graphite. The pairing of the
1-11/16" nut width and typically slim Godin
neck profile feels great for both chords and single note runs; very
much like a Gibson 60's neck profile. While the guitar has a fixed
compensated wrap tailpiece, tuning and intonation was not an issue, and
the solid one-piece construction makes for good sustain and ring.
Guitars are about soul, and fancy binding or flame maple tops do not guarantee personality. The Empire P90
has character to spare, and at the price it's really a no-brainer. For a
player at any level, there's no hesitation in recommending the Godin Empire P90.