Godin Montreal Premiere Trans Black SF

The Godin Montreal Premiere is a classically styled semi-hollow electric that combines high quality hardware and workmanship at a price point that is very attractive for a North American made guitar. Lively, clean, and easy to play, the Godin Montreal is a versatile instrument that brings the virtues of semi-hollow tone within the reach of every player.

This is a Godin "SF" factory second, which means a slight cosmetic imperfection somewhere on the guitar. In this case a few light "water spots" on the side that can only be seen under close inspection. It carries a full warranty, and represents an excellent value. 

A Guitar Player Magazine Editor's pick, Godin has a knack for providing outstanding value and quality:

• Semi-Hollow Canadian Cherry Body, 6.4 pounds
• Double white binding
• Truss-style carved spruce core
• Mahogany set net, 24-3/4" scale, 22 medium frets
• Rosewood fingerboard
• 2 Godin Humbucker pickups
• 3-way pickup switch
• Volume and tone controls
• Graphtech Resomax bridge and tailpiece
• Schaller strap lock buttons
• Dual action truss rod
• Godin Deluxe padded gig bag
• Made in Canada
• List price $1895

The Godin Montreal Premiere is the latest addition to Godin's line of set neck guitars that began back in 2010 with the Icon series. Featuring semi-hollow cherry construction, the Montreal produces clean, airy tones in a thinline format.

While cherry may not qualify as a "classic" tonewood to traditionalists, it turns out to have some very attractive qualities. Cherry is acoustically loud, clean and produces a very clear midrange with nice upper end detail. Sonically it is crisp like maple but with a little stronger bottom end. The grain is pretty nice too, and the fact that it is domestically available in Canada helps to keep the cost down.

The nickel plated Godin humbucking pickups are moderate in output, and are the same ones used in their previous Montreal model, and the 5th Avenue Uptown. These pickups complement the cherry construction, and are naturally clean, with good note separation, a smooth top end, and a slightly soft attack that makes them easy to control. They Montreal is devoid of the sometimes heavy, muddy midrange that afflicts many humbucker guitars and works very well for clean rhythm playing and snappy lead work. Rolling off the tone control provides a smoother jazzier side, but the Montreal never gets particularly woody or wooly sounding. The boosted and distortion tones are lean with a lot of top end sparkle and harmonics, and are well suited to crunchy blues and fusion more so than the chugging low end needed for harder styles of music. The spruce center core effectively manages any feedback issues, so you can crank this guitar without fear of it howling.

The Godin neck is what you might term a "medium C" profile, measuring roughly .830" at the first fret with a relatively gentle taper up to the 12th fret. The fretwork consists of nicely finished medium frets that set up very easily to a .060" height at the 12th fret, and depending how hard you play you can go lower without objectionable buzz. Godin guitars are very consistent out of the box (or gig bag), and require very little -- if any -- adjustment to get them dialed in.

While the Godin Montreal Premiere does not break any barriers in modern guitar design, it's an attractive and nicely crafted instrument that is well suited to pop, rock, fusion and jazz styles of music. If you are a fan of famous 335 players like Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour, the Godin Montreal can get you into the zone at an extremely attractive price.