# NGD Godin Velocity



## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

kinda bummed that I didn’t make it through 2018 without buying a guitar, but I’m easily consoled with... a new (to me) guitar.

Found this on L&M in the deals section. It’s a Godin Velocity:


























Quick and dirty photos for now; I literally just unboxed it. 

Here’s the specs;

Neck: Rock Maple
Fingerboard: Indian Rosewood with Ergocut
Radius: 12” (30 cm)
Scale: 25 1/2” (64.75 cm)
Nut Width: 1 11/16” (4,3 cm)
Body: Silver leaf maple center with poplar wings
Pickups: 2 x Godin GS-1 single coils (neck & middle), SH-5 Seymour Duncan Custom humbucker (bridge)
Controls: 5-way switch, 1 x Volume, 1 x Tone, 
1 x Godin High-Definition Revoicer 
Finish: Natural Flame HG

Now I’m off to clean, restring and setup.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Congrats! 

The flame on that guitar is beautiful.

We are both celebrating NGD's

ENJOY!

P.S. I will be doing a restring also...but I am not as dedicated as you are to do that 'right away'.


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

greco said:


> Congrats!
> 
> The flame on that guitar is beautiful.
> 
> ...


Congrats to you, as well!


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## johnnyshaka (Nov 2, 2014)

Congrats, very nice!! Love my Godin and all this talk about restringing reminds me that mine is well overdue for some lovely new strings! Enjoy!


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Nice. Sounds like it's a pretty versatile guitar. Especially with the Duncan Custom SH-5 in bridge. I wonder how she growls?


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

Dorian2 said:


> Nice. Sounds like it's a pretty versatile guitar. Especially with the Duncan Custom SH-5 in bridge. I wonder how she growls?


I just tried it through my little Vox pathfinder, and with the gain turned up, it was warm and wooly; likely due to dead strings and the bad setup. I’d say it’ll play nicer when everything is clean. The neck and middle pickups are very nice; articulate and fat, appear to love gain.


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## LaRSin (Nov 27, 2006)

looking good..


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## Morkolo (Dec 9, 2010)

Congratulations on that beauty. I remember playing one at Long & Mcquade and really liking the neck on it.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

That is one of the cleanest (in a sharp way) looking guitars I've seen in awhile. You'll enjoy playing that for a long time.


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## BSTheTech (Sep 30, 2015)

Looks like a solid shred-mobile. Enjoy!


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## bigboki (Apr 16, 2015)

Congratulations, great guitar. How is the neck on velocity - fat or thin?

I remember I tried once Progression Boutique at L&M Scarborough, and it felt really nice, fat, handful but in pleasant way.
This guitar looks very similar to that one


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

bigboki said:


> Congratulations, great guitar. How is the neck on velocity - fat or thin?
> 
> I remember I tried once Progression Boutique at L&M Scarborough, and it felt really nice, fat, handful but in pleasant way.
> This guitar looks very similar to that one


Other than the flatter fretboard radius and larger frets, this neck is a dead ringer for the modern c shape on my other strat. It’s very comfy, and that “ergocut” process makes the neck feel great; very worn in and comfy.


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

Congrats!

Whait is a « hight definition revoicer »?


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

Ti-Ron said:


> Congrats!
> 
> Whait is a « hight definition revoicer »?


It’s almost like an active boost. Seems to boost the treble and mids, fun for solos and such. Godin says it’s “like the difference between switching from passive to active pickups”. I’m enjoying it so far by setting the amp just on the point of breakup, and then using the boost to drive the rest of the way. It’s activated by that little push switch by the tone control.


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

Well, frig, that's a handsome instrument.

How does it sound with the maple core and poplar wings? I'd bet witht he stainless steel saddles it's very bright.


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

Rollin Hand said:


> Well, frig, that's a handsome instrument.
> 
> How does it sound with the maple core and poplar wings? I'd bet witht he stainless steel saddles it's very bright.


It’s definitely different. The body is a great weight, I don’t know how much effect the maple/poplar combo has on the tone, but I like what I’m hearing.

The pickups aren’t voiced for classic strat tones either; the neck and middle have a bit of the strat honk, but they also have a character all their own. With the HDR boost, the neck pickup almost takes on an underwound p90 type of vibe.

I don’t really know what to compare this guitar to, but it’s about 99% the perfect strat for me. My only gripe is the bridge; I don’t see why they didn’t go for a 2 point tremolo instead of the vintage 6 screw. The vintage bridge will work fine, I just find them more finicky to setup with no perceived benefit over the modern 2 point, especially on an instrument that is up-playing all of its modern refinements.

It’s a great guitar, and I’m glad I caught this deal.


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

Ronbeast said:


> It’s almost like an active boost. Seems to boost the treble and mids, fun for solos and such. Godin says it’s “like the difference between switching from passive to active pickups”. I’m enjoying it so far by setting the amp just on the point of breakup, and then using the boost to drive the rest of the way. It’s activated by that little push switch by the tone control.


Oh nice, seems like a Clapton boost module!
Make it easy to play without additional pedals!


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## bigboki (Apr 16, 2015)

Ronbeast said:


> Other than the flatter fretboard radius and larger frets, this neck is a dead ringer for the modern c shape on my other strat. It’s very comfy, and that “ergocut” process makes the neck feel great; very worn in and comfy.


Thank you very much for the info - really appreciate it.


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

Ronbeast said:


> I don’t really know what to compare this guitar to, but it’s about 99% the perfect strat for me. My only gripe is the bridge; I don’t see why they didn’t go for a 2 point tremolo instead of the vintage 6 screw. The vintage bridge will work fine, I just find them more finicky to setup with no perceived benefit over the modern 2 point, especially on an instrument that is up-playing all of its modern refinements.


Wilkinson makes a two-point bridge that is designed to replace the vintage six screw using the two outermost screw holes as starting points for the posts. If it fits....

Wilkinson 2 Pivot Screw Vibrato ~ Chrome


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

That's a very nice looking guitar.


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

Rollin Hand said:


> Wilkinson makes a two-point bridge that is designed to replace the vintage six screw using the two outermost screw holes as starting points for the posts. If it fits....
> 
> Wilkinson 2 Pivot Screw Vibrato ~ Chrome


I checked it out, man is that a great design. The steel block is a nice upgrade too, since this Godin has a zinc block.

Edit: just saw where you said it requires posts. Unfortunately I don’t want to mod this guitar if I ever do want to sell it in the future. That’s a nice kit though; I’ll consider it for some future projects. Thanks for the link!


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Cool
Enjoy!


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

Ronbeast said:


> I checked it out, man is that a great design. The steel block is a nice upgrade too, since this Godin has a zinc block.
> 
> Edit: just saw where you said it requires posts. Unfortunately I don’t want to mod this guitar if I ever do want to sell it in the future. That’s a nice kit though; I’ll consider it for some future projects. Thanks for the link!


No posts -- I had misremembered. It simply uses the two outermost screws.

They also make one that uses all six screws, but elongates five of the screw holes to lessen friction at the pivot points.


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## DavidP (Mar 7, 2006)

Welcome to the Godin clan -- I have been moving over to Godins vs the 'big' brands in recent years; I have an RG3, Session Custom and Session Plus, all with the revoicers and my strats now mainly sit their cases. What I really like is the neck cutaway on the body for easy access to the upper frets.
I expect that SD Custom is 4-wire but don't see a toggle for coil splitting; my Session Plus has a 3-way toggle to get each side of the bridge coil, and I replaced the original Godin HB with a Custom 5 that splits really well. Highly recommended but you'd have to drill a hole for the toggle as those controls are mounted to a PCB with the HDF circuitry...


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

I’ve been playing this guitar a lot over the last two weeks. Initially, I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it; it’s just not a strat, and it’s not an SG, so it was outside of my comfort zone. I basically forced myself to play it, to get my hands used to it and pick up the subtle nuances of the instrument and I can honestly say, I’m really glad I did.

The Duncan custom in the bridge was initially my biggest hurdle. I found every single note melted together in indistinguishable mud. What did I learn from this? The Custom is incredibly sensitive to string height! Even a small increment of adjustment changed the tone drastically. I actually adjusted the pickup height by arpegiating a chord and then quickly changing the height until I got my sweet spot. 

Godin is a weird brand. Some of the classic tones are there, but for the most part they’re their own beast, and that threw me for a loop. I’ve heard a lot of people say things like “Godin just didn’t do it for me” or “it just didn’t have the right sound”. At this point, I 100% fully understand those sentiments; that’s how I felt when I first picked this guitar up. I know it’s kind of silly to force yourself to warm up to a guitar, but once I realized what this instrument was, and stopped trying to make it sound like something it blatantly isn’t, I really started to appreciate what it’s capable of.

So, I think this guitar will stay with me for a while. Now I’m wondering what other brands I may have brushed over in the past.


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## Morkolo (Dec 9, 2010)

Ronbeast said:


> The Duncan custom in the bridge was initially my biggest hurdle. I found every single note melted together in indistinguishable mud. What did I learn from this? The Custom is incredibly sensitive to string height! Even a small increment of adjustment changed the tone drastically. I actually adjusted the pickup height by arpegiating a chord and then quickly changing the height until I got my sweet spot.
> 
> So, I think this guitar will stay with me for a while. Now I’m wondering what other brands I may have brushed over in the past.


I went through the same thing with Gretsch. The original owner had the pickups setup way under TV Jones' recommended specs, a few shims later and there was the Gretsch sound I always wanted. Now like you I can't help but wonder how many good ones I passed on because of a simple setup.


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