Godin Radiator

[SuperSwede]

I saw a Godin Radiator on the used guitar section of my (almost) local guitar shops website... I have read quite a few positive reviews on Harmony Central, and I really would like to know more about the tonal possibilities of this interesting guitar... Fenderish sound? Is the pickups suitable for jazzy music? Twang?

[SuperSwede]

I found a swedish guitarist that has recorded a couple of clips with his radiator.. No clean sounds, but this thing sounds good (and Andreas Lidberg plays fantastic)....

http://www.lidberg.hemsida.net/

Click on musik

[tot_Ou_tard]

I found a swedish guitarist that has recorded a couple of clips with his radiator.. No clean sounds, but this thing sounds good (and Andreas Lidberg plays fantastic)....

http://www.lidberg.hemsida.net/

Click on musik

Wow! Thanks for that link SS! I have the very Radiator that he is playing in clips 1-3, the one in clip 4 is the same except it is one of the older ones with a different color MOTS top.

As you can see it gets bluesy (although *I* can't make it do that yet). It also has PLENTY o' spank n' twaAAaang for the country stuff you've been playing. Yes, it can do the jazz thing on the neck pup with the tone rolled back, although it is a nice single coily type of jazz sound rather than a humbucker sound. The Radiator is fantastic for slide playing. The Radiator has a chambered body for acoustic resonance. Godin is well known for their necks, they made their electric bones building necks for Fender's custom shop.

My only problem is that I've run out of adjustment for intonating the low strings. I bought mine on ebay. It was my first guitar as well as ebay purchase & I didn't know all the right questions to ask. Still I like mine alot. I had the local guitar tech check it out when I first bought it. He had never seen one before, but kept commenting on what a great guitar it was amazed that I would find my way to that one as my first guitar.

Still you should try it out first & see if it fits your style. I thought it was a little bright at the bridge at first but I've done some fiddling around with pickup heights & strings & now I love it.

By the way, the Radiator has a volume knob for each pup rather than a selector switch. I like that cause one can make subtle changes in the soundby tweaking the relative vloumes.

The Radiator comes with a choice of maple & rosewood fingerboards. Mine is rosewood 'cause I really didn't know which to get. I guess the maple would emphasize the twang even more while the rosewood would pull off the jazzier sounds better. That being said, there is twang on tap in mine.

One last thing, the Radiator doesn't go much heavier than Andreas is playing in those links. So if you are looking for distortion rather than bluesy overdrive you should seek it elsewhere.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Added later to avoid double posting.

I usually play the Radiator clean, I think it sounds very good that way.

Here are some links if you are interested:

The first is a review by sweetwater

http://www.sweetwater.com/publicatio...99/page12.html

The second is from GuitarOne

http://www.godinguitars.com/godinpressradiator.htm


both are from 1999 I believe.

[SuperSwede]

Thanks Tot! I already read ALL (!) reviews on the radiator that I could find with Google.

It seems like it would be perfect for my current needs.. I seldom play with heavy distorsion, I love clean sounds..

[tot_Ou_tard]

Thanks Tot! I already read ALL (!) reviews on the radiator that I could find with Google.

It seems like it would be perfect for my current needs.. I seldom play with heavy distorsion, I love clean sounds..

I thought you might have. I posted those links just in case and for the others to know what we are talking about.

You know one time I found an article by a reporter who visited Godin's workshop when the Radiator was being developed. It discussed how it got it's name and the idea behind the construction. I've never been able to find it again. Have you seen that one?

I would only like to add yet again the disclaimer that my experience with guitars is very limited and so I don't really know what I am talking about.

...somehow I don't think that comes as much of a shock to the other fretters

Let us know how it goes!

[SuperSwede]

Let us know how it goes!

How it goes? Look below.

The neck is fantastic ! The string tension is so low that after playing on that stubborn tele it feels like the strings skate around on the neck..

[tot_Ou_tard]

How it goes? Look below.

The neck is fantastic ! The string tension is so low that after playing on that stubborn tele it feels like the strings skate around on the neck..

Yup, the action is like butter on that thing!

[SuperSwede]

I still havent made peace with the pickups.. They have that incredible spank & twang that would make any tele green of envy, but there is not enough "meat & fat" if you know what I mean

[tot_Ou_tard]

I still havent made peace with the pickups.. They have that incredible spank & twang that would make any tele green of envy, but there is not enough "meat & fat" if you know what I mean

Well that's why I asked you not to choose on my account. I'm not good or experieced enough to put it through its paces. It works for my needs however.

[SuperSwede]

Well its going to work for my needs as well... stay tuned
I think that spank is hysterical, it sounds so cool to play duane eddy stuff on it. Gretsch/Danelectro comes to mind when I play it.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Well its going to work for my needs as well... stay tuned
I think that spank is hysterical, it sounds so cool to play duane eddy stuff on it. Gretsch/Danelectro comes to mind when I play it.

I think that is the right term for it...

Hysterical spank & ridicculous twAng

Sounds like we've scared up a marketing slogan.

Yes, Gretsch & Danelectro are often used in the same breath as the Radiator.

[SuperSwede]

Its going to be awesome with fatter pickups. Its a shame that they used that strange pup dimensions, its going to make it hard to replace. Time for some radiator surgery...

[tot_Ou_tard]

Its going to be awesome with fatter pickups. Its a shame that they used that strange pup dimensions, its going to make it hard to replace. Time for some radiator surgery...

As far as the Godin low noise single coils go, I understand that they are based on Ric toasters & in fact originally had the toaster two-slot cover on them.

Godin's most recent creation released at NAMM '06 (the Triumph) uses three of them:

http://www.godinguitars.com/godinpresstriumph.htm

He certainly likes to do things his own way. Nice guy from what I hear.

[SuperSwede]

Yeah those are the same pickups...