Godin Guitars: the World’s Most Underrated Brand

When I was in college, I worked a summer job and saved up enough money to buy a nice, new guitar. I was in Joplin, MO, at the time, and I wandered into a local music store.

Little did I know that would be the day I fell in love.

Seagull guitars on display. (Photo by Melissa_wants_this_Guitar_in_England.jpg: David Blaikiederivative work: Guitarpop, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

There was a six-string acoustic guitar with a cutaway on display. I walked up and played it, and boy, did it feel good. It had a nice, rich tone as well. The more I played it, the more I didn’t want to put it down. I looked at the headstock and saw a bird on it. The brand was Seagull, a company I’d never heard of before. Nevertheless, I had to have that guitar.

Robert Godin

Seagull was the brainchild of Canadian guitar-maker Robert Godin. Godin grew up (and still lives) in Quebec. He began making guitars in 1972 as a way to act on his passion for good music and craftsmanship. Over the next decade, he was able to parlay his small shop in rural Quebec into a solid guitar company, Godin Guitars, which is now one of the largest guitar manufacturers in North America — but one many musicians are still unfamiliar with, unfortunately.

In many ways, Robert Godin might be considered the Canadian Paul Reed Smith. In interviews, Robert’s dedication to and passion about making the absolute best guitars is immediately apparent. Like Paul…