1st post

[bborzell]

I've been hanging around for about a week. Most of my playing for the past few years has been mandolin. More recently, I decided to take up Jazz mandolin and most recently I thought it was time to dive into jazz guitar.

My only jazz like guitar was a Cort Jim Triggs model TRG-2, but I never liked the pickups that came with it so I swapped them out for a set of S-D Jazz Neck and JB bridge PUs. Also swapped out to flat wound strings and eventually got the sort of tone that I find both balanced and pleasing.

It didn't take too long to realize that 1 hour or more in front of a Robert Conti DVD made for sore body parts. Despite the fact that the Cort is a "thinline" guitar, it is anything but light.

So back I went to a Taylor GS Mini that weighs about nothing and that's what I have been practice with for a few weeks. Then, it occurred to me that one of the newer laminates might produce a good combination of tone and ergonomics. After nosing around here, it seemed to me that a 350 The Loar or a Godin Kingpin might be the ticket for more comfortable, and hopefully more beneficial practice sessions.

Best price I could find online was $699 for the single PU version of the Godin and no amount of reasonable research led me to a viable The Loar guitar. It was either buy sight unseen or, well that was all there was and the manufacturer didn't appear to be making friends with many dealers in the supply department so while the 350 looked good on paper, the iffy follow through of the guitar section of the company caused me to focus on the Godin (I am very aware of The Loar's success on he mandolin front).

I have a Godin A8 mandolin and have been quite pleased with the quality of the build so that provided me with a good foundation of comfort with the Godin option. After calling pretty much all over, I managed to find a new Kingpin in black at a local rock shop. They had had it for a year and, since it didn't have a lightning bolt body shape or neon strings, it had been ignored by the regular clientele. As such, they were wiling to drop the price from the normal street price of $699 to $499 so I took them up on it and have been noodling around with Satin Doll for much of the evening.

It would be an understatement to simply say that I like this guitar. The tone through the JC Clean channel of my Cube 60 amp is everything I was looking for and the Godin is quite playable. I'm pretty adaptable to variations in necks, but that was not an issue for the Kingpin. It works very well for me.

Back to the Conti DVD... and thanks for all the helpful comments from folks who have mentioned the various guitars I considered before making this choice.

[Meggy]

Welcome on board - I think the general consensus (if there is such a thing here ) would be that the Godin Kingpin is an excellent choice, especially at the price you have paid. Interesting to read your thoughts though, cheers!

[mr. beaumont]

Welcome aboard. Glad you enjoy the kingpin-- one of the best values in "jazz" guitars going, in my opinion.

[pierre richard]

welcome borzell

you will like the air here..most times fresh and rewarding...

once in a while a cloud will roll in but is quickly blown away..

time on the instrument...pierre