Godin 5th Avenue TL Kingpin P90 - bridge

[DanielleOM]

I purchased one of these and it should arrive this coming week.

This is the new Thin Line model.

I have often heard others play the standard body depth Kingpins with P90s but I did not want a full depth 16" archtop. Weight close to 5 lbs is a bonus.

I do not have details on the T.O.M. bridge. Not sure what the saddle depth is. With a 16" fret board radius, I have not yet determined what they furnish for the bridge.

Specs I have found bridge as:

"	Graphtech Adjustable Tusq Bridge (base) w/ T.O.M. With brass Saddles "

403 Forbidden

[Donnd]

Did you receive the guitar? Curious about your opinion on sound/playability. Thanks

[DanielleOM]

Did you receive the guitar? Curious about your opinion on sound/playability. Thanks

I opened up the shipping box early yesterday morning.

I am actually quite pleased with the guitar. It's nice to receive an archtop with no hardware rattles.

The guitar has a nice smooth maple neck. It's a nice alternative to nitrocellulose finished necks.

The guitar is only 5 lbs. It's certainly loud enough for home practice. The only other laminate archtop I have here is an Eastman AR371CE. I think the acoustic response on the 5th Ave TL is more even in comparison. The AR371CE in comparison always seemed very resonant at lower frequencies and a little thin sounding at higher frequencies.

It arrived with bridge in place with 11 gauge round wound strings. I am used to playing flatwounds and round wounds just sound different to me. Setup seemed reasonable and I played it through most of the day without making any changes to action or intonation.

Frets are nice. I did check with a Fret Rocker.

It's difficult for me to comment on the plugged in sound. I did practice with most of the day through my Henriksen Bud 6 with flat EQ. I don't have any other guitars here with P90 style pickups to compare to. I usually play guitars with a Benedetto A6 pickup. I think it's difficult to comment on pickups when they have only been used at home practice volume levels. I will take the guitar out this weekend. I will also check it out here using my DV Mark Little Jazz amp.

It might be good to refer to some of the older threads here that pertain to the larger depth 5th Ave guitars with P90s. I suspect they are the same pickups.

In summary I am glad I purchased this guitar and expect to enjoy playing it. When you look at the cost of other laminate guitars including ones imported from Asia, it's nice a guitar manufactured in Quebec at current prices.

Danielle

[John A.]

<snip> It might be good to refer to some of the older threads here that pertain to the larger depth 5th Ave guitars with P90s. I suspect they are the same pickups.

Danielle

I have no information one way or the other, but I have a hard time imagining they're not the same pickups. Godin's modus operandi is to use the same components on multiple products to full extent possible (especially with the 5th Avenue line), and I can't see them using two different P90s within the same product line. Having had both Godin and Gibson P90-equipped guitars, I can say that Godin makes a good sounding P90.