Godin 5th avenue vs ibanez af105

[TH]

I'm going to throw another option in here. This is just my own opinion and it's what I've found based on my own real experiences. I respect the Godin- and I do like the Ibanez AF line. Unlike you I didn't love the pickups as they came stock on the AF. I bought an AF105 for a student while I was working for Ibanez; it's a really pretty and well made guitar. Then I replaced the neck pickup with a Duncan Antiquities, just to see what would happen. I wanted to keep it myself.

I'm constantly surprised by how much something like a good pickup changes the feel of a guitar. It honestly felt like a better guitar when the pickup was switched. Things about the instrument were brought out, the delicate and solid attack of a note just came alive and jumped out then gave a warm voice to the instrument. I couldn't put it down.

The standard outfitting of humbuckers on the Ibanez made this switch out very easy. The result was a real keeper worth much more than the sum of the parts.

But that's because I like the Ibanez neck, and I love the Antiquities sound in a jazz box. I also happen to like the Duncan Jazz and many people don't, so don't take my word on any of these things. Consider your options and put your own taste above anything anyone else says. It's your music that's at stake.

David

[Boston Joe]

But that's because I like the Ibanez neck, and I love the Antiquities sound in a jazz box. I also happen to like the Duncan Jazz and many people don't, so don't take my word on any of these things. Consider your options and put your own taste above anything anyone else says. It's your music that's at stake.

David

I'm in love with the sound of the Super 58s in my JSM. I've never used an Antiquity or SD Jazz, so I couldn't make a comparison, but the sound of those pickups is so full and bell-like.

[jbucklin]

I think Jim Hall started with a 175 P90. However, much as I love the Godins (have had 2), I don't think they have that dark Gibsony sound...

You're right, Jim Hall played his P90 175 for years. However, he had the fretboard replaced with an ebony one and also had his good friend Attila Zoller make a humbucker for it. His album, "It's Nice to be with You" was the first recording he did with his newly modded 175, and his tone on that album is stunningly beautiful. Warm, dark, yet extremely articulate--much different from the sound he got from the P90 and rosewood fretboard (not that that sound was bad by any means!). Check that album out if you haven't already. It's one of his most sublime studio recordings IMO, which also began his very modern period.