Godin 5th Avenue Jazz - Your Thoughts?

[RyanM]

The 5th Avenue is aesthetically one of the best looking archtops - balanced shape and the shaded burst is better looking than most sunburst finishes (with a hard black outline). Much better looking than blobby Eastmans with the asymmetrical cutaway jutting out. They also have an inspiring old school vibe while being original, that the made in China copies don't have.

This is a real old thread but I am going to give it to Godin. The guitars are really ugly and uninspiring to play. They play ok but frankly there are hundreds of guitars I would rather play for jazz. In fact I would not pick one up to play anything on them. I just don't get the excitement of these guitars or why they are even popular and sell. Yes my opinion probably in the minority.

[Chazmo]

Since this older thread was resurrected, I'll pick up on my post from earlier (#19): I bought the Gibson ES-175 1959 VOS mentioned in the earlier post and it has become my go-to guitar. I also bought a used Godin Jazz along the way and I use it frequently too. Both are lightly built, but sturdy, comfortable guitars that I enjoy playing very much. I get a lot of complements on both guitars at gigs and that says a lot for the Godin, which cost considerably less than the Gibson.

[NBrown]

Hi Team,

Long-time browser, first time poster. I see that this thread gets resurrected every once in a while. Has anyone seen a 5th Ave. Jazz with the control knobs under the pickguard? There's one on Reverb right now with hidden controls, no holes in the top, and a pickguard that looks a lot like the more slender one fitted to the non-cutaway acoustic 5th Ave. It looks sharp, but the mix of parts is kind of weird, like it's a prototype or a modified acoustic. But the acoustics weren't available with a cutaway as far as I know.

Maybe I'll message the seller and report back.

Nick

[Chazmo]

I see one on Reverb from an outfit in Rhode Island. You're right, the pickguard is not factory standard for either the Jazz or the acoustic non-cutaway versions. I own both versions and their pickguards are different than this one. The pickguard on the Reverb example is more similar to the acoustic version but still not the same shape. Note the logo and screw towards the neck are in different places than the factory guards. The fact that it even has a logo leads me to believe it's not an aftermarket guard though.

Knobs mounted on the guitar top surface was factory standard for the Jazz.

Also: The tune-o-matic type saddle and engraved tuners are not factory standard for the Jazz model. My Jazz has the GraphTech Tusq saddle and bridge that come standard on most other 5th Avenue varieties. My Jazz tuners are similar to the Reverb guitar, but more like standard Waverlys than the highly engraved tuners shown in the Reverb photos.

The pickup may or may not be the same as factory standard. It's hard to tell from the photos and many other pickups look pretty much the same.

An interesting example and a real conversation piece. It wouldn't be the first time a Godin prototype has escaped into the wild. I watched an all-acoustic Jazz on Reverb for a while and it sold pretty quickly. I kind of wish I had bought it. Godin does not do one-off custom shop versions except for prototypes. It would be interesting to have the serial number from this Jazz and to email Godin to get information about it.

[NBrown]

That's what I thought as well. Enough strange little differences to catch your attention. The pickguard screwed straight down to the body might drive me batty. I'm looking for one of these in the natural finish, but I don't think I want this one. Its unusual configuration might be reflected in the price too.