5th ave acoustic
 

Hi
I found a Godin 5th avenue on line. It doesn't have pick ups, just acoustic. Has anyone played one? They are not on their web site anymore so I assume they are discontinued. They now make the same guitar with a single P 90. Will I regret not having a pick up? I recently sold my semi hollow body because I very seldom played it and always reached for my acoustics.

Thanks

Yes, Godin discontinued the acoustic -only Fifth Avenue. I own one I bought used this year. My personal opinion (which is hardly credible since I mostly play classical guitar) is that I like the sound of the thing. It's been a lot of fun to experiment with using different techniques. The guitar has many detractors on this forum - and some strong supporters, though mostly they seem to be talking about the electrified models.

That said, I wouldn't call the acoustic model a superior archtop acoustic guitar compared to a much higher dollar Eastman - at least from the clips I've heard on You Tube. As an affordable, good sounding, well made archtop it does the job well for me.

The acoustic Fifth Ave is, at the end of the day, a plywood guitar. You can dress it up all you want, but it kind of resembles an acoustic archtop. That said, I have two plywood acoustics - 1957 Hofner Senator and 1946 Epiphone Zephyr, and I am very fond of them both. It's a far better platform for an electric guitar, so probably why they discontinued the acoustic version. For me, it's a great guitar, just not a great acoustic archtop guitar.

They're not bad instruments. They can certainly work as an acoustic archtop should. Here's one doing just fine:



An older, deeper box will be louder, for sure. Or a Loar 600/700, if bashing out some rhythm is your bag. Or if you want the more "polite" modern acoustic archtop sound, Eastman is the way to go on a budget.

As for the pickup and missing it, really depends on what you want to do. I have the single pickup version, it's a great guitar--I keep my action low for plugged in playing so the acoustic volume suffers...archtops are guitars of compromise in many situations, there's no "swiss army archtop," I suppose.

But the quality and workmanship on the Godins is just great. Certainly worth checking out.

You could add a floating pickup...I did that once to my acoustic only 5th Avenue - or had my guy do it for me. P90s are cool, but I wanted a mini humbucker at the time.

https://i.imgur.com/j2iLDbO.jpg

How did you like the P90 after you added it to the 5th Avenue? I've been considering getting it done on mine. Even though I like the acoustic sound I play jazz chord melody and think the electric sound might sound better.

tigobah..that's a mini humbucker, not a P90. Probably a better fit for your jazz chording.

Kinda depends...I mean, there were no humbuckers til the late 50's...plenty of jazz before then:)

The thing that's cool about the mini humbucker is that it doesn't dampen the top if it's attached to the neck extension or pickguard.

Something else to look into would be a removable pickup like a DeArmond.

Well, as you can tell I don't know a P90 from a humbucker from a Mack truck but thanks for the information. Maybe I should go talk to my guitar guy and see what he recommends.

I bought mine a few years ago as a practice guitar that stands by my book holder. I love her, but I would not take her at gigs as she misses projection.

Godin used to offer many different electric options with different pickups.

Pick up the pickup...
 

I used to own both the acoustic Fifth Avenue and the Kingpin, with a P-90. When I sold one, there was no doubt about keeping the Kingpin. You can play it both ways, but the amplified sound is much stronger and more flexible than the chunky acoustic tone. It's a good acoustic guitar, the notes have body and character, but it really comes alive when plugged in.

I'll +1 the above, and add that heavier strings - I'm presently using Martin Monel 13's, and I had 14's on my all-acoustic 5th Avenue for most of its life - make all the difference in the world when it comes to acoustic volume/tone; while they'll never sound like a carved-top Big Band-era comp box I like to think of them as an idealized version of the student/studio 16" archtops of the '40s/50s (Harmony, Kay, Gibson L-48, Guild A-50, etc.) - lightweight, good-sounding, serviceable instruments made to a standard most of the old ones didn't approach...

A note of appreciation.
 

Every time I read a Steve DeRosa comment I feel much more reassured that I made the right decision in my guitar choices. ::)

Considering the wealth of knowledge we've all picked up from Steve, I'd sure buy any book you care to write about music, Steve. When are you gonna sit down and write that book?