Dave Gilmour Signature Strat

[Greeny]

Dave Gilmour is my favourite guitarist. Only Peter Green, George Harrison and Johnny Marr come close. So I kind of found it exciting to see the new Gilmour custom shop signature Strat coming out. But then I asked myself - who's going to buy it? A die-hard Pink Floyd fan who doesn't play guitar? Or someone like me who would want to play the hell out of it? For an asking price of £2,499 to £2,899, it makes you think nobody would want to play it and just keep it as a collectors piece / investment.

Are these signature guitars just for people with way too much money to burn? I can't stand the thought that some rich banker will buy one of these and never really play it or appreciate what it is.

Or am I just p*ssed off I'll never be able to afford one?!

[guitarron]

i'd thought of changing the pickup covers and on my black strat like this

[Flash Harry]

I picked up (picked it up to try, not to  buy) a Brian Setzer Signature Gretsch in a shop in Oz. It was thousands of Aussie dollars and was lovely to look at and felt great.

But I couldn't ever do it justice and my Epiphone 335 does me just fine.

If I could afford a guitar like that, I'd spend the money on something else. 

[Greeny]

I picked up (picked it up to try, not to  buy) a Brian Setzer Signature Gretsch in a shop in Oz. It was thousands of Aussie dollars and was lovely to look at and felt great.

But I couldn't ever do it justice and my Epiphone 335 does me just fine.

If I could afford a guitar like that, I'd spend the money on something else. 

My most expensive guitar (so far) was a little under £500. I think it's about right for my level of playing, and I could never justify going over that price really. I guess you kind of just know when you're ready for the next step-up in price / quality.

[Flash Harry]

You're right. I have a Godin Solidac which I absolutely love. I paid just over £500 for it. It took me a moment to know that this was the guitar I had been looking for, I'd tried the usual stuff, the Les Pauls, the Strats and all these left me uninspired. It took me another 6 months to convince myself to buy it. I should have just gone with my first instinct.

No one of any real profile plays them, although I have seen David Byrne playing a Godin, so no one really buys them which is a real pity. They are really nice guitars from a great manufacturer, the same as Simon and Patrick, Seagull etc.

I'd rather have my Solidac to play than even the most expensive Strat.

[64Guitars]

I have a Godin Solidac which I absolutely love.

I have a Godin xtSA which is similar to your Solidac but has RMC bridge transducers instead of LR Baggs. And it's wired for synth access, although I don't have any equipment to try that with yet (but I want it). I love my Godin. I also own a Gibson and an Ibanez, but the Godin is by far my favourite. Like you, I've tried lots of expensive Gibsons, Fenders, and others but they didn't impress me like the Godin does. It's such a versatile guitar - two humbuckers, a single coil in the middle, and the RMC piezo for great acoustic sounds from a solidbody guitar, plus synth access for use with a pitch-to-midi converter or virtual guitar modeler. The feel of the guitar and the quality and craftsmanship is better than anything else I've tried. Anyone in the market for a new guitar should definitely check out Godin.

[Greeny]

I have a Godin Solidac which I absolutely love.

I have a Godin xtSA which is similar to your Solidac but has RMC bridge transducers instead of LR Baggs. And it's wired for synth access, although I don't have any equipment to try that with yet (but I want it). I love my Godin. I also own a Gibson and an Ibanez, but the Godin is by far my favourite. Like you, I've tried lots of expensive Gibsons, Fenders, and others but they didn't impress me like the Godin does. It's such a versatile guitar - two humbuckers, a single coil in the middle, and the RMC piezo for great acoustic sounds from a solidbody guitar, plus synth access for use with a pitch-to-midi converter or virtual guitar modeler. The feel of the guitar and the quality and craftsmanship is better than anything else I've tried. Anyone in the market for a new guitar should definitely check out Godin.

For anyone in the UK, the November Issue of 'Guitarist' magazine has a review of no less than 4 Godin electrics. The xtSA is one of two models that picked up their 'best buy' award. So maybe the word is spreading that these are top quality instruments...

[Flash Harry]

I have a Godin xtSA which is similar to your Solidac

I should have spotted this from your avatar!

How fast is the pitch to Midi? I have tried some outboard converters but I have found them slow and unresponsive.

[guitarron]

How fast is the pitch to Midi? I have tried some outboard converters but I have found them slow and unresponsive.

using a GR1 if set up right it's ok for some fills, but can give unexpected results if you try to solo with speed, i completely gave up trying to use it with sonar-
If i had to do it again, i'd opt for an Axon

[64Guitars]

How fast is the pitch to Midi? I have tried some outboard converters but I have found them slow and unresponsive.

The xtSA has no built-in pitch-to-midi converter. It merely makes the six individual signals from the piezo bridge transducers available in a GK-compatible 13-pin connector. You then have to connect this to an external pitch-to-midi converter such as those made by AXON and Roland, or some other GK-compatible device such as a guitar synth or virtual guitar modeler. I haven't actually used the synth access capabilities of my xtSA as I don't yet have the necessary external equipment. But I've read quite a lot about it and it seems that the AXON pitch-to-midi converters are by far the fastest, most accurate, and most versatile. Check out these videos to get an idea of its speed and capabilities. By all accounts, the AXON is much faster than Roland's pitch-to-midi converters. Also, I've read that the xtSA with its RMC bridge transducers offers better tracking using a pitch-to-midi converter than a guitar with a Roland GK-3 pickup attached. However, many users say the GK-3 pickup sounds slightly better when used with a Roland VG-99 or VG-88 virtual guitar modeler.