It’s fun to be different eh? I’d learned of Godin many years ago but never had an opportunity to play one until I picked up an old SD22 at a local mom and pop store a few weeks ago. It was well built and lot of fun to play, so I bought it. After that I started researching Godin’s current solid body offerings. I was drawn to the Radium for the shorter 24.75 scale and because it’s sort of weird looking and I thought it looked cool. There’s not very much information about the Radium out there but I found all I could and liked what I saw, so I decided I’d take a chance and get one from the fine folks here at zZounds knowing I had 45 days if I changed my mind. Starting with the basics, it comes with a Godin gig bag. It’s got decent padding and good storage for a stock bag, and has a neck/headstock support with a velcro strap to keep the guitar secure in the bag. There was no case candy or even a truss rod adjustment wrench which is kind of odd. In case you need one, they take a 4mm Allen key. The guitar looks close to the photos, just a little lighter. It’s called Carbon Black, but I don’t see much black in the finish? It reminds me of a homemade guitar that someone built out of reclaimed wood from an old barn and I really dig that. There’s a nice scrape faux binding along the top side outer edge that gives a little accent to the darker finish. The semi-gloss body finish is smooth and looks and feels great. The back of the neck is smooth up and down and very easy… read more to get around. The neck is a bit bigger than the old SD22 I bought. It is not baseball bat big, more like Les Paul territory. It’s comfortable and feels good in the hand. They don’t list the fret size but I emailed Godin and they are Medium Jumbo 2.4 x 1.2 high. The rosewood fretboard is very dark and I like the contrast to the body color. The guitar is a good weight, just under 8 pounds and feels solid. No chambering, just a few pieces of wood glued together. There are a few minor nitpicks I’ll list below in the detail, but overall I’m really happy with the Radium. I’ve only had it a week but I’ve already gigged it with one band and did a 4 hour practice session with another, and I think it’s going to hold up very well and I like playing it. It’s different looking, lightweight, sonically versatile, and a blast to play. I highly recommend it!

Sound
The guitar has excellent sustain and chords ring out nicely and chunky rhythms sound full. Unplugged it resonates very well. I don’t think it sounds much like a Tele and I can’t really say it ‘sounds like’ anything, but all the tones are useable. Positions 2 and 4 are a nice lighter tone that could be used in place of Strat tones and the full bridge or neck are great for higher gain leads or blues. The T style pickup in the middle seemed an odd choice to me, but it does add to the quirkiness and on its own can produce a nice clean tone. I’m not a huge fan of split humbuckers and the Radium hasn’t changed my mind. They sound ok split, but they lack something just like all split hums do. Since pickups are a personal taste I’ll just say that I like them just fine and have no desire to change them. I enjoy all the tones from pure clean to Dual Rectifier dirt.

Features
The pickup combination is unique and gives a wide tonal palette. I play in cover bands so the ability to have different tones is very useful. Another nice feature is having strap lock buttons. These are compatible with the Schaller locks and they fit perfectly. Get the real deal don’t get the knockoffs, most won’t fit. I think the varied ratio tuners is another great idea. 26:1 ratio for the G-E makes fine tuning a breeze. And the most important feature that’s really more of a requirement is that it STAYS IN TUNE very well. As far as least useful features or gripes, the coil split I could do without, and the 5 way switch could still be a little further away from the volume knob. There’s plenty of room on the metal plate to move the volume knob another inch away. I also wish upper fret access was a little better. It’s not prohibitively bad, but playing above the 17th fret is a little cramped. All minor nitpicks and they haven’t taken away from me enjoying the guitar at all.

Ease of Use
The guitar was definitely playable out of the box and setting it up to my tastes was quick and easy since there was not much to be done. I’ve never had a guitar with a wraparound bridge/tailpiece. I was a little concerned about intonation but so far it’s not been an issue. Adjusting the string height was very quick, and even easier if you loosen the strings. Any ongoing maintenance should be a snap. After that it’s just plug and play. The 5-way switch works like all the others you’ve used, same with the knobs. From unboxing to full set up took about 20 minutes then it was ready for prime time.

Quality
am very happy with the quality of the guitar, especially considering the price. It’s not custom shop level by any means, just a well built no frills guitar. The body fit and finish is excellent. The nut is correctly cut and the intonation is good. The frets are level and no sharp ends or sprout. The guitar is well balanced sitting or standing. The components are Godin branded, but appear to be high quality and I don’t think I will be changing anything out. It feels great to play and I’m more than satisfied with the craftsmanship. I read the other review on here and feel bad that it happened to them because we’ve all been there, but their experience is the only negative review I have found. Sadly, seems like just a bad break. (I hope)

Value
Canada is my fatherland so I could technically call this a domestic guitar, but either way it’s getting hard to find a guitar built anywhere in North America for under $1000 USD. Even most of the Fender Ensenada made guitars are over a grand now with the exception of the new Player II series. While country of origin really doesn’t mean as much as it used to, it is still nice to find an on-shore built instrument that is high quality for that price. Since there is literally nothing else like this guitar to compare it to it’s easy for me to say it’s well worth it with the build quality, unique tone woods, and playability you get for the money.

Manufacturer Support
I emailed them a question to their info email address and received a reply within an expected amount of time. Other than that, I’ve not dealt with Godin.

The Wow Factor
If you like things that are a little bit different, then this might just be up your alley. Admittedly this look may not be for everyone, but this is a very good guitar that sounds great, plays great, and definitely stands out from the crowd.

Musical Background:
Been around the block

Musical Style:
Rock, prog, CCM, classic rock. read less