With the soul of a 1950s archtop, the Godin 5th Avenue captures the vintage spirit of yesterday with today’s level of modern playability—all with the build quality of a North American-made guitar.
Hand-built in Princeville, Quebec, the Godin 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II features a cutaway body design and two P90 single-coil pickups, which deliver classic warm sound that still cuts. Constructed from Canadian Wild Cherry, the 5th Avenue features a molded arched top and back, and it delivers strong projection and volume in the lows and mids like a traditional archtop acoustic guitars. When you plug it in, it retains a lot of that dynamic natural acoustic sound, and the P90 pickups are the perfect fit for this template. More than capable of pushing a good tube amp into smooth saturation, the P90s also clean up well with the volume control.
As for hardware, the Kingpin II has an adjustable bridge, classic trapeze tailpiece, a floating pickguard, and Kluson-style tuning machines. The 5th Avenue neck profile feels like an acoustic guitar, but it plays smooth and easy like an electric guitar.
This 2010s Godin 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II sports a beautiful cognac burst finish, and although it shows some bumps and bruises (the worst is at the waist on the treble side, right where it sits on your knee), it's in nice shape all around. It plays well, sounds like it should, and includes a molded plastic hardshell case. All at price that is impossible to beat!