Fender Mod Shop expands availability

[Larry Mal]

Good points, I feel - I believe Larrivée still build at least some of their acoustics in but also others abroad, unless it's all overseas now. A friend of mine has one and it's lovely, just a shame he's a lefty because obviously it's pretty hard to play...

Larrivée is made entirely in California, nothing is made overseas.

[bessieboporbach]

Good points, I feel - I believe Larrivée still build at least some of their acoustics in but also others abroad, unless it's all overseas now. A friend of mine has one and it's lovely, just a shame he's a lefty because obviously it's pretty hard to play...

Oh yeah I forgot about Godin! I like the guitars where they build the GK pickups into the bridges so you have the option for using Roland VG synth stuff; personally I love all that and would happily consider fitting it to one of my electrics but the long fragile expensive 13-core cable is off-putting and as far as I know there's no wireless version of it.

I'm getting a bit off topic now but I have to say, in the acoustic arena in particular (and electric archtops), I'm a bit astonished what the Godin family of brands is able to pull off for a Canadian-made instrument at the prices they charge. I know they cut corners with scarf joints, hidden screws, and that sort of thing, but it's not like the import brands aren't doing that stuff too at the same price point or higher. And their instruments sound good and are built like tanks.

I'm one of those tiresome scrooges about guitar prices, especially in the COVID era, but one of the reasons I'm like that is because of how much you still get when you buy Godin.

Godin retail prices have gone way up sadly, at least their electrics. Their Stadium 59 was one guitar I've always kinda wanted but never pulled the trigger... it released at 1100 CAD in 2019, nowadays it's $1979.

They did resist for a really long time, though. I have a Simon & Patrick acoustic guitar that was $499 when I bought it in 2008. It's $750 now but it was $599 for at least a decade. So a 50% increase in 16 years.

A Player Duo-Sonic went from $650 in **2018** to $1099 today. That's a 69% increase in 6 years.

To be honest I'm still not sure how they make an acoustic dreadnought in Canada, with good materials (including real rosewood boards) for $750. As I mentioned, they cut corners with scarf joints and hidden screws, but Taylor are even more overt about that and their prices are way higher for Mexican-made models, and their sides are laminated too.