Robert Godin has been a mainstay in the guitar building industry since 1972. At the age of seven, Godin got his first guitar and he has never looked back. By the time he was 15, he was working at La Tosca Musique in Montreal selling guitars and learning about minor repairs and set up work. Before long, Godin's passion for guitar playing was eclipsed by his fascination with the construction of the instruments themselves. In 1968, Godin set up a custom guitar shop in Montreal called Harmonilab, which quickly became known for its excellent work and musicians were coming from as far away as Quebec City to have their guitars adjusted. Harmonilab was the first guitar shop in Quebec to use professional strobe tuners for intonating guitars.
Although Harmonilab's business was flourishing, Godin was full of ideas for the design and construction of acoustic guitars. In 1972, the Norman Guitar Company was born. From the beginning the Norman guitars showed signs of the innovations that Godin would eventually bring to the guitar market. Perhaps the most significant item about the Norman history is that it represented the beginning of guitar building in the village of La Patrie, Quebec. La Patrie has since become an entire town of guitar builders.
By 1978, Norman guitars had become quite successful in Canada and France, while at the same time the people in La Patrie were crafting replacement necks and bodies for the electric guitar market. Before long, there was a lineup at the door of American guitar companies that wanted Godin's crew to supply all their necks and bodies.
Before the actual Godin tradmark appeared on a guitar, Godin introduced the Seagull acoustic line in 1980, the La Paterie line of classical guitars in 1982, and the Simon & Patrick line of acoustic guitars in 1985. Since Godin's factory had been producing necks and bodies for various American guitar companies since 1978, he combined that knowledge with his background in acoustic guitar design for an entirely new product. The Acousticaster debuted in 1987, and represented the first design under the Godin name. The Acousticaster was designed to produce an acoustic sound from an instrument that was as easy to play as the player's favorite electric guitar. This was achieved through the help of a patented mechanical harp system inside the guitar. Godin now presents a full line of Acousticaster-style instruments as well as full electric solidbody guitars. Today, La Si Do Inc. employs close to 500 people in four factories located in La Patrie and Princeville, Quebec (Canada), and Berlin, New Hampshire. Intial company history courtesy Robert Godin and Katherine Calder (Artist Relations), La Si Do, Inc., June 5, 1996.
Instruments currently produced in La Patrie, Quebec, Princeville, Quebec, and/or Berlin, NH since 1987. Distributed by Godin Guitars in Baie D'Urfe Quebec, Canada.