GODIN
Richmond Series
Belmont & Dorchester Models
bevel along the top edge of the entire
guitar. The finish is nicely contrasted by
a single-ply white binding along the back
edge of the body (think LP Custom), which
is complemented by a Nordic White, single-ply pickguard and matching white truss
rod cover. Another quality appointment is
the use of rubber washers (anchored with
wooden dowels) to firmly install the chrome
Schaller strap lock-ready buttons. The tuners are a non-locking, chrome-finished
Kluson 14: 1 ratio tuners that are seated
firmly in the matching colored headstock,
and have smooth action across the tuning
range. The guitar also features two black
“top hat” style knobs (Volume and Tone)
with a silver top and a four-way switch with
a black tip. The two Lace Alumintone pickups (more on these to follow) are silver/
black and fit nicely into the color palette
of the guitar. The angled neck pickup combined with the scalloped angled fret board
edge gives the model a sleek, Mosrite-flavored appearance.
The chrome roller bridge is a work of art. The
strings are anchored in a 3-screw tailpiece
that feeds a fully adjustable bridge assembly
Dorchester’s angled neck pickup
with rounded chrome saddles. The edges of
the Graph Tech nut have been honed and
rounded, a nice finish detail I appreciate.
The neck is attached to the body at the 20th
fret with four screws through a pair of neck
plates, providing the benefit of excellent
upper fret access—but I found it a little too
easy to execute neck stock bends. The neck
pocket was clean, but it did have a slight
gap where I could partially insert a business
card. The fretwork is executed flawlessly, a
definite highlight of this guitar. Combined
with the “Ergocut” fretboard (a Godin
shaping technique bevels the edges of the
fingerboard and frets back in towards the
center of the fingerboard), it makes the
Dorchester extremely easy to play. The satin
finished, medium-large C-shaped, tapered
neck, combined with a 12” fretboard radius
and medium jumbo frets, makes for a very
comfortable playing experience.
Plugging In
The Dorchester comes to life with the help
of a pair of the state-of-the-art, classically voiced Lace Alumintone humbucking
pickups. The folks at Lace Music have a
winning pickup design in the Alumintone,
