Holiday Gear Guide: Live From Santa’s Pub

7.Godin Natural Elements Seagull
(MSRP $750)

Some people believe that an instrument, especially a handmade acoustic one, can possess something resembling a soul. In the day of mass production, however, that soul is generally lacking. One acoustic guitar that comes close, though, is the Seagull acoustic/electric from Godin.

It was immediately obvious that there was something different about the Seagull we tested, a part of Godin’s Natural Elements collection, within about the first 30 seconds of playing it. Wonderful feel and wonderful tone with great frequency response and balance at an affordable price make this a real player’s guitar, as well as an inspirational instrument for writing. It was hard to put it down after playing it for a while, pretty unusual for an inexpensive guitar that most people haven’t heard of. The dreadnought model we tested had a back and sides of heart of wild cherry with a spruce top, though the company uses other woods too, such as amber-trail maple. It has a flame maple veneer headstock, maple binding and B-band AC1.5T electronics with a tuner. And in keeping with what seems to be an environmentally friendly theme, there’s no stain here, but a satin finish.

These guitars are made with wood native to northern Quebec, where the guitar is manufactured; in fact, about half of the population of La Patrie, Quebec, with fewer than 500 residents, reportedly has something to do with building guitars. We tested the dreadnought which has a list price of $750 and can probably be had for a couple hundred bucks less; the cutaway models list for a little more. The Seagull comes with a highly unique case, called the TRIC, which stands for “Thermally Regulated Instrument Case.” It’s made of expanded polypropylene, the same shock absorbent, high-tech material used in automobile bumper cores and bicycle helmets, and has a cover and straps that essentially turn it into a primo, lightweight gig bag. The neck is silverleaf maple, often a choice for cellos and violins.

Even if you’re not a particularly “green” person, it’s hard to deny after playing this guitar that the folks at Godin may be onto something here, using woods that they say are a sound alternative to exotic woods and reclaimed logs. Even if you aren’t looking for a new guitar you should check out one of the Seagull models. Playing this one was as exciting and comfortable as seeing an old friend. – RICK MOORE

8.Gibson Dwight Yoakam Honky Tonk Deuce Acoustic/Electric
(MSRP $4,099)

Celebrity-inspired guitars are everywhere these days, and the Dwight Yoakam Honky Tonk Deuce Signature Artist by Gibson is yet another. In some ways it’s not all that special, but in other ways it succeeds admirably.

The body of the Honky Tonk Deuce has the traditional shape of Gibson’s slope shoulder dreadnought design, with a top made from AA-grade Sitka spruce and back and sides of Indian rosewood. The fingerboard is high-grade rosewood with a snake eyes dice inlay at the 12^th fret, ala Epiphone’s Elitist Dwight Yoakam “Dwight Trash” Casino electric hollowbody. In terms of playability the guitar works just fine and is well-balanced, but might be too upper-midrangy and ringy for the taste of some players. If nothing else, though, there’s certainly no problem with this guitar in terms of keeping up with everyone else in the room in terms of volume and the ability to cut through. The Deuce has an L.R. Baggs Element Active Acoustic Pickup along with 15:1 Gotoh vintage keystone-style nickel tuners, a J-50 shape tortoise pickguard, and the legendary Gibson crown logo on the peghead.

The one area where Gibson definitely hits a grand slam with this axe, though, is in its overall aura. The company managed to engineer a guitar that feels like Dwight Yoakam. It’s as if they somehow managed to put some of the essence of the man himself in this guitar. It’s almost spooky. You can picture him, or somebody in a Manuel jacket and a hat that covers his eyes, shimmying around the stage playing this guitar. So it’s a good choice for the player who is really into the Church of Dwight when it comes to vibe and stage presence. Having said that, if you don’t happen to be a Dwight fan, you might think twice before shelling out over three grand for this guitar (list price is $4,099.00, but can be had for about 25 percent less than that), because for that kind of money there might be another guitar out there that is more suitable for more applications. But if for no other reason than to recognize the fine folks at Gibson for their obvious hard work on this one, it definitely merits a test drive. – RICK MOORE