In defending Seagull, I have to eat some Crow ...

[Judson]

Okay ... after several years of defending Godin, I find myself with a big plate of crow to consume.

I was told repeatedly by Godin reps, that any guitars damaged at the Godin plants during manufacture were disassembled and the good parts were re-used for new guitars.

Godin, I was assured, would never let damaged guitars leave the plant.

Okay, so color me a bit naive.

I assumed this meant that Godin never, ever let damaged guitars reach the market at all if they could help it.

Now, I find that this is not necessarily factual.

Today I was told the following:

When Godin guitars are damaged in shipment and returned to the plant (called C-Stock), Godin does indeed sometimes sell these damaged guitars to their dealers, who in turn re-sell them either as is, or repaired.

In all my discussions with Godin reps, I had never heard the term "C-Stock" mentioned before, only "Factory Seconds/Blems" and "B-Stock". Every time it was discussed, the implication from Godin was that the dealer in question had "somehow" obtained guitars that had been damaged/broken in shipment, but not directly from Godin.

Maybe I never phrased the question properly, or maybe I just heard what I wanted to hear. I dunno. But, I'll admit that I'm disappointed. I can't see Martin, Taylor, Gibson, or Larrivee, etc., doing this.

PS: My apologies to "Sounds Cheap" and "Slightly Touched" guitars for my misguided criticism. I've never had a problem with your business model and you fill a demand at a good price. I just didn't believe you got the guitars directly from Godin.

[PTC Bernie]

They're not alone in being less than forthcoming.

For instance, if you get a new phone from Verizon and its defective, they replace it with what they call a "Like New" phone. They will never acknowledge or call it "refurbished", "remanufactured" or anything other than "like new". They are very specific in their terminology.

It pays to push a bit when they're mushy on their terminology.