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The tones produced by this guitar are very usable indeed.

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• Review

Even a cursory click around the Godin website shows the huge array of electric guitars in the Canadian firm's catalogue: from out-and-out rockers such as the Velocity to archtop jazzers such as the 5th Avenue.

Here, we have a classic design, albeit with an unmistakable Godin twist - an onboard USB output.

Build

This sumptuous-looking guitar isn't actually Godin's first successful attempt at mixing USB with a high-quality instrument: the ACS-SA USB electro nylon-string has that honour.

"Yes, we previously came out with our Multiac ACS Nylon USB model to a warm welcome and once again wanted to provide a Canadian-made guitar with USB capability," explains Bunze.

"As is customary for Godin, it's beautifully put together."

"No external interface is needed with this guitar; you simply go straight from the guitar into your computer or laptop. That's it."

We'll get to how the guitar performs in a tick, but first we'll address the construction. Godin is rightfully proud of its quality control and wood choice, and the Progression's body features a centre section of silver leaf maple, flanked by wings of poplar.

The eye- catching cap is a quilted maple veneer with a similar sliver, albeit of plain maple, on the rear. As is customary for Godin, it's beautifully put together.

Pickups here comprise a Godin Custom humbucker and two GS-2 single-coils, plus the aforementioned HDR, and are controlled by a standard five-way lever pickup selector switch plus single volume and tone pots.

Out of the box, the vibrato is set flush to the body and the single-piece maple neck is truly something to get excited about. It's matte-finished, perfectly smooth and offers an exceedingly comfortable flat-backed 'D'-shape. There's even the choice between maple or rosewood fingerboards at no extra charge.

Sounds

Typically for an active circuit, the HDR does add its fair share of high-end to the sounds, but in position four, which gives a Mark Knopfler tone, and position two, which is almost a fat Tele style of twang, it's very usable indeed.

At higher gains the bridge humbucker, nowhere near as hot as the Icon's P-Rails, benefits greatly from the HDR's addition of brash high end, making chords really cut through.

In the passive mode the tone is mellower. With our Marshall JTM45 running at a modest level, classic rock riffs sound meaty, even though this is essentially a bolt-on superstrat.

The extent of the USB output's usefulness depends on your software. In programs that allow you to route USB device inputs and outputs separately - Apple's GarageBand for example - you're able to simply plug the guitar straight into the computer via USB, and route its output to your computer speakers, soundcard or what have you.