New Toy - Godin Glissentar

**dane** · Oct-18-2004, 9:37pm

I picked up a pretty cool new toy on Ebay this week -- a Godin Glissentar. #It's a fretless instrument with 11 strings arranged like an oud (5 double courses + a single bass drone string). #Looks like most everything Godin makes (guitars, basses, mandolins).

Although I gather most owners tune it like a guitar, I use oud tuning (CFADGC) which I'm more comfortable with. #The sound isn't as rich as the oud's (that huge oud chamber makes a big difference), but it sounds very nice amplified (unlike most ouds) and the mechanical tuners are great after years of wrestling with the oud's friction tuners.

Curious if any other Mando Cafe folks have tried one of these?

**Shana Aisenberg** · Oct-21-2004, 8:42pm

Haven't tried one of these. A few years ago I converted an Martin OM-15 to fretless, I've used various open tunings on it, DADGAD, etc.

**Mike Crocker** · Oct-23-2004, 5:28am

I've never had the luxury of playing one, but when I first saw one in the Godin catalogue I was pretty primed to get one. No local dealer would take the chance of getting one on spec so the purchase never happened. I play some fretless bass and a little fiddle, so this really appealed to me.

Anyone know of recordings?

Peace, Mooh.

**delsbrother** · Nov-15-2004, 10:08pm

Here's one right in the MC stomping grounds!

**Sellars** · Nov-16-2004, 6:10am

wow! what a nice thing! I very much like the idea. But isn't the scale length way off? Does that change the playing a lot?

**dane** · Nov-27-2004, 10:21pm

Acually, the scale length is quite comfortable to anyone who plays octave mandolin or bouzouki, and the mechanical tuners are a real pleasure after years of mucking about and constant retuning with the friction tuners on an oud. All in all, it's quite a nice instrument to play around with and to get a rough approximation of an oud that is in several respects easier to play than an oud. That said, the tone of the glissentar really doesn't compare with the tone of an acoustic oud, and amplified I like the sound of my Najarian electric oud a lot better than that of the Glissentar.

**dane** · Nov-27-2004, 10:29pm

Najarian electric oud:

**mandroid** · Dec-07-2004, 4:14pm

Godin's Nylon string fretless SA guitar is another interesting instrument.
with a GR synth you have the bass tones and a whole lot more, chromatic program can make the pitchs in 1/2 steps as if fretted, or continuous.