”At one point the magicals technological madness of the 60s gave birth to his 'monster child': after Bob Murrell had presented his first experiments and Vox had thought to transfer the sound module of his Continental organ inside the body of a Phantom guitar VI, others were the examples that followed and among the various we cannot fail to mention the probably most fascinating and technically successful project, the Godwin The Organ. Of uncertain year of birth, someone assigns it to the mid-70s and some others at the beginning, surely the instrument produced for Godwin/Sisme is the most fascinating of the family of guitars that reproduce organ sounds.
Lorenzo
Real forerunner of the synth guitar, The Organ sees the Italian genius push to its maximum: each fret of the neck, divided into 6 segments, had electrical connections so that when they came into contact with the string you obtain the same effect as pushing a key on an organ, the electrical contact closes and the note sounds perfect and without the possibility of error. In this the Godwin has no rivals: no latency or flicker due to a bad tracking (tracing the note), defect present in almost every one of the first guitar synth and often also in the current ones. This places her as a true forerunner of synth guitars.
In addition to the electronic organ sound, The Organ is also a “normal” electric guitar, equipped with a pair of pickups that recall the lipstick style, with adjustable balance and volume. The electronics are housed inside the instrument, in a compartment on the back and below the pickguard that houses the various controls (19 switches and 13 potentiometers on the top model and 16 switches and 4 pots on the “budget” model), while the complex electronic system is powered by a special power pack enclosed in a box in which a volume pedal is also inserted. Basically, the rotary switches take the function of the drawbars and each “drawbar” can be switched on or off, the musician can thus add or subtract the desired “instruments” and adjust the tremolo speed via onboard controls.
The aesthetics of this instrument speaks for itself and you can immediately notice that was designed for the US market (as often happened with the instruments of the Godwin brand): a particular and modern version of the double Florentine cutaway enriches the sinuous forms of this hollow body, entirely built in maple with a splendid S-shaped hole and five other sound-holes of various lengths, and with silver retina too, adorn the top. The comfortable 3-piece fat neck, also in maple, is secured to the body by a 4-screw plate with shoulder-strap pin, serial number and the words “Made in Italy” engraved.
The black dot microdots are on the side, on the binding that runs at the edges of the keyboard, while the beautiful and modern stylized headstock, bearing the beautiful logo Godwin Organ, is equipped with the excellent Grover Rotomatic mechanics. The rosewood fingerboard has 21 keys divided into 6 segments for the same number of individual electrical contacts. The bridge is typically height adjustable, with 6 saddles that can also be individually adjusted and has a hand rest cover, while the pleasant trapezoidal cord with the G of the logo is anchored with 3 screws.
The shape of the Organ has a personality that stands out and every detail is very well balanced: we find ourselves in front of an aesthetic of great charm and it is a pity has not been marketed as a hollow body electric guitar in its own right because surely it would have received its personal fame.
The most famous endorser of this instrument was Peter Van Wood, who was evidently so enthusiastic that he even dedicated an album titled “Van Wood and His Magic Guitar Organ”, making himself portrayed on the cover with The Organ on display.
Unfortunately, you cannot find many video files, except for these few which do not give a good idea of the functioning and sound of the instrument (in the latter the guitar no longer even has the electronic section of the organ). In the first, however, it is possible to see the fragment of a television live performance by Van Wood with his organ guitar.
