Is Norman a good guitar brand? Who makes Norman Guitars? Where are Norman guitars manufactured? Are Norman guitars still made? Do Norman guitars sound good?
Are Norman guitars durable? There are really different guitar brands nowadays that you can choose from if you are looking for a guitar, which is why it is understandable that you can be familiar with all of them.
Is it really that important that you should know some details of a guitar brand? For me, yes. Being able to see the history of the company and how they manufacture their guitars are important factors for a person who is looking to buy a guitar to learn so that he can pre-assess the qualities of the guitar that the brand is offering to the public. It is also better to know what the materials and technologies they have used in their products are.
So, what is the Norman guitar brand, and how did it all start? Norman is a guitar company based in Canada that is known for making high-quality acoustic guitars.
The story of the company began when the future owner and founder of Godin guitars, Robert Godin, met Normand Boucher on a hunting trip in the early 1970s. Robert was still a salesman at La Tosca Music Store in Montreal at the time.
At the time they met each other, Normand was also a carpenter at the time, and he usually made doors, windows, and cabinets in La Patrie. Designing and building guitars was only his past time as a carpenter. Normand wanted to have an adjustable neck angle in his guitars so that musicians could easily adjust it if needed for a few minutes.
In 1972, Robert and Normand decided to work with each other as Norman would run the shop while Robert would be the exclusive distributor for the guitars through his company, Sibecor. Norman guitars became a hit in Quebec as more and more guitar players loved Normand’s work. In 1979, Robert decided to build his own guitar company with Normand’s son, Claude Boucher, which is now known as the LaPatrie and Seagull Guitars.
One of the main reasons why Robert and Normand decided to separate from each other is that Normand wanted to focus on building high-end acoustic guitars, while Robert wanted to sell more guitars by sacrificing their qualities. Sadly, in 1980, the Norman shop was burned to the ground, and not only in 1983 was it rebuilt, where his son Claude decided to come back to the Norman shop again.
Eventually, the shop closed down as Normand lost control of its management. In 1989, Robert decided to buy the company, and one of Normand’s sons, Richard, chose to stay with the shop. Nowadays, Norman guitars are still owned by Robert Godin, and their guitars are still manufactured in Canada.
Newest Acoustic Guitar Products From Norman Guitars
In 2020, the brand decided to unveil its new redesigns of the Norman line of acoustic guitars. These acoustic guitars are said to be refreshed models with some modernized design features, while they honor the brand’s four decades of history of making high-quality guitars.
B18 Parlor GT-Q Discrete
This acoustic guitar has a small frame, and the guitar’s body is made of Canadian wild cherry. It has a solid Sitka Spruce top and comes with a Maple neck. This guitar is known as the Cherry Bomb. It is also an acoustic-electric guitar as it has a Q-discrete pickup and volume and tone knobs on the guitar’s body.
B18 CW MJ
Just like the Cherry Bomb, this is also an acoustic-electric guitar. Its difference is that it has a mini-jumbo body shape. The body of this guitar is made of Canadian wild cherry, and its top material is Sitka Spruce. The guitar’s neck is made of Maple. It is also equipped with a Fishman Sonitone Preamp for its amplification.
B20 Natural GT QIT
This acoustic-electric guitar has a dreadnought body design made of Canadian wild cherry. Just like other models, it has a solid Sitka Spruce top and a Maple neck, but it’s fingerboard is made of Rosewood. This guitar uses a Graph Tech saddle and nut, and it is also equipped with a Custom Godin QIT System with EQ and frequency control range for its amplification.
ST30 Element
The ST30 Element is known to be a durable acoustic-electric guitar in the market. It has a solid Mahogany body and a solid Cedar for its top material. It also has a Mahogany neck and a Rosewood fingerboard. It uses Godin’s Atelier Compound Tapered Bracing for optimized stability. It is also equipped with an LR Baggs Element system for its amplification system.
ST40 Element
The ST40 Element is the cutaway model of the new series, which is designed for better access for guitar players who do guitar solos on acoustic guitars. It has a solid Sitka Spruce top and a solid Mahogany back, and its guitar neck is made of Mahogany. The ST40 also comes with an LR Baggs Element System for its amplification.
ST50 Element
The ST50 was designed by Norman guitars to inspire “the player with pen and paper in hand.” The guitar has a solid flame Maple body and a Sitka Spruce top. Its guitar neck is also made of flamed Maple. This guitar is also equipped with an LR Baggs Anthem System, which is highly noise-resistant.
ST68 MJ Anthem
The ST68 MJ has a mini-jumbo body frame that is made of solid Rosewood and a solid Sitka Spruce top. Its neck is made of Mahogany. It has a Richlite fretboard and a Graph Tech nut. Lastly, this guitar is also equipped with an LR Baggs’ feedback-resistant Anthem acoustic system.
Is Norman a good guitar brand? Yes, Norman guitars are really good. The materials used in making these guitars are really top-notch, and the electronics used for its amplification are also very good. Norman guitars really sound good and are also durable guitars. They also have plenty of guitar models you can choose from to suit your taste as a guitar owner.
