La Patrie Guitar, Motif Review

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(More customer reviews)La Patrie Guitar, Motif
It's been a long time since I smelled that wonderful fresh new wood smell and touched new strings brimming with harmonics and with music yet to be born (I played violin and viola once upon a time). The urge to learn guitar, mainly to accompany myself when I sing, overcame me about midway through 2009. For a year I played on a borrowed steel-string dobro, great fun and a marvelous instrument in its own right.
Under the guidance of a good teacher, however, you come to understand your particular musical inclinations and needs. I learned I tend toward the classical, and that meant nylon strings. (I decided on my own that I needed a less ginormous guitar than I had been playing!)
Before choosing the Motif I had tried out various acoustic guitars in my price range. They felt, looked, and sounded plastic. The Motif cost no more, and except for the pearloid tuning keys, there is nothing plastic about it. The top is cedar, the neck, back, and sides are mahogany, and the fretboard is rosewood. (In the classical manner, the frets are unmarked; there are tiny dots on the side of the neck, however. I thought the unmarked frets might leave me, as a beginner, feeling lost, but this has not been the case.)
La Patrie is a division of the Godin Company of Quebec, who state they have developed a manufacturing model that produces good guitars of good materials at affordable prices. I can only agree, and state that for my needs the Motif has been perfect. It sounds wonderfully deep and mellow, and I fully expect it to get even better as I get better myself.
I wanted to add a word about size. I am often asked if my guitar is a "three quarters." As I understand it, 1/2, 3/4, and full-size refer to the length of the guitar, in particular to the "scale length," or distance between the nut and the bridge. The Motif is a full-sized guitar with a scale length of 25.66 inches. What makes it seem more petite and manageable for someone my size is the slightly shorter body and narrower width of the bouts. A century or so ago guitars of these dimensions were called "parlor guitars." (Like so much else, guitars got super-sized in the 20th century.)
So no, the Motif is not a three-quarters. It is a full-sized guitar of the parlor variety. The first fret is still way up there, but the body snuggles nicely in my lap. Now if only it could play itself and didn't depend on me to play it!


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