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 NORMAN | | Instruments currently built in La Patrie, Quebec, Canada since 1972. Distributed by La Si Do, Inc. in Baie D'Urfe Quebec, Canada. | | Cabinet maker Normand Boucher from La Patrie, Quebec, built his first guitar in 1967 and in 1968, he set up shop and began producing guitars under the Norman trademark. In 1972, Boucher left the cabinet industry to start building guitars full-time and it is around this same year he met Robert Godin on a hunting trip in La Patrie. Godin founded Sibécor that same year and became the exclusive distributor of the trademark. The company grew in the 1970s and became quite successful. Meanwhile, Godin started Unisonic in 1975 with Norman's son Claude to build classical guitars. By 1979, Normand Boucher and Robert Godin had different views and the contract with Sibécor was cancelled, Boucher started his own distribution. However, Godin owned the entire contact network that made it tough for Boucher to do business. In 1980, the Norman factory burned to the ground and everything was lost forcing Boucher to start over. He continued to produce guitars until the mid '80s when he sold Norman Guitars. It went through two different ownerships before Godin bought the trademark circa 1989. Today, Godin electric guitars are built "down the hill" in the old Norman shop while acoustic guitars are produced in the old Unisonic shop "up the hill." Normand Boucher died in 1997, Claude Boucher went on to build guitars under the Boucher trademark, and Robert Godin is currently president of Godin Guitars and the network of trademarks under LaSiDo. For more information, visit Norman's website or contact LaSiDo directly (see Trademark Index). Source: Daniel Laroche. | | | ACOUSTIC: PROTÉGÉ (B15/B18) SERIES | | ACOUSTIC: ENCORE (B20) SERIES | | ACOUSTIC: STUDIO SERIES |
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