My first Collings experience - not a good story

[TheGITM]

I had a similar experience with a Bourgeois - saw one hanging on the wall in a photo ad for one of the area pawn shops so I went in hoping to make a deal. When I got there and played it, I was not impressed at all. It sounded dull and lifeless. Then I saw an Alvarez-Yairi WY1 on the wall and when I played that... OMG.

I ended up making a deal on the Yairi and left the Bourgeois on the wall. I know that Dana and team make awesome guitars, but that one just didn't sing to me. It didn't turn me off to all Bourgeois guitars, but it's yet another example of how each guitar matters, more so than the name on the headstock.

[KenL]

I know that I have to play my Collings for 5 or 10 minutes before it really begins to sing.

Takes my old hands about that long to loosen up, so it all works out fine.

[rollypolly]

I've been taking online courses on Truefire and one of the finger style teachers plays a Collings 000. I'm not sure how the guitar is mic-ed , but there's plenty of natural tone being picked up , so I think it's with a decent mic and not plugged in. But the tone is not to my liking at all. Kind of weak and bright. I guess some folks could like it but I need a little more oomph.

[abn556]

Originally Posted by KenL

I know that I have to play my Collings for 5 or 10 minutes before it really begins to sing.

Takes my old hands about that long to loosen up, so it all works out fine.

Its funny that you say that as I have noticed my Koa backed J-45 takes a few minutes to warm up. The guitar starts to sound looser and more relaxed after 10-15 minutes. My theory is body heat warming the Koa back relaxes it somewhat.

[iCGM]

Funny thing is the exact same thing happened to me with a Collings. I went to a local store to check out some new Boucher's they had (The parlors), and saw a Collings OM on the wall, decided to give that a spin. I was underwhelmed for a price of 8K Canadian. Thought maybe it was a one off, but fast forward to last year when I had to part with a guitar, the guy had a 20 year old Collings Dread in amazing condition, played that and while it was good, my Boucher OMH BG-151 was louder, and had more life.

Maybe it's how the Collings are and they are more retro sounding, to my ears they just aren't for me.

[usb_chord]

Collings is a great company and they pretty consistently build wonderful sounding guitars. That said, not every song Jackson Browne wrote was a hit. Same is certainly true for guitar-makers. As long as we're not using narrow anecdotal evidence as proof of something far beyond, things don't get weird

[Brazad]

I bought a Huss & Dalton TD-M with a torrified red spruce top from a friend several years ago, which he shipped to me. Never saw the guitar until it arrived.

I’d owned H&D guitars before, several of them, and like that they’re built in Virginia, my home state.

The TD-M is the model they’re famous for, so combined with a torrified red spruce top it should be killer, I thought! It was a no-brainer to buy.

I was so disappointed at the lack of volume and overall presence that I emailed the company, asking if they would look at the guitar and perhaps touch up the bracing or *something*, at my expense.

Jeff Huss wrote me back and suggested that this particular guitar wasn’t for me. So I sold it… every pot has a lid, as the old folks used to say, and I wasn’t that lid.

But my ‘06 Collings D1AV Varnish? I smile every time I play it!

Gary

[mondoslug]

I like mine lots & lots.

[Puddleglum]

I have toured the Collings shop and seen how they do what they do. I can tell you for sure that it's not possible for them to build a terrible guitar. It's just not. The materials, tools, and skills that go into making a Collings instrument are not a recipe for low quality.

Does everything they make please and speak to everyone? Not a chance! But can they make a guitar that would be outperformed by a $200 starter kit? Not possible. The same is true of H&D, SCGC, et al. It's just not possible for these shops to produce junk with the materials and skills they use. They also will not produce a Mona Lisa every time, but they will consistently produce a high-quality, lifetime instrument for the right person.

They cost what they cost for a good reason. And considering that the instrument, if well taken care of, could easily last a couple hundred years, the cost is actually minimal.

I have no idea what was actually going on with the OP and his experience with that particular Collings. Maybe the guitar was poorly setup, had bad strings, etc, as has been suggested here. But it's also possible that he didn't really want to like it. I've seen many cases where people are determined to find fault with something really expensive, over-hyped (in their estimation), etc, etc. I have been guilty of this myself.

(Having read several posts about Taylors here over the years, I honestly believe some people are just determined to hate them for whatever reason: possibly for the same reason many people hate popular music and popular things in general. Human beings are emotionally complex beings and it happens.)

Full disclosure: I am a Collings owner (mandolin). I have seen what they do and having been there I have personally experienced the genuine passion and authenticity that makes that company what it is. Bill Collings was still alive when I was there. He was a special guy and he created a special company with a particular ethos and vibe. The company in its current form seems to have kept that going. A Collings isn't for everyone, but they have achieved the success they have for good reason.

[catndahats]

3 years later...the thread just keeps on rolling along....stuck in Lodi again.

Makes me wonder where that lifeless dull instrument ended up. If the original post is to be taken at face value, it surely ended up in someone's firepit and was quickly put out of its misery----along with every other guitar built throughout history that did not meet someones expectation for quality, sound, value.

I so agree with many other posters and any instrument, any builder could fall into the same category, and yet be loved by others . Is it necessary to drag any guitar builders name through the mud for 3 years just becasue someone was not impressed on the test drive, or it did not meet their expectation?

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

I have toured the Collings shop and seen how they do what they do. I can tell you for sure that it's not possible for them to build a terrible guitar. It's just not. The materials, tools, and skills that go into making a Collings instrument are not a recipe for low quality.

Does everything they make please and speak to everyone? Not a chance! But can they make a guitar that would be outperformed by a $200 starter kit? Not possible. The same is true of H&D, SCGC, et al. It's just not possible for these shops to produce junk with the materials and skills they use. They also will not produce a Mona Lisa every time, but they will consistently produce a high-quality, lifetime instrument for the right person.

They cost what they cost for a good reason. And considering that the instrument, if well taken care of, could easily last a couple hundred years, the cost is actually minimal.

I have no idea what was actually going on with the OP and his experience with that particular Collings. Maybe the guitar was poorly setup, had bad strings, etc, as has been suggested here. But it's also possible that he didn't really want to like it. I've seen many cases where people are determined to find fault with something really expensive, over-hyped (in their estimation), etc, etc. I have been guilty of this myself.

(Having read several posts about Taylors here over the years, I honestly believe some people are just determined to hate them for whatever reason: possibly for the same reason many people hate popular music and popular things in general. Human beings are emotionally complex beings and it happens.)

Full disclosure: I am a Collings owner (mandolin). I have seen what they do and having been there I have personally experienced the genuine passion and authenticity that makes that company what it is. Bill Collings was still alive when I was there. He was a special guy and he created a special company with a particular ethos and vibe. The company in its current form seems to have kept that going. A Collings isn't for everyone, but they have achieved the success they have for good reason.

[Malcolm Kindnes]

I agree that Collings make fine instruments but we are all different and hear things differently. I tried very hard to like the Collings sound to the extent that I have owned four over the years, but I eventually realised that they weren't for me.

I think that it is a mistake to think that just because something is expensive you will like it or it will suit your taste. I have recently been playing a friends Tippin, which is again a fine guitar and very expensive, but it doesn't have enough oomph for me. Rather like a Collings actually.

[BoneDigger]

Your story is not unique I have played quite a few high dollar guitars that left me shaking my head in wonder. I've played maybe 15 or so Gibson SJ200 and MOST of them left me wondering why anyone would pay $6,000 for THAT! Then there have been maybe 3 or 4 that really almost left the store with me. I was in California visiting in-laws in Santa Cruz and got to play a few Santa Cruz guitars of various types. I honestly just wasn't that impressed. I thought my Martins were just as good as any I played.

It's funny to me how many people here are defending Collings to the point of basically saying, there was nothing wrong with the guitar, it must be YOU who was off. There are many factors that can affect tone. It's also feasible a guitar can open up. However, I buy a guitar for what it sounds like now. Not in 6 months. Not in 5 years. NOW. If the shop doesn't put the effort into finding what the guitar needs, why should I give them my hard earned money just to take a guitar home to experiment on it?

[CharlieBman]

Never played a Collings, but I find it interesting how people can perceive the sound of a guitar so differently and how that translates into a feeling of value. While one person wouldn't pay $10 for a guitar, there is someone else who would pay $10,000. I think a J-45 is an ok guitar...others think it's the greatest guitar ever made. Some people don't like the sound of a Martin...while I've never heard a Martin I didn't like. Go figure...

[sinistral]

This is such a great comment that it should be a sticky. One could insert almost any well-made guitar in place of “Collings” and it would still be true.

Having visited the Martin factory, I can say that, while it’s on a completely different scale than any of the boutique builders, it is a marvel how Martin can produce 40,000 instruments a year out of that factory, given how much hand-work goes into each guitar. If one looks at photos of the old Martin factory from the 1930s, the factory then looks like a lot of the boutique builders today (although Colling may have more CNC processes than Martin does today, since Bill Collings was an early champion of CNCing parts for precision, repeatability, efficiency and to cut down on repetitive stresses).

We are lucky to live in a time when there is so much choice, especially given how diverse people’s tastes are.

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

I have toured the Collings shop and seen how they do what they do. I can tell you for sure that it's not possible for them to build a terrible guitar. It's just not. The materials, tools, and skills that go into making a Collings instrument are not a recipe for low quality.

Does everything they make please and speak to everyone? Not a chance! But can they make a guitar that would be outperformed by a $200 starter kit? Not possible. The same is true of H&D, SCGC, et al. It's just not possible for these shops to produce junk with the materials and skills they use. They also will not produce a Mona Lisa every time, but they will consistently produce a high-quality, lifetime instrument for the right person.

They cost what they cost for a good reason. And considering that the instrument, if well taken care of, could easily last a couple hundred years, the cost is actually minimal.

I have no idea what was actually going on with the OP and his experience with that particular Collings. Maybe the guitar was poorly setup, had bad strings, etc, as has been suggested here. But it's also possible that he didn't really want to like it. I've seen many cases where people are determined to find fault with something really expensive, over-hyped (in their estimation), etc, etc. I have been guilty of this myself.

(Having read several posts about Taylors here over the years, I honestly believe some people are just determined to hate them for whatever reason: possibly for the same reason many people hate popular music and popular things in general. Human beings are emotionally complex beings and it happens.)

Full disclosure: I am a Collings owner (mandolin). I have seen what they do and having been there I have personally experienced the genuine passion and authenticity that makes that company what it is. Bill Collings was still alive when I was there. He was a special guy and he created a special company with a particular ethos and vibe. The company in its current form seems to have kept that going. A Collings isn't for everyone, but they have achieved the success they have for good reason.

[frankmcr]

...the thread just keeps on rolling along....

. . . and if it stalls for a while just scroll down a bit to the "about to give up on my Martin" thread.