The Collings Forum

CME has only responded with this: Thanks for reaching out and sorry to hear you're experiencing issues like this. At this point I'm not sure how that got through our inspection, or if it happened as some point after/during shiping. I know you mentioned it may be hard to get pictures, but we'd really...

I ordered a WL-14 XTR "Boot Burst" from Mass Music. It should be here Monday.

My suspicions are confirmed. This guitar has a huge (approx 10" long) gouge in the back along with lots of other scratches. It may be new in terms of never having been sold, but it is as beat up as any $200 Yamaha hanging on the hook at Guitar Center. It is also on at least its 3rd set of strin...

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think they are selling guitars on Reverb that have been too badly beaten up in the store to sell there. I certainly would not have bought this one had I had a chance to inspect it. I am looping Collins support in on this too, especially because the major big def...

Well, maybe it's new in terms of never having been sold before (the registration card is in the case), but not new in terms of condition. It looks as beat up as any $200 Yamaha hanging in a Guitar Center store.

I am sooooo pissed.

Further, now that I am over the shock of the damage to the back, I find there are lots of other smaller sharp scratches on the back, and pick scratches below the soundhole on the front.

This is not a new guitar, even though CME claimed it was.

My new CJ35 just arrived from Chicago Musical Exchange, purchased on Reverb. It was packed better than any guitar I have ever seen. Unfortunately it has a LARGE defect running across the back of the lower bout. It's so deep I can even feel it with my fingertips. It appears to be UNDER the finish. Ho...

Gryphon Strings in Palo Alto California shows some 14s with the T-bar in stock, so maybe they are NOS.

Wow, those are pretty. Too ornate for my personal guitar taste, but they sure are pretty!

Well, I guess this is all academic. The Waterloo site says "All WL-14 models include an adjustable truss rod for convenient setup adjustment and flexibility.".

Not sure why I thought there were T-bar versions.