The Collings Forum

Welcome (back) to the forum! Thanks for your post, and congrats on what looks and sounds to be a great guitar. It's funny how our ears sometimes have a lesson to teach our minds... As for varnish being discontinued, my guess is that it was a time/cost decision. The varnish finish was highly labor in...

Collings electric models are numbered separately from the acoustics. If I recall correctly (and based on a quick perusal of a thread from another forum about 290 serials), the 8 would indicate the year (2008) and the 480 would indicate its unique number in the sequence of 290 builds since they began...

Until last year, this would have been an easy answer. I had only two acoustics, both Collings: '97 D2H and '05 OM1A varnish. But the Blazer and Henkes OM is now at the top, and trying to choose between one of those Collings is difficult. The D has 25 years of opening up and lots of sentimental value...

Congrats on both guitars. Love that beautiful Collings sunburst!

The only consideration I might add is whether humidity has caused the top to swell and the tone to deaden, particularly now that you mention you had lived in San Francisco. I bought my D2H when I lived there and then moved to the Monterey Bay. (Still here 25 years later.) The marine humidity caused ...

Hi, Remi, Thank you for sharing your trip. You visited many of the great spots in California, and some of my favorites (Yosemite, Death Valley). Too bad the music stores were closed. But as you said, they weren't the focus of the visit. I try to be grateful every day for living where I do. I still n...

Gryphon always has fine items. Enjoy your visit there! A friend and I visited Sylvan Music in July and August. (He had repair work done; but the long-time repair person is retiring now.) I just checked their website, and they are open as usual. No appointment needed. Highly recommended. If you can g...

Thanks Silly, for contributing. It's always great to hear from you. A month or two ago, I ventured to my nearest good guitar shop (Sylvan Music, Santa Cruz, CA). I tried half a dozen 12 strings, some new (Martin, Taylor, and Eastman) and in various price ranges, and some older pieces (60s Gibson, ea...

Nice video, great tones, great playing! Thanks for contributing to this topic and trying to address the poster's query.

I only have half the equation (I-35 LC), but it sure is a fantastic guitar!

Thank you, Frank, for all that you have done to create this forum. It has been a bit quiet lately, but who knows?

More essentially, I wish you good health.

Best regards,

Tom