The Collings Forum

I was told that there is a price increase taking effect on 6/1, and also that new orders placed for a traditional would no longer come with the handmade case. Furthermore, one dealer told me that the handmade case is being discontinued completely. I don’t know the validity of the case comment, but no matter what, prices are going up and you’ll get less for your money as it relates to a T model. Feeling pretty glad I bought a D1AT this week! Might buy another Traditional before things get ugly...

-david

I heard similar info from a dealer yesterday. Although they said the handmade cases would be an option or upgrade. Just not a standard addition. He said they could not keep up with the guitars and it was cost prohibitive to hire more for the case department.

That was sad news indeed, but glad I have several Collings cases......and bought one more yesterday.

I also believe the upgrade/option to be more accurate. Good to see you Mark!

markT wrote: ↑Sun Apr 21, 2019 11:51 am I heard similar info from a dealer yesterday. Although they said the handmade cases would be an option or upgrade. Just not a standard addition. He said they could not keep up with the guitars and it was cost prohibitive to hire more for the case department.

That was sad news indeed, but glad I have several Collings cases......and bought one more yesterday.

I spoke with Collings last week and this is the message they gave me too.

That is a shocking. I thought there was an increase recently maybe this is the official date. I hope the --AT's are not approaching 7K already especially without a soon to be vintage vintage case.

Is there any news about new models?


How do you like your D1AT? I feel like my latest sounds the best of all the Trads I've owned and I know you've owned a few early ones too

I was told by a dealer that all cases were being discontinued. It didn’t make any sense to me after they’d put so much money and effort in to them. Then I remembered they stopped making ukes too, so I guess it’s possible.

As we understand it, the cases are not being completely discontinued, but will be sold direct, a la carte, as available.

Going forward from June 1st, no guitars, including the Traditionals and the Julian Lage OMs, will be bundled with the Collings-made case. Existing custom orders with a buyer attached will still receive the vintage case, if that's what they ordered.

All MAP prices on brand new instruments will go to list price. So expect to see an increase on pretty much everything. Even with the vintage cases removed and the TKLs added back in, this will still present as a small increase on the Traditional line. Waterloo guitars will also go to list price.

This isn't something that we were really expecting, but it is also not surprising. Having seen first-hand how much work goes into the cases (and of course the guitars) it seems that something had to be done so that the company could remain profitable. They are still backlogged a full year on electrics, have significant pre-orders for the new Waterloo AT guitars, and the standard line continues to grow in popularity. Lower quality would not be an option for Collings.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, but if you're on the fence about a new Collings, you might want to seriously consider acting before June 1st. Until that date, all new guitars can still be sold with warranty at 10% off of list price. We also now have the option of de-coupling a Traditional model from the Traditional case. We can sell the case new with warranty, and put the the Traditional in a TKL at a reduced price, if we so desire... so those who have been looking for cases, in the short term, some are becoming available.

Feel free to call us with questions.

Seems like Collings is increasing their price every other quarter...

The price increases are interesting. Relative to other "like" builders, the current and future Collings guitar prices are not out of line, even with a TKL. In reality, Collings had a good run of not raising prices for a couple years at one point. Seems like they are simply making up for that now.

I've noticed over the past decade or so that many other high quality luthiers (e.g., Froggy Bottom, Santa Cruz, Bourgeois, Tippin, etc.) have raised their prices much more than Collings has raised their prices. I suspect Collings may be catching up with economic reality.