No More Collings Cases?

[Bronco]

I was bummed to hear they stopped making them, although I understand the reason for doing so. They are works of art and really complete the package and compliment the guitars so well.

RyHardGuy - glad you were able to snag one!

[MattS67]

I'm in good shape!

[TravH]

I was bummed to hear they stopped making them, although I understand the reason for doing so. They are works of art and really complete the package and compliment the guitars so well.

RyHardGuy - glad you were able to snag one!

It's kinda crazy... I mean they have the infrastructure in place. They know how to make them. I wonder if they'd sell it to a competent craftsman/company to take it over. One that doesn't have the diverse over head. Calton cases is in Austin too I think......Collings tried to make and sell instead of offering a lead time which is how Calton operates. Takes 5-7 weeks to get a Calton case

There must really be some hidden headaches in the process... too many failures or sub par results...but that doesn't sound very Collings like....I'm sure they had it down to a science with minimal "breakage".

It's hard to imagine they'd relegate the machinery and efforts to the scrap heap....

Trav

[uponamouse]

Thank you all for the heads up! I ordered one for my OM1A varnish. Look forward to receiving it!

[pto]

the headache was how long it took to make them. they looked at building outside, but quality always a concern. at the height of production, they were a real headache, logistically and financially, especially after Bill passed. even when they raised the prices, they still couldn't raise them enough to make it worthwhile; that was my takeaway from conversations with the guys. my guess is they just mothballed any tooling that could not be repurposed. i doubt they dumped it... so in the future, ya never know!:)

[MSEV]

I want one for my 001A 14 fret!

[pto]

they stopped making them, i think, at the 0's. by the time they got the 00 T's going for intro at NAMM they had already decided to pull the plug.

[alphasports]

Maybe a bit off-topic but the Ameritage case they shipped with my CL Deluxe is fantastic, can't really imagine a better case but then again mine doesn't spend half its life on airplanes.

[Kris W]

Has it been clarified whether or not the halt in production of the cases is temporary due to the impact of the pandemic or permanent? Fortunately I bought 2 of the cases for a few of my PW guitars, my OOO-18 and 1 of my O-18’s.

[JohnB]

There is no connection between discontinuing the case production and the pandemic. This was a decision made well before the pandemic. Not one they were happy to make, since this was a project that meant a lot to Bill; but after a couple of tries of seeing how to make it work financially and just not interfere with production of instruments, they've put the project to bed. I think it's probably safest to say it's looking like the Collings folks see it as a final decision. Sure hope it's not.

But production of instruments now is, it seems, straining all resources. A player I know said a custom DS he was asking about was projected to be a 16 month wait: which in my experience means it's likely to be even longer.