The Collings Forum

in the end, wouldn't the guitar have to be the same guitar:) i mean, variations in wood, tolerances etc... therefore, impossible:) (i would have to guess)

You are correct that there are just so many variables that a true random, blind test is probably impossible. The best you could do might be to take 10 guitars; 5 assembled with Animal Protein Glue and 5 assembled with Tite Bond and have someone play them randomly for an audience that couldn't see the guitars. Perhaps those variations could tend to balance out.

The point I was trying to make is that if you hand me a guitar and say that it is made with Animal Protein Glue and I am a fan of that I will naturally assume that it will sound better. Thus to my ear it will.

yep

yep

I wouldn't care if they held the guitars together with Scotch Tape!

As long as they look and sound like they always have, I'm more than happy!

Bill

Has anyone tried out a 2020 without the protein glue versus one that has it? I have a 2018 D2H T and am considering a 2020 D1AT, are the 2020s still great?

Remy

Remy,

I've tried a number of pre-2020 Collings dreads. I purchased a 2020 D1AT. They've all sounded terrific. I finally picked up the 2020 T because of the introduction of the 1 11/16 nut and the new neck. My 2020 is, I think, the best I've played: maybe because it works better for me at the reduced neck size.

I do believe the protein glue/non protein glue is really not an issue. I trust the luthier when he says he hears no difference in the two glue types on his guitars. Some luthiers do say they hear a difference--on their guitars; I believe them as well.

When I ordered a custom slope dread from Huss and Dalton, I asked Mark Dalton about using hide glue in the construction. (I did have a hide-glue H&D.) This is an upcharge, and so Huss and Dalton makes a small additional profit on each guitar constructed with the hide glue. Mark said, and says, that he simply can't hear a difference in his guitars. So I took that to be the case, and ordered without. The guitar is spectacular--and I've never for an instant wondered if it wouldn't have been more spectacular with hide glue construction.

Hokiebob wrote: ↑Fri Apr 23, 2021 12:00 pm I too can not tell the difference. I wonder if any of these "experts" have ever conducted a true blind test where the listener had no idea which guitar they were listening to?

Not exactly, but I can come close. In early 2020 I had an OM1T (306nn) built with a custom neck profile, and in July of this year I took delivery of that guitar's twin (317nn); all specs were identical, and both guitars have the new neck support system. The only differences were the actual wood pieces used in construction and the hands and skill of the individuals who built them. Each has a beautiful voice, in my opinion, and they sound very nearly identical, but the new guitar already has a quality to its voice that the older instrument took six months of playing to develop. Collings confirmed that the older guitar was built with protein glue and the newer one with aliphatic glue; do I think the difference in their voices is the result of the type of glue that was used to build them? No, I think it's just the luck of the draw, and I'm delighted to have them both.

I've had many high end guitars with and without hide glue. I couldn't tell any difference in sound that I could attribute to the glue that was used. I've read the forum opinions of many luthiers and I don't remember any of them saying they hear any real difference.