quote:

Originally posted by Tom F.:
As you know, I recently played the Custom OM-18 at Eric's shop, and raved about that guitar.

Yet if you asked me today whether I'd take my Collings Varnish OM or the Custom OM-18, I'd stay with the Collings.

Having not had the fortune to play that incredible beautiful Merrill, I take great comfort in your comments. I guess I'll keep my OM-1A Varnish. Sometimes I think about selling it, but never for any cogent reason. BTW, some crazy man is selling his currently in the FS section.

Don't get me wrong, I love Collings guitars.
It's just that to me the Mahogany built Collings is to ear piercing, unless I played mostly Lead guitar or jammed with Banjo players, my preference is Rosewood.
The Merrill or Borges Mahogany guitars reportetly have a deeper woodier sound, while still having the clarity that everyone associates with Mahogany. Collings is of course priced much more affordable.

I am unable to stay silent out of respect for my peers.... I prefer the Merrill OM Custom to my currently available Collings OM1A Varnish. And coincidentally, the OM1A Varnish was available before the Merrill appeared on the scene... It didn't take long to find another OM!

The Merrill will stay due to its percussive deep sound and bass... A couch guitar to keep me on the couch. I'll let you know if I wake up.

Anyone want to buy a nice OM1A Varnish? Its availability was originally due to the purchase of a wonderful used Varnish CJ but it's the Merrill that sealed the deal.

Best, Jeff

Jeff, congratulations on picking up the Custom OM-18. A great guitar for sure. Just make sure you resist the temptation to just stare at it, since it's such a looker. Play the heck out of it!

Thanks, Tom. I have put many hours into playing the Merrill the past few days, and aside from a number of particularly brutal days at work, which no doubt are a major reason I'm currently polishing off a rather unparalleled guitar binge, I'd be playing guitar all day every day.

As an aside, my old band is playing its first show in 7+ years next week due to the recent release of a CD of out of print songs, which requires me to relearn approx. 20 songs of original music on which I play the bass.... Bass parts that I wrote and can barely remember! The callouses are feeling quite impressive this evening. The Merrill is such a joy to play compared to the electric bass!

quote:

Originally posted by northernbreed:
...As un-American as it sounds, with this guitar, I'm happy with what I've got.

Doug

Who am I kidding? I'm happy with what I've got until some other one gets me all worked up. That's about the best I can do.

To paraphrase the immortal Donnie Rumsfailed: you have your known unknowns, and then you have your unknown unknowns. Those are the ones that'll getcha. Ref: the Alien. tom

quote:

Originally posted by sonoman:
To paraphrase the immortal Donnie Rumsfailed: you have your known unknowns, and then you have your unknown unknowns. Those are the ones that'll getcha. Ref: the Alien. tom

Call me crazy but I understand what Donnie was saying even though it was not the smartest thing to say in a press conference.
Rick

quote:

Originally posted by marymary:
here's a question:

Merrill OM-18 or Collings varnish OM1A?

Apples/ oranges....

rick: so, there are degrees of unknown? IF so, how do you know? I'm from the "you can't prove a null hypothesis" school. I'm old. To me, rummy sounded like Prof. Iriwn Corey, only without any humor. Not even vitreous. tom

quote:

Originally posted by collingscowboy:
Most of you have sidestepped my choices with the alacrity of the Teflon Don. Those choices were meant to be in absolute terms. No qualifying criteria to allow waffling. No price, time, availability, cloud formation restrictions. I was just trying to establish what, ultimately, do readers find more desirable (given only two mutually exclusive choices): varnish OR Braz.

Back to the earlier question, given the choice I would take varnish over Braz. My experience with D1A's ONLY, the upgrade to varnish from lacquer is not only huge, the result is much, much more desirable in pure tone. It's not just different, it's better!