Hi everybody!,
I've been hangin out on this forum for quite awhile but never have formerly introduced myself.Forgive me.My name is Chad Richard(pronounced Reeshard-It's a Cajun thing)I'm originally from Southwest Louisiana,but now live in East Texas.I've been playing guitar, or I should say,the guitar has been playing with me now for about five years or so.I've got my first Collings on order.It's a deep bodied,sunburst adirondack topped,mahogany backed Om with herringbone trim and tortise binding.It was supposed to be ready this month,but after getting pretty far into the construction of it,they realized they hadn't made it a deep body like I ordered so they had to start over.Should be ready in June or July.I've learned so much from everybody on this forum and want to thank each and every one of you for making this a great place to hang out.Looking forward to meeting some of y'all at the next gathering.

A brief but much belated background info with incomplete sentences (sorry to those grammatically inclined)
Resident and native to beautiful California Interested in classical music since practically a baby (parents music collection)

Piano lessons age five through highschool

Got interested in banjo via the Beverly Hillbillies around age 15 and played bluegrass for a few years

Got interested in classical guitar age 16 via Segovia mainly and took lessons from a concert guitarist for a few years

Built a few acoustic guitars age 17 to 22
A few other woodworking projects over the years

Taught lessons in banjo and guitar while in college to help meet expenses

Kept playing classical guitar (and some steel string fingerstyle) as a avocation for some 25 years

Dabbled in flute and harmonica

Took a long break and resumed playing fingerstlye pretty much exclusively about 2 years ago and at the same time decided to work on writing my own music and recording it (as time allows)

Among the guitars I have are two Collings, a C10 Deluxe and an OM1-A. IMO (preaching to the choir ) Collings is the best mid size builder out there.

Rick

Having posted for several months, I realized I never did the introduction part. Duh. Typical of me to do cart/horse inversions. As briefly as nearly 60 years allows:
clarinet in grade school, ages 8 until 13. I want to play jazz and rock, not marching band stuff.
First guitar, Sears silvertone 19 buck special, for my 18th birthday, January 1965.
Play all summer in my off hours at Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone Park, until my fingers bled. But, but the end of the summer, I was in my first folk group. Spent all but ten bucks of what I earned all summer on a Gibson J50.
1966 got a flamenco bug, sold the J50, bought a classical. Practice like crazy. Bad fingernails doomed that career choice.
1970 while giving "guitar lessons" to the woman who would soon be my wife (and still is), I fell off the bed and put my foot through the classical guitar. so much for that chapter.
bought a 1970 D18s Martin. the wide neck seemed okay because of the classical that preceeded it.
1972 gave in to the blues, bought a 1965 Les Paul and a Fender vibrolux amp, played in several bands, fathered our first child, quit the rock scene, got a "real" job. sold les paul and amp for a Tiffany lamp that still hangs over our dining room table, and a table to go under it.
Played folk, rock, bossa nova, jazz, and whatever in church, singing my kids to sleep etc.
1985 moved to Jackson Hole Wyoming to raise our four kids in a place with a shot at sanity. It worked. I gave guitar lessons, wrote music, went to Hollywood to do demos, performed in bands and solo. got GAS. Too many guitars to list, but every major American brand went through my hands at one time or another.
1993 bought my first Collings, D2H #780. Kept playing bar gigs, benefits, the whole deal.
1995 ran out of money, moved back to Northern California to pay for our part of four college educations (most of it they paid with scholarships). though we had money, bought more guitars. sold some, bought some more.
1996 got back into performing, and I'm still doing it. One bluegrassoid band, one folk/rock/jazz latin band. Only six guitars at present, after having owned upwards of 50: Collings OM1A varnish; Collings CJ adirondack custom; collings OM1A cutaway short scale; collings OM1 koa custom; Blazer Henkes brazilian OM28; Don Grosh classic (strat style), Fender blues jr. with Jensen speaker. Among the first in line for the Collings electrics. Maybe a D1A varnish someday fairly soon. That's it. guitar has been a key part of my whole "adult" life, and I'll play until my fingers seize up or my heart stops. Music is the speech of angels. Sorry for the length, but this is the short version, believe me. sonoman (tom martin in real life)

Hi there

My name is Phil but I go online by Shad.

I'm an unrepentant GASaholic and a wanker to boot.

I picked guitars back up abput a year and a half ago and am making steady progress with my playing.

My current inventory consists of a Martin D-28, Talyor GS Hog/Cedar, Anderson Cobra, Anderson Classic, and a Thorn on order. I'm pretty happy with them and it's taken a while to arrive at these as being keepers.

I made a horrendous mistake a couple of weeks ago. A coworker has been on the hunt for a D-28 or something similar and we were in Chicago for a week. We managed to sneak off and visit Make n Music for a bit and we were wowed with the inventory they had on hand.

Now for the big mistake as He was sampling a D-28 I looked on the other wall and notice a kind of nifty looking OM it was a Collings an OM2ha to be specific with AAA Braz to boot. Well I took it off the wall and played it a bit. I was floored but I quickly put it back, who really needs a AAA Braz and Adi OM anyway. A week later I checked with them on the price and confirmed that that one won't ever be mine but I've been hounded by the thought of a Collings making it into the herd.

I've been lurking here ever since.

One of the days I think a nice used Collings probably Adi/Hog will make me happy.

Shad

Yes, Shad, you've made the fatal error. Play a Collings, and you're pretty much hooked. I like Andersons, too, for electrics, but have moved to Don Grosh, which was the Collings of electrics until this summer, when Collings will be the Collings of electrics. Damn. Poke a fork in me, someone.

Hi, I'm Karl, Pittsburgh PA an I proud new owner of a DS2HMhA, bought at Acoustic Music Works in Pittsburgh. Where have you been all my life?!? About 6 weeks now, and on my 2nd pair of strings--it's a whole new world.

I've jumped around the threads a bit, and found many helpful discussions. At some point I hope to contribute.

Talk to you all soon.

Welcome to the forum, Karl.

Hello Collings enthusiasts! I found and joined this forum yesterday. My real name is Les. Mark Leo is my 6 month old son's name. I became the proud owner of a brand new Collings D2HA 3 hours ago. What a gorgeous guitar! I can't put it down. I had never heard/played a Collings guitar before. I bought this guitar over the internet strictly because of its reputation! I have read nothing but good things about these guitars so I went ahead and bought one without even trying it first and I couldn't be more pleased. It is a gorgeous sounding acoustic guitar. I have been playing for 27 years, mostly classical & rock. It is nice to be a part of this forum.

Hi there. My name is Tom Young. I'm a regular poster at APM (was a mod there at one time too) and I'm a mod over on the Celtic Guitar Forum. Recognize familiar folks here. Just bought a C-10 Deluxe deep body German/Indian SB. Geez, that's mouthful eh? I will receive it next Friday July 7. I'll post pix and a sound clip. Glad to be here!

Hey Tom!

Welcome. I see you decided to come over to the "bright" side. I'm sure we could use your input here as I do when you post at the APM. I have to talk to you about your new C-10 soon after you get it. Send me a pm.

We're planning a visit to Orlando soon so maybe I'll see you out there. Weren't you there at Pete's workshop with my brother?

Congrats on the new guitar.

Ace
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I was indeed Ace. Great show. Intimate. Let me know when you're in town. Do you know Mike Wong? Perhaps we can all get together.

Tom-
Yes, I know Mike. We've talked before and met him out here at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival last summer. Great player.

I'll contact you soon.

Ace
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