Hello one and all. My name is Paul. I live and work in Los Angeles and, for an age reference, I remember when JFK died and where I was when I learned about it.
I joined the forum yesterday after reading along for about a year. I acquired my first Collings, a 12 fret 00 hog/Adi, in December and am thrilled with it. I took up guitar at age 45 and am trying to learn finger picking with some success.
Thanks one and all for all the valuable information.

I am a brand new Collings owner, and traded in a Santa Cruz for my Collings D2HG with Kevin over at Hill Country Guitars, what a fantastic
Guitar! I took the Tour of the Collings factory, and got to hang out with Steve and Bill himself,super cool people, and the hype is true, they really take guitar building seriously. I left there inspired.I am amazed at the volume and tone and sheer perfection of this instrument.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dredpicker,

I’ve been reading the forum with great pleasure over the past year or two but have only posted a handful of times. My name is Jeff and I’ve got a guitar problem. Well, maybe it’s not a problem as much as an obsession. I started playing guitar at the age of 14 in 1977 on a used Framus Fender Jazzmaster copy and was primarily self-taught by ear. My main interest in music stemmed from the rock bands of the ‘60s & ‘70s.

Following years of playing in rock/post-punk/indie (whatever you want to call it) bands, numerous records, and performing some 300-400 shows primarily through the 1990s, it became clear that making a good living in a band was serious hard work with little financial reward. Staying awake long after midnight was getting harder and practical concerns such as health insurance were not a reality in the music world. I wasn't a singer and eventually found myself asking if it was all worth it to simply play guitar or bass on tour. Perhaps I simply didn't have the necessary talent. Long story short, the “day job” of working at the local alt-weekly paper became the “real job” and though regularly performing original music was something that was sorely missed, earning a good living became practical & rewarding. And one can always write music when there is energy. Playing guitar is still a daily activity, at least if it's a good day!

Owning just one electric guitar at a time was adequate in my "early days" of the late ‘70s & ‘80s, and yes, I bought and sold a clean ’62 Strat for $500. Acoustics weren’t on the radar other than as an occasional songwriting tool, the tool of choice being an Epiphone by Gibson mahogany/sitka dread made in Korea. In the ‘90s an amp obsession resulted in spending nearly all extra time, energy & money on vintage guitar amps. A good guitar amp can make just about any electric guitar sparkle. The interest in amps & sound segued into curiosity about acoustic guitars and their apparent simplicity. As the loud Marshall plexi, Vox AC30 and Fender Bassman sessions slowly subsided, the ears (and neighbors) have never been happier. (The neighbors hated the bass & drums the most, but that's another story!)

Today, aside from working at the City Paper, time is happily spent with my wonderful fiancée, riding bicycles, and playing guitar, both acoustic & electric. The performing has stopped for now – just don’t feel the need these days. Collings guitars have become the acoustic guitar of choice and there are a number of them around the house with the stock occasionally shifting & changing. My current favorites include a D1A Varnish, Cowboy, CWBaA and CJMhASB w/hide glue. The electrics aren’t getting as much play these days but they’ll stick around because one never knows what’s around the next bend.

I look forward to learning more about guitars and meeting the good folks here on the Collings Forum. The forum has provided countless hours of reading entertainment the past couple of years - big props to those who make it possible. Best, Jeff

Update: Doing some shows in support of a new album reissuing out of print songs: http://www.myspace.com/faraquetband

This message has been edited. Last edited by: piratejab,

Hello - my name is David. I live in DC and am glad to say Jeff (piratejab) has been a great friend of mine for something like 17 years now. I have been interested in music all of my life and started playing guitar in summer of 1980. The one person who got me thinking about guitars was Steve Howe - particularly his playing on the LPs The Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge. Howe's whole approach to the guitar and the fact he played well in so many styles just floored me. Early on I read an interview where he talked about improvisation - how he might start on the same note as the solo on the record but that pretty much anything goes after that. That sounded so exciting and different from the piano lessons I was taking at the time so it seemed like it was time to try guitar. I bought a Vantage Les Paul copy on 6/13/80 and my parent's Scott console stereo's speakers took a real beating that summer but hey, it had a *guitar* input. I took lessons for 2-3 years but they were marvelously unstructured - some lessons were just talking about music - others were about how to use ones ears instead of trying to play every note on the fret board. I still like Steve Howe for those 1970-1973 records but I quickly came to love all sorts of guitar music and players; Julian Bream, Jimmy Bryant, Wes Montgomery, John Fahey, George Harrison, Neil Young, Peter Buck, Kevin Shields - just to name some. It is a huge list that is all over the place basically...

I played mostly electric guitar with a pick for years and spent too much time doodling on unplugged electric guitars. One day it dawned on me that listening to that was really annoying to my family - or maybe they dropped hints. An unplugged Tele is too quiet to listen to and too loud to ignore, like someone mumbling. I started thinking about acoustic guitars and about 2 years ago I bought the Leo Kottke Home and Away DVD and that pretty much shoved me to the world of 20th and 21st century concert steel string finger style guitar music if I can call it that. Around that time I bought a used Martin OM-18 Golden Era and not even a week later played a Huss and Dalton which sort of took the bloom off the Martin for me though I still have the Martin. I eventually added an H&D 000-SP and two Collings - an OM2esssb and an O1G-V - to my guitar collection/stable.

Work and a very fortunate and full home life that includes my lovely wife and two fantastic children (3 and 7 years old) keep me busy and then some. If there is time (and money) left over after all that, another hobby I have is collecting and researching early electric fans and incandescent light bulbs from 1890-1915 (plus some art deco fans from 30s-40s).

Great forum - allot of interesting and intellegent conversations.

David

Hey all! I've been lurking a bit lately and finally decided to join. I hope I have something to offer somewhere along the way. Here is Anabel, my '07 D1A my first but probably not my last Collings!!

Very nice top!

Hi. I'm what we call an adult returner in education terms, having taken up the guitar again after a long period without playing. I started playing again last year after nearly 30 years sabbatical in an attempt to reclaim my youth, although to be fair in my early career I wasn't much more that a three chord strummer. It hasn't really done my for my receding hair line or expanding waste band and he children are also nonplussed but it has helped a bit in managing my day to day stress levels.

I walked into a guitar shop a couple of months ago and picked up a Collings 0002h just to give it a try, thinking that nothing could justify that price tag. How wrong could I be and how I wish I hadn't as every thing else from then on sounded weak in comparison. Even though the price brought a tear to my eye I eventually bought one and am now a fully paid up (well I will be when I eventually pay off the credit card company) member of the Collings fan club.

Hi. Sorta new here. Well, actually my second incarnation. Joined a few months ago, didn't post anything, forgot my username and password. Even forgot which of 12 different email addresses I used (don't ask). So I figgered what the heck, just wipe the slate clean and start over. So here I am - Dave in AZ. Was gonna be funny and pick some double innuendo read it backwards kinda of username that only about 3 people in the universe would know what it meant. I've done that on some other boards, but thought hey - why not be really unique (for me) and pick a "normal" username for a change. So that's it Dave in AZ. My name is Dave and I live in Arizona, in case you couldn't figure that out. I guess you could call me "DiAZ" if you wanted to abbreviate it.

So what brings me here? Well I'm pretty new to Collings, but not to guitars. Got my first Collings about 18 months ago. It's an original Clarence White CW-28 s/n 2094. Not just any CW-28, this is one of the 8 or so Sunburst ones. I was visiting a friend in FLA who's been known to have a few nice Collings (and others) in the house. I'm a sucker for sunbursts already, and believe it or not I didn't own a dreadnaught guitar. He put the Clarence White in my hands and that was it. He loaned it to me for the weekend and said he "might" be interested in selling it. Well that was it. Little did I know that I had started down a very slippery slope ...

My real love is OM sized guitars, so you guessed it. Not long after came a very nice OM-2HSB. Indian rosewood, 1-3/4, sunburst finish, you know the deal. That guitar has been in heavy rotation in my house ever since. Oh and then came the C-10 Custom. Yeah I like sunburst. This C-10 is deep body, 1-3/4 and has nice double bound neck and headstock. I've really been digging smaller bodied guitars and this one just sings. Last (for now), a maple SJ seemed to have followed me home one day. The flame work is amazing as is the entire guitar. Just a really nice size when you don't feel like dragging out the big dread, and a voice that'll stand toe to toe with anything. Here's some pics:



So who the heck is Dave in AZ ??? Well, I've been playing for about 40 years but never got beyond Book-2. Basially play for my own pleasure and the ocasional get together or open mic. My technique isn't too bad. I know the intro and 1/2 of the first verse to a lot of songs and can follow along almost anything, but that's about it. My real love believe it or not is ukulele. I don't know why, it just puts a smile on my face when I play and isn't that what it's all about?

I'm more of a guitar collector than a player, but only a collector in a small sense. I enjoy aquiring guitars that are interesting to me, not necessarily "collectable" in the traditional sense of the word. My biggest dabble into GAS has been Ovation and Adamas. About 130 different roundbacks have come and gone and usually 20-30 remain in the house. Everything is out on display, and meant to be played. I've documented all my Ovation and Adamas guitars on the website:
OVATION GALLERY

I've also had a long interest in Martin guitars. Probably not consistent up and down the line as Collings but no question about it they make some damn fine stuff. My favorites are their OM sized guitars. I've got about 6-7 Martins currently in the fleet and you can see them here:
MARTIN GALLERY

And then there is Takamine ... I never gave Tak a second look. Rugged guitar, great electronics (best in the business) and perfect for Bob Jovi, Garth and Springsteen to play on stage. But nothing about them interested me. Until a certain model called the EF-75 was recommended to me (ironically by the same guy who sold me the Clarence White). It's an OM guitar made from old growth brazillian in about 80 units. Holy Crap, what a nice guitar. My Collings OM-2HSB, my Martin OM-42, and my Tak EF-75 all walk into a dark ally late at night. Who comes out alive? Yeah, the Takamine ... You can read about the EF-75 HERE.

I know what you're thinking - this newbie is nuts. OK, maybe. But be objective and please don't judge it until you've tried it. Believe me I do a side by side comparison every single day. Now, to be fair Takamine makes a lot of mediocre guitars and some that down right stink. Many are in that "Good guitar for the money" catagory. But there are a handful of models that will honestly go toe to toe with the best out there. You'll never see them in Guitar Center and some are pretty limited in numbers. But honestly, the higher end Taks should not be dismissed just because of the name.

About 7-8 months ago my good friend Alex Pepiak of Lost Art Vintage and I decided to start an online forum devoted to Takamine. Similar to this Collings Forum, the Ovation Fan Club, UMGF, etc ... You should check it out. There's a lot of good information over there and some really nice members. They all appreciate nice guitars no matter what the brand, as do I (almost).
TAKAMINE GUITAR FORUM

So that's me. I'm into a lot of stuff and probably spend too much time on the internet. I host my galleries, admin for the Tak forum, acvtive on the OFC board, occasionally post on AGF and UMGF. I mountain bike, run marathons, and have a day job in Marketing that pays the bills. My youngest of 2 children just graduated from university so my wife and I are busy raising a puppy. Born and raised in the NY/NJ area lived there for the first 35 years of my life. Last 15 have lived in Arizona and love everything about it. I'll make it out to the Gathering this fall and I'm looking forward to a lot of good vibe now that I've joined this board.

Glad to know you ...

Dave in AZ

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dave in AZ,

Greetings to everyone. I'll bet I know a few of you from other forums. I have a Collings OM3G due in this Thursday, so maybe I'll qualify for membership. I've been playing since the Beatles landed in America. These days, it mostly Celtic, and mostly the music of Martin Simpson (only the easy stuff). Play a little blues and slack-key as well. I teach high school, sponsor the acoustic guitar club, and am introducing a whole new generation to fingerstyle guitar and country blues legends. It's all great fun. I'll let you know how my new Collings works out. I just spent the week with Pete Huttlinger at AOM guitar seminar, and he really sold me on the Collings. He's a pretty good picker too! (understatement)

Steve

Well, here goes....I am a 53 year old paint salesman and I play in a band in the northwest suburban Chicago area called the 208's...

I just purchased by 5th Collings (D2HG) and recently pruchased a D1A. Terry Straker at Guitar Works Evanston, IL is my dealer for acoustics. Bought my 290 from Teddy Gordon at Makin Music in downtown Chicago.

My first 2DH just blew me away with the quality and attention to detail, before I saw a Collings, I really didn't understand how much better these can be compared to the big makers.

Terry (Guitar Works) and I went down to Austin several years ago and we toured the old shop and met Steve and Bill. Went down again this past spring and toured the new facility. Inspiring to say the least in that if anything, the quality has improved with increased production.

Anyway, my backround in coatings will lead me to respond to finish questions. I work for PPG Industries and sell and service coatings that go on the outside of beer cans. We actually have coatings that are very similiar to the UV coatings Bill is using on the necks!!

Hi from the Florida Gulfcoast to the Collings Forum community.
I have been lurking for a couple of weeks as I searched for the latest guitar I don't need (my prinicipal instrument is piano).

The new girl in the house (and the reason I've joined this forum) is an OM2H Cutaway, taking her place beside her identical cousin, my H&D OM-C.
Miss OM2H Cutaway arrived yesterday (Friday 25 July) from Dallas, being carefully packed and shipped by Clay @ Charley's Guitar Shop.

I have recognized a couple of names from another "frequently frequented forum," and I hope to make new connections here.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Hi. I am a new member of the forum. I just purchased my first Collings guitar (a D1A). I love it.
http://www.gbase.com/files/store_images/289/1812625/photo1_cf137-Original.jpg

I have played guitar off and on for about 30 years. I foolishly stopped playing guitar while working on my doctorate and beginning my career as an academic because I could not bear to watch my skills (such as they were) decline.

I have a Ph.D. in theology from Cambridge University, taught in a ‘Christian’ College for 21 years and now work in prison as a volunteer chaplain. I have supported myself in this ministry with a part-time job but got laid off (banks are consolidating).

I am blessed with a loving wife of 34 years and two children, a daughter-in-law and a grand-daughter whom I love and who love me.

I don’t know what the future holds but I know who holds the future.

Peace,
Rip