Any body seen anything at Namm yet.

Cheers
Todd

i sure hope not... that's all i can say right now.

bb

biliter, why not you may be surprised.
Cheers
Todd

How about a new Collings Nylon string guitar? I will take one if they are making it!

that's true todd... i'm sure that if and when they do make an electric, it will be of fine quality. i guess i'm just partial to acoustics and the feel of a all wood, no bells and whistles instrument. i have even gotten to the point where i don’t even like factory installed pick ups. i don’t know… just like the natural simplicity of collings as it is . simple is hard to do when it’s done right. guess i am old school and don't like change.
i’m not knocking electrics at all… i have a few.

bb

yah, i saw these guitars at NAMM yesterday. there was a les-paul style solid body archtop, and a couple of semi hollow bodied guitars. in typical collings fashion, they looked well done and elegent in shape.

steve was saying that bill had just built them last week and had just been finished, and that there were a few things not quite right with them (f-holes hadn't been finished out).

hopefully, i'll get some pics this weekend

They alread make electric guitars. What is
an archtop if not an electric guitar. Granted
they don't come with pickups but I bet they
get them soon enough.

quote:

Originally posted by Ed:
How about a new Collings Nylon string guitar? I will take one if they are making it!

I agree, and I'd much rather see them putting their designing and building efforts into what they do best - acoustic guitars. A nylon seems like the obvious stretch, if they're feeling the need. I'd be the first in line for a Collings nylon.

The electric market is already WELL saturated, and with some amazing boutique builders (it's going to be tough to compete with the John Suhr's of the world).

Regardless, I can't wait to see/play/hear one of these. Any idea when they're likely to hit the market?

IMHO they make the best flat tops and mandolins and yes they are now in the electric guitar market and I will also bet they will be the best.

Cheers
Todd

I found these pics through a link in a discussion at acousticguitar.com. Here's the link to the full page from "giffenf" at acousticguitar.com discussion board: http://www.giffen.com/namm/namm2006.htm

I really didn't expect Bill & Co. to make electric guitars, but now that they do I expect they will be good. Unless they make a model with a strat type pickup config, I probably won't be in the market. I already have a bunch of nice electric guitars, and I seem to gravitate towards the strat sound. It would be hard to make a strat style guitar better than my Tom Anderson.

Now that the proverbial cat's out of the bag...

Because Bill knows I sell a lot of electrics, as well as high-end acoustics, he's been sharing a lot of this with me over the last few months. And I saw these three (and another one) Wednesday a.m. when I was up at Collings.

I cannot say enough good things about these guitars. The original base model was the 335-style guitar. Instead of building back and bent sides, the entire back and sides (including center block) is carved out of a single piece of wood. Then, the tap-tuned carved top (not plywood laminate) is added. It's more like a "super-chambered" guitar than a true hollow body. And they have it down to 7-7.5 lbs. If you've ever played a 335, you know how amazing that weight is. Compared to a 335, the bout is a tad smaller, and the waist is a little tighter ("sexier" is Bill's word). All this makes it incredibly comfortable to play. It sits a little lower on your lap.

The single cutaway hollowbody version seems to be loosely inspired by the Byrdland.

The single-cut (LP, PRS Single Cut style) is also ridiculously light. I think the one they took to NAMM came in a hair under 8 lbs.

All have brazilian rosewood fingerboards. A feature you pretty much won't find anywhere these days. And they're going to offer a variety of wood combinations. One of the very early 335-style models I saw was an all mahogany with a mahogany burst that was stunning. Current models have Seymour Duncan pickups. Seymour himself chose the pickups for these guitars.

Pricing isn't set yet, and who knows when they'll end up in stores. I've spoken with a couple other dealers who sell high-end electrics as well as Collings acoustics, and they're as excited about these as I am.

Short version: Bill is doing the same thing with electrics he did with acoustics, taking classic designs, keeping their look and essence, then applying a little modern ingenuity and great craftsmanship to how they're constructed.

my 2¢...kdd