Can you mount a strap button on the back side of the heel on a Collings A model? Do they use bolt on necks? Is there a steel rod in the neck below the truss rod?

Thanks..john

I don't believe the mandos use bolts. I believe they use some sort of locking dovetail joint.

I put a strap button on the neck heel of a Colling MT2 I had a while back. I basically followed the advice they give on the website for the guitars as far as placement. I called Steve McCreary at Collings to ask him about how best to do it and his reply was something along the lines of "beats the hell out of me."

I didn't really care for the strap button on the mando neck. It seemed to get in my way a few times and the mando didn't hang on the strap as well as I had hoped it would with the strap button. Then again I never really like the strap attached at the headstock either. I think if I get another mando it'll be a F model since the scroll is basically a built in strap attachment point.

Get a Collings mandolin strap from their web site and tie it in a knot beneath your fingerboard extension. Works like a charm for me.

Folk,

I think the best way to attach a strap to a Collings A-Model is to tie the strap around the entire body and going just under the fingerboard extension. It's clean, rock solid, easily reversible, out of the way, doesn't risk cracking your heel and eliminates the strap button which can get in the way of high frettin'. I agonized over this for a long while and then tried this a few months ago....it seemes to be an awesome solution. The mando hangs perfectly.