COLLINGS

Collings Guitars of Austin, Texas, is probably the most progressive of America's mid-size guitar companies when it comes to construction methods, yet the instruments it builds are highly traditional in appearance and always pay respectful homage to the originals they emulate. Whether it’s a DZH, patterned after a 19305 Martin 0-28, or a sixteen-inch arch-top design derived from a 19205 Gibson L-5, each model is distinctly a Collings from headstock to tailblock.

Recently the company has introduced a line of solidbody and semi-acoustic electrics. Rather than building copies, Collings uses classic instruments and designs from America's ! "Golden Era" of guitar-making as stylistic templates. Founder Bill Collings, who began ", building instruments in the 19705, now employs some fifty people in a factory of 22,000 square feet, and uses computer-controlled milling machines to cut parts to high standards of accuracy and consistency.

Collings customers include Lyle Lovett, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Emmylou Harris, Andy Summers, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, Joni Mitchell, Don Felder, John Sebastian, Lou Reed, John Fogerty, Brian May, Joan Baez, John Prine, and many more

ln 1996 Collings was one of twenty-one guitar makers commissioned to burld a blue arch-top for collector Scott Chinery.