Guitar world

Collings Guitars

Sometimes, the search for the best acoustic guitar needs to take a lesser known route. After all, the big names like Gibson, Fender and Martin aren't the only game in acoustic town. One such acoustic guitar maker is Bill Collings, owner of Collings Guitars in Austin, Texas.

Bill Collings began his career in guitar repair in Houston in the middle of the 1970's. He also was making guitars on the side as a one man operation then. He did it all from start to finish and learned his craft well. He moved to the Austin area in 1980 and shared workshops with a couple of luthier greats, Michael Stevens and Tom Ellis, who he still deals with today.

From his repair background, Collings knew what the things were that went wrong with guitars. He used that information to build instruments without those drawbacks. He opened his own small shop and by 1989 he hired his first two employees. Shortly afterwards, he had his first order of two dozen instruments and he was on his way.

What makes Collings instruments different is that they are made in a shop, not a factory. Every aspect of the guitar is done by hand, inspected by hand and approved by Bill Collings personally. The result is an instrument that is extraordinary in quality and more than rivals the giants of the industry. Collings is said to have "put the labor back" into acoustic guitars.

So, Collings acoustic guitars have a reputation of being good, quality instruments. A number of notable players like Pete Townshend, Emmylou Harris and Keith Richards, among many others, swear by Collings guitars. Lyle Lovett uses Collings guitars exclusively on stage and in studio. The extraordinary part of that list of users is none of them got their guitars for free. Each artist paid for the instrument at full list price. Bill Collings does not do endorsement deals, so the cost is not passed on to his other customers.

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