This one of kind Collings C10 sounds like it looks – magnificent
Bringing new meaning to the claim that Collings is the Cadillac of acoustic guitars
Part of the collection of the late Stan Jay, founder of the Mandolin Brothers Dream Fulfillment Center, this 1993 guitar was inspired by Stan’s own 1955 Cadillac
“Having not looked at the tag when I first played this Collings C10 Deluxe Custom, I assumed its pale blue body was made out of maple, and that I would hear clear, prancing top notes with dry open prairie behind them. I got plenty of Collings clarity all right, but I felt plenty of power in the bridle, and I was happily surprised by the warm presence rising from under the low-mids, like the comforting waft of just-baked biscuits filling a ranch house kitchen.
The back and sides are made out of mahogany, and that provides a dollop of richness to the otherwise clear and cheerful voice of this beautiful piece of luthiery. The top is made from very good Sitka spruce, my favorite top wood for mahogany, when it comes to accentuating its strength and subtle warmth. It is especially my favorite top wood for Collings mahogany, since the clarity and definition one looks to mahogany to provide is part and parcel of the default Collings build…”
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Nice piece but I wouldn’t trade my 39 Authentic 18 for it. I think Collings has bolt on necks which I don’t favor. Martin must be the Rolls Royce if acoustic guitars.
They do use a bolt-on neck, but they also use a wide neck joint that is basically a dovetail, so the Collings sound is sort of a combination of the two. But the steel in the neck and the very hard finish also contributes. The Collings sound is unique, having greater purity than other bolt-on style guitars, but with top notes that stay very straight and even, in their own lanes, as it were, and do not quaver and intermarry with each other or the undertone and overtones nearly as much traditional dovetail neck guitars made by Martin, Santa Cruz, and Goodall, etc.