PhilGE
Jul-22-2005, 3:14pm
My thanks to Charlie at Collings Guitars in Austin, TX, for a tour of of the facilities. My eyes are now open to what a large shop can be like. I won't bore you with details, but it was quite fun to see many of the processes discussed here (on the board) in real life. Got to see everything from wood curing to final finishing. Was able to hold a couple of the finished instruments - an MT2 and and MF5. These were incredible examples of excellent craftmanship - scrolls and binding that were hard to believe. Tone and ease of play were even, full, loud, and "buttery", considering my less than audiophile's ears. I would love to play an oval hole model of theirs someday - and that may happen, since I saw an A-style oval hole top that was probably a prototype.
No big surprises, just lots of incredible instruments all around. No, I didn't walk away with a new instrument, though I did briefly think about "dumpster diving" to look for any rejects #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif #- and no, there wasn't anything like that to be found.
-Phil (visiting family in very hot Austin. Sorry, didn't take my camera to the shop)
No big surprises, just lots of incredible instruments all around. No, I didn't walk away with a new instrument, though I did briefly think about "dumpster diving" to look for any rejects #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif #- and no, there wasn't anything like that to be found.
-Phil (visiting family in very hot Austin. Sorry, didn't take my camera to the shop)