Collings Mandolins

**Lil Chubs** · Jun-06-2011, 9:53am

Just wanted to get some feedback from fellow Collings owners out there. I play a 2004 Collings MF and am absolutely in love with the thing....the tone, the highs, mids, lows....it's what I want a mandolin to sound like.

My MF is a satin finish, and of course the MF is the low rung on the ladder for their F models.

Can any of you Collings players tell a difference in say a MF and a MF5 or MF5v in terms of tone and sound, or do they just have better bells and whistles and nicer appointments?

I know that a varnish finish and a satin finish top sound a bit different, but otherwise, let me hear it!

**mandopete** · Jun-06-2011, 9:59am

2003 MF-5R, #39. I find that they all sound pretty much alike. Did the varnish vs. laquer comparison a couple of years back and decided there was not a significant change in tone. I have been very impressed with the MF's and heard a couple at the mando tasting with Adam Steffey at Bluegrass from the Forest a couple of weeks back. Very consistent IMHO.

**Lil Chubs** · Jun-06-2011, 10:08am

Great! Thanks mandopete...ol' Steffey's a monster! Very unconventional right hand technique, but it works for him.
Have you done any additions or setup with your mando, or is it stock from Austin? When I bought mine last year, our local guitar store had just gotten it in on consignment from a guy that had it under his bed and never played it. It looked brand new! It's opened up a lot since I got it, and adding the ol' ToneGard to it has made a heck of a difference...highly recommend one if you don't have one yet!

**mandopete** · Jun-06-2011, 10:19am

No changes, it's a stock as they come. I haven't even moved the tone guard over from the Flatiron.

I will say this - it seems to take about 30 minutes of playing to open up. I've had it since 2004 and it's always acted this way.

**Alex Orr** · Jun-06-2011, 12:00pm

Played some a few weeks back. I didn't care for the neck, which sort've made the sound a moot point.

**mandopete** · Jun-06-2011, 12:27pm

Yeah, I took me awhile to get used to the pretty pronouced "V" shape on the Collings neck. I thought about having some of it removed, but I'm such a wimp I never got around to it.

**Mandobar** · Jun-06-2011, 12:30pm

they will do a rounder neck profile on request.

**JeffD** · Jun-06-2011, 4:36pm

A Collings MF or MT, wow, they are great. The ones I have played have been great. I have not owned one however.

An MT could make me happy for ever. Well, I would soon enough lust after something, but not in any way because the Collings was inadequate.

I am not really a ladder person, person I guess, just in love with mandolins.

**tburcham** · Jun-06-2011, 6:46pm

My MT2v is an absolute beast of a mandolin. That's not coming from me the owner...that's coming from everyone who has ever heard it or played it. I have also played a standard MT and found it to be excellent as well. Believe it or not, the weakest Collings I've played was an MF5...now that could have been associated with the strings, etc., but it just did have the growl of the others I've played. I would put it in the very good class...not the great category. Overall Collings are exceptionally consistent from instrument to instrument.

**Stamper** · Jun-07-2011, 2:09pm

My MT20 makes my heart sing. Truth is I'd prefer an MT, with Satin, because I worry about damaging the pretty lacquer, but that's just a cosmetic concern. What I love is the fact of it, the sound: when I picked it out two years ago I had a ton to choose from and this one was it. Like Mandopete's, my Collings warms up after twenty or thirty minutes and then it's in the sweet spot. The coolest thing. I've also played several MF's and wouldn't hesitate to pull a trigger if I were after one (that would probably be my next mando, actually, an MF).

**Phil Sussman** · Jun-07-2011, 5:20pm

I'm very happy with my Honey Amber Collings MT. When I first started looking at Collings, I was hesitant about getting one because of the deep V-neck shape. However, drooling won out

, and the neck shape very soon became a non-issue. I think when I was trying them out I wasn't holding them as comfortably as I should have been, and had been used to a rounded-neck Kentucky 150 with a flat fretboard. Everyone likes the way it sounds, and it can project loudly in a jam. I haven't noticed any particular warming-up period.

**Bradley** · Jun-08-2011, 8:12am

I might get shot for saying this but IMHO the best mandolin Collings makes is the
MT2V.

**Mandobar** · Jun-08-2011, 8:22am

I've a bunch of Collings mandolins and mandolas. I have other mandolins too, very lovely Campanella A. Some Brentrups. I've owned lots of others. My last Collings order was a Birdseye mt2 with an engelmann top, waverlies, pick guard. It was designed to be the Swiss army knife of mandos for me. It exceeded expectations. It came out roaring right out of the box.

**F-2 Dave** · Jun-08-2011, 8:35am

I love my MT. It's the only instrument I've ever owned that sounds just like I want it to, every time I get it out of the case.

**terzinator** · Jun-08-2011, 11:04pm

I'm on my second MT. Only reason I sold the first was because I wanted the wider-nut version. (And I was a sucker for the black gloss top.)

**F-2 Dave** · Jun-08-2011, 11:18pm

That's a great looking MT Chris.

**mandopete** · Jun-09-2011, 9:59am

Originally Posted by Bradley

I might get shot for saying this but IMHO the best mandolin Collings makes is the
MT2V.

Not at all - they sound great.

Fred?

**bazooka47** · Jun-09-2011, 1:08pm

My MF5 Deluxe is going on 5 years old, and is beginning to really open up. Each year it seems to get louder and more 'complex' tonally.

Only problem is the varnish is pretty thin and dents quite easily.

**disguiseglasses** · Jun-29-2011, 12:48am

Originally Posted by terzinator

An excerpt from disguiseglasses' recent trip to the church for confession:
DG: "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned."
Priest: "The Lord be with you, child. What was your sin?"
DG: "My heart has been filled with lust, Father."
Priest: "For a woman?"
DG: "What? No! For Terzinator's black top, wide nut Collings MT!"
Priest: "Who's what?"

**Ed Goist** · Jun-29-2011, 8:05am

DG: Provides an explanation of what a black top, wide nut Collings MT is, including full specs.
Priest: "I see...Go now and play 10 'Old Joe Clarks' and 10 'Soldier's Joys'."

**lenf12** · Jun-29-2011, 10:18am

Originally Posted by Ed Goist

DG: Provides an explanation of what a black top, wide nut Collings MT is, including full specs.
Priest: "I see...Go now and play 10 'Old Joe Clarks' and 10 'Soldier's Joys'."

Len B. (former Catholic who has seen the light)
Clearwater, FL

**JeffD** · Jun-29-2011, 3:15pm

They warned me to never fall in love with an object. But I tell you what, there is so much magic in the way these little wooden boxes make music, its like transcendence on demand - how can we avoid falling lin love.

**Plamen Ivanov** · Jun-30-2011, 2:40am

I was looking at their F4 blond model. Any experience with that one? And what would be the price of it? I didn't see the prices listed on their site. Thank you!

**terzinator** · Jun-30-2011, 4:09pm

heh, heh. My work here is done.

disguiseglasses, that's exactly the reason I bought it. My former MT was just fine, except for the drool I got on it when I looked at the black one. (And I did want to try the wide nut, which I love, by the way.)

It actually came with pearly/ivoroid buttons when I bought it; I added the black ones afterward. It was the right thing to do.

"None more black," as they say.

**Mandobar** · Jun-30-2011, 4:47pm

Originally Posted by Plamen Ivanov

I was looking at their F4 blond model. Any experience with that one? And what would be the price of it? I didn't see the prices listed on their site. Thank you!

Best to contact a dealer for pricing.