Collings history

[Mandobar]

Tom, I think Will was involved around the time Collings started offering varnished mandolins. I owned MT2 #67 for a while, which was lacquer. These early models had very tiny necks. Somewhere around 2004 the neck profiles started filling out. It might be around the time Alex Rueb joined the Collings team. Alex is a very talented mandolin player.

[Will Kimble]

Looks like my contribution to Collings is being exaggerated once again. I loved Bill Collings and was fortunate to talk about instruments with him a couple times - spirited discussions. He was initially skeptical about varnish on mandolins, and the first time I met him we talked about varnish at length. Not in terms of materials, but in terms of sound. This resulted in me ordering a varnish guitar from him - a D1A, the very first one. I had no input in his approach to building mandolins, and my impression was that he was more influenced by Gilchrist and Nugget than anything else. In fact, I distinctly remember saying to Bill "the main difference between me and you is I like Loar mandolins and you don't." We had quite a laugh about that. I did trade one of my two points for the varnish D1A, so perhaps it had some subtle influence over the years - Alex told me it was in the shop somewhere and got played regularly. I also may have had some small influence on how they mount their pickguards, I remember telling Steve they would need them for the varnish models. He said Bill hated pickguards, and I told him the varnish would get tore up from fingernails. Got an email from Steve after a big show (NAMM or IBMA), he said you were right - the varnish got tore up and they were gonna have to put pickguards on the varnish mandolins. He asked me to send pics of how I mount pickguards, and I happily obliged. He said it gave them a "rough" starting point, lol. One final unknown connection - I built a chambered body Les Paul out of mahogany around the time Bill was starting to develop the electrics. They were trying out different pickups and I recommended Jason Lollar to Steve McCreary. Might have happened anyway, but I think I opened the door for that relationship.

[Will Kimble]

I haven't thought of these things in a while, but I had a clear memory a few moments ago. While talking to Bill about varnish, I told him I thought it was essential when you are using the really hard maple for backs. He said they had quit using hard maple for backs, that it was too crunchy and bright. He also told me he had fought for a brighter sound for years with his guitars and he wasn't going to fight that battle with mandolins. I told him part of what he was hearing was the lacquer, and that the softer, less constrictive varnish finish would smooth out and warm up the hard maple. He got what I was saying right away and was really excited about it.

It is important to note that I talked to him about varnish after he had been resistant and skeptical for a while, but he also had been using it and was beginning to hear the differences. In other words, it was on his mind and my opinions were timely in terms of Bill forming his OWN opinions. And Bill had very strong opinions, lol!

[Mandobar]

Will, you downplay your assistance and your influence way too much. There have been a lot of influencing forces at Collings, yourself included.

[Tom Sanderson]

What are the very first Collings mandolins called (MT1?).