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Thread: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

  1. #1
    Registered User JAK's Avatar
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    Question Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    Did Bill sign all or just some of the inside labels on Collings mandolins?
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  2. #2
    Registered User JAK's Avatar
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    Looks like it's a secret.
    John A. Karsemeyer

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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    You might contact Collings and ask them.

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    Registered User doc holiday's Avatar
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    I've never seen an unsigned label from Collings ....(before Bill's passing)

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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    Quote Originally Posted by doc holiday View Post
    I've never seen an unsigned label from Collings ....(before Bill's passing)
    Me too. The Collings labels are pretty "busy", so the signature is sometimes hard to find. But I think he signed them all up until ...
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    Fatally Flawed Bill Kammerzell's Avatar
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    I know mine is. And yes, it wasn't until I looked really closely that I made out the signature. Or actually, that I even realized there was a signature there.
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    Registered User JAK's Avatar
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    Thanks all.
    John A. Karsemeyer

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    Registered User djeffcoat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    Quote Originally Posted by JAK View Post
    Thanks all.
    I read somewhere that Bill signed a bunch of labels that were put in instruments after his passing. Once they were used up, unsigned labels were glued in.

  9. #9

    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    All the mandolins I had before his passing were signed, the custom MT2-O I received just after his passing was not signed.
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    I personally would not want a signature by anybody that did not have a primary role in building the instrument. Gilchrist, Dudenbostel, Heiden et. al. means something.
    Chris Martin sighting a guitar does not.
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    My ‘91 Santa Cruz “Tony Rice” has Tony’s signature on the label. I have it on good authority that he personally scalloped the braces and buffed up the nitro finish before it left the factory!

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    Registered User Russ Jordan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    Quote Originally Posted by Br1ck View Post
    I personally would not want a signature by anybody that did not have a primary role in building the instrument. Gilchrist, Dudenbostel, Heiden et. al. means something.
    Chris Martin sighting a guitar does not.
    Including Lloyd Loar?
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    Registered User Russ Jordan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    Regarding Bill Collings involvement from my personal experience: I had a varnished Nugget/Collings Tim O’Brien on order. The order was taking longer because of the varnish (seems like an extra 6 weeks). As delivery time got closer, I got a call from the dealer to say that when Bill Collings was inspecting the mandolin prior to finishing, that he saw something about the top that he didn’t like. BC refused to let it be finished with that top. The mandolin was further delayed while they waited on Nugget to carve a new top.
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  16. #14
    Registered User JAK's Avatar
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    I know a guy who has an exceptional Collings MF5, both in looks and sound. Bill Collings has a BIG signature on that one. As for Chris Martin, he preserves and advances the quality of Martin Guitars, unlike at least one of his previous Martin CEO forefathers who almost ruined the company.
    John A. Karsemeyer

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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    Quote Originally Posted by Russ Jordan View Post
    Regarding Bill Collings involvement from my personal experience: I had a varnished Nugget/Collings Tim O’Brien on order. The order was taking longer because of the varnish (seems like an extra 6 weeks). As delivery time got closer, I got a call from the dealer to say that when Bill Collings was inspecting the mandolin prior to finishing, that he saw something about the top that he didn’t like. BC refused to let it be finished with that top. The mandolin was further delayed while they waited on Nugget to carve a new top.
    I have toured the Collings facility a number of times (got to spend an entire afternoon visiting with Bill after one of the tours.....talking about his prototype cases and his extreme dis-satisfaction about existing latches). One of the reasons their build quality is so high is that when an instrument is moved along to the next process the person at that station has to inspect each instrument for flaws. If they find anything....no matter how tiny.....it goes back to the last station to be fixed until he deems it perfect. No exceptions. Ever. Cost and time (profit motivation) meant nothing to any of them. Bill least of all. Seems like that commitment is carrying on.

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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    Wow... all along I t hought my Collings MT label didn't have a signature, but I just looked closely and there it is! Kinda hidden by the busy label. Thanks for the tip!
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    Quote Originally Posted by Russ Jordan View Post
    Including Lloyd Loar?
    Yes. I'd be happy enough with the mandolin.
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    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray(T) View Post
    My ‘91 Santa Cruz “Tony Rice” has Tony’s signature on the label. I have it on good authority that he personally scalloped the braces and buffed up the nitro finish before it left the factory!
    That's cool if he did. Here's something else, can't guarantee you will find signatures, but if you take an inspection mirror and light and look down near the end pin block there may be 2 or 3 signatures down there. That's the folks who made the instrument. And if one of the names is "Otis B. Rodeo" that's Richard Hoover's signature. It's his old stage name.
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    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Did Bill Collings Sign All Or Some?

    There might also be a few Collings out there without a signature. Owned a D1 that didn't have one. This was during the early years and he sometimes was too busy to sign. Or at least that's what the dealer told me.
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