Collings Reviews and News from the Gryphon Gazette

A New Collings Mandolin? (Summer 1999)

Yep, the rumors are true, our favorite guitarmakers are now building A style mandolins. Bill Collings himself designed and built the prototype we saw at the NAMM show in January, and he's been so excited about the project he even cancelled an off-road motorcycle trip to work on the tooling. That kind of dedication has everyone who knows Bill Collings shaking their heads!

No photos are available yet, and Steve McCreary-the manager at Collings-assures me that the production models are far better than the prototype we saw. Knowing Bill, he's probably right. The Collings mandolin isn't radical in appearance-it looks a lot like a Gibson A-5-and Bill's experience building archtop guitars has served him well in preserving the Collings tradition while adding an entirely different type of instrument to the line. These mandolins will be made of maple and spruce, with fully carved tops and backs and a beautiful sunburst finish. They're going to be LOUD, and they'll be fairly priced at around $2,000.

Some dealers have already sold the first ones they will get, before the final price has even been announced. If you want a Collings mandolin, better call and get on our waiting list!

Bill Collings Tackles the Mandolin (Fall 1999)

We finally got our first Collings mandolin, after being teased by a prototype at the January NAMM show. Although a somewhat less expensive version is supposed to be available in the distant future, for now Bill is only offering the deluxe A model (this is why our earlier estimates of the selling price were too low). As you can see, this has ivoroid binding on every edge, with the black and white purfling lines on top, back AND sides. A delicate mother-of-pearl and abalone inlay graces the peghead below the familiar Collings script. The sunburst finish in high-gloss lacquer shows off the heavily figured maple used for the back, sides, and neck (the tailpiece on later versions will be more appealing than the generic style on the prototype pictured here). Maybe it's not an F model, but little details like the decorative cuts at the end of the radiussed fretboard and subtly shaded vignettes on all surfaces add up to the impression that this is no ordinary A-5 knockoff. And with a selling price of just under $3,000, it better not be.

For mandolin players like myself, who basically work out of the lower neck positions, the first casual strumming of the Collings can be misleading. It doesn't have that rattle and rumble on the bass strings that some of the X-braced Flatirons offer, and since Collings doesn't believe in super-thin tops and backs the result is a controlled tone bordering on tight. Once you get past that first impression, however, you'll notice a sort of bubbly response that almost asks for a more aggressive right hand style. Unlike many mandolins, the harder you play the Collings the better it sounds.

When in the hands of a real mandolin picker like our manager John Kael, however, the Collings really comes into its own. As you go up the neck, where lesser mandolins begin to sound thin, the Collings offers a warm, full-bodied tone with remarkably even balance across all the strings. Like with a good arch-top guitar, playing way up the neck on the wound strings sounds remarkably like you are playing in a lower position on the treble strings. Considering the reputation of Bill's arch-top guitars, this bonus of a more sophisticated tone for the accomplished player isn't surprising. Maybe the Collings mandolin isn't for everyone, but for more advanced players it has a lot to offer. If you're serious about the mandolin, come by and give it a try.

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