Late last year 2021, I was at Dave’s Guitars in LaCrosse, WI and it was there that I acquired my first Collings acoustic, a 0002H. Since I perform monthly live at an Open Mic Night that I host with a friend, and because I like to play through an acoustic amp when I play at home, I requested that the shop install a pick up in the guitar before I headed back home to Iowa.
K&K Pure Mini Pickup
The gentleman who manages the acoustic guitar department was emphatic that the best pickup for a Collings acoustic guitar was the K&K Pure Mini because it was generally transparent sounding, way less prone to feedback, and relatively easy to install.
L.R. Baggs Venue DI with tone controls and tuner
A challenge with a passive pickup like the K&K Pure Mini is the absence of a preamp/equalizer to control guitar tonality, such as bass, mids and treble, as well as to boost the signal. My previous acoustic guitars were Taylors which had a preamp/equalizer and pickup installed as part of the guitar itself, so I was at a bit of a loss, until my Dave’s guy suggested that I should also purchase a DI/Preamp with built in equalizer to manage the pickup, and he recommended the L.R. Baggs Venue for the job. When I suggested that I already owned a rather extensive pedalboard that I used with my electric guitars which might accomplish the same thing, he visibly shuddered and said he would never, ever run a Collings acoustic guitar through those electronics. It would be a major compromise to the guitar’s tone, which is what Collings guitars were all about!
At a gig with the Venue DI & 0002H
So, I ordered an L.R. Baggs Venue and put it to good use when I played a gig at one of our local coffee shops. The 0002H was cabled into the Venue which was then cabled into a Bose T4s Mixer and then on into a Bose L1 Pro PA and it worked well enough.
Still, I was unsure whether or not I had the best possible tool kit at my disposal for projecting the best possible tone from my Collings. Consequently, I started digging around the internet and discovered that the L.R. Baggs Company in the past few years has developed a line of pedals that were specifically attuned to the unique complexities and frequencies of acoustic guitars. They’re referred to as the Align series of acoustic pedals, and include a compressor, a DI, an equalizer, a reverb, a delay, and a chorus.
L.R. Baggs Session Compressor Pedal
In my judgement an essential pedal for all amplified guitars is a compressor, because to me it makes the guitar sound better. Most importantly the compressor levels the dynamics of different strings, which can be very helpful in making the guitarist sound more pleasant, especially when playing fingerstyle. As you can see on the right, the L.R. Baggs compressor has a simple layout with volume and gain controls at the top. I use just enough gain to keep the signal flowing through the chain as I don’t want gain fattening up the signal beyond what I perceive to be a natural acoustic tone. The various pedals in the signal chain all have some form of volume control, some of which alter the guitar’s overall dry signal and other control the loudness of the effect the pedal was designed for. I tend to keep the loudness/volume controls set close to mid-point and do final volume control at the Venue DI or the Amp/PA. The effects volume is set to keep the effect subtle and not to overwhelm the guitar’s dry signal.
The Compressor’s saturate knob can “enrich” the tone, but with a Collings I don’t find that a necessity, so I keep it tuned down so as not to affect the natural brilliance built into the guitar. Where the “rubber meets the road” is the comp eq knob and here is where the guitar tonal dynamics are controlled. What I do is adjust the knob, and then back and forth mute or activate the combined Session compressor and Venue DI so that I eventually get the natural sound of the guitar unplugged but simply louder when the signal chain is engaged, and “By-Jiminy” it works!
In truth, the combination of the Venue DI and Session Compressor would be enough if all you wanted during a performance was the natural sound of the guitar amplified. During the time that I possessed just those two pedals I ran them in series with the guitar into the compressor, then feeding directly into the Venue. When I used the chromatic tuner that is built into the Venue, I would turn the compressor off before hand so that a clean signal reached the tuner.
L.R. Baggs Reverb
The fact is, sometimes I like to use tone modulation pedals in very light doses to add mood or flavor to the guitar’s basic tone. Consequently, I anticipated eventually adding the L.R. Baggs Reverb and Delay pedals to the signal chain. I sold some old pedals I was not using and purchased the Reverb first.
Again, as with the Compressor, the control knobs for the Reverb are fairly simple. No choices of multiple types of Reverb are available as typical on pedals such as those manufactured by Boss or Neunaber. L.R. Baggs engineered a Reverb signal they thought best complemented an acoustic guitar, and I like it. In the case of this Reverb pedal, the volume and tone controls just alter the reverb effect and not the guitar’s dry signal. Also onboard are knobs to adjust the amount of reverb and the decay, which is the duration of the effect. As I said before, with an acoustic guitar like a Collings, if I engage reverb, I like to do it with subtlety.
FX Loop Input/Output in rear of Venue DI
After studying the L.R. Baggs Venue literature, I decided to reroute my pedals from a straight line configuration, meaning they connect to each other train car style, one after the other, until they reach the Venue as last entry point. Instead, I chose to use the Venue’s EFX loop with input and output jacks located in the back of the device. Basically the Compressor and Reverb pedals are lassoed together and run via a cabled loop into and out of the Venue’s rear. As I understand it, the native signal from a guitar’s passive pickup, such as my K&K Pure Mini, is not particularly strong. Consequently, it is prudent to use effects pedals after the guitar’s signal is strengthened by the Venue’s Preamp. Theoretically, this results in a cleaner signal for the pedals to manipulate, giving precise and more audibly pleasing control over the effects. Effects such as Reverb and Delay would clearly benefit from flowing through the EFX loop. Whether or not the Compressor belongs in the EFX loop or is instead located before the preamp can be debated; however, I have it located in the loop and it sounds just fine to me.
L.R. Baggs Delay
I completed the signal modulation section of my acoustic pedalboard with the acquisition of the L.R. Baggs Align Delay pedal. This pedal too is tied into the EFX loop and I tend to set it to give a subtle slapback effect, which, when used adds some further depth to the guitar’s tonality. To maintain subtlety, I limit the delay time with the delay knob, limit the number of repeats per unit time and keep the time of the delay relatively brief. The tone knob controls the brightness or darkness of the delay effect and I tend to keep that setting relatively neutral.
It is apparent via this discussion that I tend to use modulation and compression pedals in this configuration in a “set it and forget it” mode. I don’t like fiddling about with the pedals especially when performing. On the other hand, I do have separate Venue DI equalizer settings depending on which guitar I am using. I keep a photograph of the settings for the 0002H and the C10-35 on my iPad, and can easily adjust if I switch guitars when playing.
The last pedal on my board, which is a Korg tuner, really should not have been a necessity because the Venue DI has a built-in, onboard chromatic tuner. Sadly, it is not as responsive as other tuners I’ve used, and I lost confidence in its accuracy because of its oddball circular LED interface. Consequently, I added the KORG pedal and it works just fine! The raw guitar signal feeds directly into the Korg, which then cables into the Venue DI.
A handmade George L patch chord
It is worth noting that I use George L patch chords on both of my pedalboards. They are infinitely variable lengthwise because you build them yourself and have discretion as to how long the patch chord wire is. At my local shop, you purchase the plugs individually and the wire is paid for by the length. I keep a small coil of wire at home. The plugs are all nickel colored and the wire comes in multiple colors including black, blue, white and red. You build the patch chord by cutting the wire and then removing the cap to the plug. This is followed by inserting the wire into the opened plug and finally screwing the plug’s cap back down, which cuts the insulation on the wire and creates a proper circuit. I also use the optional rubber stress relief caps that keep the plug cap from unscrewing, which can happen over time. The George L’s are pricey. You can make 6 patch chords for roughly $100. My guitar shop guys consider them the best in the marketplace, but opinions around the web vary.
Genzler Acoustic Array Pro Amp
It goes without saying that an essential element in the signal chain is the amplifier itself. I currently use the Genzler Acoustic Array Pro amp and am very pleased with it. It offers a lovely transparent amplification of the guitar’s signal, which is a necessity when so much has been invested in the tonality of a Collings guitar. I would not want my guitars signal colored by the amp. The Genzler offers two channels, as well as chorus and reverb effects. I keep the effects turned off because I choose to use my pedals instead.
At home, I use one channel of the Genzler for the guitar and the other to practice singing my tunes. I own a very nice Sennheiser e965 condenser mic, which requires phantom power. Sadly, the Genzler’s phantom power is too wimpy to work with the e965, so I had to purchase a rechargeable phantom power booster that I stick between the mic and the amp and that works out adequately. I have not taken the Genzler out for a gig because I use a Bose L1 Pro PA; however, the Genzler is ready to go if I decide to use it. There is a socket built into the bottom of the amp so that it can be mounted on a stand at ear level for the audience.
The complete Acoustic Pedalboard
Above you can see the completed pedalboard. While there’s room for another pedal like the L.R. Baggs Align Chorus, I think this signal chain offers more than enough tone altering capability, without being excessive. You will note the pedals are velcro mounted on a Pedaltrain Classic JR chassis. Bolted below is a Pedaltrain Spark power block that offers 5 isolated power channels. Sadly, the Spark is no longer manufactured, but there are other power blocks in the marketplace. On my electric guitar pedalboard I use the excellent Walrus Audio Phoenix.
Below I offer some tone samples using various pedal combinations for both my Collings C10-35 and then my 0002H. I recorded the clips with an iPhone 11, equipped with a Shure MV88 mic plugged into its jack, and did final processing in Apple’s iMovie. The recordings are probably best appreciated with decent headphones.
The sound samples from the C10-35 are drawn from the music that accompanies Blaze Foley’s Clay Pigeons:
The sound samples from the 0002H are drawn from the music that accompanies Steve Earle’s Fort Worth Blues:
The first solid wood acoustic guitar I ever purchased was a 1994 era Taylor 510 (Mahogany and Spruce) Dreadnought. After I learned through hard knocks and dirty socks that I was not quick enough to be a bluegrass flat picker, I dumped the Dread and worked my way through a series of other Taylors more suitable for fingerstyle, including a 1997 612 (Spruce and Maple, now owned by my son), an early 2000’s 714ce (Cedar and Rosewood, traded away), a 2015 914ce (Spruce and Rosewood), and finally a 2016 812ce (Spruce and Rosewood). In short, I was a Taylor fan-boy. The brighter, more modern sound of Taylors, for a long time, appealed to my ears and sensibility. Over the years, I auditioned other major brands but they fell short of my expectations in tonality, as well as fit, finish and value.
Me and the 0002H
Then several months ago, my opinion about acoustic guitars took an abrupt change in direction when I traded my Taylor 812ce and purchased a Collings 0002H, which I discussed in some detail here. In sum, the 0002H bloomed with overtone when plucked, whereas the Taylor 812ce’s tone was more fundamental and somewhat anemic sounding by comparison. As a result I suffered zero remorse replacing the 812ce with the 0002H and have since greatly enjoyed playing it at home and when performing.
The 0002H and I were largely inseparable, except when I played slide in Open D on my National M1, which created a dilemma for me because I had my remaining Taylor acoustic, a 914ce, sitting idle and unplayed for an extended period of time. To try to remedy this situation, I put new strings on the Taylor and played it a bit to see if I could get some traction with it. Not suprislingly my expectations for acoustic guitar tonality had changed and the 914ce was now irretrievably disappointing to me ear… really disappointing.
My friend Grant and me at my local shop
In sum, the 914ce became a candidate for trade. Sadly, there really were no acoustic guitars at the local guitar store that interested me. They have a fine selection of Taylors but I was done with Taylors as I’d owned two of their finest instruments for several years. Further, I was pretty much underwhelmed by the tonality of their newer, reinvented, heavily marketed V-Class line of acoustics. The Taylor Guitar Company is a great company and over the years they’ve been very kind to me, but for now I am done with their guitars, with the exception of a T5z which I am hanging onto. My local shop also has some nice Martins in their inventory, but those guitars have always left me cold.
The Collings Corner at Dave’s Guitars
My thinking was that it might be really nice to have another Collings acoustic in my stable to replace the 914ce, so I asked the Collings Enthusiasts Facebook crowd what they might recommend in a small bodied guitar that would complement my 0002H. Several members made a variety of suggestions. I followed up with research on their recommendations and decided that the best candidate was perhaps the C10 model. Given that the 0002H’s body was constructed of Sitka Spruce and East Indian Rosewood, the C10 offered a nice contrast with a body of Sitka Spruce and Mahogany, The only store within distance that sells Collings Acoustic was Dave’s Guitars in LaCrosse, WI which is about 3 hours away by car. I thus cross-matched the Facebook recommendations with Dave’s inventory, which at the time was 12 guitars. Sure enough, they had a C10-35 in stock, which is a variation of the C10 and it was finished in a lovely sunburst! So I decided to take a trip to the store to check it out. There were some other models too, such as the Collings OM that I wanted to look more closely at also, but the C10-35 was at the top of the list.
Vintage L-0 & L-00
Collings is well know for designing guitar models based upon or inspired by highly regarded vintage classics of the past. But instead of duplicating the older guitars they apply a combination of precision machine technology, skilled, meticulous handwork, and the finest materials (i.e. tone woods) available to produce an instrument that exceeds the original vintage design in both tonality as well as fit and finish. It’s my understanding that the C10 was inspired by the Gibson L-00 guitars of the 1930’s. Vintage versions of this instrument are highly sought after by musicians and collectors. Collings’ limited production C10-35 variant pushes the voicing of the original C10 to more closely emulate a vintage instrument by using ultra-light tone woods, non-scalloped Adirondack bracing, a long cutthrough saddle, and other vintage inspired features such as an abbreviated tongue brace.
It is difficult for me to articulate the care, time and detail that goes into making a Collings instrument, which sets them apart from the big time manufacturers such as Taylor, Gibson and Martin. While a large manufacturer like Taylor makes consistent and beautiful guitars, they are still, in my experience, missing the fairy dust that makes them singular instruments. The brief documentary film I share below does clarify what the Collings philosophy is and why their guitars stand out in the marketplace:
As I wrote earlier, Collings often designs guitars that are inspired by the past, so as the highly regarded 1930’s era Gibsons. Below you can see Steve Earle speak to his vintage L-00, which inspired the C10-35.
If you’re interested in more background regarding Gibson acoustic guitars, the following video is quite informative:
I Purchase a C10-35
As I mentioned above, Dave’s Guitars had a relatively large inventory of Collings acoustics when I initially decided to trade-off the Taylor 914ce. Collings is a smallish operation, so the marketplace is not flooded with their instruments. It’s nice for me that a store just three hours away sells them. It was on a Saturday when I made the decision to move on the C10-35, but I also wanted to audition an OM too before making the final purchase. At that moment in time there were 12 Collings acoustics hanging on the wall at Dave’s. Sunday when I again checked into Dave’s inventory they were down to just 8 and the two OM’s in stock were gone! I was astonished and unnerved. There was a run on Collings guitars going on at Dave’s! In response, without even playing the C10-35, I put it on my credit card, and let the store know I would drive over the following Tuesday to pick it up as well as trade-in the 914ce. I figured that if I really did not like the C10-35, the folks at Dave’s would just refund what I’d paid… no harm no foul…
Me at Dave’s visiting his collection
So I went to Dave’s early Tuesday morning with my friend Grant. The C10-35 was sitting there waiting for me to pick up; however, I sat in the corner and auditioned it for quite a while before closing the deal. I also checked out a Collings CJ-45, a larger Gibson Jumbo inspired guitar but thought it was way too large for my comfort. While auditioning the two Collings, the store examined my Taylor and made, what I thought, was a very fair trade offer, considering that the guitar was pretty dinged up (it sold within the week, so they knew what they were doing).
I closed the deal and remanded the guitar to the custody of Dave’s luthier shop to have a K&K Pure Mini pickup installed. I like to play through an acoustic amp at home and I typically perform plugged into a PA system, so a pickup is a necessity. Dave’s acoustic guy, JR Rabie is emphatic that the K&K is the best choice for a Collings acoustic. I put one into my 0002H and was very please with its simplicity and transparency.
Grant and I grabbed lunch, checked out Dave’s upstairs collection of vintage guitars, visited Daves’ Drum Depot and by then the C10-35 was ready for pickup. I gave the guitar a cursory examination while in the case, then Grant and I headed home with the Collings in the back of car.
Ruh-Roh… This Is All Wrong!!!
Circumferential scarring around the jack
When I got home, I promptly pulled the guitar out of its case and the first thing I did was look at the bottom of the guitar to study what the pickup jack looked like and I was appalled to see that there was a circumferential gouge or scar around the jack’s location. It seemed pretty obvious to me that the luthier/tech damaged the wood around the jack when either enlarging the hole for the jack or when tightening the jack into its final location. Sadly, the damage was not reported at the time it occurred, leading me to have to find it after I got home.
After repair
I contacted several people at Dave’s Guitars via email with the above photograph and in very short order they responded with an apology and an offer to either repair the damage or refund me $200. The monetary refund was not very much considering the overall cost of the guitar, suggesting to me that what they really wanted to do was repair the instrument. I was informed that with a nitrocellulose finish, such as on this guitar, the luthiers would be able to repair the damage. At my request, Dave’s shipped me a suitable box and a prepaid return UPS label. I played the guitar for several days bonding with it before the shipping box arrived, and that same day I shipped the guitar back to Wisconsin. About a week after the guitar had arrived at Dave’s they completed the repair and shipped it back to me. Since it was so cold here in Iowa when the box arrived, I had to let it acclimate in my house for 24 hours before opening. That was a long day! You can see in the photo above the guitar bottom after repair. The damage is largely gone; however, if you look closely enough there’s still some slight evidence of the mishap, but not enough to quibble with. I am very glad to have it back.
I Review the Collings C10-35
Collings C10-35 in TKL Case
On the right you can see the C10-35 in the TKL hardcase that Collings uses to protect their guitars. It’s a decent case with a nice tight fit for the guitar, but the Tolex covering is vulnerable to tearing if not handled gently. As with a typical guitar case, there’s a compartment for storing necessities and there’s a key included to lock the case if desired. There is a cushioned, comfortable handle but rugged enough to last the life of the case.
Collings C10-35
Looking very much like a vintage Gibson L-00 the Collings C10-35 is larger than a parlor guitar but still in a relatively small body. Coming with a paddle style headstock, a mahogany neck, a Wenge fingerboard and bridge, with back and sides of mahogany and a top of sitka spruce. The nitrocellulose coating is so glossy and mirror-like it’s hard to photograph the guitar without revealing whatever is in the background.
The guitar is significantly lighter than my 0002H, which is probably a function of its somewhat smaller size, but also thinned out tone woods for the body. Internally is a pre-war, non-scalloped X bracing, composed of light Adirondack spruce.
The guitar is quite beautiful but spare in adornment. Other than the “just-showy” Ivoroid tuners, the body is bound by thin strips of Ivoroid with no purfling. The sound hole rosette is also basic Ivoroid with some simple black and white purfling. It’s the combination of the high gloss nitrocellulose finish over the stunning sunburst staining of the soundboard that gives the guitar its “wow” factor. As a rule, I do not like pickguards, but the vintage tiger stripe guard also adds to the guitars stunning appearance. The Taylor 914ce I traded for this Collings was a highly embellished instrument and physically stunning in its own right, but in the end when your playing a guitar, it’s not really what it looks like, but what it sounds like, as well as its playability and the C10-35 wins “hands-down” for me!
C10-35 Headstock
The C10-35’s headstock is carved with their recognizable haircut profile and topped with a gloss Ebony veneer and an Ivoroid Collings logo. The tuners are nickel Waverly brand with a 16:1 ratio, which makes tuning a pleasure. The tuner buttons are Ivoroid and the gearing is open in the back adding to he vintage appearance for the guitar.
I have some reservations about Ivoroid tuning buttons because my former Taylor 812ce tuners had Ivoroid buttons, one of which blew apart when I was restringing the guitar with an powered auto-winder. Straight metal knobs like the 0002H is equipped with would have been just fine. Still… the Ivoroid knobs are pretty and add to the vintage look. I really like the appearance of a slothead like the 0002H possesses, but they are considerably more fiddly to restring than a paddle head like the C10-35 has, so that’s good!
Note also, the 1 3/4 inch bone nut. That is a standard width nowadays and fine for finger picking.
Wenge Fingerboard
While the other C10 models are built with Ebony fingerboards, the C10-35 possesses the very grainy appearing Wenge wood. It’s the first guitar I’ve ever owned that has any Wenge on it. Why Collings made this decision eludes me, but I think it has a rather stunning and antique-like appearance with its broad and distinctive grain, The Wenge looks like it might be coarse feeling, but it’s quite smooth making for a functional fingerboard.
Santa Cruz strings
The guitar was shipped with D’Addario EJ 16’s, which I like and they’re pretty affordable; however, I’ve replaced them with Santa Cruz Low Tension Parabellum strings because they are easier on my hands and they sound good. They are very expensive strings so their longevity will determine whether or not I keep using them. Since they are micro-coated hopefully they will last a while.
C10-35 body
To the right you can see a close-up of the C10-35’s body. Note the sunburst stain, the simple unadorned bindings and paired-down soundhole rosette, the tiger-striped pickguard, the Wenge bridge, the vintage cut-through saddle and the plain Ivoroid bridge pins. Simple but stunning in appearance.
Some guitar designers believe the larger cut through saddle creates a different tonality for the guitar because of the larger surface area contact with the bridge. This is open to continuing debate; however, these cut through saddles were very common on pre-war guitars, which is what inspires the C10-35 design.
The guitar’s body has an elegantly narrow waist and proportionately different sized upper and lower bouts giving the guitar aesthetically pleasing dimensions and appearance. Highly regarded independent luthier Ernst Somogyi would point out that the Greek Golden Rule of Proportion was applied by constructing the waist of the guitar to give a perfect ratio of top bout size compared to the lower bout. Further, the shoulders of the guitar add a subtle sloping drop which enhances its elegance giving it an altogether more appealing shape to the human eye!
To the left is a section of the guitar’s back showing the rich Honduran Mahogany color and the stunning grain. There is a barely visible Walnut backstrip joining the two pieces of Mahogany that comprise the back.
Conclusion
This guitar, like my 0002H has great presence, both in tonality and appearance. Unlike the 0002H which blooms with a cascade of overtone, the C10-35 is somewhat dryer and more straightforward, but still dwarfs my Taylor 812ce and 914ce with it’s sonic personality. It is a very comfortable guitar to play with its small-but-not-too-small body size and its shorter 24&7/8 inch scale. In fact, it is easier to play than the longer scaled stiffer 0002H. It’s an instrument that earns respect and demands to be played!
The C10-35 at home…
Below is a Vimeo clip of me playing the C10-35. I play strictly fingerstyle and this piece is a section of the guitar accompaniment to Steve Earle’s tune Goodbye, which was arranged by Tom Feldmann in one of his online lessons, a teacher I highly recommend. As I said above I use a K&K Pure Mini pickup run through the following signal chain: First into an and L.R. Baggs Venue, which is a DI and tone control; Second, in my effects loop, that runs through the Venue, I applied some light compression using the L.R. Baggs Session Align Pedal, and finally through a Genzler Pro Array acoustic amp. I also have L.R. Baggs Delay and Reverb pedals in the signal chain but chose not to use them to keep the soundclip as natural as possible. The settings of the signal chain devices are such that the guitar sounds louder but matches, to the extent possible, the tonality of the C10-35 unplugged, and it comes pretty close. I recorded the clip with an iPhone 11, equipped with a Shure MV88 mic plugged into its jack, and did final processing in Apple’s iMovie. Probably best appreciated with decent headphones.
If you’d like to hear more samples from this guitar, I suggest you visit this blog entry and scroll down to the bottom:
There is a road, no simple highway Between the dawn and the dark of night And if you go, no one may follow That path is for your steps alone — The Grateful Dead
Introduction
Playing a Collings at my first official gig…
I’m not getting any younger and this past summer I entered my 7th decade. A couple of years ago when I embarked on retirement, my fund manager/guide offered me sage advice when he bade me not to wait too late to experience what I wished to (within reason).
To those who know me and others who’ve read this weblog, it is patently obvious that as a pensioner, I’ve pretty much devoted my efforts to developing myself as a musician/guitarist. While I’ve made tangible progress in my pursuit, there really is no end to the path I’m on… the guitar is an insatiable instrument with unlimited expectations for its players, and it will carry me to the end…
As a dedicated guitarist, I aspire to play the finest instruments that can be acquired within reason. In the past I’ve found that the best way to keep things within reason is to trade/sell an existing instrument(s) against the acquisition of another better one, which happens to be a common behavior among many guitar players! About a year ago, I traded two Taylor electric guitars for a Collings I-35 electric guitar (reviewed here). When evaluating the I-35, I became enchanted with the founder of the company. He was a singular, creative, precision driven engineer and world class manufacturing leader in the marketplace of guitars. As a result, I developed an interest in eventually adding a Collings acoustic guitar to my stable. Below is a brief video about this man, the late Bill Collings:
You can break down guitar building into two basic categories: factory versus luthier built. That’s not to say that some factories do not employ luthier quality builders, but the term luthier built suggests an individual who designs and assembles a guitar in a private shop from soup to nuts… i.e raw wood to finished product.
Somogyi’s excellent book on guitar design
One of the most highly regarded luthiers in the U.S. is Ervin Somogyi, whose exceptional book on acoustic guitar design I purchased and perused a couple of years ago. Most of Somogyi’s guitars are museum pieces that command staggering sums and are really built for well-financed private customers. Somogyi applies his skills to extract maximum sonic performance from wood and steel, and his embellishments often rise to high art. Somogyi is also a bit dubious about many but not all of the other independent luthiers practicing in the U.S. He pretty much says in his book that just because a person can build a guitar from scratch does not guarantee it will be a high quality instrument. Results will vary widely from builder to builder, so he says be wary of in the luthier marketplace. I simply do not trust that I have the wherewithal to distinguish a high quality luthier produced guitar from a run of the mill one. Consequently I stick with recognized factory built instruments because of their long history of essentially decent performance.
Taylor 914ce
The preponderance of guitars in the U.S. are built in factories of varying sizes with wide ranging production capacities, specifications, price points, manufacturing philosophies and subsequent qualities. In the U.S. Taylor, Martin and Gibson are excellent examples of the larger decent quality guitar producers. It’s hard to go wrong buying a guitar from those manufacturers, though it is important to be aware there is some product to product variability in performance simply because the guitars are built from wood which is a naturally variable material. In other words, these manufactures build, on average, decent instruments; however, within each companies productions some guitars may be better and some not as good.
Purchase choices are often based on taste and/or tradition-based brand loyalty. For example, I’ve owned several Taylor guitars because I liked their playability and voicing, whereas neither Martin nor Gibson ever appealed that much to me. I know other players who would never consider any guitar other than a Martin.
Besides the big companies, there are a host of smaller factory producers, such as Santa Cruz, Breedlove, Bourgeois and Collings who produce limited numbers of instruments mostly because of the care, materials, embellishments and extra labor they apply to perfect their products. Sometimes these smaller companies are referred to as “boutique” manufacturers.
Here’s a brief video that speaks to Collings manufacturing excellence:
Choosing among the small manufacturers is largely a matter of expendable income, taste and knowledge of the company’s specific products. Product accessibility may also be one of the most important variables. In fact, I’ve never actually seen a Santa Cruz, Breedlove or Bourgeois guitar in any of the stores I’ve ever frequented. I suppose I could acquire a boutique guitar online, but I would not want to spend that kind of money without trying the instrument out myself beforehand. I’ve had mixed experiences buying online. Having the ability to trade for the purchase was also a prerequisite for me, and that’s difficult to do online.
Unlike the other small builders, I’ve had some access to Collings acoustic guitars in nearby Wisconsin at Dave’s Guitars. I auditioned several of them a few months ago and thought they were decent, but still reserved judgment until I could A/B compare them to my current Taylor guitars. I still suspected that those guitars when compared to Taylors, Martins and Gibsons were a cut above, with their unique voicing (appealing to me), and build approaching the level of care and individuality claimed by independent luthiers. I intended to give Collings acoustics another visit in the future.
I Get Serious About Collings Acoustic Guitars
Taylor 812ce
Last week, I finally said to myself, “the hell with it, I’m not getting any younger” and decided to see what kind of trade-in offer I could get from Dave’s Guitars for my 5 year old Taylor 812ce. Usually what triggers me is reading about a musician, near my age, who croaks for whatever reason.
I’d special ordered the Taylor 812ce through Bob’s Guitars in my home town. You’ll note in the image on the left, I ordered the guitar without a pick guard since I play finger-style. The Taylor was a good guitar and I enjoyed playing it. A few years ago, when I was changing the strings, I inadvertently knocked a chunk of wood off the bridge. Taylor Guitars was kind enough to replace the bridge under warrantee if I paid for the shipping. After repair the guitar looked the same, but it never sounded quite like it did originally. I don’t think it was my imagination.
in Dave’s parking lot with iconic signage…
Upon inspection of the guitar via photographs, Dave’s Guitars made me a modestly reasonable offer, which they improved upon later when I arrived at the store. One issue that irritated the hell out of me was Dave’s statement that X-braced non V-Class Taylor guitars now have reduced trade-in value. A few years back, Taylor Guitars redesigned their bracing system to a V shape, supported by a massive marketing campaign. I actually think the older guitars sound better, but it’s hard to fight the extraordinary power of Taylor marketing.
So, I loaded up my car with the Taylor 812, my iPad which contains all my music and a mic stand equipped with an iPad holder. It’s a long 2.5 hour trip through the hinterlands of Iowa and Minnesota until you finally traverse the Mississippi and enter the river town of LaCrosse, WI. Dave’s guitars is within spitting distance of the river itself. Below you can see of section of the Acoustic Guitar Room at Dave’s. They have a large showroom…
I arrived early enough to get plenty of time auditioning the Collings acoustics that were available in LaCrosse. I planned to A/B my Taylor with several of the Collings with a focus on 12 fret guitars with slot-heads, since that was what I was what my Taylor was. My other acoustic guitar that I am keeping is a Grand Concert sized, 14 fret, fancy-pants, fully decked out, Taylor 914ce. I wanted to make sure the Collings I selected would be distinctly different from the Taylor 914ce.
The Collings collection at Dave’s Guitars
To the right you can see the Collings section of Dave’s Guitars, which contained three 12 fretted, slot-head guitars. Two of those can be seen on the lower row on the far left and far right. The guitar on the left was a 02H Traditional with a sitka spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides. The one on the right was a 0001 Custom made with all mahogany top and sides with a custom dog hair finish with Pearloid appointments. Not pictured is a 0002H with a sitka top and Indian rosewood back and sides. When I shot this image that guitar was being equipped with a pick-up because I intended to take it home.
playing the Collings 0002H
When I auditioned the guitars, I sat down at the wall of Collings guitars on a comfortable stool and 90 minutes disappeared. I played all three of the slot head Collings, along with the Taylor 812ce side by side over and over again. It was absorbing and a lot of fun. The acoustic guitar room at Dave’s was quiet that morning, so I was able to give the guitars a nice listen to.
The 0002H was clearly the winner to my ears. The Taylor offered up nice clean and direct notes, but the 0002H played at a different level. Each note in comparison was almost 3 dimensional… in other words the notes bloomed outward. The 0002H presented more bottom, more punch and overtone. No contest… the Taylor was going on the trading block…
02H Traditional
I gave the 02H a serious look, but it did not hold up when compared to the 0002H. I suspect there were a couple of variables at play here. First the 0002H as a larger lower bout which will make it louder and deeper sounding. Secondly, the Traditional series, as I understand it, was designed to be physically lighter and engineered to reduce overtones to give more clarity to individual notes. I can attest to the fact that the 02H was significantly lighter than the 0002H, to the point that handling it was a bit unnerving as it felt so insubstantial. In the end, I did not appreciate the individual note clarity. The guitar felt like it needed time to open up as it sounded thin and insubstantial when A/B’d with the 0002H. The 02H was far more expensive too. Move along… nothing to see here…
0002 Custom
The all mahogany 0002 custom was quite an amazing looking guitar with it’s white pearloid headstock and pick guard contrasted with the blackened dog hair finish. It would be a crowd pleasing guitar based simply on appearance. It was the most expensive guitar by a long shot that I auditioned that day. I might have stretched for it had it sounded unbelievable, but the solid mahogany body just did not have the presence of the 0002H. Perhaps in time the mahogany would open up, but I did not have the patience to wait several years for that possibility. I kept going back to the 0002H after playing all the guitars several times over and decided to acquire it.
I carried the Taylor and the Collings 0002H to my store guy friend JR and closed the deal. When queried about installing a pickup, JR was emphatic that the K&K Pure Mini, a passive device, was the best choice. The Pure Mini is a simple 3 transducer pickup that mounts on the bridge plate inside the guitar. I went with his advice and was amazed at how natural sounding it was when I finally got a chance to plug in the guitar at home later that day.
JR behind the acoustic guitar desk and Dave’s Guitars closing the deal…
Reviewing In Detail My 0002H
Below is my 0002H resting comfortably in its TKL hard case, which was sourced out by Collings because they do not make their own cases. They dabbled with producing cases at one point in the past, but it was unsustainably expensive, so they quit. The interior of the TKL case is decked out in the interior with form-fitting cushions, covered with a dark green velveteen fabric. The fit is tight and requires a light pushdown by hand to get the guitar properly seated. The case clasps function well, and one is lockable. Inside the case was the key, a Collings micro-fiber wiping cloth, the warrantee registration form (which can alternatively be done online) and a pressure sensitive Collings sticker!
Collings 0002H in TKL hard case
Collings 0002H
A different view of the 0002H out of its case is on the right. You’ll note that it has an upper bout just shy of 10 inches wide, a narrow waist, and a largish 15 inch lower bout. The body length is just a little over 20 inches. The appearance evokes and older era and should be no surprise because this shape, originated by C.F. Martin is rooted in the very early 1900’s.
The narrow waist allows the guitar to fit in the lap very comfortably while playing in the sitting position, which is what I prefer. The combined upper and lower bout size difference creates a pleasant evenly balanced volume of tones, with plenty of low end to avoid thinness in output.
Again, the guitar is a 12 fret model with a slot head. The top is sitka spruce with back and sides being East Indian rosewood.
Starting at the top of the guitar, you can see below front and rear views of the headstock.
The headstock has a very pleasant “exotic” ebony veneer with a Mother-of-Pearl Collings logo inlay. I always found the excessively shiny veneer on the Taylor 812ce incongruous and not aesthetically in tune with the rest of the guitar. The Collings headstock just looks better. You might note too at the lower portion of the rear of the headstock is an embellishing pyramidal carving referred to as a volute.
The Waverly tuners are excellent and work far better than the Taylor tuners. Their turning action is reminiscent of the excellent Gotoh tuners I have on three other guitars. I am pleased that the Collings tuners are nickel because the Taylor ivoroid tuners can fall apart when using a mechanized winder for string changing.
Proper string wrapping on the Collings Slotted Headstock
When I had the K&K Pure Mini pick-up installed in the 0002H, the shop replaced the Collings spec’d D’Addario EJ-16 (.012″- .053″) strings with Elixirs of the same gauge. I observed two things when I got home with the restrung guitar. First, the string wrap on the peghead was done in a manner such that the lowest strings (the E strings) on both sides were in contact with the headstock wood which will quickly wear away the finish. To avoid this deleterious situation, the E strings should be wound on with one wrap to the outside and the remainder towards the inside. This wind does cause the E strings to take a sharp angle inwards, but they will now avoid contacting the wood. Examination of photos on the Collings website also indicate that all the strings are wound outside-in, which is unlike the winds used by Taylor and National on their slot heads.
The second thing I noticed was that the Elixir strings were far stiffer to play on this guitar than the D’Addarios, making it far less enjoyable to play. I also found the sound of the guitar adversely affected too, so as soon as I could I restrung the guitar with the original spec’d D’Addarios! Perhaps the strings won’t last as long, but now the guitar sounds and plays like the one I auditioned in the store. This was an odd experience for me because I’ve used Elixirs on my Taylor acoustics without any difficulty. Of course, for what its worth, Taylors are spec’d to play with Elixirs
Fretboard section with inlays
The neck is Honduran Mahogany and the fretboard is stained ebony. There is no binding on the neck and the fingerboard is marked with elegant but simple Abalone short diamond and square designs.
The neck has taken some getting used too because it is a bit chunkier than a Taylor acoustic’s neck and it is the widest necked guitar I ever owned coming in at 1 & 13/16 of an inch. That’s a lot of real estate to cover and requires some readjustment of finger muscle memory. All good for finger style playing though.
Below you can see an image of the the back of the neck where it attaches to the guitar body. The neck has a lovely gloss finish that allows easy mobility of the left hand up and down the fretboard
Neck join are of guitar back
Also visible on the left is the Ivoroid binding at the seam of the back and sides of the guitar as well as the grained Ivoroid cap on the neck base. The neck is a modified V-shape and compounded in circumference, widening outwards at the 9th fret. As I understand it the neck flattens out towards the body of the guitar which makes playing the higher notes in the region easier.
Collings employs a mortise & tenon hybrid attachment of neck to body. I am assuming this form of bolt on neck makes it easier to repair or replace the guitar’s neck. There’s some belief among guitar aficionados and builders that a dovetail join is the only way to attach a neck to a guitar’s body. In my judgement Taylor guitars proved that assertion wrong a long time ago.
Sideview 0002H body
The photo above and to the right show the East Indian Rosewood that comprises the back and sides of the 0002H. Collings builds their reputation on using the choicest tone woods for their instruments. The rosewood is straight-grained and a lovely deep brown with lighter streaking. The color is so deep it almost looks purple depending upon the light. Note too above the “zipper” backstrip that runs down the center of the guitar back. It’s quite striking.
I’ve tried lots of different tone wood combinations; however, I keep coming back to sitka spruce tops with rosewood back and sides as the classic combination that is most appealing to me ears.
Upper bout
The 000 sized Collings come in 3 basic styles, not including the wide variety of custom work they also offer. My 000 has the 2H designation, which basically means that it has some fancier appointments than the style 1, including the nice zipper backstrip, the geometric fretboard inlays, and most importantly the herringbone binding, which is a classic steel string acoustic guitar appointment.
Sound hole, rosette, and pick guard
To the right, you can see the sound hole section of the 0002H, with its elegant but not overly fancy rosette, which brings me to a point about the 0002H compared to the Taylor 812ce that I traded-in when I purchased the Collings. To be perfectly frank, the Taylor possessed a fancier level of appointment, including beautiful maple wood bindings, an abalone rosette with an inner sound hole maple border, and a more intricate fretboard inlay, all of it tastefully done and costing far less. But, and this is a big but, the Collings design, tonality, playability, and its visible connection to the past origins of guitar design make it a palpably singular instrument to own and play.
I’m not a big fan of pickguards as I play strictly finger style and I suspect they have some minor tone dampening impact on the guitar’s sound board. Had I the opportunity, I would have acquired the 0002H without a pickguard. Nevertheless, the 0002H I purchased from Dave’s Guitars had a pickguard, and you cannot remove one without the high probability of damaging the finish. I did note that the pickguard was pretty scratched up. I think the guitar had been there for at least a year and tested out by a number of people, including some careless assholes with a picks. My store guy, J.R. said that was no problem because they would buff out the scratches in their shop, which they did. The pickguard looks pristine now. I do not recollect how translucent it was before buffing, but now I notice the sound hole rosette grinning through the guard. After a query on Facebook, some other Collings owners suggested to me that it was always translucent.
In the above image, you may also note the nice, even tight grain on the sitka spruce soundboard. This is what Collings brings to the marketplace: the very best available tone woods.
Beneath the sound hole is the bridge section. The 0002H uses an ebony pyramid bridge, a design that harkens back to the 1800’s and some of the earliest Martin guitars. The bridge pins are unslotted, which some argue is a more robust design. I guess that may also be a vintage appointment. Residing in the bridge is a bone saddle which complements the bone nut back up the neck.
Iconic Collings label inside the sound hole!
To sum it up, I am delighted and it is my great, good fortune that I have the opportunity to play a guitar of such character and build!
Add-ons
K&K Pure Mini pick-up
I needed a pick-up installed to be able to plug my guitar into my portable PA (Bose L1 Pro 32) and into other sound systems around town. This is because I host Open Mic Night once per month at a Coffee Shop, sometimes play other Open Mic Nights in town and do a rare coffee shop gig on my own.
The best time to install the pick-up was at point of sale because they do not charge for shop labor at Dave’s when a new guitar is sold.
Dave’s had available the L.R. Baggs Anthem and Lyric pick-ups, but as I said earlier, my guitar guy J.R. was emphatic that the simplest, passive pick-up like the K&K Pure Mini would be the best choice to avoid sound balance and feedback issues. I was dubious at first but agreed. It was a quick install because the three transducers shown above simply glue onto the bridge plate within the guitar’s body. When I got home and plugged the guitar into my Fishman Loudbox Artist, the 0002H sounded very natural, so I was please that I followed J.R.’s advice.
L.R. Baggs Venue DI/Pre-amp/Tuner
Because the K&K Pure Mini is passive, it does not come with a pre-amp built into the installation, which is nice in that there are no added dials or buttons involved. While I like the Taylor Expression system, I was never a big fan of the rubbery dial/buttons protruding from the guitars body. On the other hand, without a pre-amp the ability to tone shape your guitar’s output is absent which could be a problem when interacting with a PA out around town.
To remedy this situation, I acquired an L.R. Baggs Venue DI/Pre-amp/Tuner. It’s a very nice portable device capable of precise tone shaping. I used it during a recent gig along with the Bose L1 Pro 32 PA and it worked just fine. The additional Notch filter for dialing out feedback frequencies is very cool and works great.
If you’d like to learn more about the L.R. Baggs Venue/DI and to listen to sound samples from my 0002H, I suggest you click on the link to another one of my blog articles below. The sound samples are at the bottom of the entry.
When I was an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina in the early 1970’s, the Rolling Stones were in the midst of putting together an unparalleled run of four extraordinary record albums, including Beggar’s Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Mainstreet. This was not your everyday British Invasion band, but something new and powerfully different. Yes, it was the Rolling Stones, still largely blues influenced, but now exhibiting a richer, deeper, more expansive and more expressive music.
To my ear, there was something distinctly different about their guitar sounds too… at the time, I was unsure what it was exactly, but eventually realized it was the liberal use of bottleneck slide guitar. A sound so expressive to my sensibilities. Below you can see one of the Stones’ hard rockers from Exile on Mainstreet played live in 1972 in Texas. I saw the same show in Charlotte, NC that year. Note the characteristic rhythm riff driving the tune played by Keith Richards with the Mick Taylor’s bottleneck slide adding important textures over the top!
Besides adding sonic textures, the slide can be used to add important emotional context to a tune, which is even more appealing to me. Note, below for example, another video from the 1972 Texas concerts. This one of the Stones covering Robert Johnson’s classic Love in Vain from their album Let it Bleed. Mick Taylor’s slide work pulls at the heart. Suffice it to say I became enamored by the tones of bottleneck slide guitar listening to the Stones in my youth.
If you take the time to watch the above two videos closely, you will note that Mick Taylor plays two different kinds of slides to get two different tonalities, one metal in the All Down the Line, and a glass one in Love in Vain. Note too, that he plays with his slide like I do on his little finger, with the slide located above the middle knuckle of that finger. I will return to those observations later.
Where Did Slide Playing Come From?
Muddy Waters with slide on his little finger
This post is not a music history lesson, but I’ve read a lot about the blues. If my memory serves me well, the bottleneck slide playing that influenced early 20th century U.S. blues players originated among Hawaiian Islands Slack Key musicians and eventually migrated to the North American continent. Slack Keys are alternate tunings such as Open D and Open G, which are most common for bottleneck blues guitar play. What’s nice about open tunings is that the guitar is set up to play a rich chord with a strum across the open strings. In addition to popularizing Slack Key tunings, it’s also believed that Hawaiians introduced the use of a metal bar for sliding across the strings to smear (glissando) the notes and to create a wavering vibrato. It’s said that W.C. Handy, the man who first documented blues music was dozing at a railway station in the Delta region of Tutwiler, Mississippi. when he was awakened by an elderly African American man playing a haunting blues tune with smeared notes throughout. The old guitarist was using a pocket knife to create the glissandos. This apocryphal story might be the first recognition of bottleneck blues playing in the South.
My First Run with a Bottleneck Slide
My first slide…
I was taking finger-style country blues lessons some years ago in Cedar Falls, Iowa and had just purchased my first electric guitar, a fancy-pants Gretsch Falcon. About that same time, I ran into this bewhiskered old codger at the guitar shop where I studied. He was not capable of driving so his family would drop him off for lessons and later pick him up. I got to know him a bit, and at some point he told me he was learning to play bottleneck slide. I thought to myself, since I have this awesome electric guitar now, why not do the same and subsequently discussed it with my teacher. Shortly thereafter we went out on the shop floor and selected a glass slide off the rack and then I spent a few weeks futzing around with a slide on my guitar.
After a spell, I decided that slide playing was not a rabbit hole I wished to go down. I was just not adept enough at guitar playing yet, and the slide itself was an ill-fitting affair, being too large for me, thus difficult to control. Despite my initial lack of success at slide playing, I did conclude that I was most comfortable playing with a slide on my little finger, with the slide located above the middle knuckle. The middle knuckle location allowed me to properly position the slide on the fretboard without a lot of stress on my wrist, since I could simply bend my finger. Of course the Mo-Jo Slide would not work in the manner I wished as it swam all over my finger and the strings. I still have it and it makes a wonderful knick-knack on my music table.
Another Run with the Bottleneck Slide
National NRP Black Rust
Some months later with little to no intention of playing bottleneck slide again any time soon, I purchased a National Resonator (NRP Black Rust) from Reverb to play finger-style blues. This was based on my brief experience noodling around with a wooden Fender resonator in my local shop. The two guitars could not be any more different from each other. Whereas the Fender was set up to play finger-style with low action, the National had very high action, and I was distraught when I quickly ascertained that it would be next to impossible to play straight finger-style. It did not occur to me have have the guitar set up for finger-style.
Considering the substantial investment I made in the National, I decided then and there to return to bottleneck slide, since that was how it was set-up to be played. I was now committed to making a more serious run at mastering (take this term with a grain of salt) the slide.
Dunlop Ceramic Joe Perry Slide
Of course, the first order of business was to find a slide that would work for me and that ended up being an iterative process that still continues to this day. I needed to find a slide size and substance (i.e. material) that would meet my needs when playing my National. Since I like to play the slide on my little finger and above the middle knuckle, I needed a relatively small slide. So I went back to the store rack and searched for a smallish slide that would fit to my little finger above the knuckle. In this case I purchased a Dunlop Joe Perry ceramic slide, which was 50 mm in length. It’s worth a digression now to consider slide substances.
What Are the Most Common Slide Substances?
While there are lots of exceptions to the rule, slides are available in three common substances:
Glass – lots of different types of glass tubes can be used for slides. Even though I was interested in playing a glass slide, I could not find one that would properly fit me… more about that later. Glass is the warmer sounding of slide materials with good sustain.
Metal – lots of different metals are used, including but not limited to steel, nickel coated brass, titanium and solid brass. The metals give a harsher, biting sound, with somewhat diminished sustain and is favored by some hardcore country blues players.
Ceramic – a non-metallic mineral that is said to fall somewhere in between metal and glass in its sonic properties. As indicated above, my Joe Perry slide is ceramic.
Other – Taylor Guitars produces an ebony slide. It is a creative use of raw materials. I own one, but because of its somewhat muted sonic properties I hardly every use it. Their are other contraptions out there too that are claimed to take the place of original tubular slide designs. I have not tried any of them as of this writing.
Choosing a slide material is a very personal choice based on taste, your ear, and the type of tonality you are seeking. There is plenty of discussion about tonality of slide substances available on YouTube. There is no consensus on right or wrong choices. For example, despite my antipathy with the ebony slide, a quick survey of YouTube will yield a number of players who like it.
Getting a Slide to Fit Properly
Moleskin packed slide
I want a slide to fit my little finger snugly and I have yet to find one “off the rack” that does so. My method for customizing the fit is to pack the inside circumference of the slide with moleskin, a product typically used by hikers to prevent hotspots from turning into full blown blisters. The surface side of the the moleskin is a soft plush fabric and the back side is pressure sensitive adhesive. It requires patience and a good pair of forceps to get the moleskin properly positioned. If the slide is reasonabley close to fit, the moleskin will snug it up to my finger as you can see in the image on the left.
I’ve heard of other players who pack their slides with the fuzzy portion of velcro (too harsh) or with adhesive backed foam (durable?), but moleskin seems to me to be the best of the choices.
I Try A Variety of Slidesand Resonators
Over the past few years my bottleneck playing has progressed nicely. My repertoire has grown in both Open D and Open G tunes. People love bottleneck playing. I’ve played frequently at Open Mic Nights to audience approval and have bought and sold several National resonators over the recent past. I currently play a National Reso-Lectric and an M1 Tricone. It is certainly possible to play bottleneck on electric and acoustic guitars as well; however, I myself prefer to play on a resonator. Nevertheless, I do play a nice Muddy Waters tune (Long Distance Call) on my Collings I-35 electric while in standard tuning and it is a lot of fun. Along the way I’ve worked with a variety of slides too:
I was not that big a fan of the Joe Perry ceramic slide. It was too bulky and did not sound that good to my ear. Slide wall thickness and mass affects weight, tonality and comfort/accuracy while playing, so that element of slide design is an important consideration. As Ben Powell says, “mass equals tone.” Because of the wide variety of slide design choices, I found myself constantly shopping around. To that end, during my wanderings around the internet, I discovered Ben Powell’s fascinating Tone Dome slide. Below you can see Ben discussing his innovative slide design:
As Ben illuminates, the Tone Dome is designed for the little finger and to fit above the middle knuckle. There’s a cut out to enable easy finger bending too. At the time I purchased one, what was available was a nickel-plated brass version and I played it for a long, long time. The Tone Dome was relatively light and easy to manipulate on the fretboard. The tonality was a typical metallic bite with reasonable sustain. My only quibble was the slide did not cover the full width of my fretboard, which was problematic for full chord slides. Ben is such as accomplished slide player, he does not seem bothered by the shortness of the slide, but I was. To reduce this problem but not eliminate it completely I positioned the slide reversed from the way Powell intended it to be. In addition, I added a bit of moleskin within the slide to adjust the fit.
Tone Done with Cut Out (Left) and Tone Dome Positioned Backwards (Right) to Enhance Coverage Across the Fretboard
Ceramic Star Singer Slide
Even playing the Tone Dome reversed on my guitar, I became frustrated with it’s lack of fretboard width coverage for certain full chord tunes like Spoonful and went back out into the marketplace. To that end, I found a web-based seller of elegantly designed ceramic slides out of the UK (Star Singer) that looked more useable than the Dunlop Joe Perry version I had tried earlier. I purchased a 57 mm length version as can be seen on the right. I liked the Star Singer just fine and for tunes that required full fretboard width coverage I used it. Nevertheless, my workhouse slide remained the nickel-plated brass Tone Dome because I preferred its tonality more than every other slide I’d used to date. Finally, the Star Singer is a bit fragile and I tend to be a bit clumsy sometimes and after a drop or two, it has a micro crack on one side, so I have to be intentional when positioning it on my finger. For that reason, I rarely use the Star Singer anymore and just tough out the full width chords with the Tone Dome by faking it!
While noodling around the National Reso-phonic website, I stumbled across the fact that they now sell Ben Powell Tone Domes. Besides a stainless steel version, they also offer a beefy solid brass one too, which I immediately acquired. The increased mass of the new solid brass slide gave it a more present, warmer and rounder tonality such that it completely displaced my original Tone Dome, which is now retired.
Solid Brass Tone Dome (left); Stainless Steel (right)
To the left you can see both of the Ben Powell Tone Domes that are offered by National Reso-Phonic on their website. I really like the solid brass version and have used it with success for several years now. As with my other slides, I’ve inserted some moleskin to tighten the fit around my little finger. I’ve used this slide on all my resonators, and my Collings electric guitar with nice effect and tonality. My only quibble is that on cold, low humidity winter days, the brass slide creates a static crackle when I play it on my National Reso-Lectric!
I was pretty enamored by my solid brass Tone Dome for a long time and used it at Open Mic Nights and during my lessons at the guitar shop. Sometimes during lessons, my teacher would demonstrate a point he was making about phrasing or slide technique on his own electric guitar and he would use a simple clear glass slide on his ring finger. His enviable tone always amazed me. The notes rang like a bell and sustained far longer than I was achieving with my resonator and brass slide combination. When I commented on his tone, he would strongly suggest I revisit using a glass slide. If it was good enough for Duane Allman, it should be good enough for me. My usual response was that I could never find a glass slide that would fit my little finger properly and then we’d drop the subject.
Then one day, scrolling through my Facebook feed, I noticed Blues/Americana aficionado and online teacher Tom Feldmann extolling the virtues of Diamond Bottleneck’s glass slides. Sometime thereafter I explored their website and discovered that a host of luminaries like Mike Dowling and Mark Knopfler also used Diamond Bottlenecks. Good enough for them… good enough for me, so I decided that I would purchase one! I then began a back and forth correspondence with head/lead consultant Ian McWee of Diamond Bottlenecks, which took place over several days. Ian was a combination of cordial, patient and very responsive.
If you peruse the Diamond Bottleneck’s website, you will see that they offer glass slides in a wide variety. From sawn of necks of actual former bottles, to hand blown soda ash or leaded crystal and more. Using old school, British, precision, hand skilled craftsmenship rooted in the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, Ian and his team manufacture their slides onsite in a small factory. Below you can see a brief video of Ian fashioning a glass slide.
Ultimate Diamond Bottlenecks
I decided to order a slide from their Ultimate collection, which is comprised of leaded crystal. The lead crystal process produces a high density glass with unusual visual clarity. Theoretically, the higher density glass should enhance tone and and sonic sustain. Ian sent me images of the leaded crystal glass that he had in his inventory, which can affect what you can order at any given time. As I understand it, the slides are cut from long glass tubes and then finished to customer specification. In the end, I determined that ordering three slides would be the most economical route, since there would then be no shipping fee with an order that size. All three slides were to come in around 50 mm length, with inner diameters close to the size of my little finger. Two were open ended with copper and ruby red colors and wall thicknesses of 6 & 8mm, and the other was a double-walled affair with a dome. We thought this variety would allow me to find a slide “sweet-spot.”
It took a while for the package to arrive from the UK, mostly because the USPS quarantined the shipment in Chicago for over a week! I was told it was some kind of new safety protocol causing the delay. The slides were well packaged arriving in their own individual velveteen bags in pristine condition. Both my wife and I were delighted with how beautiful the glass was!
I post below a sound sampler of the three new glass slides from Diamond Bottlenecks and for reference, I’ve also included a sample of my National (Ben Powell) Solid Brass Tone Dome. You’ll note that I am playing a 2021 National Reso-phonic M1 Tricone. The tune is the first verse of Blind Willie McTell’s Wake Up Mama. The samples are ordered as follows:
Diamond Bottleneck Ultimate – 50mm (Plus) Double walled with dome; Dark Blue Colored
Diamond Bottleneck Ultimate – 50mm Open Ended 8mm thick Wall; Ruby Red Colored
National Reso-phonic/Ben Powell Solid Brass Tone Dome
Truth is I like all four of the slides sampled; however, I am really fascinated by the glass slide tones. Both my wife and I noticed right away the bell-like chimes and longer sustain of the new Diamond Bottlenecks. I think the most “present” tone comes from the large domed slide, which is not surprising as it is the most massive of the bunch, which is also a problem as the slide is really heavy and causes me some reluctance to play it. I did apply some moleskin to the interior of the glass dome so it stays well put on my finger… but it’s weight could be a deterrent to my using it very often!
I am very happy with both of the open-ended glass slides, though if pressed I would probably choose the thicker walled ruby red slide because its tone is just a bit thicker than the copper colored slide. Both open-ended slides are easily playable though they do not fit snugly to my little finger. As a result, I am concerned with dropping and breaking the slides, but am also reluctant to apply moleskin to the interior of these translucent slides adversely affecting their appearance… still weighing this decision as I write.
Thanks for tuning in… leave a comment if you wish…
Post Script:
I added a thin band of moleskin to the lower opening of the Ruby Red slide and it now locks onto my finger much more effectively. Hopefully this will minimize the potential for dropping off my finger! This small band of moleskin has not adversely affected the beauty of the slide, nor has it affected it’s lovely tone.
“The Mississippi Delta Was Shining Like a National Guitar” – Paul Simon, Graceland
Introduction and Background
When I first picked up a guitar, I wanted to be a flat-picking bluegrass player. Sometime thereafter, I concluded that I did not possess the speed or accuracy to play that style, and adopted fingerstyle guitar with Travis picking as my basic playing approach. It was the best decision I ever made regarding the instrument. When I took a quantum leap in focus and interest in guitar playing my pathway to achievement was to learn Acoustic Country Blues, which happens to be huge body of music with many different sub-styles to choose from. The structure of Country Blues was appealing to me because it speaks to my sensibilities as a musician, is distinctly American and it serves as the foundation for a large swath of the music I grew up with in the 1960’s and ’70s.
Fender Resonator…
After one of my ongoing lessons at my local guitar shop some years back, I walked by a Fender resonator guitar hanging on the wall and it occurred to me that a resonator might broaden my Country Blues sound palette. I responded instantly to the distinct sound that a resonator cone makes when the guitar string is plucked and merrily played a couple of Mississippi John Hurt tunes that I’d been working on. The Fender string action was supple and easy to play, sounded good too, but it felt insubstantial in construction. I decided at that moment that I would pursue the acquisition of a resonator, but guitar snob that I am, I wanted to acquire a fine instrument. Of course, what’s “fine” is open to debate and a matter of taste, but with my limited knowledge at the time I referred to Paul Simon’s lyric from “Graceland” and decided to chase after a National guitar.
Catfish Keith and a National Tricone
I found myself on Iowa’s legendary bluesman Catfish Keith’s website whilst doing research on resonators. At that moment, I was a bit overwhelmed by the numerous models and resonator types to select from. In correspondence, Catfish was kind enough to write me a brief dissertation about Nationals and recommended that I consider a single cone guitar for starters. In short, resonators are typically manufactured with a single large, spun aluminum cone, or three similar but smaller cones, referred to as tricones.
Catfish and Penny wintering in Mexico in happier times before the pandemic…
As a side-note, both Catfish and his wife Penny are incredibly gracious and generous people and I had the great, good fortune of taking a private lesson with him at his home in small town Iowa. He taught me the nuances of playing his arrangement of “Police and a Sergeant,” a variation of an old Robert Wilkins tune.
Catfish is a representative/distributor for National guitars and sells them new from his website. At that moment I was ready to take up Catfish’s advice by acquiring a single cone resonator, but I decided to go on the used market to save some money. I’ve written before about the savings that can be made by purchasing used guitars online from Reverb… there’s quite a drop in value when you drive a new guitar off the lot. I’ve subsequently revised my opinion on buying used versus new, as I’ve experienced set-up issues, cracked bodies, sketchy electronics and twisted necks when buying used. In fact, all 6 of my current and varying style guitars were purchased new, because I’ve traded off my pre-owned ones.
National NRP B Single Cone Resonator
Nevertheless, my first National resonator, was a mint conditioned and bargain priced NRP B steel, single coned guitar. I was delighted when the NRP arrived but was astonished at how difficult it was to play, compared to the Fender resonator that I tested in my local guitar store. I subsequently realized that the action was set-up pretty high for slide playing, rather than finger picking, which was not clearly elaborated on the Reverb website. This high action play was initially viewed by myself as a disaster of biblical proportions, but then I decided to make lemonade from lemons and go down the bottle-neck slide rabbit hole and never looked back!
National Resorocket WB
Metal resonators have their own distinct sound and vary somewhat depending upon the type of metal from which they are constructed. My NRP was steel so it had a bold and present sound. To my ear, you could even say it was a bit harsh sounding, which is actually appealing to a lot of blues players. Overtime, I wondered if a wood bodied resonator might be more appealing to my sensibilities and returned to the marketplace for a used wooden body resonator. I subsequently, through Reverb again, found a sweet deal on a wood bodied National Reso Rocket (WB model), which I subsequently equipped with a Hotplate electronic pick-up system so I could run it through an amp. When the WB arrived, I quickly discerned that the guitar was also set up with high action to facilitate slide playing. Even though I would have preferred to have had a resonator that I could easily fingerpick, I was loathe to have my local shop grind away at the nut or biscuit bridge to lower the play, so I resigned to playing slide on both resonators. You’d think by then that I would have learned not to buy resonators, used online…
At a workshop with Mike Dowling… I am holding my WB
I played my wooden body in Open D and the steel body in Open G for a couple of years or so, and then it occurred to me that I was not playing the steel body near as much as the WB, mostly because it was super heavy and I found it unappealing to my ears. It was time to put the steel NRP on the trading block, which I did and the complete story of my acquisition of a National Resolectric can be found here. In my review I don’t think that I mentioned that while testing out the Resolectric I was also interested in auditioning an M1 Tricone; however, the one that had been in the store had sold the day before my arrival. I had seen and heard an M1 Tricone when I attended a guitar workshop taught by Mike Dowling in Minnesota a couple of years earlier. I thought it was an interesting guitar and never forgot about it.
Me and the WB…
I played a lot of hours with the WB on my lap, but became increasingly frustrated that I could not play the guitar fingerstyle, which was always my original intent when I set out to own a resonator. At Mike Dowling’s suggestion, I investigated the use of the new National Revolution aluminum biscuit to adjust the WB’s play, which I installed but eventually removed. I wrote about that experience here and here. At some point thereafter, the notion of trading the WB for an M1 that would be initially set-up for fingerstyle arose from my subconscious. In fact, I asked Dave’s Guitarshop for a trade quote on the WB when I saw an M1 for sale at the store, I got a very nice trade deal, but the M1 sold before I could arrange an appointment to visit the store. The National M1’s don’t collect dust at Dave’s Guitars, but move very fast out the door. That was February 2021. My contact at the store told me that they had another one on order and that I should check the store’s website for its arrival, which I did almost everyday since February. I also kept the correspondence that documented the trade-in value of my WB.
I Purchase a National M1 Tricone
When I was considering the acquisition of an M1, I did my due diligence and researched the Youtube universe for reviews and tone examples. One of the best videos I found was a direct comparison between three of National’s wooden bodied resonators: The El Trovador, a deep bodied single cone guitar, an M1 Tricone, and finally a Resorocket WB, like I owned. This really excellent comparison was produced by Organic Sounds:
In the video, the El Travador is bold, rich sounding, loud and offers clean highs with great bottom end low frequency tonality, with the mid-range tones taking a back seat. It’s little wonder that recording artist Mike Dowling favors the El Trovador among all the wooden bodied Nationals. I like the El Trovador, but the deep body would be sure to cause me shoulder pain. On the other extreme is the Resorocket, which by comparison, sounds most metallic, more twangy and perhaps even a little pointed/shrill sounding. Furthermore, the Resorocket, which I am intimately familiar with, has some sort of frequently occurring overtone that sounds like a cat yowling. That overtone I do not like and experienced far too often when I played mine. Finally, the M1 sounds refined, sweet, balanced, very clean and musical, with individual notes clearly differentiating from each other. The tonality is also nice and even from high to low end frequencies with the mid ranges well represented.
Tricone resonator
Single Cone Resonator
It is not surprising that the John Dopyera, who created National Guitars with the introduction of tricone technology was reluctant to start producing less expensive, larger single cone variants at the urging of his partner George Beauchamp. He revered the “fine instrument” sound of the tricone. In fact, Dopyera quit National and founded Dobro with his brothers in part because of the tricone vs single cone controversy. Still today, the three smaller cones of the Tricone design are considered by many listeners to be more refined and balanced sounding and I tend to agree with that assessment. While the terms “refined and balanced” are positive sounding terms, the more forward, in your face, perhaps brash sound of the single coned resonators are favored by many, particularly blues musicians.
Here again we can see a different take on the M1 versus the El Trovador as played by Mike Dowling. Dowling has a long connection with National, and I believe he prevailed up them to reintroduce the El Trovador into their product line. Dowling is arguably one of the finest resonator players walking the earth:
By Dowling’s description, the El Trovador is “more pointed” and “dryer” sounding than the M1, while the tricone offers more complex coloration. The differences between the two instruments are a function of cone size, cone number and chamber size caused by the 4 versus 3 inch body width. As I watch Dowling’s body language and commentary closely, I think he prefers his beloved El Trovador, but I like the M1 and decided to chase one down if I could.
For me, the easiest place to acquire an M1 would be Dave’s Guitar shop in LaCrosse, WI. It’s 2.5 hours away from my home by car and they make trade-ins absolutely painless. The challenge is to move quickly when Dave’s gets an M1 in stock because they move out very rapidly. So, for four months, I would routinely check Dave’s website for M1 availability.
Dave’s vintage guitar collection
Then, Friday night a couple of weeks ago as my wife was calling me for dinner, I did a quick check at Dave’s, which I had not done for a day or so and, low and behold, they had a new delivery of an M1 showing on their website. Knowing the M1’s don’t last long, I grabbed it and paid for it immediately and planned to head over to LaCrosse the next Saturday morning! I invited my wife to come along and we made a fun day of it. It was a beautiful day for a drive and we stopped in the nice Iowa town of Decorah to eat lunch at a bagel bakery, whose owner we knew.
After lunch we headed over to Dave’s in LaCrosse. During these late pandemic days you still need to visit by appointment. I called early that Saturday morning and Dave himself answered and set things up for our visit.
When we arrived, Annette and I were ushered in. I dropped off my Reso-Rocket WB and it was accepted with no fuss whatsoever. Before I could say Jumpin’ Jack Flash they had a new price tag on the WB and by Monday it was advertised online. I think it sold by Wednesday. Wooden bodied Nationals move quickly and that’s why I was given an excellent trade-in value and they subtracted it from the online price that I paid out the night before. No muss, no fuss and that’s why in my experience Dave’s is one of the smoothest operations in the U.S.
Me and my new M1 getting acquainted at Dave’s
The new M1 was sitting by the front desk waiting for me. I popped open the case, pulled it out and looked it over. It was a stunning piece of industrial artwork. As a new guitar should be, it was immaculate. One of the standout features of the M1 is the lack of the silver/chrome hubcap like cover over the resonator cones. Instead there is a metal cover that is painted the color of the mahogany wood that comprises the body. It is a unique appearing resonator unlike any other in the National product line.
I sauntered over to a quiet corner of the store to try the M1 out. I wanted to make sure there were no problems before I walked out of the store. I threw my iPad, which contains my tune charts on an amp, grabbed a stool and tried to play, but the guitar was woefully out of tune because the new factory strings on it had never been stretched, so it took me a few minutes to get the tuning stabilized. I played through a few charts in standard tuning with fingerstyle technique (I never use a plectrum ever) and realized quickly that the set-up was to factory specs, meaning that both slide and fingerstyle play were easily and effectively possible! One of the store techs who visited me to discuss installation of a pickup confirmed my conclusion about the guitar’s set-up.
I find a 1950 Fender Broadcaster!
I stretched the strings again and then re-tuned the guitar to Open D and pulled out my National solid brass Tonedome slide and played a couple of bottleneck tunes too. There was a young fellow wailing away across the store on a Stratocaster which made listening to the M1 a bit challenging; however, sometimes good enough is good enough and I concluded the axe was definitely a keeper.
Me in front of Dave’s Guitars iconic street signage
Annette and I concluded our visit by visiting Dave’s famous and extensive vintage guitar collection where I was delighted to identify Leo Fender’s first electric guitar model, the Broadcaster, a truly historic instrument. Next to it was a “Nocaster” and finally the first Telecaster, which was the Broadcaster renamed because of a trade name dispute with the Gretsch Company.
On the way out, we stopped so Annette could photograph me in front of Dave’s Guitars iconic street sign. As you can see I posed with my new axe. Afterwards, I stowed the guitar in the rear of my hatchback and headed home across the Mississippi River back to Iowa. A good day indeed was had by all…
I Review My New National M1 Tricone Guitar
To the right you can see the National Reso-Phonic M1 that I purchased from Dave’s Guitars and brought home to Iowa. It’s a slot-headed, 12 Fret, bound mahogany neck, ebony fretboard, layered mahogany body, tricone resonator, with grained ivoroid binding. The appearance is unique as compared to other National Reso-Phonic guitars in that it is wooden constructed, but most conspicuously lacks the “hub cap” type cover that is typical with single cone resonators. The fact that the metallic tricone cover is the same color as the body gives the belly of the guitar a more uniform appearance. The design of the sound porous screens that protect the resonator cones, combined with the slanted grid openings in the upper bout of the sound board give the guitar a distinct art deco sensibility. It is a stunningly singular appearing acoustic guitar.
M1 Tricone Slotted Headstock
Let’s consider the M1 from the top at the headstock and follow the string line down to the tail piece. Again, you’ll note that the guitar is equipped with a traditional appearing slotted headstock. Unlike the Reso Rocket WB that I traded for the M1, the headstock does not have a pearloid veneer, but is instead stained wood embellished with a traditional product logo decal. This is similar to the Martin guitar approach where for many of their beloved models they stick a decal on the headstock. For the cost of this M1, an inlaid logo would have been a nice and expected adornment. On the other hand, I like the overall look of the guitar, so I’ll stop complaining.
The tuning machines, with exposed gear works, are clustered in groups of three and equipped with attractive ivoroid knobs. All tuner actions are smooth and precise, unlike my old Reso Rocket which had a very stiff and difficult to use D-string (standard tuning) tuner. Finally, you’ll note that the outer strings on the fretboard (E & e) are strung into their respective tuners from the outside to the inside of the headstock, while the remaining strings (A, D, G & B) go from the inside to the outside. This stringing technique which can elude guitar store guys, prevents the outer strings from chafing the headstock wood. Finally, the strings enter the fretboard by passing over a bone nut.
M1 Fretboard
To the right you can see the M1’s fretboard, an ebony strip of wood bound to the mahogany neck. The ebony is black with blond striations, which is the sustainable fashion begun by Bob Taylor several years ago when he bucked tradition and refused to toss aside ebony wood that was not perfectly black. I like the blond hints on today’s ebony fretboards. The comfortably wide neck is bound with grained ivoroid. Finally, the guitar was strung with John Pearse 13’s spec’d for resonator guitars.
The neck attaches to the guitar at the 12th fret. This particular model has no cutaway, which is one of the features I miss when comparing the M1 to the Reso Rocket WB. When playing bottleneck it’s nice not to have to be crowded by the body at the 12th and 13th frets.
The M1’s upper bout
To the left you can see the M1’s upper bout, with its rounded shoulders, the art deco sound port grills, and the inlaid Mother of Pearl dots that adorn the fretboard. The soundboard, like the guitar’s sides and back are manufactured from layered mahogany. There are some very rare exceptions when National makes a guitar body from solid wood, with the preponderance being layered. The layered body and its shape serve the role of imparting a woody tonality that colors the sound produced primarily by the three small resonator cones.
The top’s mahogany veneer does a great job of revealing the wood’s grain and reflecting the rich reddish brown stain that gives the wooden Nationals their distinctive appearance.
The M1’s lower bout
The M1’s lower bout is where the rubber meets the road. You can see on the right where the triangular-shaped metallic cover sits above the three resonator cones. The metallic cover is cut with art deco shaped openings that allow the resonator tones to escape. A silvered metallic grill protects the cones.
The guitar strings each rest in a groove cut into a wooden saddle that is glued to an aluminum t-shaped bridge, the ends of which each contact a resonator cone. The t-bridge transmits the vibration of the strings to the cones. The metallic cover has a raised t-shaped shield to protect the saddle and bridge. The strings then exit the saddle/bridge area and are bound down to a standard National tailpiece which is held in place by a combo screw/strap button located in the bottom of the guitar.
Examining the t-bridge indicates that the heavier strings are biased towards two of the cones, whereas the lighter strings are handled primarily by one cone, although all the strings in some way affect all three cones. This relationship of string locations, t-bridge and distribution of vibration to the resonator cones is what gives the M1 its balanced and sweet tonality.
Above left you can see the neck join to the body. The neck is held in place by a “stick” that runs the length of the body’s interior. As with most modern, premium guitars the neck is equipped with a truss rod to adjust play variations that might result as response to humidity in the ambient environment. Also visible are the grained ivoroid bindings on the body. The M1 is a neat, precision constructed, manufactured product that benefits from competent highly trained builders along with the use of numerical, computer controlled machine tools.
You will note the absence of a guitar strap button at the base of the neck. I intend to have one placed by my local guitar shop; however, I plan to order a Waverly white ivoroid button and felt washer from Stewmac, because my guitar shop offers only prosaic silver and/or black metal buttons, or high end Schaller strap lock buttons, which I don’t want to use with this guitar.
Also, above right you can see a shot of the M1’s back. The stained veneer of the layered wood back shows off the beautiful straight grain of the mahogany from which it is constructed.
Finally, as with all premium guitars, the instrument is supplied with a custom-made hardshell case. The guitar fits in snuggly and the outer side of the upper lid has the National logo embroidered into it, which is quite stunning. A word of caution about the logo though… it is easy to muss up if it comes into frictional contact with another object like an adjacent guitar case while traveling in the back area of a car.
To close out this review, I am sharing some sound bite examples of the M1. These were recorded with amplification through a Fishman Loudbox Artist with a Shure SM-58 mic. The actual recording was done with an iPhone 11 equipped with a Shure MV-88 and processed through Apple iMovie.
I would prefer to have a pickup on the guitar but that’s been more challenging than I anticipated. The go-to pickup on resonators, in my judgement, is made by Highlander. I had one put into my steel NRP and it worked well, though you had to haul around a battery powered preamp. Sadly, it appears that Highlander is no longer in business. Further, I was not sure I wanted a guitar tech drilling holes in the M1. Now it seems that the go-to pickup are those made by Jason Krivo Flores out in Portland, OR… I have one on order. The tone samples online sound great; however, the pickup is a bit idiosyncratic in that it attaches to the guitar with blue tack. I will probably write a blog entry about the Krivo after I’ve worked with it for a while.
Anyway… below are two bottleneck tunes recorded in Open D followed by a fingerstyle piece in standard tuning…
In conclusion, I feel fortunate to own a National M1 Tricone. The wait time on a new M1 is currently 6 to 8 months and I’m not getting any younger. The instrument itself is a beautiful example of industrial art and with its balanced tonality plays well, as currently set up in either bottleneck or fingerstyle mode. Highly recommended.
With mass vaccinations of Iowans occurring daily, by most visible measures life is slowly returning to pre-pandemic normal. Though masking is still a prevalent and required, people are involving themselves in old routine behaviors like eating at restaurants, visiting coffee shops, and in the case of this posting, attending musical events such as Open Mic Night! We had the great good fortune of access to a most excellent coffee shop, Cup of Joe in Cedar Falls, to host such an event.
The Conditts perform at Open Mic Night
My friend Grant Tracey and I hosted our first Open Mic Night together this past Friday evening, May 7, 2021. In a previous blog posting I wrote in some detail about the technical aspects of hosting an Open Mic scenario, particularly the use of a Bose L1 Pro 32 PA system.
To the left you can see the general set-up situated in the rear of the coffee shop. Between the two performers, on the floor, you will note the Bose subwoofer, the line array speaker tower and hidden behind the singer a T4s mixer that all comprise the PA system. The Bose 32 is spec’d for a larger space than the coffee shop so it easily performed admirably without stress and filled the room with a pleasant level of performance sound. Audio level adjustments of volume, bass, treble and reverb were easily executed. Audience members commented positively on the quality of the sound, which was a relief to me since I personally invested in all the PA hardware. You’ll also notice guitar and mic cables everywhere, stools, mic stands, guitar pedal boards, guitars, and guitar and music stands.
The fact is, there was a great deal of schlepping to get the performance space properly set up. Even though the Bose PA is valued for its portability, by the time you pack in the PA, cables, stools, mic stands, guitars, guitar stands, and guitar pedal boards, its quite an effort! You can see below, in the image of me performing, all the surrounding support hardware required to pull off the event. At first glance, it might not seem like a lot, but it was a lot to haul from home, and then get from the parking lot into the coffee shop. I am grateful that we planned to take 90 minutes to get set up for our first time, and we needed every minute, considering that Grant had to make an emergency run back to my home to fetch a music stand and my iPhone which contained a Bose app to remotely control PA sound quality.
Me and my Collings I-35 knocking out my first set…
I would make the following preliminary conclusions regarding the Open Mic set up to consider before Grant and I do it again:
Get to the Coffee Shop early, because set up takes time. I still think we need 90 minutes. Perhaps we will be able to streamline matters in the future, but we’re not there yet.
Contrary to my above assertion, as advertised, the Bose L1 Pro 32 snaps together very quickly and gives solid performance. Its the routing of mics, guitars and pedal boards that take extra time.
It seems to me easiest to use the 3 channels available on the Bose L1 power stand because the sound quality can be easily manipulated using the Bose app on my iPhone. The app allows me to wander anywhere in the coffee shop to check sound level and tonality and easily adjust it where I stand. With a variety of performers using different guitar types and styles, quick and easy adjustments of sound are of great value.
That first night we set up three mics, but I think two is enough. Dropping to two will save time, space, and reduce cables.
The two guitar channels and a mic will run off the power stand. An additional mic can be routed through the T4s. This set-up is not written in stone.
I do not think we need 2 stools and am thinking one is enough.
It is my understanding that there are music stands in the basement of the Coffee Shop, so we do not need to haul one in on Open Mic night.
Grant Tracey and his Les Paul playing his set…
All in all, it was a good night. I’ve seen the coffee shop more crowded on previous Open Mic nights, but there are still some residual pandemic fears keeping people away, and there was an outdoor music venue in operation around the corner, down the street, which was drawing people in. Nevertheless, we had a respectable audience for our initial First Friday Open Mic night.
To the right, you can see fellow host Grant Tracey playing through his set. One of the perks of hosting Open Mic is the chance to play your self and depending on the number of performers who sign up, you may get to play even more.
Playing my National Reso_Lectric in a second set…
In the end, both Grant and I squeezed in two sets each. Anticipating that I might have the opportunity to play more than the standard 15 minute open mic set, I brought along two guitars, both of which made their first public appearances: my Collings I-35 Semi-Hollow bodied electric and my National Reso-Lectric, as seen with me on the left. In addition to the guitars, making a first public appearance, I, for the first time sang publicly. Ever since, Mrs. Silliman, in the 3rd grade, tossed me onto the “inadequate singer” refuse heap when sorting students for participation in grade school chorus, I’ve believed my singing voice somewhat suspect; however, with the encouragement of my wife, Annette, and others I decided to give it a go. Playing finger-style Travis picking technique is also a challenge when trying to sing simultaneously; however, after 5 years of concentrated dedication to guitar playing, I finally broke through this Spring and was able to play and sing simultaneously, which is no mean feat for me!
Here was my playlist:
Set One
If I Needed You – Townes Van Zandt
Long Distance Call – Muddy Waters
Pancho and Lefty – Muddy Waters
Vigilante Man – Woody Guthrie (arranged by Ry Cooder)
Set Two
Paris, Texas – Ry Cooder
You Got to Move – Mississippi Fred McDowell
Railroad Bill – traditional (arranged by Tom Feldmann)
Corrina, Corrina – traditional (arranged by Stephen Grossman)
Baby, Please Don’t Go – Big Joe Williams
Annette was kind enough to film a couple of my tunes… you can view one below, warts and all… I dropped a few notes along the way. This was my rendition of Muddy Waters’ “Long Distance Call.” A bottleneck tune played in standard tuning… You will note that the Coffee Shop was quite noisy and I found it a bit of a distraction, but powered through…
Steve Surles, waiting his turn to play at the Open Mic
If all goes as planned, I will be hosting First Friday Open Mic in June on the 4th. My regular co-host Grant, to my chagrin, is tied up with a local theater engagement, so Steve Surles, who also played the open mic with us on the first night, has volunteered to guest co-host in June. Hopefully too, my son Parker will come back from college in Iowa City to help haul equipment and listen-in which will be a great delight for me! See you then!
What to do? What to do with yourself in retirement that continues personal development? What do I like to do? I love the road and photography… Seeing live music is always fun too, but it’s even more fun to make music. Nevertheless, I’m not ready, nor interested in solo gigging at this time nor playing in a band… what is realistic for me is 15 minutes behind the open mic… I’ve missed the open mic as much as anything during the pandemic “lockdowns.”
Cup of Joe on Main in Cedar Falls, IA
Now consider this… What could be more fun than playing at an open mic night? Not only playing open mic night, but also hosting it! You get to play, organize the event, and operate the sound tech, and I’ve always loved tech. For example, I had a ball building a proper pedal board.
In my experience, the best existing open mic night in the Cedar Falls/Waterloo area is hosted by Rick Vanderwall and Bill Guernsey at the excellent coffee shop, Cup of Joe on Main Street. Yet it only happened (pre-pandemic) once per month on the third Friday.
It occurred to me a couple of months ago, as the pandemic began to wane somewhat, and I finished out my two Pfizer vaccinations, that it might be possible to add another open mic night at Cup of Joe on the first Friday of the month. I believed the interest would be there for an additional open mic session. This is especially true when you consider the sizable increase in guitar sales during the “lockdown.” My guess is there is now a more-than-modest increase in the number of live-performance aspirants with new guitars and open mic night is the place to start!
So… I asked Dawn, the proprietor of the coffee shop, if she would be interested in providing the space for an additional open mic night. Along with the request, I promised her that I would provide a “world-class” PA system to support the event… and, to my great, good fortune she said YES! Her only request was that I apply energy to make it a success by marketing the event in the community… fair enough!
A World-Class PA for Open Mic Night
Grant (left) and me (right) checking out axes at Bob’s Guitars in the days before COVID. I love the optical illusion in this photo. In real life Grant towers over me, but in this shot he looks like my little buddy…
I should note that before I embarked on this project, I enlisted my longtime-Iowa-best-friend and guitar playing partner in crime, Grant Tracey, as a cohost for open mic night with me. Running one of those events is really at least a two person operation. Without reservation he agreed to participate. Like me, he saw this as a routine way of getting to play publicly in an easily manageable way.
With Grant on the team, the next step was to acquire a sound system. Cup of Joe does not own a sound system, so a portable one is required to schlep in on the night of the event. A functional small venue sound system would offer multiple channels permitting a few microphones and two to three instruments, which are almost always guitars. Gigging performers at Cup of Joe often use multiple amplifiers; however, a multi-channel portable PA (short for public address system) is also commonly used. In fact, Rick Vanderwall, who hosts the third Friday open mic night has used a Bose portable PA system successfully for several years.
Rick Vanderwall (center) and his PA (seen arrayed behind him)
To the right, you can see Rick’s Cup of Joe open mic set up, with his early model, Bose portable line array in the background. Note in this image that he has three microphones and two instruments “plugged-in.” The Bose system is referred to as a “line array” because it uses a narrow vertical tower containing multiple two inch speakers alternatively angled left and right. In addition to the tower, which handles the mid and high ranges, there is a sub woofer to provide coverage for the lower sound frequencies. Sitting on a chair behind Rick you can just see a section of a mixer used to add extra channels to the PA and to manage tonal balances. I’m not sure about Rick’s, but some mixers, like Bose’s T4s also provide effects such as delay and reverb.
As I said earlier, I promised Dawn (of Cup of Joe) that Grant and I would deliver a quality sound system for our open mic nights. I did not want to beg or borrow a system, nor did I want to chase anyone around for funds. This project was initially my idea… I wanted to make it happen quickly and without complication, so I made the personal commitment to invest in a good PA. In the event that I ever do a solo gig, I would also be set up with a personal PA. These systems can be pricey, but I saw it as an investment in my primary retirement avocation. My retirement counselor at TIAA stated bluntly that if you want to do something that’s important for yourself, then do it now if it’s within reason and resources… don’t wait! So there it is… I went shopping for a PA.
I did some initial shopping at the local guitar shop and googled around on the internet, but I must admit I was predisposed towards Bose primarily because Rick Vanderwall’s system worked so well and reliably during the many open mics I played at Cup of Joe. Further, I’ve owned several Bose products, including floor standing speakers, bluetooth speakers, Wave radios and earphones. They were all solid products. In the end, if Bose was good enough for Rick, it was good enough for me!
Selecting a Bose PA for Purchase
Bose L1 Pro line of portable array PA’s. From left to right: Models 8, 16 & 32 (with two choices of subwoofer)
It so happened that Bose just introduced a whole new line of vertical array portable PA’s in late 2020, so I had available to me the latest Bose technology to select from. Referred to as the L1 Pro Systems, they came in with three different models. The diminutive Pro 8, the middle size Pro 16 and the full sized Pro 32. The numeral refers to the number of speakers in the vertical array.
I must admit that I was a bit astonished when I first saw Rick Vanderwall’s Bose with the narrow vertical tower. The vertical array of smallish speakers accompanied with a sub woofer is relatively new technology, but it’s been widely accepted (and copied) since its introduction some years ago. Following is a Bose PA introduction from Youtube:
I spent a good deal of time studying reviews of the various Bose L1 Pros. Many of the reviews were simply regurgitations of Bose marketing literature; however, out in YouTube world were several independent reviews which helped clarify my final decision as to which model to purchase.
Interior layout of Cup of Joe
First a word on the space in which the PA must perform for open mic night. As you can see in the image of Cup of Joe, it is a long, relatively narrow space. The performers are located way down at the far end of the facility, so a PA system would have to possess the power to project along the entire length and width of the space. The music should project evenly so that sitting and standing people get roughly the same sound level, as well as from front to back of the room. Fortunately, Bose claims a properly spec’d and set-up L1 system meets those requirements.
The disassembled L1 Pro 16, with small plastic spacer (center) that locates between the subwoofer and the speaker array.
In sum, my conclusion was the Pro 8 was underpowered for the venue in which Cup of Joe is located. The Pro 16 appeared to be a logical choice as it had the power to cover the space adequately, was reasonably priced and did not appear to be particularly cumbersome to move around. As you can see on the right, the Pro 16 comes in three pieces: the subwoofer, the longer array of sixteen two inch speakers and a 8 inch blank spacer that resides between the woofer and the speaker array. The purpose of the spacer is to raise the height of the sixteen two inch speakers to get a proper sound distribution. Unfortunately, the decision by Bose designers to use a “plastic” spacer has raised some criticism. Some reviewers claimed the spacer was insubstantially engineered resulting in wobbling of the tower. Other reviewers complained of a high pitched hiss emanating from the speakers. As I understand it, PA’s do come with a built in “noise floor” that varies by speaker design and system wattage; however, a high-pitched hiss is not what I wanted to contend with… period. I contacted Bose technical staff, but they were either evasive or oblivious to the critiques of the Pro 16. No help there…
Though it was more money than I initially wanted to spend, I decided to acquire the L1 Pro 32 because of the issues raised about the Pro 16. Bose offers either a very large Sub 2 or a smaller, (but big enough) Sub 1 woofer to pair with a two part vertical, floor standing tower. I chose the smaller Sub 1 because of its more manageable size and the low frequency sound profile was more in tune with live music, rather than DJ bass thumping that the Sub 2 is best designed for. Because both sections of the vertical array are substantial metal columns that lock into each other and because the column sinks several inches into the floor power stand, there is very little, if any, wobble.
L1 Pro 32 power stand into which vertical array is mounted.
The power stand offers a chunky, substantial, and stable base from which the vertical array arises. The stand connects to and powers the subwoofer with a proprietary cable, which is nice as only one 120 volt AC receptacle is required to power the entire rig. The stand also contains jack access to three channels. Two are 1/4″/XLR combo jacks, and the other is a 1/4″ jack with various other auxiliary possibilities, including bluetooth access. Lots of flexibility with channel tonal controls are available. The tonal controls are also remotely adjustable through an iPhone/Android app, which is super convenient. Finally, Bose has a baked-in library of tone profiles for various instruments and brands that can be deployed to fine tune the mix.
Here’s a Bose summary review of the L1 Pro 32:
Bose T4s
Because the L1 Pro 32 power stand offers only 3 channels, I decided to acquire the Bose Tonematch T4s mixer to provide an additional 4 channels. The mixer attaches to the power stand with a ruggedized LAN cable, which transmits digital instruction to the L1 and receives power from the L1, thus keeping power needs simple. The T4s offers deep functionality in terms of sculpting sound profiles and will take me some time to master to its best advantage.
Experience to date with the L1 Pro 32
The Bose system arrived a day later than expected because of a freak snow storm that prevented UPS from getting to my home, so I was delighted when it finally arrived. I set up the L1 tower first, which went together easily and quickly. The connection to the Sub 1 also was rapidly accomplished. Sadly, I could not use the T4s because Bose recommended a firmware update and I had to order a cable from Amazon to connect my computer to the mixer.
Sub 1 with race track speaker (left) and section of vertical array of two inch speakers (right)
Without the T4s attached, I still had three channels and was able to test my Collings I 35 electric, my Taylor 812ce, my National Resolectric and a Shure SM 58 microphone all in my living room. In fact, via Bose software, I saved individual tonal setting in the system’s memory for each guitar. The system played clean as country water and interacted nicely with my pedalboard. The combination of the racetrack subwoofer and the 32 neodymium 2 inch drivers offered a consistent ear pleasing sound.
32 speaker vertical array
According to Bose literature, the speaker tower offers a floor to 7 foot high vertical sound spread outwards that also arrays itself 180 degrees, side to side. My experience was that you could sit anywhere in the living room of my house as long as you were not behind the tower and hear the music perfectly well. I made this test by bluetoothing my iPhone to the system and then playing the Beatles’ Revolver. When I disassembled the system and moved it up to my garage, the sound produced by the L1 could be heard across my yard quite easily when either Grant or I played guitar and sang.
Initial Disappointment and Concerns with the PA/Tonematch Combination
LAN cable to Connect T4s to L1 Pro
I will cut to the chase. After I updated the firmware on the T4s Tonematch mixer, I had intermittant success connecting it to the L1 Pro 32. In short, the instruments or mics channeled into the T4s received the signal as evidenced by a green flashing light, but failed to make it to the L1. It actually worked for a while in my living room, but when I disassembled the L1 and moved it to the garage, the T4s was a total fail! No matter what I tried, I could not get it to work.
Bose L1, T4s, my pedal board, an SM 58 mic and my Collings in my garage.
The fail was on a Saturday, and on Monday Bose frontline technical help in the Philippines had no suggestions to remediate my problem of connectivity, but agreed to replace the entire system including the L1 and the T4s. The new L1 came the next day, but the T4s took almost two weeks to arrive. Even then, after replacement I had some initial difficulty making the connection between the two devices. I concluded that the weak link is the LAN cable and unless it is solidly connected, signal failure will occur. When queried about this shortcoming the Bose people were evasive. This time around though I was able to get the device to work in my living room, and after disassembly and reassembly up in my garage. So we’re good to go, but I do have some remaining qualms about connectivity issues between the two devices.
To be prudent, I plan to run another garage set-up to calm my nerves and make sure the system is functional.
We are Good to Go!
My son Parker who is a dual major at the University of Iowa, including Graphic Design put this poster together for us, so in a month we will be at Cup of Joe!
A year or so ago, I posted a blog article about replacing paper with electronic charts using an Apple iPad, combined with the forScore app bluetoothed to a PageFlip DragonFly foot pedal. The pedal enabled page flipping for a multi-page tune. I use all this tech because I play a lot of country blues tunes, but simply cannot memorize them. While I develop finger-muscle memory for the tunes, it is necessary for me to have the chart as a cue when playing.
Smallish iPad Air in my practice zone…
In sum, with an iPad Air, a mic stand, a Hercules tablet holder, and finally, a DragonFly foot pedal, I replaced an ungainly, non portable music stand and sloppy, wrinkly, taped together hard paper music charts that flopped all over the place. How did it work out over time? Good, but after a while, I wished I’d purchased the larger, more expensive iPad Pro to make reading the music easier (the Pro screen actually projects a size equivalent to single standard 8×10″ page in a paper chart). Still, I made the investment in the smallish iPad Air and was initially loath to waste money by trading it in, much as I wanted to.
PageFlip Dragonfly foot pedal…
It’s important to note too that while the foot pedal functioned properly most of the time, I found it a challenge sometimes to stay focused on the music and simultaneously stab my foot out to find the proper forward shift pedal and avoid going accidentally backwards. Furthermore, the pedal would go to sleep when not in use for an extended period of time, and required multiple stomps to wake it back up, which was frustrating when immersed in the middle of a tune. Finally, the “in-screen” keyboard on the iPad was disabled by the pedal when active, which made typing annotations onto the music chart impossible.
Then, one day I was annotating a country blues chart and did a web search to see if it was possible to cut and paste lyrics or move a music bar to another location while using forScore. After finding online instructions for how to execute that capability and then fumbling around for an extended period of time trying to accomplish a simple cut and paste, I finally discovered that you had to be a member of forScore Pro to access that feature!
forScore Pro is similar to one of those patreon accounts that are so popular now for financially supporting online activities. For an additional small annual fee, you get added features like cut and paste and also support future improvements for the app. I joined because cut and paste is a very, very useful feature to arrange and annotate a chart. You also get occasional new update notes from forScore as a Pro member.
Apple True Depth Camera tech…
What I soon discovered after joining forScorePro was that the 2020 iPad Pro equipped with their True Depth Camera technology, combined with the latest iOS 14 operating system would allow page changing within forScore with facial gestures! This is the same highly sophisticated technology that allows a person to log into an iPhone or iPad with facial recognition.
12.9 inch iPad Pro
The enhancements offered by the new iPad Pro were enough to push me over the edge. I wanted a larger surface area to see the charts and I was really interested in using facial gestures to replace the foot pedal! So, easy as pie, I arranged a trade-in for my year-old iPad Air and ordered a 12.9 inch iPad Pro. When the new iPad arrived, I transferred forScore and my music library over to it in short order.
I found out right away that my existing iPad mic stand holder no longer worked with the 12.9″ iPad. I owned a Hercules holder (lower right) and really liked it as it was very stable and easy to get the iPad in and out of the holder, but sadly it does not open wide enough to easily get the larger iPad Pro into the grips. So, after searching around I found a “decent” holder manufactured by Caddy Buddy (lower left). It’s good enough, but I still would prefer the Hercules device for ease of getting the iPad in and out of it and it’s more robust in construction. It would be a relatively easy design change to fix the Hercules device, but I see no evidence that the manufacturer is planning to do so.
Caddy Buddy iPad Holder
Hercules iPad Holder
Once the iPad is mounted in the mic stand at roughly the same level as your face, it can then be set-up via forScore to activate facial gestures to turn pages in a musical chart. As a reminder, you cannot access this feature in the settings menu unless you are a Pro subscription member (lower left). Inside the Pro settings (lower center) you can access Face Gestures and activate a calibration procedure for facial recognition purposes.
Settings Menu
Facial Gesture Calibration
Fine tune Facial Gesture
You have two face gesture choices, which are “turning your head” or “moving your mouth” in a kind of smirk to the left or right. I hoped that one of the gestures would have been a head tilt, but that was not available, and when I queried the forScore people about adding that feature they demurred. Head turning made little sense to me because you have to take your eyes off the music, and to be frank, I could never get it to work reliably.
Lip movement to change page
On the other hand, lip/mouth movement does work! After calibrating the iPad to recognize you with 1) a relaxed face, 2) lips moved right, and 3) lips moved left the device will flip pages on command. In the upper right image you can see that there are sliders also available to fine tune sensitivity. There’s also a test protocol to see how well you’ve tuned sensitivity by ease of moving small blue dots on the screen by shifting your lips.
So… How does it work???
For the most part it works pretty well; however, I do have some concerns with over sensitivity of the device. Sometimes, for reasons unknown to me, the page will flip without command. If you reduce sensitivity with the calibration slider to much to avoid phantom page flips, then you must really wrench your face to flip a page, which is distracting to you and an audience. Consequently, it takes time to fine tune the system’s sensitivity to your facial movements. I have some concern that changes in ambient lighting may also affect the reliability of the page flip. Also, I play sitting down and am concerned about seat height variation from home to perhaps a coffee shop open mic stage seat also affecting page flip accuracy. Finally, on occasion when I am playing for someone I will miss a note, then grimace at the pain of musical failure, and at that moment the device will sometimes respond to my dismay by flipping the page on its own, which makes matters all the worse.
Cut and paste option for moving lyrics to the chart…
In conclusion, the iPad Pro combined with forScore Pro is a keeper… I really like the larger surface area for viewing a musical chart and the cut and paste option for annotation is a great addition to the app. As far as page flipping goes, I am intent on working with the facial gesture feature, but will probably keep the foot pedal on standby to reverse unwanted spontaneously flips. There you have it…
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Bill Collings: “The world is made of stuff that’s OK… just fine… but when something’s made by a group of people that really know what they’re doing, engineering, time and passion are put into it… it doubles it…”
Guitars are back, baby! Or so says the New York Times… For me, they were never gone, but according to several news articles and anecdotal information from guitar stores, the COVID 19 “lock-downs” of 2020, resulted in a sizable upward swing in guitar sales. As a result guitar shops are suffering from some inventory deprivation because the guitar manufacturers are having difficulty keeping up with demand resulting from pandemic depleted work forces. What’s driven guitar sales? To a large extent, it’s probably the quarantine produced time and space available for people to chase new pursuits and guitars apparently fit the bill.
Summertime is National time…
Since I am retired and an avid student of guitar, I did not need the added incentive of quarantine time to focus on the instrument; however, because of limited opportunities to do other things outside my home I am even more obsessed with the guitar now!
To that end, I have a very nice collection of instruments, descriptions of which can be found here… Even though I possess a nice stable of guitars I, not unlike lots of other guitarists, fall into the psychological trap of believing we are always one guitar away from completing our musical dreams… it’s a sad affliction, but also fun to indulge as long as you don’t overtax your personal finances like Johnny Depp‘s done…
What drove me to my latest purchase was the human psychological need for novelty, which is somewhat more exacerbated by the limited stimuli associated with quarantine lock down. Further, I was suffering some doubts regarding two of my Taylor electric guitars. Seen below is the T3 on the right and the Walnut Solidbody on the left… While both are lovely guitars, I decided that their controls were too gimmicky… too many pickup selection opportunities and odd tone controls that I could never quite master to suit my ears…
Taylor Walnut Solidbody
Taylor T3 Custom
Taylor Solidbody Custom (left) and Taylor T3/B (right)
The truth be known, the Taylor’s are excellent guitars and beautiful in their own right and any difficulty managing them, sound-wise, is really on me. Still… in the back of my mind, for quite a while, I considered trading them off for a different guitar. But, it was not going to be for just any run of the mill electric… For example, I was totally not interested in a Fender Strat or Tele (never liked their necks nor fretboards) or a Les Paul (too awkward and heavy for me) and I had my run with a Gretsch a few years earlier and unceremoniously dumped it. Perhaps the endlessly fascinating Gibson ES-335, but there is so much commentary out there in the guitar universe about sample to sample variability in quality and tone. That said, I just don’t believe I have the acumen to identify, nor access to enough samples to find that perfect one. So, I looked around for several months, not totally convinced I could unload the Taylors for something I would find better… It would have to be a helluva a guitar to move me forward…
Then, one day I was noodling through the Dave’s Guitars website, which I do on occasion, and found a guitar worth considering… way worth considering… It was a Collings semi-hollow bodied electric guitar… At that moment, Dave’s inventory contained four Collings electrics, two of which were semi-hollows. I’ve been aware of Collings since I first picked up a Yamaha guitar in the early 90’s… In guitar magazines of the time, Collings advertised factory produced but immaculate, boutique quality acoustic guitars that successfully replicated the highly sought after pre-war Martin aesthetic. They were top-drawer prestige guitars, reserved for the most committed players. The prices too were astronomical.
Taylor 914ce
I have a brief story, from a few years ago, about my first, in person, interaction with a Collings guitar. When I returned to serious guitar playing about 4 1/2 years ago, I took lessons in Rochester, MN while I was up there for an extended period of time receiving radiation treatment. I found a very nice re-introduction-to-the-instrument teacher at Avalon Music, a local store, which sadly no longer exists. I remember my teacher playing some nondescript beater guitar during lessons, which took place on the second floor of the store.
Downstairs the owner sold guitars, specializing in Taylors, a brand that I regarded very highly, and after several weeks, I traded in an older Taylor 700 series for a drop dead beautiful Taylor 914ce, a top of the line spruce and rosewood grand concert sized guitar… there are arguably not many guitars better than that 914 in both design and quality… The purchase was a statement to myself that I would fight through the radiation treatments and come out the other end… When I showed up at my next lesson with the new axe, my teacher was apoplectic when he saw the guitar… why, I am not totally sure, but perhaps he felt “shown-up” by this lovely instrument residing in a rusty old reentry guitar player’s hands… Well… the next week my teacher returned to the lesson room with a Collings in his hands! I suppose he wanted to show me who ruled… it was an enviable guitar, both in appearance and how it sounded… I made note…
So, back to the future… There it was on Dave’s website… A Collings guitar, but not an acoustic… this one was electric… I’d been vaguely aware of Collings’ electrics for a few years… Primarily because a recent Facebook acquaintance purchased a pre-owned solid body version called the City Limits (inspired by the Gibson Les Paul)… he made quite a public production of his purchase and was way pleased with himself…
Gibson ES-335
After my dalliance with the Taylor Solidbody and some in-shop fiddling around with a Fender Strat, I was done with planks (solid body) guitars… As a dyed-in-the-wool acoustic player, the semi-hollow electric is, in my mind, a perfect complement to my style of playing, which is largely finger-style and bottleneck country blues. A highly regarded, and prototypical semi-hollow bodied guitar is the Gibson ES-335. There are others like the Gretsch Falcon, but the ES-335 has legendary status.
If you are curious as to what a semi-hollow bodied guitar is, I borrowed a few shots off the Collings website below. You can see below that the Collings guitar body is routed out of a solid piece of mahogany where the hollowed chambers on each side of the center are visible. The hollow chamber gives this guitar its characteristic tone, which differs significantly from a plank guitar. According to the Sweetwater website, “These guitars… [offer] the tightness and focus of a solidbody electric guitar but with a hint of that more round, acoustic tone of a hollow guitar.” I would agree with that…
Center Block
Routing Out the Hollow Chambers
Finished Lower Body with Center Block and Adjacent Chambers
The term, semi-hollow body comes from the practice of inserting a block of wood into the center of the guitar between the hollowed chambers. The carefully designed Collings center block can be seen in the above photo on the top left. The center block reduces the propensity for feedback when the guitar is played at loud volumes. Not all center blocks are equal and can affect the tone of the guitar by how it’s designed and what it’s made out of. Design versus tone of the center block is above my pay grade, but from what I’ve read, the precision of the center block design is one of the reasons a Collings electric commands such respect and stands out with tonality.
As I dug deeper into the Collings aesthetic, I found this wonderful overview of their electric guitar production:
And here, world-class guitar player Charlie Sexton speaks to the design of Collings electrics… He is playing a SoCo, which is one of the Collings designs I was considering… it is a semi-hollow bodied guitar with a single cutaway, as opposed to the I-35, which has a double cutaway, giving it the characteristic “mouse ear” profile similar to the Gibson ES-335… Anyway, below you can hear Charlie wax poetically about Collings electric guitar design…
If you are wondering who Charlie Sexton is, one of his main gigs is lead guitarist for Bob Dylan’s touring band. Below are a couple of shots I took of Dylan and Sexton playing in Cedar Falls, IA ten years ago… a great show!
If you really want to understand what distinguishes Collings guitars from all the rest of production instruments, then you have to understand the singular drive for design and manufacturing excellence that Bill Collings demanded of himself and those who worked with him… sadly Bill Collings succumbed to cancer in 2017… here’s a brief biography of this extraordinary man:
So, after due diligence I concluded that purchase of a Collings guitar could be a real “jewel in the crown” acquisition. There were some Collings electrics available pre-owned on Reverb, but in my case I thought purchasing new would be, perhaps not least expensive, but the best route for me. Now, to those of you who read my blog this decision probably comes across as contradictory. This is because I wrote a whole blog entry on the cost-benefits of buying used; however, I’ve also been burned on used purchases mostly because I do not possess the wherewithal to identify problems with a used instrument, and they do exist, such as I’ve experienced… i.e. poor set-up, cracked lower bouts and twisted necks…
To purchase a new guitar, it made perfect sense to me to shop for a Collings at Dave’s Guitars in LaCrosse, WI which is about 2.5 hours by car from my home. Last winter, before the attack of COVID 19, I purchased a National guitar from them and it was, as I wrote on this blog, an excellent experience. Nevertheless, I was still tentative because I had two guitars to trade and there was still the overall sticker price on the Collings guitar which was a bit prohibitive… I proceeded to see what I could work out, and was pleasantly surprised… Overnight, I received two very fair offers for the Taylors and they reduced the new guitar’s price by 15% because it was a 2018 model and had been hanging around the store far longer than Dave wanted it! So it was off to Wisconsin to test the guitar and make a deal!
In Dave’s parking lot…
Because of the pandemic world we live in, Dave’s only took clients in the store by appointment, which I promptly made for the next day. The following morning I got in my car at 7:30 am to make a 10:30 appointment.
My wife was a bit anxious about me making the trip as Wisconsin was a COVID 19 hot zone, and this was my first trip out of town since the pandemic’s onset in mid-March, 2020. Undaunted, I grabbed a mask, stuck a carbon filter in it, and took off. It was good to get out and it was a pleasant drive through the late harvest farm fields and small, backwater towns of Iowa. I had a full tank of gas so I would not have to expose myself to the virus by making any unnecessary stops along the way. Making good time I arrived 30 minutes early and it was especially nice that they took me right in so I would not have to sit in a cold car for 30 minutes! To the left you can see me in the parking lot, with the iconic Dave’s sign over my shoulder.
A pair of Collings semi-hollow bodies… the SoCo in the foreground and the I-35 behind.
There was no time wasted, which suited me… The handful of floor staff are always very pleasant and were all masked up and pretty good about physical spacing. Nevertheless, I decided to get in and out as soon as practical; however, I still wanted to take my time checking out the Collings electrics.
I dragged my two Taylors in for the Sales Manager to look over, and he guided me over to the store section that had a handful of Collings guitars hanging way up high to keep the hoi polloi from pawing over them. I narrowed the choices down to the I-35 Deluxe and a SoCo. Curiously, Bill Collings decided to name his electrics after the roadways in and around Austin, Texas where his factory is located.
Inside Dave’s… dropped the mask momentarily for the photo…
Fortunately, I was able to plug into a Mesa Boogie Fillmore 50 amp like I have at home. I spent most of my time with the I-35, which is the guitar that initially moved me into undertaking this journey… the SoCo was nice but did not call to me. The whole process was a bit stressful… I was not warmed up, nor was I acclimated to the I-35’s fretboard and neck so my playing was not particularly admirable… no one seemed to care, but they could hear me, so I was a little rattled because I can play better than I did in the store.
Eventually, after floundering around for about 30 minutes with the I-35, I decided to acquire it because I was confident, given some more time that I’d be able to play this thing and it was sweet to my sensibilities. I was particularly taken by the capacity to separately control the volume and tone for each pick-up and to blend the two together when played simultaneously, something neither of my Taylor electrics could do… Booyakasha!
While we were closing the deal I had the great good fortune to meet the Dave, who was in an exceptionally good mood because he had just acquired a vintage “transition model” Gibson ES-335 for his extensive, museum quality guitar collection housed on the second floor of the store. They wiped my new Collings down, put fresh strings of my choice on it (NYXL’s), and then threw in a Dave’s Sweatshirt to boot! I was out the door and on the way back home in about one hour… All in all, shopping for premium guitars is a great experience at Dave’s!
Ameritage Case Damage… a Tolex tear on the top of the case
My only criticism of the purchase process was the condition of the guitar case. Collings sources out their cases for electric guitars from the Ameritage company. They are premium solid cases, but frankly, I think both Taylor and National do a better job with their cases in fit, appearance and interior appointment. In a video I recently watched, Bill Collings also expressed some dismay with sourced-out cases and in response built a line of cases for some of his high-end acoustics, but in the end dropped the case business project because it’s too expensive.
Red Bubble Collings sticker…
Further, and most irritating, the case that came with my guitar was damaged. The Tolex coating was torn about the width of a thumbnail and could be pulled back to expose white fibrous matter beneath. There was also some scuffing on the case too… Besides being ugly, I was concerned the tear would continue to propagate over time. I should have made a point about the damage, because I found out later that they had the ability to repair the case in the shop, but I wanted to get the hell out of there and get into my car away from other people. In the end, in a very nice personal touch, Steve McCreary, General Manager of Collings guided me, via telephone, through the repair process. The case, though not perfect, looks pretty good now. Even so, I decided to acquire a Collings sticker from Red Bubble and laid it over the repair so I wouldn’t be irritated by it anymore…
Collings I-35 Deluxe
Now let’s review the guitar… Holistically, it is a stunning example of industrial art. When I’d mentioned to Steve McCreary (see above) that I thought the guitar was an object of fine art, he responded saying that “we [Collings] really appreciate when someone gets what we do here…”
The guitar has a mouse eared profile/shape reminiscent of the Gibson ES-335 from which it is inspired, but Bill Collings, after thorough research, reduced the lower bout width by an inch and designed more angular curvature, making the guitar somewhat smaller and lighter thus enhancing it’s playability. I’m not a big guy, so the smaller profile had greater appeal to me, especially after coping with the larger bodied Taylor T3 and the Gretsch Falcon, which was really a beast. While I was at Dave’s playing the Collings, the sales manager brought over an ES-335 and it looked large and unwieldy by comparison. I said, “please take it away…”
Solid Honduran mahogany lower body and neck
What you pay for when you acquire a Collings is engineering, design, manufacturing precision and all around fussiness. I don’t think there’s a guitar manufacturer who puts more care into high end wood quality than Collings. Only the finest woods are selected for their instruments, considering variables such as appearance/figuring, moisture content, tensile properties, specific gravity, and most importantly acoustical responsiveness. The I-35 is comprised of a carved, solid flamed maple top, the body is routed from a solid piece of Honduran mahogany, with a single piece mahogany neck as well.
In my mind’s eye, I imagined the guitar would be red, but in reality this particular model’s color was referred to as “amber sunburst,” which does a nice job of displaying the soundboard’s flamed Maple striations underneath the multiple layers of polished lacquer. This is my first lacquer finished guitar and it is remarkably shiny and classy looking.
The lower bout, with controls, 3 way switch, F holes, and bridge area visible.
Here it is very important to point out that not all semi-hollow bodied guitars are built the same. As shown in photos earlier in this post, Collings routes out the lower body from a solid piece of mahogany and the top is carved from a single piece of solid maple. Conversely, the Gibson ES-335 is manufactured from laminated maple and poplar layers and constructed similar to an acoustic guitar where the sides, back and top are separately cut or shaped in a press and then combined with glue. The center blocks are also engineered quite differently from each other. To me the solid wood routing of the lower body, the art-carving of the top, and the precision engineering of the center block pushes the Collings I-35 to a completely different aesthetic level in construction and subsequent tonality. During roughly the same time period Gibson produced a similar “tonally carved” solid wood design in limited quantities that they designated the CS-336, which I think is available by special order through their custom shop.
On the image shown above, you can see the four tone/volume control knobs, the body binding, and the pick up rings are all manufactured from grained ivoroid. Ivoroid is a plastic-like substance that is created by dissolving cellulose in the form of short cotton fiber and then restoring it through extrusion into a solid form. The grained version is extruded to give it fine lines to simulate ivory, which was considered a luxury material since ancient times. Obviously grained ivoroid production and its use is far better than killing animals such as elephants to acquire the substance. The ivoroid knobs and pickup rings are custom made at the Collings shop. It’s very satisfying to get up close enough to the ivoroid to see the fine grain lines or to twirl the tactilely pleasing knobs. For an acoustic guitar, I prefer wood binding, but almost all electrics use some sort of manufactured substance for bindings and grained ivoroid is about as cool as you can get.
Tail piece/bridge section… note the section of grained ivoroid pickup ring.
This particular version of the I-35 uses a clean and neat appearing Kluson bridge and tail piece assembly which is fairly common hardware for Gibson semi-hollow bodies. In contrast, my Taylor T3 semi-hollow body deployed a heavy, cluttered Bigsby, which I never really used to purpose, so I don’t miss it, particularly during string changing.
The pickups are where the rubber meets the road for an electric guitar. Bill Collings selected vintage-like Low Wind Lollar Imperial humbuckers for this guitar.
The combination of “throwback” 1950’s wiring, the low wind humbuckers and the vintage pots and caps are the “pixie/fairy dust” that Collings sprinkled into the guitar to create the vintage sound he was searching for. Having never played a vintage ES-335 nor possessing the ear to recognize one, I can only take the I-35’s spec on face value for being “sonically vintage;” however, I can attest that it is a fantastic sounding electric guitar, at least to my ear, my wife’s and my friends who’ve heard it.
As to whether the I-35 Deluxe produces verifiable vintage sound, that may be open to debate. For example, the ES-335 was manufactured with a laminate top, while the I-35 is unusual in that it has a solid top. The solid, non-laminate nature of the top was really appealing to my own aesthetic, so I like it and the “unique” sound it produces… it possesses throaty, round, woody, clean and defined note definition, with excellent sustain.
My guess is some of the fussier former Gibson/Gretsch players did not like the sound palette created by the solid top because their ears were more acclimated to the tonality created by laminated wood. To that end, Collings introduced an LC (laminated top) version of the I-35 and it is very popular. Nice for them, but I’ll take the sold top baby!
Fretboard
Headstock
Bindings
In the images directly above you can see some of the reasons why my I-35 is also designated Deluxe. The rosewood fretboard is adorned with parallelogram inlays, the headstock tuners are sourced from Gotoh, and equipped with grained ivoroid knobs, and as I mentioned earlier grained ivoroid appointments grace the instrument throughout.
In one of the Collings marketing videos, Bill Collings describes what elements are key to excellence when manufacturing an electric guitar… He says tone is a given… the guitar must feel right and be eminently playable, and finally it has to have a look… all those elements combine to give the guitar its character… that Collings character…
It’s one thing to read the marketing materials about Collings guitars, but it’s another thing to experience it first hand. They truly are remarkable instruments… As I said earlier the I-35 is a manufactured object of art…
Below I am adding some performance examples for my I-35… you can find other jazz and arty examples for how the guitar plays by accomplished musicians on Youtube, but my sound cuts will be just a regular guy doing the best he can to make some music. My genre is country blues, which I play on acoustic guitars, resonators and also electric guitar… I am no Muddy Waters, but he played the same music on all of those same type instruments… Here goes…
First, here’s a rendering of Cocaine Blues which is a Stef Grossman arrangement of the Rev. Gary Davis tune. I am playing through a Mesa Boogie Fillmore 50 amp on a clean channel (which I almost always do). I am blending both pickups with the neck pickup predominating. All my pedals are disengaged except my Dunlop Echoplex, which is set for a slight slap back:
Second is a rendering of Coffee Blues which is a Happy Traum arrangement of the Mississippi John Hurt tune. Again, I am playing through a Mesa Boogie Fillmore 50 amp on a clean channel and I am blending both pickups with the neck pickup predominating. All my pedals are disengaged except my Dunlop Echoplex, which is set for a slight slap back, and I added my Boss RV-6 Reverb which is set on Hall:
Third is a rendering of Police and a Sergeant which is a Catfish Keith arrangement of the Reverend Robert Wilkins tune. Again, again, I am playing through a Mesa Boogie Fillmore 50 amp on a clean channel and I am blending both pickups with the neck pickup predominating. This time the pedals include my Dunlop Echoplex, which is set for a slight slap back, my Boss RV-6 Reverb which is set on Hall, and some light vibrato through my Boss VB-2w pedal:
Finally, here’s a partial rendering of Long Distance Call which is a Tom Feldmann arrangement of a Muddy Waters tune. This my first bottleneck tune in standard tuning. As with the above tunes, I am playing through a Mesa Boogie Fillmore 50 amp on a clean channel and again I am blending both pickups with the neck pickup predominating. Pedals include a Jangle Box Compressor, a Mesa Boogie Tone Burst Drive, a Boss CH-1 Super Chorus, a Boss TR-2 Tremolo, a Dunlop Echoplex, and my Boss RV-6 Reverb which is set on Hall.
Well… there it is… my review of my new Collings I-35… I’ll sum it up by saying, I think I will keep it and will hand it down to one of my kids one day… it’s a family heirloom now!
If you have any comments please leave them below… and thanks for checking in!
Last week I posted a blog entry in which I compared video recordings of me playing my National Reso-rocket WB with the new Revolution Biscuit/Bridge, with and without the addition of a wooden gasket that sits between the biscuit and the resonator cone. The posting can be found here…
As I usually do, I shared my blog posting on my Facebook page, as well as a few other FB guitar enthusiast pages, including one dedicated to National Guitars users/fans. Sharing on Facebook gets my entries better exposure… in fact, people from all over the world have checked in to what I have to say and I am grateful for the time people take to read my articles and to comment on them.
My previous two articles about the Revolution biscuit received quite a bit of attention, but none more so than the most recent one. In fact there was quite a bit of consternation and dissatisfaction about how the guitar sounded with the Revolution biscuit, either with or without the wooden gasket. Someone suggested that the guitar strings may to too light… in fact, they’re quite heavy. There was even a bit of mysticism, one commenter suggesting that the installation of a Revolution Biscuit in a friend’s guitar removed its ghost, thus diminishing its sound quality. Another implied that perhaps my playing was at fault, which may be true, but I think the dominant variable was the Revolution Biscuit itself.
Reso-rocket WB, cone and biscuit removed…
I decided then that it might be useful to explore more closely a before and after comparison of the traditional wooden biscuit versus the Revolution biscuit. I had not done this before. The only other comparison that I am aware of that is publicly available is the one created by Steve James in his workshop, which you can find in this posting. It was hard for me to tell much difference between set-ups in James’s posting.
So, to respond to the sound critics I decided to do my own A/B comparison on the same exact guitar. I recorded myself playing first with the Revolution Biscuit (with wooden gasket deployed), then I disemboweled the guitar and reinstalled the original wooden biscuit and recorded the same tune again. The transition of one to the other was made easier because each biscuit was equipped with its own cone. If you’re interested in my recording technique you can find that information here. I recorded myself playing Muddy Waters’ tune I Feel Like Going Home, which I learned from Tom Feldmann’s excellent Guitar Workshop DVD. The guitar is tuned to Open G and I am using a heavy, solid brass Tone Dome slide.
Well… here are the two recordings:
First, the recording with the Revolution Biscuit installed:
Second, the recording with the tradition wooden biscuit re-installed on the guitar:
After completing the recordings and editing them a bit on my MacBook Pro with iMovie, I did some intense comparisons… I listened, comparing section by section of the tune, on my MacBook speakers, then through some nice Grado headphones, and finally piped it through my very nice Marantz/Paradigm sound system using Apple AirPlay. I also had my wife Annette and my Iowa-all-time-best-friend Grant listen to the recordings too and share their impressions with me.
In sum, everyone, including me liked the traditional wooden biscuit sound far more than the Revolution biscuit. The sonic and tonal differences were quite obvious. I am not particularly articulate when it comes down to discussing guitar tones, but I will try. The traditional wooden biscuit tones were more present, more naturally acoustic sounding, perhaps more resonator twangy sounding. The Revolution biscuit tones sounded more truncated, lacking tonal subtleties, and were flatter and more compressed sounding, with the compression increasing as the strings got heavier.
I’ve decided to climb out of the Revolution Biscuit rabbit hole and leave the wooden biscuit installed on my WB for the time being…
In conclusion:
I was persuaded to try the Revolution Biscuit because it would allow me to improve my set-up in terms of playing action. My strings were a bit too high for comfortable finger-style playing. One of the key selling points of the Revolution Biscuit is the easy raising and lowering of the saddle using set screws to adjust the guitar’s action. Plus it was cool looking… I like the high-tech machined aluminum appearance of the new biscuit… To state the obvious, how a guitar looks is very important, but not near as important as it sounds…
I did not expect a noticeable or negative tonal difference when replacing the wood biscuit, based largely on Steve James’s recording, but detected some immediate difference. Not doing an A/B comparison initially, I was not sure how much difference there really was and at that point I was too lazy to switch back and forth… it was a lot of somewhat stressful work setting up the Revolution biscuit the first time…
Later, I accepted Steve James’s offer to try out the wooden gasket that sits between the Revolution Bridge and the cone mostly because I wanted to see if it would alter the tonal qualities in a positive way. There was some change in tone (positive I think) which I reported on earlier.
In response to “sound critics” on Facebook, I finally did an A/B comparison of the two biscuits and as I perceive the results, the wooden biscuit is more natural sounding.
Caveat: in another lifetime, I was a statistician (having minored in the subject) during my doctoral studies. My conclusions about the Revolution Biscuit are probably best applied for the National Reso-rocket WB… this was not an extensive factorial analysis… there may be other important variables at play such as saddle-type (i.e. wood) and guitar type (i.e. metal vs wood body or size) that may interact and cause noticeably different results!
