My guitar collection - Acoustics
This is the late great Bill Collings’ version of the late-1920s 000 made by Martin. Like many guitars from that era, this guitar has a slotted headstock, 12 frets to the body, and a smaller and less boxy body than a dreadnought, i.e. a (slightly longer!) body length of 20¼”, 15” at the bout, and body depth of 4”, but still the same 25½” scale length. The modern companion of a triple-0 is the very similar Orchestra Model (OM), with 14 frets to the body. Compared to that model, the 1” longer 000-body length also implies the bridge is placed slightly forward. This particular guitar has been upgraded with a Adirondack (Red) spruce top (‘A’ in the model designation). Adirondack is valued because it has the best mechanical properties of all spruce species, i.e. cross-sectional strength, across-the-grain stiffness, and strength-to-weight ratio, leading to a very dynamic response where it can be driven hard without distorting. The guitar also has herringbone top purfling (‘H’), a beautiful 2-style Sunburst finished top (‘SB’), while accessibility to the upper registers has been improved by a Venetian cutaway (‘Cut’). The dark stripe visible in the top is not a crack but indicates the seam between the 2 book-matched halves. The sides are made from East Indian rosewood, the neck is constructed from mahogany with an ebony fingerboard. The bone nut is 1¾” wide. The slotted headstock has a Brazilian rosewood veneer and Waverly nickel-plated machines with vintage-style butterfly buttons. For the standard specs of this model, visit:
Collings 0002ha sb cut
The story behind this guitar
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You have heard of John Mayer, have you not? You know that he plays a Martin OM, right? Well, I read an interview where he extolled the virtues of having a smaller box. Also in interviews with other finger-stylists in Acoustic Guitar, I had become intrigued with the concept of having an acoustic with a smaller body, be it either an OM or a 000. (With respect to a smaller box, interestingly enough Collings released a limited run of 24 Dark Vintage Sunburst 0002H Custom T ‘Joe Henry’ instruments in the early-20s which otherwise differ from this particular triple-0 only by an increased body depth of 4¾” and its traditional build.) Fortunately here in Seattle, a store like Dusty Strings allows anybody to test-drive a wide range of high-end acoustic guitars built by a large selection of manufacturers. So that is what you do. And the Collings 0001 they had sounded pretty good. Then, as luck had it, this guitar (listed as a 2006) was offered on eBay by Big Jim’s Guitars, a well respected name in collecting circles. So that was it! Never looked back, since it has all I ever wanted: beautiful exterior, heavenly sounding, and plays like butter. It is nice to compare the sound of this smaller model with its large brother, the D2HA. Although rosewood emphasizes lows and highs more than other tonewoods for back and sides, i.e. a “smiley” EQ-curve, you will notice right away that there is more midrange with sparkling highs compared to the dreadnought, since the smaller body will still suppress some lows. My absolute favorite fingerstyle guitar nowadays frequently in tow when visiting friends so I can entertain the crowd.
The story behind this guitar
October 12, 2004
9948
Sunburst Adirondack spruce top, cutaway, 1¾” nut
