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, Mother-of-Pearl logo, and 16:1 gear ratio Waverly nickel-plated tuning machines for slotted headstocks with butterbean buttons. For the standard specs of this model, visit:
Collings 0002ha sb cut
The story behind this guitar
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After reading many an interview with fingerstyle players in Acoustic Guitar, I became intrigued with the concept of owning 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. it provides a “smiley” EQ-curve, you will notice right away there is more midrange with sparkling highs compared to the dreadnought, since the smaller body will still suppress some lows. Like my Pete Huttlinger Signature OM!, a fabulous fingerstyle guitar. For years, no guitar pick came near. But then I started playing in an acoustic trio and this RW triple-0 turned out to be the perfect bookend to the hog Taylor 314 used by the other guitarist. Just a fantastic instrument for many genres, still plenty loud with a distinctive voice.
The story behind this guitar
October 12, 2004
9948
Sunburst Adirondack spruce top, cutaway, 1¾” nut
