When the dreadnought was introduced by Martin now more than a century ago, it was not a guitar with a square shouldered body, 14 frets to the body, and a solid headstock. Rather, it was a slope shouldered model with 12 frets to the body and a slotted headstock. The body of a Collings DS is a little longer compared to its more popular D-model (see my D2H ), i.e. 20⅞” vs 20”, respectively. This affect the placement of the ebony bridge which is more central on the lower bout. Other dimensions of this model are a body width of 15⅝”, 4⅞” body depth, a total length of 40⅛”, but still a 25½” scale length. The Adirondack spruce top gives it a wide dynamic response. This particular DS is a Hill Country build (HC), introduced to the Collings lineup in late-2024, which gives it “... a strong fundamental voice that is both warm and woody.” Collings acoustics are known for their modern sound: somewhat bright with a lot of articulation. This does not take away there has been an ask for a more old time-y vibe in a Collings. The first step was set while Bill was still alive with the Traditional builds. My CJ-45 T is an excellent example where Collings comes much closer to, if not nails, the sound one expects from a Gibson J-45. The Hill Country is the next step in the journey to have an available choice of a Collings acoustic with a truly vintage sound, now more in the pre-war Martin vein. As such, these HC builds have their own construction employing pre-war HC bracing, absence of a tongue brace, an ultra thin high-gloss nitrocellulose finish used on the complete guitar, a custom made, hand-poured tortoise pickguard with matching rosette and butt wedge, a Honduran mahogany neck with a beefier DS Hill Country profile, and the Collings logo stamped on the back of the here customized solid headstock. And hence, relic 20:1 gear ratio Waverly nickel-plated tuning machines are found on this particular guitar, as well as a Hill Country Sunburst top. And on this particular guitar the top has a 2-style Sunburst under the high-gloss nitrocellulose finish. But otherwise, it has similar specs and appointments as the aforementioned D2HA: East Indian rosewood back and sides, belly style ebony bridge with cut-through, aged bone saddle, ebony fingerboard with gold Mother-of-Pearl long diamond & squares position markers, aged bone nut, 2-style zipper backstrip, and still an East Indian rosewood veneer on the front of the headstock. Apparently, no TaylorWare hardshell case is available in the proper size because a TKL case is provided. The webpage on the Collings site can be found here: https://collingsguitars.com/acoustics/ds2-a-hill-country/.