1999 Collings 0001 12-Fret Flattop Guitar

This handsome guitar is owned by a local customer and it was just in for a restring and setup. In the end it got a new saddle and setup, though, by way of it needing just a little more action height. The owner plays it with 56w-13 mediums and it's simply an up-front, big-sounding, clear-toned honey. 

While you'd expect me to like it best as a fingerpicker (being a 000 12-fret), I think it's actually much more suited to being an aggressive flatpicker as it has a long, 25 1/2" scale length that gives it sort of an "OM" punch to the notes. I really like the idea of this as an old-time or old-country back-up guitar.

Aside from having 19 years of play into it, it's a pretty bog-standard Collings 0001 per its specs. It's also held-up beautifully over time and, despite the owner's overindulgent play-time into it, it only really needed the most minor of adjustments when it came in.

This has a 1 13/16" nut width and a medium soft C/V hybrid neck shape. Basically -- it's fairly "30s Martin-y" in feel.

Just like the rest of the Collings line -- the overwhelming feeling and presence of the guitar is understated confidence.

Did you catch it?

Instead of completely being a Martin-mimic via the tortoise, multi-ply binding... the extra stripes of plys on the inside of the tortoise are wood layers -- maple and ebonized something-or-other.