1996 Collings 0002H Flattop Guitar

The 12-fret Collings 000 models have been very popular with guitarists up in my neck of the woods. I know of 2 that live right in our tiny town of ~1000 and then several more that've come in for local repairs and adjustments in the area. This one has been owned by its current owner since the early 2000s and kept in good order. While it has some minor usewear in evidence, it's held-up beautifully for a 23-year-old guitar that's been a regular player its whole life.

For those of you not familiar with these instruments, they're a bit of a hybrid, really. I associate 12 fret Martin-style guitars with a shorter scale length and a more introspective, fingerpicking-friendly tone. Collings 000s are not that, though they do fingerpick well. These are 25 1/2" long-scale instruments and handle more like an OM or dreadnought in the way they can be attacked. My favorite sound from them comes from an old-timey flatpicking or bluegrass flatpicking approach, as the 12-fret body adds tons of girth to that sound and the long scale lets the notes leap right off the top and out to the audience like a cannon.

Fingerpickers will appreciate a wider nut and '30s-feeling Martin-style neck profile, as both these features make it easier to get clean notes and work the guitar hard in first position.

Repairs included: a restring, cleaning, and minor setup work. This guitar didn't even need the frets leveled and dressed.

Setup notes: it plays perfectly with 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE action at the 12th fret. The neck is straight, the truss rod works, and it's strung with 54w-12 gauges.

Scale length: 25 1/2"

Nut width: 1 13/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 5/8"

String spacing at bridge: 2 5/16"

Body length: 20"

Lower bout width: 15"

Waist width: 9 1/8"

Upper bout width: 10 3/4"

Side depth at endpin: 4 1/8"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: solid Indian rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Bracing type: x-braced

Fretboard: ebony, bone nut

Bridge: ebony, bone saddle

Neck feel: medium C-shape, ~16" radius

Condition notes: overall it's in great shape, but it does have a cluster of three very short hairline cracks around the bridge (2 "behind" towards the lower bout and one "fore" towards the pickguard) that are a non-issue as they're all covered by bracing or the bridge plate. The bridge was reglued at some point in the past, too. The finish shows some hairline weather-checking on the top-upper-bout and a mild amount of light usewear throughout, but overall looks really good. There are some small dings and nicks, however, and I've shot photos of the ones I caught, where necessary. The frets show only the tiniest, tiniest wear to them and are good to go. I believe the guitar is all-original, too.

It comes with: a well-padded, high-quality "flight" case.