Founded in the late 1970s by the late Bill Collings in Texas, Collings Guitars is the flagship of American manufacturing. While the brand now uses modern manufacturing processes, it makes no compromises: every element is carefully selected and every detail is given special attention, so much so that the quality of the models produced systematically exceeds that of the most renowned Custom Shops.

Ever since we discovered Collings, we have been impressed with the guitars that come out of their workshop. The quality of the tonewoods, the precision of the craftsmanship, and their tone never cease to impress us. A great philosopher once defined admiration as a never-ending amazement. That describes the effect these guitars have on the musicians who pick them up: you expect something really great, and you discover an absolutely fantastic instrument.

The specs are at the top of what you would expect from a professional folk guitar meant to be a true state-of-the-art reference: the aged solid Adirondack top is beautiful, the warmth that will come from the Indian rosewood back and sides is almost visible, and the Honduran mahogany neck, with a comfortable profile (D on top, soft V on the bottom for easy playing in all positions), is topped by a classy ebony fingerboard with a balanced radius. The ebony bridge will promote excellent transmission of vibrations, and its strength will help keep the tuning perfectly thanks to the Waverly tuning machines, which are one of the best designs of these elements that are so influential on the reliability of a guitar. The bone saddles will let the strings slide well and contribute to the perfect intonation of this guitar.

It is beautiful, reliable, and well built, yet it still surprised us when we played it. In our opinion, it's one of the loudest sounding folk guitars we've had, a quality we believe comes from its aged Adirondack top and Adirondack bracing (and maybe a little voodoo too). And like all Collings, its case is more of a work of art than just a case.

As the basic sound of a Collings D2H AT is supposed to reproduce the acoustic qualities of the original Martin D-28, with a more comfortable playing experience and modern appointements for easier set-up and better durability, we have of course a guitar with a warm tone and a lot of harmonics. The freedom with which the top seems to vibrate amplifies this base and thus projects a simply beautiful tone throughout the room, but without any loss of focus: clarity and articulation are indubitably there, and we had the pleasure of hearing a really well centered sound. Country, blues, pop, folk, rock... Everything sounds good. The only regret it causes is that of having to put it down.

2-year warranty from our workshop.