Collings CJ

Made in Texas, all solid woods, no pick up (yet). Indian Rosewood back and sides, Mahogany neck. Not too elaborate, but I like the understated look. The main feature of this instrument is the impeccable attention to detail! I can't stress enough how well this guitar is made.

In a word...WOW! What a cannon. This guitar is loud and still maintains an unbelievably even tonal quality from bass through treble. No range is overly emphasized. You can flatpick it or use it for fingerpicking and still manage to get dynamics.

Ironically, I just tried out a Gibson re-issue of the Advanced Jumbo (the guitar that the CJ is based on) and it was nowhere near the guitar that this Collings is. I bought this guitar for the sound. It's that simple.

Collings has a well deserved reputation for their attention to detail and it certainly shows in this instrument! The guitar is beautiful and there are no finish flaws that I've been able to find.

It's still fairly new but it appears to be built as well as any acoustic that I've ever played. With the proper care it should last longer than I will.

I registered my guitar on the Collings website and it was pretty easy to do. Other than that I haven't had a need to contact them.

I've been playing for 20 years and recently I've been playing quite a bit around town. As soon as I decide which pickup to have put in, I'll be playing this one. I can't wait!

I sold 3 other guitars to get this one and I don't have any regrets about doing that at all! This is the finest acoustic that I've ever owned and I've had Martins, Taylors, and Gibsons.

Mine is a 2004 Collings CJ SB guitar, which is largely patterned after the old Gibson Advanced Jumbos...it has a sunburst spruce top, rosewood back and sides...please see previous reviews for further construction details. It is certainly a very expensive guitar, but there are no excess showy features...all kinds of abalone inlays and the like. You are paying for a truly top-shelf guitar. It's a very restrained and classic looking instrument.

This guitar would suit any type of playing. Sounds great with a flat-pick, with fingerpicks, or bare fingers. It would be great for Bluegrass because its such a powerhouse...especially in the bass. But, that said, it's also very well-balanced with a real delicacy to the highs. I play mostly vintage blues and fingerpicking ragtime music, and it's wonderful for this. It sounds great played softly, so you really have a lot of dynamics at your fingertips. It has a very open and "alive" sound. I have not recorded with it yet, but I know it will record like a dream (I'm a former recording engineer).

This guitar is flawless...glue joints are all clean, the binding impeccable. The frets could not be dressed any better. The shading of the sunburst finish is the nicest I have ever seen. At this price, I expect all this, and I certainly got it.

This is as good as any guitar I've played...I'm sure it will hold up just fine.

I talked to them on the phone after I couldn't successfully register the guitar on their website (there was a bug)...they were very nice, but I can't say more than that.

Ironically, I only was in Appalachian Bluegrass to get my Baby Taylor's broken neck replaced...I wasn't even guitar shopping! I very happily owned a 1989 Taylor 910 for over 10 years. Up until that day, I had never played a guitar that I liked better.

I started talking to Emory, the shop owner about current guitars and he said that the Collings were about the best, and he ask if I wanted to play one. Why not? I tried a regular Martin D-shaped dreadnaught and was very impressed with it, but then I tried the CJ and it was like a whole new world...rich and complex, and most of all ...LOUD! A real cannon! Not to mention, it had a beautiful sunburst and really classic good looks.

Up until then, I had always been happy with my Taylor's balanced, clear sound, but it was a very "clean", chiming sound - very beautiful, but not very bluesy. Needless to say, I was suddenly a bit scared that I was suddenly smitten by a $3800. guitar!!!

I brought my Taylor into the shop the very next day and A/B'd it against the Collings. There was little comparison in my mind. As wonderful and familiar to my ear my Taylor was, the Collings just had 'more'. It has this real "woodiness" to its sound, especially in the bass...it had MUCH more personality to its sound than my Taylor, which is especially surprising, as I was comparing a brand new guitar to a 15 year old one (I bought the Taylor used). I wish I could jump ahead 20 years and hear what the Collings will sound like, because if it sounds this good now....

That said, I did prefer the Taylor better only when capo'd up quite high...that's when its 'chiming' quality really shines...only then was it was the winner between the two.

Long story short, I bought it (and had to sell the Taylor to pay for it!). What can I say? It's a whole lot cheaper than falling in love with some sports car...

If it was lost/damaged/stolen, I would beg/borrow/steal to replace it. I highly doubt I will ever find a guitar I like better than this one (but I said that about my Taylor, too...).

I also HIGHLY recommend Appalachian Bluegrass for anyone in the Baltimore/DC area...Emory is the nicest guy you could meet. There was no pressure or salesmanship, I was given all the time in the back room I wanted to play...the sale was a very nice experience.

This CJ has a Sunburst Finish and a 1 3/4 " nut width option. This is a perfect guitar for both strumming and fingerpicking. It is loud.

This guitar sounds like an orchestra.

The build is flawless.

This guitar was modeled on the 30's Gibson Advanced Jumbo. It's a real workhouse, although it looks rather elegant.

I purchased this guitar used and called Collings immediately upon receiving it since there was no documentation. I gave the man the serial number and after looking it up in his system told me it had left the factory a mere 7 months earlier. Very friendly and helpful. I also called them seeking a recommendation fro a local guitar tech and again they were very helpful.

I've been playing for several years, at first sporadically and then more recently pretty much every day. I also own a Taylor 312 ce which is a Concert size Dreadnought without electronics - an anomoly. The Taylor is a terrific little guitar until you pick up a Collings.
I would buy another in a second. I might choose the standard 1 11/16 nut width though. The only thing I dislike is aesthetic - the split headstock doesn't do the guitar justice. A matter of personal taste. As for comparisons, I played anything and everything I could get my hands on and nothing - I mean nothing - comes even close to the beautiful sound of this guitar. The only other acoustic guitar I wouldn't mind having is a Collings OM model.

made in 2003
CJ Sunburst with binding
I installed a non-active LR Baggs pickup with no cutaway controls
Spruce top with rosewood sides
waverly nickle tunners
Came with case

Came with everytthing I expected and paid for.....?

Sounds very clear and very good. I expecially love to have Taylor fans play it because they are usually so snobby about their guitars. It is a deeper balanced sound because of the large body, but the low-mids sound a little muffled.

Fit and finish is one of the best aspects of Collings. This particular guitar has a few minor blemishes. It looks like a tiny bit of glue when the neck meets the body. I've never found a manufacturer though that makes them better than collings.

Very durable and solid. This guitar weighs a ton. I play it live all the time.

I don't know.,

Great

As taken from the Collings website: "East Indian rosewood back and sides, select spruce top, prewar scalloped bracing, grained ivoroid binding, black/white strip purfling, black/white wood and nitrate strip rosette, tortoise style pickguard, Gloss-finished mahogany neck with double-bound Collings offset peghead, ebony bridge, mother-of-pearl Collings logo and nickel Waverly tuners."

The Collings Jumbo is based on the Gibson Advanced Jumbo "slope-shouldered dreadnought". This particular guitar has a German Spruce top ($300 upgrade) which was selected for having almost as much stiffness as Red (Adirondack) Spruce, but with the fine-grained appearance of Engleman Spruce.

I never thought I'd like a slope-shouldered guitar as much until I played this guitar. The slightly smaller upper bout (as compared to a square-shouldered dreadnought) made it more comfortable to hold in my lap, which I like to do when playing fingerstyle.

Though I paid for no fancy inlays, I appreciate the understated, classic elegance of this guitar's construction. Even without MOP or Abalone it exudes the air of a finely-crafted instrument. The Waverly tuners, though simple, unadorned nickel, are the best tuners I have tried. Everything about the guitar speaks of quality.

My only concern (at first) was the case. The Collings/TKL case is not custom-fitted for this instrument. There is a slight amount of play in the upper bout area, which allows the guitar to move side-to-side, about 1/2-inch each way. I discussed this with the Collings sales staff, who explained that unfortunately there is no other case for this guitar. It's not a huge concern, since the case is more than adequate for carrying in the car. If I intended to fly frequently with it, I would no doubt buy a flight case (like a Mark Leaf.)

The sound is rich and clear across all strings and up the entire fretboard. I can find no deadspots. It has great sustain AND note separation, which gives it the versatility I like for either flatpicking of fingerpicking styles. When I picked it up and strummed it, I felt like I had taken the cotton out of my ears and heard a REAL guitar for the first time in my life.

I've owned the guitar since last July, and it sounds like the top is starting to open up a bit more. I love to think about how it will sound in 20 years (if I don't have arthritis by then!) It may be a hackneyed expression, but it feels and sounds a lot like "playing a Steinway" every time I pick it up.

This guitar is factory set-up, but feels like it was custom-tweaked for me. Even though the saddle is relatively high, the action on the neck is as low or lower than any Taylor I've picked up. The sharp angle of the strings across the higher saddle is no doubt partly responsible for the great tone, and I see no need to change it since the neck is set properly to provide great action without any buzzing.

The frets are smooth and well-dressed. Too often I've run my fingers up the sides of a Martin or Gibson neck and felt like razors were cutting my fingers from the poorly-dressed frets.

The entire guitar is finished in nitrocellulose lacquer, though it is done so well, it looks almost as glass-like as my PRS's polyurethane coating. I can find no flaws in the binding or joints inside or out. Bob Collings has a reputation for perfection, and this example bears it out well.

I've only been brave enough to take this out for performance on one occassion so far. It's not because the guitar is fragile, it's just acknowledgement of my own clumsiness - I'm scared! The guitar will no doubt last longer than I will, if cared for properly. I keep it in it's case in a humidity-controlled environment when not in use, and intend to pass it on when I do.

As stated previously, I contacted the sales people at Collings regarding the case issue. It has been my only contact with them, and they were certainly friendly and responsive, though I'd hoped they would be able to provide a custom-fitted case. Maybe I'm too picky, but for this kind of money....

I experienced some serious "sticker shock" when I first started looking at new, high-end guitars, but after a month of ownership, I told Steve at Acoustic Axis (great guy!) that I was suffering from a bit of "buyers remorse" - I was sorry that I hadn't bought the guitar earlier!

I had compared this with various Martins, Taylors and Gibsons at other stores, and with Lowdens, Webbers and Goodalls at the store where I bought this. Though this is not an inexpensive guitar, I haven't found any more-expensive guitar that played or sounded better to my ears, and no Martin/Taylor/Gibson even came close.

I have not yet tried the likes of a custom Olson, Ryan or Manzer guitar, but I would be surprised if any of them played noticeably better. Maybe someday when I have $10-15K burning a hole in my pocket I'll find out, but for now this is more guitar than I ever dreamed of owning.

If stolen (I would NEVER lose it,) I would first offer a reward to catch the sorry S.O.B. who took it, then after crying the blues for awhile, I'd scrape up the funds to buy another one.

Either that, or I'll get a Collings 000-2H first.... ("Doh!")

This particular Collings CJ was made for the NAMM 2000 show, manufactured in January 2000. Sitka spruce top w/ sunburst finish, East Indian rosewood back/sides, mahogany neck, ebony fretboard/ bridge, nickel Waverly open back tuners, binding/purfling around front & back of body, neck, and headstock, inlay down the middle of the back, 1-11/16" nut, scalloped bracing, body style modeled after '30's Gibson Advanced Jumbo design, also known as 'slope shouldered dreadnought'. With 'Collings' (TKL) case.

Out of the myriad high-end acoustics I've played, I find that Collings sound consistently among the best, if not the best, and this model was no exception. If you haven't already heard a Collings in general, you can check some of the other reviews out to get an idea of their overall strengths, which are balance and clarity, and projection relative to other makes of the same size, but for those of you who know of Collings but are unable to check out this particular model, I'll try to put forth some specific comments. The sound is big, but of a slightly different character of course than their dreadnoughts (D-2H and D-1A), not as big nor as bassy, which, for me, gave them a slight edge in versatility over the Collings dread's (although they're terrific in their own way.) So you can dig in, but lighter fingerstyle seems to be just a shade more responsive than the D2-H. It's just a different balance. This guitar records very well, is excellent for strumming and flatpicking, as expected, and is surprisingly very balanced for fingerstyle / jazz chord-melody. I bought the guitar almost exclusively for recording work, and it's versatile enough to do most things on its own, and has even earned 10% of its cost within the first week of owning it. Of course if you were doing nothing but fingerstyle, it'd be wise to check out smaller guitars, and if you're doing nothing but bluegrass, you might first look at the D1-A / D2-H, but otherwise, this guitar is the best sounding of it's type I've heard.

As purchased, (used) the action was very low, about as low as my Gibson ES-165, and the CJ handles this low action better than the Gibson, in regards to resistance to fret buzzing. I'm quite observant of this, needing to record with this instrument-you have to really bang on it to make it buzz. This is quite amazing to me, considering most of the acoustics I'd tried, at any price range, had higher action and buzzed more. But for this guitar, it could be due to a very good setup 'post' Collings which I'm unaware of, since I'm not the original owner. All of the visible workmanship on the guitar, both structurally and aesthetically, is as good as I've ever seen.

Like all solid wood acoustics should, this guitar lives in the case when not in use- but at least the spruce top has a better chance at resisting dings than say, a cedar top, I suppose.

I called Collings after not being able to find the serial number- turns out it was hiding underneath the battery for the pickup. A guy at Collings was prompt to call me back, was friendly and even remembered this particular guitar and the original buyer, probably since it was made for the NAMM show. I've seen many Usenet posts regarding Collings, and I haven't seen any negative posts so far. Since I've no direct experience with a real problem yet, though, I'll leave this category unrated.

If it were stolen, I'd probably replace it with the same model. My original interest in buying an acoustic was for purely practical reasons; I started getting more acoustic recording work, and the guitars I had borrowed for these sessions in one way or another made the session harder than it had to be. So in my search, I started with Larrivees, which I think are a good value by the way, and then Taylors, and some new Martin's, (a couple of their most expensive guitars of which sounded good but didn't play well for me), but I was looking for something that sounded a bit more like a good old Martin, without the "collector's" price tag and playability and intonation issues involved with older instruments. I then tried about every high end 'small maker' I could, and was most happy with Collings, Santa Cruz, and Kinscherff, with the Collings just giving me a little more of the separation and balance that I felt would work well for recording, and engineers so far have agreed. Collings are expensive, and like a lot of you probably, if I had found something very close for a less money, I would've grabbed it, but as it was, this ended up being the most practical guitar for me.

My guitar is a 1998 Collings CJ made in Texas by the very well-respected Bill Collings, about whom I have read many very positive reviews. This guitar is sometimes referred to as a "Gibson-style dreadnought" or a "slope-shouldered dreadnought" like, I believe, a '30s Gibson J-45. The top is nicely grained Sitka spruce with East Indian Rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck, scalloped bracing and understated but elegant various bindings/purflings on the body, neck and headstock. Tuners are nickel open-backed Waverlys. Scale length is 25 1/2" and nut width is 1 11/16". As far as the case goes, it appears to be very sturdy and well-made and the dark green velvet fits the guitar like a glove.

I play both fingerstyle and with a pick based mostly on jazz and blues. This guitar is solely acoustic -- no pick-up for the time being. The sound is great -- very balanced throughout the tonal range and very sensitive to the subtle nuances that are sometimes difficult to produce on a lesser instrument (ie: harmonics/overtones, difference in response to nails/flesh, etc.) In my opinion, it is equally suited for fingers or pick. If you do both and you're not exclusively a fingerstyle or a flatpicker, this guitar fits the bill. For flatpicking it sounds as good as a dreadnought and for fingers it's as balanced and rich as any smaller bodied guitar. During my 25 years of guitar-playing, I've played and heard many acoustic guitars and this guitar stands with the best of them. Before buying this one, I agonized (in a pleasurable way) over what style/make/model to spend so much money on and over a period of about a year I tried Lowden, Santa Cruz, Goodall, Taylor, Martin and several others in pretty much every style available. The CJ won the contest for versatility of sound and I think this is its real strong point. If you can afford to buy different high-quality guitars for different styles maybe that's a better way to go, but if you're looking for serious versatility, you should try this guitar.

I bought the guitar used and I don't know its set-up history. It was about one year old when I bought it and in perfect condition except for a little ding of no significance in the top. The action was and still is perfect for my purposes. Not extremely low, but low enough for ease of playing without sacrificing tone and absolutely no buzzing. The guitar apparently is flawless -- it really is constructed beautifully right down to the smallest detail.

I've only had this guitar for a month, so its difficult to judge its reliability/durability. However, judging from the workmanship and quality of this guitar, I have little doubt that my rating in many years hence would be a 10 in this category.

I have not had to deal with the company yet.

I've been playing for 25 years. As far as acoustic guitars, I also have two Ovations -- a Legend and a super-shallow body 1988 Collector's Edition. Now that I have the Collings, I only regret that I didn't buy one sooner -- I'm afraid the Ovations will be resting for a while . . . If it was stolen, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. I love it because it rings like a bell and sounds so good it inspires me to play as well as I am able. As I've already stated, I compared it to many other guitars and to my ears it sounded better than anything comparable.