Collings City Limits (CL)

Same as City Limits Deluxe except without the neck binding, ivoroid knobs and pu ring, and instead of the Brazilian rosewood fretboard it comes with East Indian rosewood, which still looks beautiful. Everything else on this guitar is the same as the deluxe. I'm giving it an 8 because even though it is a stunning guitar it is still basically a LP.

When I first brought this guitar home I was disapointed. I thought it sounded a bit too mellow and dead. Afer about a month it start to sound great! Maybe the wood cured or it loosened up, now I can't get enough of it.

The bridge pu has a nice woody sound with good definition and just the right amount of bite without sounding harsh. The neck pu is also very nice, warm, fat and a surprising amount of definition. It never realy gets muddy, only warm. The guitar comes with Jason Lollar pu's, the Imperials I think. The Lollars are a very nice complement to this guitar have just as much to do with the sound as the wood does.

This guitar is obviously built by skilled hands with golden ears. Even before you plug it in you can hear the difference. Most LP sound dead to me when they are not plugged in. The Collings, on the other hand, is vibrant and sustains forever when not plugged in. You'll be surprised how much you can feel the guitar resonating in your hands. This Collings sounds great distorted but it sounds absolutly gorgeous clean to slightly overdriven. Clean this guitar easily sound better than 99% of the LP's out there. It's almost 3D sounding straight into the amp, no effects.

With the guitar resonating in your hands and the sweet tone it really gives you great positive feedback (as in vibe, not amp). It urges you to play better and makes you sound great.

By the way, I had the oportunity to compare this CL-standard to three CL-deluxe models. I also had the funds to buy the guitar of my choice. This standard sounded better than all of the 3 deluxes.

However, this guitar does not sound exactaly like a super sweet LP, (some may argue it sounds better) so you have to play one and judge for yourself. A perfect 59 LP will blow this guitar out of the water but then again this guitar does not cost $100,000 either.

Collings. Need I say more? Colling guitars are flawless. Collings quality control is the best in the business. I could not find a single flaw and it plays wonderful. Nice action right off the showroom floor.

The guitar is finished the old fashion way, with thin nitro. This of course lends itself to great sound but you have to be careful because it dings pretty easy.

Colling customer support is excelent. The respond promptly to emails. Also, once I called the factoy just after I bought it to discuss the "dead" tone that I mentioned above. Little did I know that they were shut down for a week. Even they were closed the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) was in the office doing his accounting stuff. He answered the phone and talked about my problem at length. He was also a guitar player and he told me that most of the employees are musicians as well.

I've been playing guitar for 25 years. I've played mostly Strats my whole life but always wanted a LP. When I was finally ready to afford an "extra" guitar I sought out LP's but was disenchanted by all the poor quality stories surrounding Gibsons. I found the Collings, and am thrilled with it. Looking back I know that I made the right decision. As a matter of fact I am so happy with the Collings that am considering buying a 290 with the Lollar P90 puckups. My favorite strat, which sound great too, now sits in my closet. I play the Collings exclusivly, at home and in the band.