Product: Collings Clarence White
Price Paid: US $4280
Submitted
02/27/2004
at
12:02pm
by
Owen Smith
Features
:
9
My Collings Winfield(Clarence White)is a 2004 model. It is Indian rosewood(love the smell) neck and sides and adarondak spruce top. Waverly tuners(never goes out of tune!). The guitar looks great but is not fancy. When I originally was looking for a guitar, I was looking for somthing fancy, but this guitar is pretty much the opposite. The reason I rated the feature 9 was because there is no fingerboard inlay. While I would love some sort of fancy inlay, the simplicity is growing on me and it doesn't necissarily hurt any other part of the guitar.
Sound
:
10
I love the sound of this guitar. I have played for about five years and am by no means an expert player but this guitar makes me sound pretty good. With out playing my old guitar(20 year old yamaha) beside the CW, it was hard to realize just how much better the CW sounds. When I had my freind play the yamaha and I played my CW, the CW blew the yamaha away. The CW has a great full and clear sound. The bass is not overpowering but mixes nicely with mid and highs. The guitar resonates very well and individual notes that sounded faint and weak on the yamaha, sound full and ring longer(great sustain). I really like the sound of this guitar. I have only had it for about a month but undoubtedly the sound will continue to get better. I mostly strum with some picking as well and the guiar is great for my style. I'm sure you could play any style on this guitar.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
Every thing on this guitar is made to perfection. the action is just right and the finish shines.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
The guitar feels very solid. Even so, I am extremely careful and do everything possible to reduce the risk of damage. I use a humidifier and wipe down my gutiar often.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I haven't dealt with Collings, but steve at acoustic music roots( in pittsburg) was great to work with. I bought this guitar on presidents day when his store was actual closed. My dad called this store and steve agreed to meet with me to look at guitars. After about three hours we finaly decided on the CW over the D2A(a $1000 difference)
Overall Rating
:
10
Overal this is a great guitar. Now that I bought it I won't be getting a car till after college( i'm sixteen). I don't feel bad about that though because I will be able to keep this guitar for years and the sound will improve even more(it already is amazing). Also this guitar will keep its value well. Before I bought this I was leaning towards getting a Taylor guitar. I really liked taylors sound and look. This is better in the sound department. My brother bought a Taylor(314) and it a great guitar but I enjoy my Collings better. If it were stolen my my insurance would pay for it(I got insurance for it!). If I didn't have insurance I wouldn't be able to afford a new one but I would want it. I recommend this to anyone who can afford it . Great guitar.
Product: Collings Clarence White
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted
06/12/2001
at
08:51am
by
Anonymous
Features
:
9
Guitar was made in 1993 and is constructed along the lines of Tony Rice's late 1930's Martin Herringbone D-28 dreadnaught. It has Adirondack spruce top, A grade Brazilian back and sides, Waverly butterbean tuners, large soundhole, herringbone binding.
Sound
:
10
I have played many guitars over the years and I can honestly say that this guitar sounds better than any dreadnaught I have played, including the prewar vintage Martins.It has tremendous volume with fantastic string separation. Each note rings clearly and it combines great bass response with a bell like treble. While its great for flatpicking and chord work, fingerstyle music sounds great on it as well.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
8
The construction is typical Collings (top notch). The only adjustment that I have made to the guitar is a saddle adjustment to lower the action a bit.
Reliability/Durability
:
9
It's definitely a performance instrument, the hardware is top quality and the guitar will someday be a vintage instrument. The finish on the guitar is quite thin (intentionally) to produce the best sound so it is important to wipe it down after use and give it an occassional cleaning.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
10
I have been playing for 25 years and own a Collings OM-3. I would definitely buy this instrument again. Before purchasing I tried many Martins, including vintage instruments, a Santa Cruz Tony Rice Model, Goodalls, Lowdens and several other makes and models and the Collings was simply the best.
