Collings OM-1A

the woods are perfect. the fit is perfect. the playability is perfect. the style is stone simple, but it's meant to be that way. If you want bling, play a Taylor. If you want perfection, play a Collings

I've played since 1965, and have owned upwwards of 50 guitars. Having discovered Collings thirteen years ago, and gone through a dozen or so of their amazing instruments, I now play an Om1A as my main guitar. It has no weaknesses that I can discern. It's my desert island guitar: volume, dynamic range, ease of playability, sustain, balance, and beauty. Confession: I have two OM1A's. One is an OM1A short scale cutaway that I gig with. Amazing. On the next leve up from amazing, and the highest level I've yet found, is an OM1A with a varnish finish. It sounds ridiculous, in a way, but what blows me away are the notes: the individual shining sounds that makes your fingers and your pick evoke achingly pure and phenomenal notes. My grandchildren will be very glad I was lucky enough to obtain this guitar.

The finish looked like a closet classic when it was new, last December. The action, fit, and attention to detail are what you come to expect from the Austin boys: as close to perfect as human hands can make.

I play my Collings guitars every day. they respond every time, without fail. If there's a better guitar maker, I'd love to find one, but I highly doubt it. I gig with a Collings several times a month, and have for years, and never even think of a backup.

I have no doubt they'd make a mistake right, if they made one. Of course they do, but not on the guitars I"ve owned.

In my opinion, there has never been a more consistently excellent American guitar shop than Bill Collings. They exemplify the inventiveness, honesty, individuality, and tenacious persistence that the best craftsmen have shown over the past 225 years. Amazing.

Bare bones. The 12th fret sngle dot can be confusing for a novice, but it smply takes some getting used to. Other than that, the features suit what this is-- a simple and accurate rendition of a classic guitar. If you want abalone or MOP get an OM-3, I guess. That basic look is exactly what I wanted- no frills, dot markers, etc. Looks and feels great. So it really rates a 1--"what features?", but so that the stats on such a great guitar are not afected I wll rate a 10-"tons of features".

Compared it for hours to other finger style instruments: Huss & Dalton (great product, mucho $$$), Martin, Goodall, Breedlove (great bang for the buck there, especially in their Revival D-18 lookalike). I was especially taken by a Martin 000-28VS. But this is an Adirondack-topped Collings. Also compared wth a OM-2H in similar price range. The Ad was more open, tighter, more responsive. Adirondack is worth it. Go hear for yourself.

No issues. 1998 model, has been used but well cared for. It's got character marks.

It's already been gigged and looks great.

Don't know, bit they seem accessible.

Been playing forever. I did research before purchasing this. I actually went in to get the OM 2H and this was sitting there. I would seek to replace this if absconded with. Adirondack is better as they say it is. Go hear for yourself. You'll see. Same was true for the Ad D2Hs.

Features? uh great sound how's that for a feature.
Okay I like the Waverly's, and I prefer the minimalist approach.
It fit's the guitar very well. I happen to love the A top, the difference is huge. I would like to try an Engelmann top.

Sound is very very balanced. This guitar rewards expressiveness.
Neutral without coloration. Works well for many styles of playing.
Loves to be played hard or soft. Goes where you aim it.

Pretty much flawless out of the box.

It'll be around longer then me.

? Dunno...

I've been playing for 20 years. It is a very focused intrument, that can exceed it's design. I think Collings has built a guitar that does everything he set out to do with it.
I have found Collings necks would suit me better with more radius.
I would also like to play a Collings OM with more body depth and see if there is some improvement there also.
Because the neck does not suit me well, I would have to give it a 8, it's quite hard to play for me comparatively.
Take away my personal preferences, and I would have to give it a 10. Damn near perfection.

Well mine is not a OM-1A, it's an OM-1, but since there is no category for the OM-1 you get my review in this category. I might as well start off by saying I PREFER the Sitka spruce top to the Adirondack spruce top, so I don't care what mythological properties others attribute to Adirondack spruce. I think and hear for myself and was more than happy to save the premium price.

The guitar is plain vanilla which is also fine by me because a) I don't want to pay for fru-fru when I could apply that money to mics and mic preams and b)in my experience the times I've walked out of gigs with babes in tow were because I played, sang, and communicated particularly well, not because they were dazzled by the herringbone inlay on my guitar's binding.

I should mention that maybe Collings went a little too far into minimalism with the dearth of dot markers and miniscule inlays. I understand these are "historically correct" but sometimes it's no fun to guess where you are on the neck if god forbid you had an alcoholic beverage or fired up a doob.

Once curious thing about my year-old Collings is that the Mahogany still has an exceptionally sweet smell like it was just lathed an hour ago. If I could give points for aroma, this one gets a 10!

I don't recall anyone else mentioning the case but it's pretty supreme. Tight fitting emerald lined protection that is the best case I have seen.

Extremely well balanced with loads of projection is how I'd describe the sound of this instrument. If you want a lot of bass, you want my '65 Gibson Southern Jumbo which is great for writing and goofing around but doesn't record very well. What you have here is real smooth transitions from string to string, a valuable trait in the recording studio.

The Collings reminds me somewhat of my Taylor 612C which was a real workhorse in the studio as it was also small but projected exceedingly well. Only the Collings has that hand-crafted, limited edition vibe that the Taylor lacked. I was actually shopping for another Taylor but started feeling there were just too many of them.

I bought the guitar primarily for all-purpose studio use as a "can't miss" instrument in case people come over with bizarro guitars that are hard to mic and EQ.

I'm stopping one number short of "10" in my rating because in the sitting-on-your-porch mode I wish it had more bass; however this is a non-factor in the studio if it's blended with other instruments, particularly, of course, basses.

Quite exemplary. A couple of buzzes here and there but really quite minor and I'm sure a top tech could eliminate these in a few minutes (mine was a year old when I bought it so there was probably some normal settling).

This is my favorite fingerpicking guitar ever as you barely have to hit the strings yet you're rewarded with lots of projection. I can't tell you the physics behind why it's so good for fingerpicking other than the tiny angles and placement and shape of the neck and frets just makes you think you're Mississippi John Hurt.

But that would not have been enough to make me buy it over the hundreds and hundred of other guitars it won out over all over Colorado's front range. The deciding factor was that not only did it reward fingerpicking, you could also rock out on it which is a feeling I've rarely, rarely ever got from Martins. That meant it could pretty much cover the whole gamut from most traditional to pop which engaged the "buy" switch in my brain.

Nothng new to add here. I agree it should easily outlive me.

I've been playing forever and have never been a Martin guy. I wanted a studio workhorse along the lines of a Martin D-18 and didn't want to audition hundreds of them till I found a magic one. Me buying what is basically a Martin tribute was not something I would have predicted.

I thought I had recorded everything I could do with the Taylor 612C and though it was great, I wanted that Gibson Beatley sound. I probably bought the wrong Gibson for that (the Southern Jumbo). I adore the Sourthern Jumbo and wanted to use it on my new CD but was bummed to find it didnt' record worth a s**t. It just doesn't project when you hear it through great mics and preamps. Well, the Collings does so that's why I own it.

Other deciding factors were that I didn't care a whit for Adirondack Spruce which saved me a minimum of $500, and I didn't care that it was used, in fact I preferred that it was used (I wish it was even older!) which saved me around another $800, or that it was completely devoid of inlay and fancy binding which I also wasn't in the mood to pay for when I'm outfitting an entire studio.

I'm very surprused that I own this guitar but am happy that I do.

I give this guitar a 5 in the features category because it is almost completely lacking in bells and whistles. Just a plain, simple straightforward guitar. Made very recently (it was somewhat of a fluke that it was in the store at all)in Texas. Specs? Hmmm, now there it does more than qualify for a 10. Adirondack (red) spruce top (absolutely stunning shimmery tight-grained matched pieces), the nicest, smoothest piece of ebony on the fretboard (25.5 scale), gorgeous mahogany back and sides and neck, really nice waverly tuners, nice medium sized frets, charming piece of rosewood headstock overlay, tortisoid binding and pickguard. Not much in the way of adornment but the investment is in the quality and choice of the wood used and that's what really counts doesn't it?

I'll give a little background before I describe the sound of this guitar. Over the years I've had a couple of Martins (D-28, M-36), a couple of Taylors (Dan Crary,K-10) a couple of Guilds (F65,D25) and several very low end junkers. Not satisfied with my current (before Collings purchase)Taylor I decided to look for another acoustic. I wanted something OM sized for tonal balance and fingerstyle playability. I tried to look at everything I could in the 2k-3.5k range. I tried: Taylor 714ce, 814ce; Martin OM-28, Om28v, EC 000-28; 2 Huss and Dalton OM's and a CJ(?) with rosewood sapele and mahogany back and sides respectively; several Colling OM2H's an SJ a c10 etc; a Greven, a Tippin, two Goodalls and a few others I don't remember. I was unable to try the Flammangs and Robertsons though I would have liked to . All were extremly nice guitars, but I needed to start eliminating the rejects, the Taylors were very good but a little too utilitarian and I have already had two and became disatisfied with them. The Martins were nice but compared to the others they seemed somewhat lifeless in responsivness and narrow and closed tonally. The Greven and Tippin were nice but not what I was looking for. What's that leave? Huss and Dalton, Goodall, Collings. The Huss and Dalton's were really great, awesome really, but the standard rosewood OM seemed boxy sounding. The CJ I played after I got the Collings, nice but no regrets. The sapele back and sides H&D OM was truly astounding, strong, tons of harmonic ring, great playing and very sweet but alas 1k over my price range. In the end it came down to the Goodall, Collings OM2h, SJ and OM1A. The OM1A easily beat out the OM2H(which I was all set to buy). I went back and forth between the final three for several hours. The Goodall (model? small jumbo cutaway with walnut back and sides) The OM1A won. Hands down but at this stage it's all really taste. They were all superbly constructed, superb playing and out of this world sounding. I never liked mahogany before but this guitar blows me away. It just felt better and had warmer woody tone than the Collings SJ. I loved the Goodall, I mean it sounded so great it was scary but the OM1A had a stronger, purer sound. Yeah, it doesn't convey all the ringing swirling angel-wing harmonics like the Goodall but it was, and this is where things are so purely subjective, more honest I guess. And this is what I really was looking for...strong wonderful solid fundamental notes with enough harmonic zing to be seductive. After 25 years of looking I found my acoustic. Perfect.

Action fit and finish? Well suffice to say Collings does not kid. Everything is perfect. Not one single flaw anywhere, I mean not even the tiniest niggle whatsoever. The quality of materials is excellent. And some diety must have assembled them. Action perfect, nut perfect etc. I gotta put in another plug for this adirondack top...I am still astounded by all the grain and shimmer

Built like a brick s.... well anyway real solid, I'm not a banger or pounder so it probably is over engineered for me. It should last longer than me. My kids better appreciate the excellent guitar that ol' da left them. I would assume from the quality construction that this baby could handle anything I might do to it.

Admittedly I not had it long enough to deal with the Collings company but from their reputation I doubt I'll have any problems. I do want to touch base with them to say hey! This is me me! I just got one of your great guitars so on the off chance I have any problems you know who I am.

I've been playing since dirt was rock and have owned or tried just about everything in the way of guitars and amps. If this were stolen, god have mercy on the thief and I would get another asap. I am stunned by the killer sound of this plain-appearing little guitar with the giant voice. This guitar is like the shy beauty in glasses and frowzy clothes at the dance. If you take the time to get to know her she soon overshadows the glamorous and glitzy dames that first grab your attention. That's the reason I like these Collings guitars. They're subtley seductive. While all the others dazzle you with a ton of flashy harmonic overtone the Collings just lure you in slowly and then your'e hooked

According to the sticker inside, my OM1A was completed in October of 2000. I sold my 1958 Martin D-28 to raise the money. To some, that would figure to be a bad trade, but I actually get more out of the OM1A with light guage strings than I did with mediums on the D-28. Two features stand out on this guitar: One, attention to tasteful detail in its construction and clarity of notes in the actual playing.

I finger pick with my own natural fingernails. And I use a bottleneck with alternate tunings a lot. The OM1A isn't the greatest for slide because of the light strings on it. I've tried medium but with the Adirondack top, it feels a bit stiff. Lights feel and sound more open. A double-cut bottleneck helps reduce the fret banging. Balance is the key word in describing the sound. Every note has an equal presence. Crisp is another accurate descriptor. For my tastes, I believe all new guitars are a bit overbraced, but that's understandable since a company has to build to the styles of everyone. This OM1A is alive, but I wonder if it could go further in that regard.

I probably paid an $800 premium for this particular Adirondack top. It has no red streaks. And like all Collings guitars I've seen, this OM1A is beautifully crafted.

Two days after purchase, I was in the studio with it. It sounded great right out of the box and has opened-up in the year and a half I've played it. I don't like bringing multiple guitars to gigs, so when I do play out, I only bring the OM1A . It sounds great miked through a p.a. Occasionally, I'll use an old, 6-post DeArmond pickup, which sounds cool but that thing sounds cool on any guitar.

I've sent it back on a couple of occasions for adjustments. This company is small and their guitars are in demand so they're very busy. But I've found that they also like to keep their customers happy. They're great people and they do great work.

I've been playing for over 20 years. My OM1A is now my bread and butter. I also use a 1934 Gibson L-00 and a 1935 National Duolian for slide work. And I play a 1956 Martin 00-28G when I want the nylon string sound. If my OM1A came up missing, I would replace it but I might try one with a Sitka top and a 1-11/16 neck instead of the 1-3/4 that's on mine. Adirondack is stiffer than Sitka and I really like a loose, open sound. I bought mine because it was the only OM1 that I could find in the entire US at the time. My desire to have one was precipitated by playing one in McCabes in Santa Monica a few years back. Right off the wall, I remember that guitar just killing me. At the time though, I had two Dreadnaught Martins, so I didn't pull the trigger. To this day I regret that because in my mind, that first OM1 was my true love. Value is a subjective thing. I think it's steep to pay $3500 for a mahogany guitar. And you can certainly play great on something a lot cheaper. But this is life and I believe playing a quality guitar makes life richer.

I've been playing for 11 years now and I agree completely with the reviewer below. I think his review is excellent.

I've had a couple of big dollar guitars and they all went back. When I went to return my last one I was convinced I wanted a Gibson Super Jumbo. So you can imagine my amazement when this little guitar just blew me away. What a sound. I can not believe the sound I'm getting from this guitar which in return excites my playing to the next level.

Collings and excellence are now synonomous in my mind. Factory setup was the bomb. Action was excellent in my opinion.

As reliability is directly related to build quality again I'm sure that I will not be disappointed in the future. Everything is rock solid and the waverly tuners are my favorite period.

Haven't dealt with them yet, but others have to great satisfaction.

If it were stolen or lost it would immediately be replaced.

Bought new in 2001. 14 frets to the body, classic OM shape - modeled on the early '30s Martin OM. Really nice open back Waverly nickel tuners, tortoise body binding with w/b/w line on top, simple rosette, no abalone on the guitar. Unbound ebony board, ebony bridge and pins with MOP dots, simple single dot MOP position markers.

1 3/4" nut width, long (25 1/2") scale. The "A" in the model designation stands for the Adirondack spruce top wood, which is a fairly pricey upcharge, but worth it, at least in this case. "1" designates the mahogany back and sides. The frets seem to be slightly larger than standard Martin frets. The neck is mahogany with a very Martin-like soft V shape and vintage type gloss finish (which does NOT feel 'sticky')- perfect for me. For comparison sake - this neck is much more rounded than the Santa Cruz 'V', which is almost triangular in cross section.

The overall impression is very 'vintage' - everything top quality, but not flashy - understated. Truly an elegant instrument.

Some might quibble with the tortoise (ie. plastic) binding - but that's the 'correct' look, and there are very good reasons you can't get real tortoise shell these days. Also, it won't ding or chip as easily as wood binding - and that's what binding is for anyway, protecting the edge of the instrument. I actually consider it a plus.

All Collings guitars share a family sound which is, again, patterned on vintage Martins: bright and cutting, with the emphasis on the fundamental tone (especially the mahogany bodied models). This is the opposite end of the spectrum from the Lowdens and Goodalls of the world, that are aiming for lots of lush shimmery overtones. Not a question of better or worse, its vanilla vs. chocolate - what do you like? For the American roots derived styles I play, the Martin, or in this case Collings, sound, is it, for my money.

As for this particular guitar - it has a loud, strong voice that has to be heard to be believed, especially for an OM. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've played MANY quality dreadnoughts that did not have the assertive, cutting presence this guitar has. The bass is very deep and tight and not the least bit muddy. Play an open low E and listen to it ring a while - its like looking into a deep pool of crystal clear water, so clear the rocks on the bottom seem to be magnified by the clarity. This continues on up the neck, in perfect balance, with more and more 'ring' the higher you go. Sustain is superb. The tone content is, again, pretty fundamental - but with just enough overtone content to 'sweeten' it a bit. Its not at all harsh or 'cold', as, I'll admit, some Collings I've played have tended toward (as NEW guitars, mind you).

I play both fingerstyle and pickstyle - this top is reasonably responsive to the fingers, but those with a really light touch might prefer an Englemann, or some other, top. I'm pretty agressive with my fingers so its fine for me. The other side of that coin is, of course, headroom, and this thing has virtually unlimited headroom. You can flatpick it hard and it won't break up. Dana Bourgeios wrote that he considers Adirondack the 'best' top wood because of this combo of sensitivity AND headroom. I'm not arguing.

I'll admit to be being a guitar junky and a GASaholic. I've owned or auditioned at length Martins, Gibsons, Santa Cruz, Bourgeois, etc. etc. On the day I found this one I played - in the same shop - a Martin OM-28V, Martin Woody Guthrie special edition, Collings OM-2H (rosewood/sitka) - all VERY nice guitars - before I picked up this thing. It blew them all away with one chord.

This is the only Collings OM-1A I've ever seen, so is this just the best one in the world (or are all the other ones better)? No idea. All I can tell you is this is the best all around flat top steel string guitar I've ever picked up, and like I said that includes quite a few. As far as styles go, nothing is the 'best' for everything - but this would be superb for any bluegrass/country flatpicker, for leads or rhythm, especially one like me with a bum right shoulder who can't play dreads for very long. Singer/songwriter heaven. Melodic fingerstyles will sound great. This is really good fingerstyle blues guitar too, but I wouldn't argue with anyone who said they'd prefer short scale for that. So along with all the other nice things I'm saying, this thing is also about as versatile as you can get.

Action I'd call 'medium' - a good compromise for tone vs. ease of play. There are NO rattles, or buzzes anywhere on the neck, beautiful fret work - so a perfect set up.
A note on Adirondack, or Red, Spruce - it tends to have wavy, irregular grain patterns, even small knots might be found in some guitar tops (not this one though). Apparently this upsets some people, though it doesn't affect the tone (or maybe it helps?). Anyhow, that's just the way it is. This top does have a wavy, irregular grain pattern. I call it 'character'.
As far as construction and finish, I can't find a single flaw. This guitar just oozes quality. The glossy nitro finish looks like its still wet, though I'm sure its not very thick. The mahogany is stained a dark chocolate brown that's really pretty, too. I couldn't be happier with the feel and appearance of this instrument.

Although this thing is a tone monster it does not seem especially lightweight or delicate. I'd play it out, and I will, but I'll sure as heck keep an eye on it!
Of course like any spruce topped guitar the tone will only improve with age. It sounds so good now that's a little hard to imagine, but I guess it could open up and 'soften' just a touch. The sad thing is, when this guitar is really hitting its prime I'll probably be drooling in my pudding over at the Golden Pastures retirement home.
So yes, I expect it to be long-lived.

The guitar is new and I've never communicated with them, but they have a spotless reputation.

Been playing since the mid-60s. Also play dobro, electric guitar, have lots of gear, have sold/traded more than a few. I've also never been as excited, or completely satisified, with an instrument. I'm one who expects to get what he pays for - I'm willing to live with small defects in an inexpensive guitar (like my Calif Tele which plays/sounds great and was dirt cheap) - and when I pay top dollar, like for this Collings, I expect perfection. It delivers.

A word about pricing on these guitars - they ain't cheap, and don't be expecting any 30-40% discount off retail. If a dealer discounts a Collings more than 10%, and Collings finds out about it, they will not receive any more Collings guitars. Its about defending their reputation/value in the internet age, and making it possible for their dealers to make an honest dollar when everyone's electronically comparison shopping, and grinding down to the last dollar.

But if you find one of these that flips your switch like this one does mine, you'll be enjoying it long after you forgotten the price tag. And when you do remember you can think of the $50,000 you saved by not popping for a real '30s Martin.

So this is one of those dreaded all-'10' reviews. I'd give less somewhere if I could, but I don't know where. Its just a superlative instrument.