My guitar collection - Acoustics
After Bill Collings passed away in 2017, his company moved on. It is a great testament to the leadership of the likes of Steve McCreary, Bruce VanWart, who retired in 2022, and Steve Nall that Collings retained its relevance while development of new products was not stunted. Writing in 2025, in the interim Collings has introduced the Hill Country build dreadnought and OM as well as this model. That seems trivial. You mean there was no 14-fret counterpart to the 12-fret double-0? Yes. The first 14-fret double-0 acoustics were only shipped around early-2020, filling the glaring hole in the mid-sized acoustics. Inspired by the pre-war 14-fret Martin double-0 and with dimensions of a 14½” body width, 4” body depth, 18⅞” body length, and 39” total length, this guitar sits nicely between the large body and small body instruments. The perfect couch guitar. This particular specimen has a beautiful Western Shade sunburst Old Growth Sitka spruce top with herringbone top purfling, an ivoroid/tortoise/ivoroid rosette with B/W purfling, Sitka spruce pre-war scalloped X-braces, and no tongue brace. The wonderfully matched East Indian rosewood back and sides exude sheer beauty. The whole body is finished in a high-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer. The high-gloss polyester resin finished Honduran mahogany neck has an ebony fingerboard with a 14”-26” compound radius, abalone short diamond and squares position markers, a shorter 24⅞” scale length, and 14 frets to the body. The square headstock has the more precise 20:1 gear ratio Waverly nickel-plated tuning machines with butterbean buttons, instead of the 16:1 gear ratio seen on the other 10 acoustics in this collection. Collings started using these high gear ratio tuners on all their acoustic guitars around June 2022. This guitar also came in a great looking hardshell case which reminded me of Collings’ own Traditional cases. Upon closer inspection, it clearly was a non-TKL case. Collings customer support told me they had switched to Taylor cases in 2025 and this guitar was one of the first shipped with one. Of course these cases are still Collings branded. For the standard specs of this model, visit:
Collings 002H 14-fret SB
The story behind this guitar
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Instead of buying a used guitar, this is the only brand spanking new Collings I purchased. So one has to pay full price in a time of increasing inflation and tariffs. It is the final smaller body Collings to complete the acoustic guitar part of the collection. It was purchased in October 2025 from Willie’s American Guitars in St Paul, MN, who listed it on several online marketplaces as well as their own website. Willie can be seen in a video posted on YT espousing the virtues of this guitar. Also, with the Old Growth Sitka spruce top, all 6 top options listed by Collings in their 2025 price list are now covered. Nice! Before purchasing, I had checked out this review in Acoustic Guitar on the related 001 14-fret model and watched many videos on this model. Still, I was not prepared for what came out of the case. “Loud!” was the reaction of my spouse after the first strum. Indeed. But with a wonderful balanced tone. Of course, the rosewood back and sides give it plenty of lows and sparkling high. But the midrange is very pleasing and present. Playing fingerstyle is comfortable, strumming is a pleasure, and single note lines are crisp. If one thinks the “banjo killer” D2HA is overkill for a gig, this guitar is an excellent choice to bring along.
The story behind this guitar
July 29, 2025
35748
Western Shade Old Growth spruce top, no tongue brace
