Bill Collings had a very definite passion ever since he was old enough to hold an object in his tiny little hands. His love for the guitar and the craft involved in building them made his choice to go to medical school an unusual one. But he never showed passion for medicine and eventually he left school to do what he should have done all along. So he moved to Houston where he studied his trade and began building instruments.

Next he moved to California, where legendary guitars have been built and have prospered through the years. He didn’t make it very far, only as far as Austin in fact, where he worked with other luthiers. He then proceeded to set up his own workshop in a converted garage. He worked extremely hard and his reputation has a meticulous craftsman would stand him in good stead. By the time the 1980s were over, he had staff and a facility which stood at one thousand square feet.

That very year, an order of 24 custom guitars placed put Collings guitars on the map. Quite literally, in fact, as it really made its mark from that point on a national level. Staff increased from 2 to 50 and that one thousand square foot facility now stood at 3,200 square feet.

After having reached expert status in building acoustic guitars, Collings quest turned to master the electric guitar. This only served to enhance the brands already highly impressive reputation. He used the same passion and attention to detail and it wasn’t long before he was beginning to impress just as he did thirty two years earlier with the electric guitar. Archtop was his first invention with mandolins a feature by the end of the 1990s.

One of their more successful models is the I-25 Deluxe. It has a semi-hollow Honduan mahogany body and an inset alder centre block. Its authentic feel and tonal range can be attributed to its 1950s style wiring.

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