Collings 290 Custom

You can't visit the Collings shop in the outskirts of Austin without traveling through the Texas hill country on Highway 290. Named after this highway, the 290 boasts amazing versatility in its tonal spectrum. Fit with two hand-wound P90 pickups from Jason Lollar, the 290 is a modern day tribute to the original working man's rock 'n roll guitar.

Like virtually everyone I know, I was first inspired to play guitar by the Beatles. Who wasn’t? So it’s particularly gratifying to me to be able to present to you this very special Collings custom 290 with a faded crimson ’59 finish.  I always loved the look of Lennon’s guitar with the CC neck pickup and the dogeared P90 bridge pickup - the guitar he performed with on the Mike Douglas Show (!) and at Madison Square Garden to benefit a group dedicated to helping children with learning disabilities - the One to One Organization.

It took quite some time for my friends at Collings to build this custom pickup version of their already excellent 290, but they did. What a fantastic guitar!!! 

The Charlie Christian neck pickup provides more clarity and transparency than a P90 neck pickup. It’s more balanced with less of a midrange bump. Paired with the dogeared P90 bridge pickup, this electronic package expands the tonal range, making this an extremely versatile guitar. Great for rock, blues, country, or even jazz. (I played Stella by Starlight on it). It’s a wonderful pickup combo, something I will do again.

That’s the great thing about simple pure, straightforward designs. You can play anything on them. That’s their beauty. There’s a body, a neck, two pickups, no extras, no carved areas, no flamed figured wood: a complete, single thought. It’s about nothing but tone, vibe and performance.

The pickguard has been upgraded to tortoise shell, as well as an upgrade to the optional Collings wraparound tailpiece. The wrap tail piece gives a clarity and articulation to this guitar, as if the entire forces of the strings were driven into the center of the body wood to say:  "this is where ALL the tone is coming from..." And the tone just bleeds out of the guitar, with clarity and voice that is just alive. John Lennon once said “I can make a guitar speak. I can make it howl and move”. You’ll know what he meant as soon as you plug this in.

In short, this is yet another example of Bill Collings taking a beloved historical instrument, capturing the essence of what we love, and making it available to us with incredible playability, stability and a beautiful finish.

And, by the way, it is just very very cool looking.

You can see John playing his modified guitar on the Mike Douglas Show (with Yoko on bongo) here: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itaUoVsAqMs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itaUoVsAqMs[/url]

(A side note. John’s guitar started out sunburst. He sanded off the finish to plain mahogany for the MSG concert, then had it painted cherry.)

If you'd like to find out more about this item, just call or e-mail me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you about it.

ABOUT COLLINGS GUITARS
Bill Collings moved from Ohio to Texas in the mid 1970’s. Spurred by a lack of interest in medical school, this move enabled him to combine lifelong interests in both guitars and tools into the challenge of stringed instrument building and repair. After a couple of years in Houston, several guitars and a few banjos later, he headed west to southern California. Making it only as far as Austin, where he shared shops with fellow luthiers Tom Ellis and Mike Stevens. From there, he set up his own small shop in a wooden "one car" garage. His reputation for outstanding quality and meticulous attention to detail quickly spread. In 1989, he rented a 1000 square foot space and hired two helpers. Fast forward to present day where Collings craftsmanship is respected by professional and amateur musicians alike…anyone on the quest for quality. Some of these include artists; Keith Richards, Lyle Lovett, Pete Townshend, Emmylou Harris, Andy Summers, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, Joni Mitchell, Don Felder, John Sebastian, Lou Reed, John Fogerty, Tim O'Brien, Pete Huttlinger, Kenny Smith, Brian May, Joan Baez, John Prine, Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap, and Steven Spielberg to name a few. You owe it to yourself to try one.