Collings 290 Video Review!

Specifications

• Solid mahogany body
• High gloss lacquer finish
• Custom P90-style pickups by Jason Lollar
• Tone-Pro bridge and tailpiece
• Black or amber top hat volume/tone knobs
• 22-fret unbound mahogany neck
• East Indian rosewood fingerboard
• 24 7/8" Scale Length
• Grained ivoroid dot fingerboard inlays
• Unbound peghead with ebony veneer
• Mother-of-pearl Collings logo
• Sperzel vintage tuners with ivoroid buttons
• Deluxe hardshell case

Features

From the Collings Website:

After thirty two years of building acoustic instruments, Bill decided to build electric guitars. It was a surprise to us all, but I suppose it was just an extension of his love for carving tops. Bill started building arcthop guitars in the 80's and expanded to mandolins in 1999. In a way, its a natural progression. Of course the electrics are built with the same precision and craftsmanship as our acoustic models. Once again, he's out to raise the bar and make yet another mark in guitar history. We'll be adding more information and pictures as time goes by, so stay tuned.

Review

With a Mahogany body/neck and stunning overall appearance, it is not hard to see where its design cues come from. The Collings 290 differentiates itself from the Les Paul Jr with a Tone Pro “tune-o-matic” bridge and contours for the stomach and the leg that make it comfortable to play sitting down. The Collings 290 also has an entirely different feel to it. The LP Jr has a simple slab body with a neck glued to it whereas the Collings 290’s curves and contours give it a very slick appearance, downright sexy if you ask me. The Collings 290 feels like an updated, refined version of the Les Paul Jr without overdoing it or completely changing the original idea behind it.

The Collings 290 is a simple guitar at its core: a couple of pick-ups, a solid body, neck, unbound fingerboard, and a pickguard – nothing fancy. But the tone you can get out of this simple design is unreal, who would have thought that something so basic can produce a tone that is so full and complex. When I first plugged it in to The Ugly Amps Ugly 18 (no reverb) I found myself just strumming chords to hear the lovely warm tone that was coming out of the speakers. It was full and rich without a hint of harshness, round and complex, the kind of tone I could listen to for days on end. Also the neck on the guitar is a very good fit in my hands, it is not fat like a ’58 VOS, nor is it anywhere near a Wizard, but it has a nice round back that fits comfortably in your hands. It also had a wonderful smooth finish on the neck, enabling me to freely move up and done without a hint of tackiness.

The Lollar P90 pick-ups are something you really need to experience first hand. Picture you favorite single coil with its round full sound, fattened up like a Christmas goose. I find these pick-ups give you a much bigger sound than a conventional single coil and they drive the amp a little harder, but they don’t push as hard as a humbucker. The down side is you still get the 60 cycle buzz, unless you select the middle position where you get the hum canceling properties as with the middle positions on a Strat. The bridge pick-up is full and clear; it will give you a significant amount of drive and low-end punch when you need it. Lollar seems to have found the perfect formula for making a P90 pick-up that has classic overtones while defining it’s own sound.

The build construction of this guitar is second to none. As soon as I took it out of the case I immediately has to take the back covers off to check out the wiring and it was exactly as I expected: perfect. The wires are cut to the perfect length and the soldering is impeccable – neat, tidy, and looked like someone took real care in putting it together. The same goes for the rest of the guitar, the neck joint is perfect, as is the finish, the frets, the nut, even the set up was right on – not a single buzzing fret. And the tuning stability of this guitar is unreal! We never needed to retune the guitar throughout the test video and it should be noted that Mike really likes to lay into a guitar when he plays and he does not shy away from bends. Even when I unboxed it and started playing it the tuning was amazing. Normally when you ship a guitar to San Francisco you will see a little movement in the neck that may require a visit to the shop. But this guitar was perfect right out of the case!

I will admit that I didn’t think the Collings 290 would be such a versatile guitar, from blues to shred and everything in between. It was a surprise because I wouldn’t normally associate a P90 equipped guitar as capable of delivering more than one or two tones (I would generally place them in the Blues/Rock arena) but this guitar certainly proved me wrong. When you add a serious amount of gain to the signal path you are rewarded with a searing lead tone that is more than enough to cut through the mix. It is not as full and powerful as a humbucker, but it is damn close, and that is certainly good enough for me. The neck pick up proved to be perfect for soloing with a good amount of gain to back it up. That tone is big and full like a classic Strat, but it seems to have a wider range. Where a Strat would feel trebly the P90’s in the Collings 290 rounded out with a decent amount of low end. I found Fuzz pedals were particularly awesome with the Collings 290; the fat warmth of the P90’s just ate up the Fuzz and provided me with a luscious overdrive that would allow notes to sustain on and on. But that is not to say that this guitar doesn’t sound wonderful clean, I don’t think there is a setting on your amp that could cause this guitar to sound bad.

Is this guitar for everyone? That is certainly a good question. I personally look at most guitars as belonging two one of two categories: Strat style or Les Paul style. Now I realize that this is a very general way to associate guitars, but for a basic definition I believe it works. The interesting thing is that the Collings rests somewhere in between the two of those categories. Starting with the scale length of the guitar, it is 24 7/8 making it closer to a Les Paul and it’s tune-o-matic bridge also makes you think of that famous Gibson. But, the single coil clarity of the Lolar P90’s puts my mind right into Strat country. That familiar round tone from the neck pick-up is so bluesy it makes me want to retro fit my Strat with three P90’s. The neck joint provides a large amount of sustain when you add a little distortion. It is a safe bet for me to say that most anyone would be happy with this guitar, be it their first or fifteenth! I would urge those of you who have yet to test drive a guitar like this to take the time to sit down with one and let it surprise you as it did me. The P90 is quickly becoming my favorite pick-up, and not just for blues and rock. The middle position on the Collings 290 is perfect for Jazz and will sound just right sitting in the mix with any archtop.

My new dream is to see a Strat and Tele style guitar from Collings. Seeing what they have been able to do with Gibson themed guitars makes me want to see what they could do with a Fender. I can picture a Tele style guitar with that gorgeous neck joint and contours, maybe a P90 to boot? I would also love to see a double cutaway version of the Collings 290, maybe a Bigsby thrown in for good measure? Perhaps as this guitar gets more and more popular we will see a range of options made available by Collings.

The Final Word

The Collings 290 should be a serious contender for your next guitar, no doubt about it. The P90’s are extremely versatile pick-ups and would be comfortable with any amp/pedal combo. The level of workmanship on this guitar is clearly a step above the rest; it even puts some custom shop/boutique guitars to shame in terms of fit and finish (does it ever go out of tune?)  So will this kind of quality come cheap? The answer to that is no, not really, but when you consider the level of workmanship and craft in this instrument you can help feeling that the price is worth every pennie. What you are purchasing is the care and knowhow that defines the term “hand-made.” This instrument is crafted by a group of people who really care about what they are doing, and it shows.