The Collings Forum

Udarnik, Matt Arcara has been building and selling guitars & banjos close to 15 yrs. He is well known and has a great reputation both as a builder and musician.

As i recall from my visit to Collings in Nov and talking with Nully & Steve....tops are not torrified. The generally accepted line of thought in Austin is that no one really knows how torrified tops will age.

Easy enough to remove the guard and clean it....replace the adhesive w a new sheet of 3M adhesive.
Give Collings a call maybe they'll send you a piece....

Contact Mark Althans at Collings, they have been very generous in repairing issues, even so far as doing so for 2nd owners.

There is a Facebook Collings sales page.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/308935799662574

I guess it depends what ads you're stumbling across. Here's a cool piece from NAMM about the Hill Country Series. They're building 5 a week....& they do exist. It's a small company so when they add a model they can't just turn the dial up and churn them out. I had a chance to play both mahogany and ...

Yes, I believe cutaways are a less-desired feature. There are less of them and fewer people who would be looking for a guitar with a cutaway.

Scott, Cutaway acoustics are a small demographic in the big picture. With the repaired top crack that's another re-sale devaluation (even though not sonically).
Here's the closest comparable i can find. I know the shop & i know it's been sitting there. Off the top of my head....I'd say $6k would be ...

Steve, First of all congratulations on your D3. I'm glad you got a good one ;-). (They're all good). I don't think i'd phrase the difference as "better grade woods" but more cosmetic differences. As we know straighter grain, more visually 'perfect' wood doesn't translate straight across to better ...

Teja, the original OM design produced from 1929-early '34 is a superb design. If you add a deep body to a Collings OM i think you'll lose some of the ideal tonal balance and cut...and i think that will affect recording and on stage sound management. Every new guitar is going to sound somewhat green ...