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Completely agree Brad my friend on all points.

Who was it Pagelli who claims... that they intentionally leave a defect on every instrument. I intentionally left three

Seriously part of the charm of a hand made guitar is the lack of perfection but I still would recommend that all the user interface stuff, how it plays, fret plane etc be excellent because ultimately it's going to be a tool for a musician.

Is it not a tradition that Persian carpets always have a few defects in them because they say only God is perfect?
Anyway, I always remind myself of that when I finish a guitar.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Absolutely, Hesh
I didn't mean to imply that any playability issues can be anything less than "perfect".

For example ,I just bought a 90 year old guitar that was a mess...

I reset the neck ,made a new nut and saddle ,new frets-I love it even though when they made it they slapped it together-for example, the back strip (a decal) is at least 3/8" off center!

I set it up as good as one of my
guitars and it plays and sounds great.

I have seen brand new Gibson J-200's with the same problem-LOL

I reworked an old Maybelle from that time period last year. Once it was repaired and setup right it was a very sweet little guitar, perfect for sitting around on the couch.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

those cavity covers though. Who ok'd that?

Haha! Man, I've been biting my tongue and holding that one back for a few days now. It IS a beautiful guitar and I'm sure it's a pleasure to play but I'm pretty sure I'd glue a piece of veneer over that cover pretty quick.

I’m sure they’re just showing off their clean solders or maybe some rare and expensive pot/capacitor combo or something, but…I don’t need to see it to know it’s there, lol…

We went down to the dream cruise this.morning. They cut back the display area we like in Birmingham. Bummer. But looking at custom, and restored cars, you notice that it is the details that really make a car stand out. I'm not into power, I like that my Crosstrek drives great, and gets 30+ mpg! So much for a guy born and raised in Detroit.

The ones where everything seemed perfect you just want to keep looking. The ones that aren't, you don't. But when they're driving down Woodward, you notice which ones seem smoother, sound great (deep V8 sounds, blower whine, the higher revs, and smaller piston sound of Lamborghini and Lotus.) and which are not running too well.

It seems that guitars are the same. Looks and performance. Everyone has a priority, and a threshold level that each must rise above.

I guess we have to do our best to rise as high in each category as we can.

Bugatti and Ferrari have cars with plexiglass rear covers over the engine to expose them. In that case, it is very cool. I'm pretty sure that I'd be happy not seeing wiring; but maybe it's a thing?

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Why be normal?

These are very cool and Dave Collins has one just like it that was left DOA on our front porch and I secretly restored to playing condition as a gift for him to use as a camping guitar. They sound amazing you are right and I love the vintage vibe too.

Have you encountered vintage guitars where the faux BRW is printed on the wood and a painting not actual? I think we have a few of them in the closet that says "Dead Guitar Storage" on the door

It comes with solid cavity covers to replace the clear ones if one wants but I like these. I'm a fan of 50's wiring which this has and vintage caps which this has and solder joints that when I was trained to supervise NASA certified soldering techs these joints would have passed the tests for life support applications on space missions. So it's a show-off thing but I like it since it highlights Lutherie chops.

Most importantly there is something rather odd going on here with things such as clear cavity covers. Instead of covering up the sausage making Collings shines the light of day on it and that's worthy or a shout-out from me. Nothing to hide in the workmanship here and I respect that immensely.

You should hear it..... my God it sounds killer and these ThroBak P-90s kick ass.

So this was my second Collings and I likely will adopt more when I can. The I-35 is likely my favorite all time guitar and does it all very well and just seems to help me be a better player. That's not easy either....

The next time you are in a store with Collings check out the fret ends for a f*ctory instrument, perfect in the bevel angle and breaking the hard edges. Nothing fancy just superb hand work and a demonstrated Lutherie knowledge of how musicians actually use these instruments.

Here's the fleet in the "Burst" room at my place. Please forgive the g*bsons I must have been drunk when I bought them. Not pictured on the other wall is a SG but it's not bursted so it's being treated like Cinderella There is also a "Black guitar" room here and my living room has the eight of the 15 prototypes that I built before hanging out my builder shingle.

Those cavity covers and soldering - - - I spent a week in Huntsville in 1969 getting taught by NASA to solder. Quite an education.

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Peter Havriluk

Johnson Space Center for me a week to learn to solder and another week to learn to certify the work prior to title passing to NASA. We acquired an aerospace group with hardware contracts from Bendix Aerospace and they were assigned to me.

One of the women, Arlene RIP had worked on the lunar landing module(s) and she had sewn the gold foil curtains that went to the moon. Fascinating stuff, space hardware.

It's even more fascinating when we consider that our phone has more computing power than the moon shots did.

Collings workmanship, tone, volume, aesthetic, fit and finish are amazing. I think the Loar era 16" L-5 was the most beautiful guitar ever made, until Bill Collings took the 16" L-5 refined it and made the AT16. If a more elegant guitar exists I haven't seen it. Collings also seems to use the right combination of handwork and CNC.

Aesthetically John Slobod (Circa Guitars) is another place I look to for top quality work. I haven't had the chance to see a Circa in person, from what I can see from my computer screen, the workmanship, wood choices, fit and finish are certainly worthy of emulation.

Hi Logan and thanks for this. I was not aware of Circa and found them VERY interesting. I also like that he prices in accordance with where these should be priced which is refreshing to see. I agree the guitars look superb and from the descriptions I'm sure they are. Very cool.

Having lived in the D.C. area for a few years I frequented the Smithsonian museums and especially Air and Space. Looking at those space capsules that they shot off in the 1960's is quite fascinating. Also looking at there "computers" that controlled them both on board and on the ground. Put it to ya this way you had to have some serious baws to strap yourself into one of those machines and get blasted off the surface of the earth.

Skip ahead, if need be, to 8:35 for the part apropos to this discussion...

https://youtu.be/1rbTadYNhzc

Funny. I had never heard of this Todd Snider before. Pretty good for a three chord player