Description
When Bill Collings first met the brilliant young jazz musician Julian Lage, in 2014, the two began a series of in-depth conversations about their respective crafts. Lage’s profound insights as a guitarist would play a key role in the creation of Collings’ T (Traditional) Series guitars. This rare collaboration, which continued right up until Bill’s passing, in July, 2017, has yielded another exceptional new guitar with an old soul. Collings is proud to present a highly personal extension of the T Series: the Julian Lage Signature OM1.
Though Lage’s guitar shares the same foundational specs as the OM1 T, it is unique in some key ways. Its neck feels like no other Collings guitar. That’s because it’s modeled after Lage’s cherished 1939 Martin 000-18. This pre-war gem is heard on the guitarist’s 2015 solo album, “World’s Fair,” and was his main touring acoustic for years. The 000-18’s neck, which was of course originally hand-shaped and sanded, has a distinctive taper altered by decades of wear. For Lage, this particular neck had come to feel like home. Through careful analysis and digitization of its unique dimensions, Collings was able to precisely recreate its worn-in, asymmetric feel on his signature model. While maintaining the relatively narrow 1 11/16″ nut of the 000-18’s neck, they have extended the fretboard from the original short scale to a standard 25 ½” length for slightly greater presence and note definition.
Lage has an affinity both tonally and aesthetically for vintage guitars whose finishes have mellowed after years of playing. To recreate this effect, a varnish was originally considered. But to achieve the ideal combination of a thin finish application and a vintage aesthetic, a custom satin lacquer was decided to be used. This new finish offering not only feels and looks right to Lage, he finds it has the same inherent openness of tone that is present in the best pre-war instruments.
With his typical descriptive eloquence, Lage characterizes his signature model as a “lovingly neutral” guitar. It has a remarkably even response between registers. It’s not an empty flatterer, but an instrument that rewards you when you’re playing your best. In this way, Lage, whose own education is unending, sees the guitar as a teacher. Lage’s signature model incorporates a script peghead logo not seen on a new Collings instrument in decades. This is the inlay that Bill hand-cut some 30 years ago when he started out in a tiny shop in Austin, Texas. Collings staff see this as a loving tribute to their late leader, who in his final project was able to realize the perfect new steel-string for one of today’s most exacting guitarists.
We inspect each an every instrument we ship out for maximum playability. We adjust the action and adjust intonation when needed. If you would like a specific adjustment, just add it to your order notes and we would be happy to adjust to your liking.
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SPECS:
Top: Adirondack Spruce
Back & Sides: Honduran Mahogany
Construction: Animal Protein Glue
Neck: Honduran Mahogany
Body Binding: Tortoise with Custom Wood Purflings
Bridge: Ebony Belly-Style with 2-3/16″ Spacing
Fingerboard: Ebony with Gold MOP Short Dots
Pins: Ebony with MOP Dot
Nut: 1-11/16″ Bone
Saddle: Bone Drop-in
Neck Profile: Custom JL Carve
Peghead Profile: Tapered Square
Neck Joint: Mortise & Tenon Hybrid
Truss Rod: Fully Adjustable
Frets: Medium 18% Nickel-Silver
Peghead Veneer: Ebony with Gold MOP Collings Script Logo
Tuners: Relic Nickel Waverly with Vintage Oval Buttons (16:1 Ratio)
Backstrip: Walnut
Rosette: Custom Wood Rosette
Scale Length: 25-1/2″
Bracing: Sitka Spruce Custom Traditional Series Pre-War Scalloped X-Brace (No Tongue Brace)
Finish: Custom Satin Nitrocellulose Lacquer
Strings: D’addario Nickel Bronze NB1253
Collings Traditional Handcrafted Hardshell Case Included
Important information if shipping outside of the USA:
Please note: To help insure the future availability of certain materials used in the construction of this instrument, additional fees and/or documentation may be required when shipping this item outside of the USA. This is due to the CITES treaty, which regulates international trade of certain materials like rosewood, abalone, and pearl. If you purchase this item to be shipped outside of the USA, we’ll determine whether the regulations apply to your order, and will contact you with more information if necessary
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