Collings

product types: 

  • mandolins
  • ukuleles
  • acoustic guitars
  • electric guitars

Information: 

Collings Guitars was founded by Bill Collings  (1948 - 2017). He was pre-med student in the mid 1970s but left to work in a machine shop in Ohio while also starting to build acoustic guitars at home. He left the machine shop to work for an oil pipeline company in Houston - still making acoustic guitars in his spare time. Before long local musicians such as Rick Gordon and Lyle Lovett were playing his guitars. He set out for California but only made it as far as Austin where he set up a space in Tom Ellis' workshop. By the mid-1980s, Bill was making flattop and archtop acoustic guitars in his own workshop. With growing success in the 1980s he moved again to a larger workshop in 1989 and took on his first employees. His work for Gruhn Guitars brought national exposure - and he soon needed to move to an evening bigger factory. His guitars were being played by the likes of Pete Townshend, Joni Mitchell and Brian May.

In 1999 Collings added mandolins to his product range. In 2006 Collings added electric guitar line and in 2009 ukuleles. Bill Collings died from cancer in 2017 - but the Collings Guitar company carries on in his name.

Source: Collings Guitars website (31 October 2022)

Location

Collings Guitars, Bldg C
11210 W. Hwy 290
78749 Austin , TX
United States
Texas US