Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 112

VG

GEAR

GREAT
EXPECTATIONS

The Collings Julian Lage OM1 JL

T

he late Bill Collings and his craftsmen
are renowned for their beautifulsounding guitars. It's apt they've connected
with a beautiful-sounding guitarist: jazzer
Julian Lage, a rising musician known for
his sophisticated acoustic and electric work.
With the OM1 JL, Collings brings Lage's
nuanced approach to a physical instrument.
This medium-sized acoustic is based on
Lage's beloved 1939 Martin 000-18, which
he's used for years, and the Collings T (or
traditional) series. The aim is to bring that
interwar acoustic mojo into the twenty-first
century.
The OM1 JL has Honduran mahogany
neck, back, and sides with an Adirondack
spruce top (Sitka is also available), and
animal-protein glue construction. The
unbound fingerboard is ebony with small,
tasteful gold mother-of-pearl dots and
eighteen medium frets. As you might expect
on a guitar evoking the past, the tuners are
open-gear Waverly units with vintage oval
buttons (16:1 ratio) and a nicely relic'd
nickel finish. Other accoutrements include
ebony bridge pins with gold dots, a bone
saddle, and a tapered square headstock with
inlaid Collings logo. There are also a classic
tortoiseshell pickguard and wood rosette.
Nothing about the ornamentation of the
guitar is particularly over-the-top - it's
all utilitarian and refreshingly restrained.
The devil is in the details with the Julian
Lage box. The finish is crucial, for example
- a very thin nitrocellulose lacquer on the
body and neck enables the sound of the
tonewood to emerge. Inside, a vintage-style
X brace with no tongue brace across the
underside of the top bout again speaks to
flattop design of the 1930s.
The neck is equally interesting. It has a
hand-rubbed nitro finish and is attached
with a mortise-and-tenon joint. Like a
well-played old guitar, the OM1 JL has a
compound radius on the fingerboard, going from 14" to 26" and suggesting years
of being played in.

Price: $6,150 as tested (adirondack
top), $5,150 (sitka top)
Info: www.collingsguitars.com

First thing you'll notice upon picking up the OM1 JL is the wonderfully
light weight - the tester came in around
three pounds 10 ounces, a nice break
from heavy dreadnoughts and jumbos.
The guitar's neck, with its 25.5" scale,
is superbly comfortable and again
feels like it's been played for
decades, something
that Collings excels at. In fact,
it 's one of
those necks
you feel you
can play
forever and
not get any
hand weariness. It has a
ver y natura l,
broken-in feel
with just about
perfect setup
and action.

VINTAGE GUITAR

112

February 2018

The crowning achievement, however, is the tone, and it's a showstopper. The OM1 JL achieves that rare
combination of materials and finish
that yields a warm, sweet tone perfectly balanced on every string. Many
acoustics off the rack have that same
thin, treble-edged tone coming from
the upper strings, but this guitar is
all about a lilting midrange - and
more bass than you'd expect from a
medium-sized body. As with tubes
in a vintage amp and aged tonewood
in an old Les Paul or Strat, the sound
of a sweet midrange is a holy grail
for tone enthusiasts and the Collings
Julian Lage has it in abundance. It's
difficult not to be impressed by such
dulcet tones.
Granted, the Julian Lage Signature
isn't within everyone's price range,
but the OM1 JL illustrates the truism that ornament doesn't equal
tone. This Collings is a simple
and traditional-looking
acoustic, without
much of the fancy
décor and inlays
that mark other
premium guitars. But if you
want a top-end
instrument that
delivers gorgeous
tone and superior
playabi l it y, t h is
one is hard to beat.
It's a once-in-alifetime guitar.
- Pete Prown



Vintage Guitar - February 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vintage Guitar - February 2018

Contents
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - Cover
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - IFC
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 3
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 4
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 5
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Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 7
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 8
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 9
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - Contents
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Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - IBC
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - BC
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