Seems like one thing we could use here in the group is a listing of what you have in the way of a Collings mandolin. Post your model, serial # and year and I'll comprise a list for grins. MF-5R - #39 - 2003
I had started a list a while back but I seem to have lost it, this seems a better place to do it anyhow. Mine is an MF5, #101 from 2003.
Mine is a MT2 O serial # 1803. I just bought it in March 2009, and I think it hadn't been in the Fiddler's Green Music Shop for long, so I'm gonna guess it's a 2009....
I have a standard MT #667 and a black top MT custom #1266. I bought #667 new and #1266 lightly used, both @ Acoustic Music Works. I'm not really sure of the year of either of them! I guess I should get one of those CaseNotes journals and keep a history for my kids. If anyone knows the year from those #'s, feel free to let me know. Doug
My baby is MF custom blackface #284, from either late 2004 or early 2005. We get along well.
My MF5H is # 29 from ? 2002. I visited the old shop and took photos of the gang. Doug in Vermont
It would be cool if you could post some of those pics. I was at the new facilty in '06.
I own MF5 #366, which I got in a part-exchange here on the café in (I think) 2005. Back then it was virtually new and un-played. Less bright, more dry-sounding than others I've heard, now it's opened up 'rill nice'.. *I sent it back to Collings to have the pickguard added last year*.
I know on other instruments, there's some kind of 'code' built into the serial numbers. Are the Collings serial numbers just straight up chronological? All mandos together, starting with ???? (#1?)??? When did Collings start making mandolins? Barb
Hey Barbara~ I believe their SN sequences run chronologically by model, so the apples can't be time-compared to their oranges!
Yeah, there have been a couple of previous threads on this. As I understand it, all the MT models had one set of numbers (starting at #1) and all the MF models had another set (starting at #1). I don't know if that still applies with the MTO. Threads on the Collings forum may have more info.
MT2V #1394. Wow! that's a lot of mandolins.
Digging around a bit, I came up with a couple of threads on this: early MT numbers some discussion of MF numbers I'm thinking my MF#284 is a 2004 after all. Rumour has it that nowadays they are averaging ~400 mandos and ~1200 guitars a year; compared with Martin & Taylor, who make something like 40,000-60,000 guitars each a year (hearsay - I don't know if those figures are correct).
I'm thinking that the MT2 O numbers must be incorporated into the MT's, as I understand it, the MT2 O is a rather new model, and my serial number is #1803~
Sounds like a reasonable deduction, Barbara. The MT2 O is far too new to be even into triple digits yet.
#160 MF5 - Oct, 2003 ... Bought it as NOS a little less than a year ago. Sounds great - and gets better each day (although I don't ...).
03 MF5, 100! having fun with it all the time...
I have MF5 #72 and MF gloss top #967.
MT2V Serial # 1019 Feb. 06 Birdseye back & sides; no fingerboard dots; ebony buttons on the Waverly tuners. A perfect mandolin...
MF5 #69, March 2003. I bought it used about 2 years ago although it hadn't been played much. The sound is still evolving, still getting better. Hope to be around in 20 years to hear what it sounds like.
MT2 #500. Bought it used from the classifieds here. It's a 2005 model and is really starting to open up.
MF #910 March of 2008. Had it about 6 months and love it.
It's a MF5 #61 acquired 2005.
You getting all of this Mike?
I dunno about Mike, but I'm sure Bill would get a kick out of this (if anyone told him about it)!
Okay, I'll ask ... Whose are signed by Bill?? Just curious whether he signed all the early ones - whether he still does ... My MF5 from 2003 is signed. I know some are and some aren't - just wondering what the difference is. Does it mean he worked on certain ones? Quality checked certain ones?? Or just felt like signing something that day? I'd put this in a separate post, but it seems it might better be kept with the serial numbers ...
Maybe he was just practicing his autograph!
My 2005 MF5 is is #430 and signed.
Mt #1325..blondie bought used on the classifieds probably about a year ago..still smells new
#39, 2003, signed by Bill. It has been my understanding that for the MF-5's he always does the final check on the top.
MF #380 black top/ Ivoroid bound
I have MT-2 number 15 from September 1999. It's signed by BC.
i'd hate to admit how many collings mando i have, but i will say that i just got an engelmann topped mf5 oval and i totally love it. http://www.acousticmusicworks.com/MF5-O-1066.html
Nice looking mandolin, Mandobar! I've been very curious about the new Collings ovals, but haven't seen any in person. Probably a good thing, since I think my wife would kill me if I bought yet another mandolin.
I have a 2006 blonde MT. One piece back. Number 1072. Signed by Bill C. I got it used from Kevin Douglas (Mandomutt) in Oct 2008. I don't know from whom he got it. I contacted Collings and was told it was originally sold at Acoustic Music Works in April 2006.
i've got a 2006 MT, a 2005 MT2, and a 2009 MF5 (on order), all of which are factory left handed. I also own a Collings D1AV guitar.... you might say i'm a bit of a Collings fan!!
MT-1, s/n 33, I'm gonna say 10/99 (it's in the shop right now).
Wow, that's old for a Collings mandolin!
Hello all, I feel like I finally belong her: my new Collings MT arrived yesterday! It is serial #1858, a 2009. In fact, the salesman told me it arrived there (Mandolin Brothers), on April 17th, so it's brand spankin' new. Oddest thing happened while I was playing it in the store: it seemed to open up just a little. When I first played it, I thought the low end was wonderful, but it was a little weak on the treble. Another mando, a Breedlove Alpine, was just the opposite, but had dead strings, which they changed for me. So I had time to play the MT while I waited. By the time the strings were on the Breedlove, and I compared them both, the MT sounded very even over both bass and treble. By contrast, the new strings didn't help the Breedlove at all, IMHO. (My guitar player was with me, and he agreed.) Easy choice: while the Breedlove had the edge for looks, the MT sounded much better, and was a good bit cheaper (the Breedlove was used, and still about $800 more than the MT new.) So the thing sound wonderful. And looks, well, cool. It has a gloss-top black finish, which I think contrasts nicely with the satin finish on the back & sides. And the flaming on the B/S is subtle, but way cool; you move it, and the light suddenly brings out the flame, and then it disappears. In case it's not obvious, I'm a wee bit excited about the new mando. DWP
I think your observation about the instrument opening up while you were playing is the same that I have observed on my MF-5. I notice that it takes about a 1/2 hour of good playing to really "get it going". I have been told that this is common for Red Spruce, but I surely don't know. All I know is that I have to play it a bit before it starts sounding good.
Celtic Dude.... congrats! Post some pics! I've had my MT2 O about 6 weeks now, and it sounds better EVERY time I play it! I have noticed, though, that when I pick it up to play for the first time after not being played a while, it's kinda 'asleep', and takes a little while to really wake up!
Mine is #75, an MT2-SB, signed by Collings. I paid straght retail for it at a store in Kansas after waiting for quite a while, and their refusal to allow the usual 10% discount still rankles, preventing me from ever buying anything else from them. But the thing sounds so good, I doubt I'll ever get rid of it.
my MT2 is #1387, January 2008 and signed
an MT #1721 got it 8 hours ago at a guitar show in St. Charles. It's signed Bill C. Barb can't wait to cross passes to try out you MT2O.
Hey ya'll Got MF # 738---not sure what year. Actually bought it off Mandolin Cafe & really enjoy it. John J
#1452 on my MT gloss top. No signature but it has a big impression on everyone who hears it. I guess Collings has a list like the old Gibson list? I'm guessing mine was built in 2007. Got it at the Podium in Minneapolis.
called collings and found out my mt was shippied in sept. 08
I wonder, from start to finish, how long it takes them to build a mando? Anyone know?
my guess would be 80 to 100 hours
Hello everyone...just signed on.Mine is an MF-5 #95. I'm from Tallahassee fl