Just Ordered a Collings MT from AMW

[ncgarrel]

After weeks of thinking, scraping money, dreaming, bugging my wife, more money scraping, listening to music and missing not having a mandolin to the point it hurt, and asking questions on here...I finally placed my order for a Collings MT from AcousticMusicWorks. Yeehaw! This is the most money I have ever spent on anything, so I sure hope it looks, sounds, and plays like a Collings! (It will have to, as I don't plan on buying a different mandolin for a loooooong time. I don't think my wife--or anyone else in my family--could take me talking about mandolins anymore.) Of course, I am not trying to rub it in...I am just so excited I had to share with other people that care!

[Ken Olmstead]

It is all that you hope it will be! Congradulations!!

[Ivan Kelsall]

You ordered a beautiful Mandolin in the MT. Although i'm a great Weber fan,the Collings MT that i played last year,was simply beautiful. If i ever get the cash together for another "A" style,it'll be a hard decision between the Collings MT & the Weber Yellowstone A-5,
Saska

[John Hill]

The MT's are wonderful. I don't think you'll be disappointed at all.

[Frankie D]

You are a lucky man! I am also ordering a new mando, but it's a eastman 515. Ha! Just don't have the dough rey me right now. Enjoy!

[Chuck Naill]

This is the most money I have ever spent on anything, so I sure hope it looks, sounds, and plays like a Collings!

On all forums I read where players are ordering sight unseen/unplayed these days and it is a risky proposition for sure. I sure hope it meets all of your expectations. If it does not, don't think anything about shipping it back if you have that as an option.

[Patrick Sylvest]

You can't go wrong with the MT. They're so darn consistent. I believe you'll be thrilled beyond belief with the way it sounds right out of the case.

[Steve Ostrander]

You're gonna love it.

[Rick Schmidlin]

You you are gonna love it, and so will you wife.

I promise.

[fredfrank]

Congratulations! I am a big fan of Collings instruments, and I also own a MT2V. I'm sure you will enjoy your mandolin for many years to come.

[Michael Butler]

Best of luck with it! Which MT did you buy off of the website???

[wannabethile]

Sheesh. How exciting for ya!! I didn't have a mandolin for just under a week or short while ago, and I hated it, ha ha. If and once I upgrade again, it will most likely be upgrading to a Collings. We'll see. Enjoy!

[Jeff Chu]

what kind of features does it have? top wood, etc? that is exciting.

[ncgarrel]

The commute to work is rough because I listen to Bluegrass the whole way and when a great instrumental comes on I just want to play...but I can't because I am driving and also because I sold all my mandos and other instruments to finance the MT. However, I know that one day this week I will come in from the drive with a tune in a my head and a new MT will be waiting for me. Then I will kiss the wife, kiss my kid, and take the MT to the couch for an all night make-out session.

Regarding the specifics: I bought MT number 1609 from AMW (Acoustic Music Works). It has a black Engleman top with white binding. The back looked like it had a nice flame to it. I sorta wanted a wine red back but I couldn't justify paying more or waiting any longer and the honey back sort of grew on me until I just picked up the phone and did it.

It is funny because I didn't intend to ever spend so much on an instrument. I just fell in love with that Collings sound. Then I remembered what someone posted in another column: that if you want a particular mando bad enough you will find a way to scrape up the money. I sacrificed a lot of instruments (with the exception of one very cheap but sentimental guitar) and my tax money but I feel great about it!

[Kevin Briggs]

That's awesome, man. Make sure you give a full, detailed report about it when you get it. Also... post sound clips.

[pjlama]

Congrats, enjoy it in good health cause I'm sure you'll be happy.

[lespaul_79]

Almost a year later and I lovvve my MT. I've played a lot of mandos since I got mine and they are all toys compared to the MT. Congrats.

BTW, I use a wegen pick with it. I like it better than the dawg or golden gate pick. http://www.elderly.com/accessories/items/WP-BG-WHT.htm

[San Rafael]

Those MT's can be lifetime instruments. Sweeeet!

[Rick Schmidlin]

[QUOTE=ncgarrel;627429] I feel great about it!


You should

[Bill Auld]

You'll find the Collings a wonderful instrument that will keep on amazing you for a long time to come ...

[mandolooter]

"The best money I ever spent was for my favorite mandolin!"

You can quote me on that!!!

[RHBoy]

Congrats!

I think the most horrible collings I ever played was a good one! If I had to purchase without playing and it HAD to be right, I would not think twice about anything that had Collings on the headstock.

Enjoy!

[John Hill]

Those blacktop MT's are sharp. There's an amber MT at AMW that is calling me pretty hard.

[ncgarrel]

When I arrived home today the Collings MT was waiting for me. Yee Haw!

After unpacking her, I examined her carefully (apparently she is a lady mandolin) and discovered just how tight the fit and finish really are. OMG I cannot even imagine how someone could build something so seemless. It is really nearly flawless. Amazing.

Then I began to play. I was not amazed. Don’t get me wrong. It sounded good, but sort of like my old Kentucky that I learned on which was much cheaper. I tuned the Collings and this helped a little but not much. I told my wife and she laughed because she always thought the Kentucky sounded like a much better mandolin than it was. Then she pressed her thumb on my MT and laughed at how I was going to get the black finish all smudged up. She was excited to see the mircofiber cleaning cloth it came with. And, she also agreed that it was a really nice looking mandolin. I kept playing and talking, and eventually everyone went to bed.

THEN THE COLLINGS MT WOKE UP! Holy smokes! She must have needed a little time to adjust to the temperature and humidity change from the porch all day to being in the house. All of a sudden the D and A strings started to sound just amazing and the E string was pretty darn good. I mean, the D string had such a good tone that I almost cried for joy. It has the tone I hear on my favorite CDs that I dreamed about. Just before I started typing this note, the G string decided to kick in much better too—really great for soloing but in a chop it is just so overpowered by the middle two strings. The tone is so good all around though that I just stand in the corner and play or hold the instrument in front of me facing myself and play. As you all told me: I am amazed! So far it seems that D and A chords are the strongest and anything higher up the neck is equally good. The C chord seems to be the weakest. I am ok with this as I like A, Bb, and B most for singing (what little bad singing I do with guitar is in these keys). Singing with the mandolin is a different story though. I expect that in the months to come the entire thing will wake up and change again. I will probably also discover how to get the most out of it.

In any regard. I am just glowing and pretty excited to show my friends when they come over to stuff newsletters for the West Michigan Bluegrass Music Association later this week.

I would also like to give a nod to Steve at acoustic music works. He and his staff answered my email quickly, have a great selection, good prices, and shipped my instrument really fast. Everyone was friendly on the phone, chatted, and seemed to appreciate my business. He also threw in a sweatshirt and a lot of cool picks. I would definitely recommend them and would order from them again—though I am officially broke. ;0)

[DerTiefster]

It's great to hear glowing happy words from a new owner. I had come pretty close to ordering a used MT from a shop, but it was bought locally before I could bring myself to commit. I had 3 anguish-filled days to consider dropping the requisite load of cash into the thing, and didn't do it quickly enough. I'll dwell on my little no-name mando (sweet and quiet, she is) and fold ncgarrel's comments into longer term considerations. A Collings is on the major possibility list. But the honey-do list also requires infusions of cash.