Joined:
November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | I'll never forget a road trip through the Texas hill country awhile back. While driving around the small town of Wimberley, TX I passed a small old looking house with a do it yourself hand scrawled sign out front that said Guitar Store. I notice things like that after a more than 40 year career owning a sign company and being a master sign painter most of my life. I also tend to notice guitar shops. I had to turn around and go back. I wasn't prepared for what I entered however. A three room house with guitars in two rows around every wall. I thought I was in my own personal Twilight Zone episode. This can't be. EVERY top name acoustic I ever knew about was filling this house. From $50,000 new Martins to a $1,400 used Guild dred. I got to experience Froggys for the first time as well as a number of prominent Austin luthier built guitars. Then I got to the Collings rows. I thought the Santa Cruzs were fabulous but the Collings were downright phenomenal. I spent two hours playing a plethora of guitars as the only customer in the store. The lone attendant sat in another room reading something, oblivious to my presence. The perfect guitar store experience. I walked up to him and asked him why no Ovations. His reply was "they don't make them anymore". I guess at that time it was true about US production anyway. There are still a few more O's on my bucket list to own but a Collings is right there with them. Anyway, I've since heard the little Wimberley shop has closed and moved to Austin as Hill Country Guitars. Now if I could just stumble onto a little house full of O's my Twilight Zone career would be complete. |
RIP Bill Collings
