Zak Kramer says of his Collings, "From the moment I strummed my first chord, I knew this guitar was special. Every time I pick it up, no matter what I want out of it, it always delivers. Last summer, I was fool enough to busk with it at the local farmer's market—previously, I'd used a National M2 woodbodied reso. Dan Erlewine, who lives in my town, stopped, looked and listened, then grinned. "Now that's a guitar," he pronounced, and he asked me a few questions about it. From market to backyard barbecues to playing softly for myself when everyone else has gone to sleep, the Dude does, indeed, abide."