Hello Trash or Treasure, I’ve owned quite a few guitars over the years, and I like to think of myself as more than a novice when it comes to
I’ve owned quite a few guitars over the years, and I like to think of myself as more than a novice when it comes to guitar identification, but this guitar has me stumped! I picked it up used in the late 1990s for a smokin’ price and all the guy told me was that it was a Collings D41. In the 11th edition of the Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars, you list several D-style models, but there is no mention of a D41. This guitar has rosewood back and sides, abalone pearl trim, dot inlays and gold hardware. I’m wondering if you could clear up my confusion and identify this great guitar.
Thanks,
Ted in Tulsa
Hi Ted,
First of all, I want to say thank you for not being angry that you couldn’t find your guitar in our book! While not every guitar can realistically be included in our book, Collings is very well known and has been around long enough where it should be there. I’ll do my best to explain why that is, but let’s figure out what you have first.
To the best of my knowledge, Collings has never offered a cataloged model called the D41. I have all of Collings’ price lists going back to 1991, but I wasn’t able to find any mention of the D41. Currently, Collings builds three distinct dreadnought models: the D1, D2H and the D3 (this same formula can be applied to several other body shapes as well). The D1 is Collings’ entry-level model and features standard appointments such as mahogany back and sides, tortoise binding, dot inlays and nickel hardware. The D2H features East Indian rosewood back and sides, grained ivoroid binding, herringbone purfling and diamond/ square fingerboard inlays. The D3 represents Collings’ high-end model with similar appointments as the D2H, except it features grained ivoroid binding, a select abalone multi-ring rosette, double stripe back strip, and ivoroid-bound fingerboard and headstock and lacks herringbone purfling.
Looking at the photos and information you provided, your guitar doesn’t match any of Collings’ standard model specifications perfectly, but I think it is most similar to the D3. Keep in mind that Collings offers several options on all of their guitars and almost every guitar that is ordered from them is a custom order. As many Martin guitar aficionados know, D-41 or “Style 41” indicates very ornate inlays, including abalone pearl purfling. Because of the standard Martin set with their inlays and purflings, many guitar builders offer similar appointments today on their dreadnought-style guitars.
It appears that the original owner/dealer ordered a Collings D3 with diamond fingerboard inlays and Style 41 abalone pearl. Today the retail price on this guitar would be $5250; $4350 + $850 for the Style 41 appointments and $50 for the fingerboard inlays. To add further confusion to the mix, Collings lists both a D41 and D42 on their website! I contacted Collings to see if this is a standard model, since it does not appear anywhere on their price list. They confirmed that the 41 abalone pearl trim is simply an option and not a standard model – it also can only be ordered on a D3 model.
Luthier Bill Collings and his staff have been building guitars since 1975, and since 1988 Bill himself has been numbering all guitars in sequence. If you are looking for more information, contact Collings in Austin, Texas and give them your serial number. They should have the original build sheet and production date of your guitar, which should clear up all of your questions.
Although this guitar isn’t listed as an individual model in the Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars, we do give you all the components to figure out what it is and what it’s worth since all the options are listed. Regardless, Collings is one of the few luthiers who has been able to put his handmade guitars into production without compromising quality. Collings guitars seem to hold their value very well so I would hold on to this gem. Although you weren’t sure what you bought years ago, it looks to be a treasure for many years to come!
Zachary R. Fjestad
Zachary R. Fjestad is the author of the Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars, Blue Book of Electric Guitars, and the Blue Book of Guitar Amplifiers.
Questions can be submitted to:
Blue Book Publications
Attn: Guitar Trash or Treasure
8009 34th Ave. S. Ste #175
Minneapolis, MN 55425
800-877-4867
www.bluebookinc.com
guitars@bluebookinc.com
Please include pictures of your guitars.
Nashville session and stage MVPs craft an aural wonderland with their genre-defying instrumental album, In Stereo.
Working from a shared language of elegance and grit, Nashville guitar domos Tom Bukovac and Guthrie Trapp have crafted In Stereo, an album that celebrates the transcendent power of instrumental music—its ability to transport listeners and to convey complex emotions without words.
In Stereo also honors Trapp and Bukovac’s friendship, which ignited when Trapp and Bukovac met over a decade ago at Nashville’s 12 South Taproom eatery and club—an after-hours musician’s hangout at the time. They also sometimes played casually at Bukovac’s now-gone used instrument shop, but when they’re onstage today—say at Trapp’s Monday night residency at Nashville’s Underdog, or at a special event like Billy Gibbons’ BMI Troubadour Award ceremony last year—their chemistry is obvious and combustible.
“Guthrie is very unpredictable, but for some reason our two styles seem to mix well.”—Tom Bukovac
“It’s like dancing with somebody,” Bukovac says about their creative partnership. “It is very easy and complementary. Guthrie is very unpredictable, but for some reason our two styles seem to mix well, although we play very differently.”
As Pepé Le Pew probably said, “Vive la différence.” While they’re both important figures in Nashville’s guitar culture as badass, in-demand session and live players, Trapp also points out that the foundation of their respective careers is on opposite swings of that pendulum. Bukovac’s reputation was built on his studio work. Besides his touring history, he’s played on over 1,200 albums including recordings by the Black Keys, Glen Campbell, Keith Urban, Stevie Nicks, Bob Seger, and Hermanos Gutiérrez. And Trapp considers himself mostly a stage guitarist. He emerged as a member of the Don Kelly Band, which has been a Lower Broadway proving ground for a host of Nashville 6-string hotshots, including Brent Mason, Johnny Hiland, and Redd Volkaert. In recent years, you may have seen him on the road with John Oates. It’s also possible you’ve heard Trapp on recordings by Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, and Roseanne Cash, among others.But back to In Stereo. “This record is truly for the love of music and not giving a shit what anybody else is going to think about it,” relates Trapp, as he, Bukovac, and I sit and talk, and they noodle unplugged on a Danocaster and an ES-355, respectively, in the warm, instrument-filled surroundings of the Cabin Studio in East Nashville. The album was recorded there and at another studio, simply called the Studio, with Brandon Bell engineering.
“When we started working on the album, it was very loose,” explains Bukovac. “I never wanted to bring in anything that was complete because the key is collaboration. So, I knew better than to come in with a complete song. And Guthrie didn’t do that either. We would just come in with a riff for an idea and then let the other guy finish it—and that’s the best way to do it.”
“It’s got enough humanity—real playing—mixed with the cinematic side of it.”—Tom BukovacAll of which helped make In Stereo’s 11 compositions seamless and diverse. The album opens with a minute-long ambient piece called “Where’s the Bluegrass Band,” which blends acoustic and electric guitars, feedback, and keyboards with generous delay and reverb—telegraphing that listeners should expect the unexpected. Of course, if you’ve been following their careers, including their estimable YouTube presence, you’re already expecting that, too. So, a soulful composition like “The Black Cloud,” which builds from a Beatles-esque melody to a muscular and emotive power ballad of sorts, comes as no surprise. “Desert Man” is more of a mindblower, with its dark-shaded tones and haunting melodies. “Cascade Park” is an unpredictable journey that begins with delay-drenched piano and leads to Trapp’s acoustic guitar, which evolves from contemplative melody to feral soloing. And “Bad Cat Serenade” and “Transition Logo Blues” balance the worlds of country and jazz fusion. Overall, the music is timeless, emotional, and exploratory, creating its own world, much as Ennio Morricone did with his classic film soundtracks.
Tom Bukovac's Gear for In Stereo
Tom Bukovac and his ’58 Les Paul sunburst—one of just a handful of guitars he used to record In Stereo.
Guitars
- 1958 Gibson Les Paul ’Burst
- 1962 Stratocaster
- Harmony acoustic rebuilt by James Burkette
- Jeff Senn Strat
Synth
- Roland XP-30
Amp
- Black-panel Fender Princeton
Effects
- Nobels ODR-1
- Strymon Brigadier dBucket Delay
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario NYXL’s (.010–.046)
- Fender Mediums
“It’s a lot to ask somebody to sit and listen to an instrumental record,” Bukovac offers, “so I was just trying to make sure—and I know Guthrie did the same—it doesn’t get boring. When I finally sat and listened to this thing in its entirety, which was many months after we actually recorded, I had forgotten what we’d even done. I was overwhelmed. I love that I never got bored. It moves along and has moments where it gets into sort of a trance, in a good way, but it never stays there too long. It’s got enough humanity—real playing—mixed with the cinematic side of it.”
Trapp picks up the thread: “If you’re in Nashville for a long time and you’re paying attention at all, you understand this is a song town. No matter how you slice it, it’s all about the vocal and the lyric and the song. So, it doesn’t matter if you’re making an avant-garde instrumental guitar record. That influence is pounded in your brain—how important it is to trim the fat and get down to the song. A song is a song. It doesn't matter if it’s instrumental or not. It’s a ‘Don’t get bogged down and get to the chorus’ kind of thing.”
“A song is a song. It doesn’t matter if it’s instrumental or not. It’s a ‘Don’t get bogged down and get to the chorus’ kind of thing.”—Guthrie Trapp
Which alludes to the sense of movement in all these compositions. “It’s very important that every section of a song delivers every transition,” Bukovac adds. “When you go into a new room, when you open that door, it’s got to be right. That’s what I think about records. And there’s a lot of shifting on this record. We go from one field to another, and were very concerned about making sure that each transition delivers.”
Guthrie Trapp's Gear for In Stereo
Guthrie Trapp recording with his Danocaster Single Cut, made by Nashville’s Dan Strain.
Guitar
- Dan Strain Danocaster Single Cut
Amps
- Kendrick The Rig 1x12 combo
- Black-panel Fender Princeton
Effects
- Strymon Brigadier dBucket Delay
- Strymon Lex
- Nobels ODR-1
- Xotic RC Booster
- T-Rex Tremster
- Boss TU Tuner
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario NYXL’s (.010–.046)
- Medium celluloid
That kind of thoughtful development—the set up and delivery of various compositional sections in songs—isn’t exactly a lost art, but it’s certainly rarer than in earlier decades. Listen to Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road to hear how Davey Johnstone sets up verses, choruses, and bridges—or anything by David Gilmour—for reference. It’s also a goal best accomplished with a team of exceptional players, and, of course, Trapp and Bukovac enlisted some of Music City’s finest. The cast includes steel-guitar legend Paul Franklin, keyboardist Tim Lauer, bassists Steve Mackey and Jacob Lowery, and drummers Jordan Perlson and Lester Estelle.
“Don’t tell my mom, because of course we all want to make a living, but playing music that has integrity is at the top for me.”—Guthrie Trapp
“We recorded the basics—really, most of the tracks—live on the floor,” says Trapp.
“We kept a lot of the original throw-down/go-down solos,” Bukovac adds. “There were very few fixes and overdubs. One of the best moves we made was letting an outside person objectively sequence it, because you can get a little bit too inside your own thing. It’s like … if you’ve ever done a photo shoot, if you let somebody else choose the photo, it’s never going to be the one you’d choose, and it’s probably a better choice.” That task fell to Nick Govrik, another friend and engineer.
The terrain Bukovac and Trapp cover on their first album together is expansive and transporting—and packed with impressive melodies and guitar sounds.
The shipment of In Stereo’s vinyl arrived shortly before Trapp, Bukovac, and I talked, and while Bukovac released his first solo album, Plexi Soul, in 2021, and Trapp put out his releases Pick Peace and Life After Dark in 2012 and 2018, respectively, they seemed as excited to listen to it as teenagers in a garage band unveiling their debut single. That’s because, despite their standing and successes, playing guitar and making music is truly in their blood. What they play is a genuine expression of who they are, ripped from their DNA and presented to the world.
“Don’t tell my mom this, because of course we all want to make a living, but playing music that has integrity is at the top for me,” says Trapp. “These days, with AI and people worried or insecure about where the music business is going, and all these Instagram players who just are fixing everything with Pro Tools so they sound like they’re in a studio, I don’t worry because we’re not selling bullshit. We have 35 years of real experience between us, and when we do social media, we’re just reaching for a cell phone and posting it. It’s organic. That, to me, is a big difference. At the end of the day, I can sleep well knowing that I have earned the respect of the people that I respect the most. It’s just authentic music made for the very reason we got into this in the first place. We love it.”
YouTube It
Guthrie Trapp and Tom Bukovac practice their live chemistry together at Trapp’s standing Monday night gig at Nashville’s guitar-centric Underdog.
With buffered bypass and top-mounted jacks, this compact pedal is perfect for adding punch to your playing.
Carl Martin has introduced the Tone Tweaker, a 12dBboost pedal designed to unleash the full potential of your favorite gear. This subtle yet powerful booster pedal is built with an internal voltage booster that provides extra headroom and makes your beloved tube amp sound even better. It is perfect for cutting through the mix during solos and adding extra punch to your rhythm playing.
Tone Tweaker features an efficient 3-band equalizer, allowing you to fine-tune your sound with dedicated controls for Mid, Treble, and Bass. Whether you want to add warmth to your midrange, more sharpness to your treble, or extra depth to the low end, Tone Tweaker gives you the tools to shape your sound with exceptional effect – subtle yet powerful.
Key Features
- 12dB Boost: Instantly enhance your signal with a clean, transparent boost that preserves the integrity of your original tone.
- Internal Voltage Booster: Increases the amount of voltage sent into the pedal’s circuitry, providing extra headroom and boost.
- 3-Band Equalizer: Customize your sound with precise adjustments using the Mid, Treble, and Bass controls. It's far more powerful than you think.
- Buffered Bypass: Preserves signal strength and tone quality, ensuring your sound remains consistent even when the pedal is not engaged.
- Top-Mounted In/Out Jacks and Compact Design: Designed to take up minimal space on your pedalboard, with top-mounted jacks saving space and providing a cleaner setup.
You can purchase The Tone Tweaker for $149 directly from Carl Martin and, of course, also at leading music retailers worldwide.
For more information, please visit carlmartin.com.
Carl Martin Tone Tweaker | Simple and Effective - YouTube
A loving homage to the Boss CE-1 is addictively vintage in form and function, and offers enhanced chorus control and immersive rotary-like vibrato tones.
Liquid, immersive, addictive modulation tones. Beautiful vintage-style enclosure. Useful impedance switch lends extra headroom. Sturdy. Spacious control layout.
Big footprint—if you care about such things.
$189
Warm Audio WA-C1
warmaudio.com
In the impetuousness of my youth, I was, among other things, a reactionary chorus hater. Such were the obligations of a lad that preferred the Pebblescompilations to the Police in the 1980s. So, upon my regular visits to the old Starving Musician on El Camino Real in Santa Clara, I would often peer at a cheap, used Boss CE-1 and think, “Damn ... looks cool. Wish it wasn’t a chorus.”
It took a long time for me to get right in the head about that particular issue. Long enough that Boss CE-1s weren’t very cheap by the time I figured it out. Once again, Warm Audio has stepped in to grant me the chance to heal the wounds from my foolish ways. The all-analog, bucket-brigade-driven WA-C1 is the company’s latest, mostly faithful homage to a classic. In this case, Warm Audio enhanced the functionality of the chorus—splitting the CE-1’s chorus “intensity” control, which combined depth and rate functions, into independent depth and rate controls. It also adds a Hi-Z impedance switch that enables selection of a vintage-spec 50 kHz and a 1.1 MHz mode that improves headroom and clarity in the high-mid range. And while this may be sacrilege, I’d venture that the WA-C1, with its more compact dimensions, looks almost every bit as cool as the original.
Dimensional Contractions, Utility Expansions
One of the best things about Warm Audio’s pedals is that they concede little to the concerns of modern pedal-footprint obsessives. By Warm Audio’s standards, though, the WA-C1 is nearly petite—certainly compared to its inspiration. And even in this guise, it’s a lot larger than it needs to be. But there’s a lot of upside to the generously sized enclosure apart from just looking awesome. The knobs are easy to manipulate thanks to their larger size, and the space between the footswitches means you can stomp with abandon on the chorus/vibrato switch, which can yield dramatic shifts and contrasts in color. The WA-C1 is also just inviting. It begs you to use it, in a way. And the marriage of lines, chrome, and the tough industrial finish is a lovely antidote to dull post-iPhone design—even if it is grey.
“If the mono output is lovely, the experience of the WA-C1 in stereo is more like a summer Saturday-morning-sleep-in dream.”
Washed Up from the Depths
In both chorus and vibrato modes, the WA-C1 possesses an unmistakable vintage glow. The modulations and pulses are syrupy, elastic, and hard-edged in all the right places. If you love the sounds of James Honeyman-Scott (who used the Boss CE-1) and Smiths-era Johnny Marr (who used the Roland Jazz Chorus and Boss CE-2), the mono voice will find you laughingly swimming in pools of sunset shimmer. But if the mono output is lovely, the experience of the WA-C1 in stereo is more like a summer Saturday-morning-sleep-in dream. At the most archetypal Honeyman-Scott settings, the chorus is syrupy, slippery, and aqueous. The vibrato is more than a little evocative of a Fender Vibratone rotary speaker, particular in slower-to-medium-speed modes that give the modulation room to breathe. Mind you that, apart from the WA-C1’s rotary-like vibrato tones, the WA-C1’s main attraction, the 1970s/1980s era chorus sounds, still don’t approach the top of my hierarchy of must-have tones. I fell in love anyway. This is a pedal that can take a practice or writing session deep into the night.
The Verdict
Obviously, the Warm Audio WA-C1 is not the only very nice chorus that sounds awesome and offers stereo functionality. The Boss CE-2W Waza Craft, for instance, runs in stereo and even has a very nice CE-1-style voice in a more compact package. But it’s also 30 bucks more, and the WA-C1 features a truly transformative Hi-Z switch and the expanded chorus control section, which makes switching between contrasting chorus and vibrato settings especially striking in the right setting. And if a certain kind of vintage aesthetic has the effect of being musically inspiring—a valid position, as far as I’m concerned—the combination of smart style and addictive, immersive modulation sounds makes the $189 WA-C1 a deal.
The Alabama-born country-rockers bring some custom gear from their home state to the stage of Nashville’s Ryman.
Mobile, Alabama’s Red Clay Strays started out as a local cover band. In 2016, they officially formed as the Strays, adding a couple players to round out the five-person outfit. After a few years gigging around the state and some festival slots, the band hit it big in 2023 when their song “Wondering Why” went viral on TikTok. It climbed up the Billboard charts and landed the band a deal with RCA Records. That led to their Dave Cobb-produced second studio LP, Made by These Moments, which was released on July 26.
In September, the band made their debut at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on tour behind the record, and guitarists Drew Nix and Zach Rishel brought a beautiful stable of American-made 6-strings for the occasion. They gave PG’s John Bohlinger a tour of the goods.
Brought to you by D’Addario.Faylands from Fairhope
Both Nix and Rishel play Fayland guitars, made by Chris Fayland in Fairhope, Alabama. Nix gives a quick, Ricky Bobby-esque rundown of his Fayland T-style: “It’s good wood, it plays real good. I don’t know what to do with my hands.” He strings it with .010s.
Memphis-Made
For semi-hollow “squishiness,” Nix turns to this Gibson ES-339, made in Memphis. This and Nix’s other guitars, including his Fayland and his 2017 Les Paul Classic with PAF-style Geppetto pickups, carry striking, detailed straps made by Jon Wye.
Drew Nix's Amp
Nix tours with two “run of the mill, Guitar Center” Fender Twin Reverbs, which he switched to after “blowing up” Rishel’s Fender Hot Rod Deville. The Ryman gig was being recorded, so Nix had a second one on hand in case the first ran into any issues.
Nix’s Straightforward Board
Nix runs a Pedaltrain Metro 24 board, which is loaded with an Ernie Ball VP JR, Peterson Strobostomp, JHS Whitey Tighty, Browne Amplification Atom, JHS Morning Glory, Xotic EP Booster, Strymon El Capistan, and Strymon Flint.
Fairhope "Firebird"
Rishel loves his Faylands, too. He tours with a baby blue “Mark II” Fayland Strat, equipped with stainless-steel frets and a Tele-style bridge pickup. His Fayland “Firebird” Tele is even more of a stunner, with its candy-red finish and firebird decal. This one has a trio of Lollar pickups, and a traditional three-way Tele switching system. A button between the volume and tone knobs activates the middle pickup for Strat-style tones and modified switching.
A Fine Vintage Super Reverb
Rishel picked up this 1968 Fender Super Reverb from Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville, which he calls “the best guitar shop in the world.”
Zach Rishel's Pedalboard
On his board, Rishel runs a TC Electronic Polytune 3, SRossFX Sun King, MXR Custom Badass Modified O.D., Greer Super Hornet, SRossFX Echo Flex, TC Electronic Hall of Fame, SRossFX Dual Roebuck, and Keeley Dark Side. It’s all powered by a Mooer Macro Power S8.