Lance McCollum Guitars
 

Greetings.
Does anyone out there own or have owned a Lance McCollum guitar?
I used 2 on the road for many years. He was an amazing person,a good friend and one the best builders around.
Best,
Richard Leo Johnson

No, but I always wanted to get hold of one of his his Meghan models! Sweet!
Steve

I'm the proud owner of a McCollum GA in walnut and Italian spruce.

Lance was a regular at our guitar parties, you can see several of his guitars at parties over the years: http://www.fxguidry.com/fran/parties.htm

Fran

me with my LAnce McCollum Double Neck
 

Thanks for the replies...
Lance built me his first double neck...I just signed with Blue Note Records and was doing clinics for Taylor at the time...the guitar was my companion on the road for many years...
I also have a 12 string he made for me as well...both are outstanding.
Here is a pic of the double neck and me from 2000 or so.
https://images.app.goo.gl/Y7jpxvxgmzoQ2dm59

Richard!

I remember fondly seeing/hearing you in Bakersfield.

Cheers,

Matt

Yes, a GA model with an Italian spruce top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides. Some nice Harvey Leach inlay as well.

Yes, I own a GA model with Brazilian and European Spruce.

I consider it the best guitar I've ever played.

My luthier (in Nashville)was once in a luthiers guild with Lance and he said he was quite a character. He was taken too soon and I would have enjoyed seeing him garner the acclaim that would have surely came his way as more of his instruments were produced.

I understand somewhere over 300 were ever made. I'd enjoy learning more from anyone who can shed some light on the subject.

Hey Richard,

Welcome to the AGF! I love Lance's work.... He's definitely missed.

I met you through Richard Gilewitz 20++ years ago or so... I remember seeing you playing in Tarpon Springs and your Taylor fell off the guitar stand and broke the neck! You giggled but didn't miss a beat!! Glidepath is a fabulous record... Hope to hear more recordings soon.

HAHAHA...MAtt and Jeff good to encounter you again...
I probably laughed about the Taylor because it seemed appropriate at the time lol...
Mr G and I did a bunch of shows together back in the day...he was and is still the funniest guy I know.
To everyone else...thanks so much for the memories of LAnce and the kind words about him and his masterful work.

Here is a tune from "Language" ...some of the players on this track are the best in the biz...I felt so honored to be able to record with them.
This one is on the double neck...check out Paul McCandless toward the end...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzIh....be&autoplay=1

Svea Norton may chime in. She has one of Lances early guitars.

I met Lance at Fran’s House. We all miss him.

There is a McCollum guitar hanging in the local acoustic guitar shop here in Black Mountain, NC. I played it. Sounded great, looked real handsome.

I too have a McCollum GA (Italian/The Tree), also with Harvey Leach inlays. I just changed the strings on it yesterday and it sounds better than ever!

There are 316 McCollum guitars. Some of sources on the numbers out there are misleading. For example, in the obituary he wrote, Leach underestimates the total Lance built.

I helped a friend of mine acquire one of Lance’s GA’s. It was European Spruce/Walnut.

He later sold it to someone on the forum.

Thank you for the word on the number of McCollum guitars that were made.

John, I played that one too! It is fabulous....I didn’t realize you were based in WNC? All the best!

Random story: in the summer of 1999, I decided I wanted to build a guitar, and started writing letters and calling luthiers to see who would be willing to let me apprentice under them to do so. In the end, Hank Mauel in the Grass Valley area agreed to host me. Hank was a terrific guide, and with his equipment and tutelage, I built a redwood walnut 000.

Hank was good friends with Lance and Harvey, who (perhaps together with others) became the regional luthier mafia of sorts. We spent a bunch of time at Lance’s shop, where i remember seeing the most outrageous figured walnut. Lance also let me play his personal Italian / Brazilian grand auditorium which I still remember as one of the most extraordinary instruments I’d ever played. I remember talking to him about his use of laminated necks in particular, which he preferred given the natural stability provided by oppositional grain. I loved his aesthetic, including the knotted rosette inlays that often included the fingerboard.

Lance was generous, patient and funny. A master at his craft. We lost him far too soon.

Yes, I believe Lance, Harvey, & Hank referred to themselves as the "Sierra Madre' Mafia." We were all on the RMMGA newsgroup back in the day. Not many websites in the 90s. All 3 of them were generous with their time! A creative group of builders, for sure!
Steve

I love hearing these stories...Lance was a true blue treasure...
My nick name for him was the "Chuck Norris" of fine guitar craft.
Thanks to all for sharing your memories.
Best,
Richard

I ordered a McCollum baritone through Dream Guitars. It was an interesting experience. he was definitely a character with strong opinions. It was a really cool baritone but I eventually traded it for a Ryan guitar.

I later acquired a McCollum harp guitar through a trade. That guitar came with 5 sub bass strings and a pretty odd split between the bass strings and the regular guitar strings.

The harp guitar was converted to a 6 bass string guitar by Kathy Wingert. Kathy and Lance were close friends and she has worked on a lot of his guitars since his passing.
https://i297.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2c9329be.jpg

https://i297.photobucket.com/albums/.../mccollum1.jpg

https://i297.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4mrd46ec.jpg

https://i297.photobucket.com/albums/...mccollum10.jpg

Fellow McCollumites,

This one recently popped up near me. If anyone is seriously interested, let me know if you'd like me to swing by and check it out. It's purdy!

https://www.picknparlor.com/acoustic...m-meghan-m-185

Looks like your doubleneck is for sale on Reverb. Anybody have 10k to get yourself a nice fiddle?

usb_chord that's a nice looking one. The Meghan models are much more rare than the GAs. If you recall, I dropped in to the store with my KOA/Cedar GA a couple years ago. A fine guitar, I recall it was #109.

When did Lance pass away? He clearly had a huge impact on many luthiers.

Thanks David ...
Well my touring days are over and I will be selling MANY guitars in the near future...
It breaks my heart to sell some of these...but I would rather help find them a loving home and someone who can enjoy playing them and not just hang them on a wall somewhere.
Also have serious neuropothy in my hands...so playing has been rough.
Best,
Richard

Guitar gallery has a meaghan model in Brazilian/German currently.

It’s a beaut.

Actually it was called the High Sierra Guitar Mafia and included Michael Lewis and Randy Allen as well. The name was given to us by the legendary Joe Mac the west coast Martin rep at the time.

Lance and I were good friends of course, I convinced his wife (Dawn) a guy could actually make a living building guitars. He was working with me at Voyage Air when he died. A real shock since I'd seen him the afternoon before... and he was only a month older then me.

Richard, I remember well the night at Healdsburg when you, Thom Bresh, Buster B Jones, Lisa Carver and Roy Rogers were all playing either McCollum or Leach guitars! Still can't believe I didn't sell a guitar at that show...

Harv

In the past couple of years of recording demos for Dream Guitars, the McCollum Slope D prototype Tree mahogany/Adi top is easily one of my favorite 3 guitars I have played there. If I had not just gotten my Ken Hooper Tree guitar I would be bringing the McCollum home.

Harvey...
I remember the festival well...you build amazing instruments...so many great builders in the day.
I don't keep up with that world much anymore...but I hope you are doing well.
Lance is missed by many. I remember how I found out about his passing...I called to see if he could build a guitar for a friend...Dawn answerd the phone...I havn't spoken with either one of them in several years...she said he had just passed the day before...she was so shaken...I did not know what to say. What a wonderful family he had. I stayed with them many times and they were always a joy to be around.I Hope they are doing well.

Early 2009, and quite suddenly. I learnt the news from Kathy Wingert who was a close friend of Lance and subsequently honored that friendship by finishing a baritone that Lance was building for me at the time he passed away. It is a very special guitar.

Hi Richard. I remember you from the 2001 Healdsburg guitar festival where I first met Lance. I've got the 15th guitar that Lance built from 1996. It is called an MJ, and it fits into a standard OM sized case. He abandoned the MJ I think after he started making the Meghan model. I bought it through Hank Maul a few years ago. I've taken good care of it. The neck was reset and later the intonation worked on and a pickup put in. I take it out with me to plug in when I go to jams. It sustained a new ding on the top last weekend at a really fun jam. It's OK, because that guitar had spent way too much time in the case in it's early life, and that little ding now reminds me of good times.

Lance was the first luthier I was taken by when I attended my first Healdsburg guitar festival back in 2001. I knew him through several gatherings and festivals over the years, and we had talked about having a custom guitar made for me. I really regretted not having done that, but I am fortunate to own a fine example of his work. I also own a fine Kathy Wingert model F she made for me in 2010. They were great friends!

Svea

Wow...1996...true vintage Lance.
I really don't mind dings and scratches...IF the guitar is being played and used...Itis what they were made for...not hanging on a wall or sitting in a case...
Best,
Richard