Waterloo Current Production

_DKE_ · #1 06-17-2022, 09:42 PM

Hey y'all,

Got lucky this week and found myself a WL-12 that I've been searching for for the better part of a year. Has anyone heard anything about future production on Waterloo guitars as a whole? Feels like there and less and less every month on the market, new or used.

BluesKing777 · #2 06-18-2022, 01:41 AM

Look up the Waterloo Guitars site and on the top right, they have a link to Facebook or others.....with little stories of the Waterloos they are making and shipping, so......

Enjoy the WL-12!

BluesKing777.

Silly Moustache · #3 06-18-2022, 03:01 AM

Hi,I bought my WL12 in November 2016, when I went to a well stocked store to buy a Gibson L-00 or similar.

They had,I believe six new and one used l-00, and none suited me - poor presentation, tonal shortcomings etc.

Being very much a Collings player, It took a little getting to know, but it did fill the place for a smaller body blueser.

I can't remember were I got the following info but I believe that COVID lockdowns hit the Collings company hard.
Many of their staff left to find work elsewhere.

The workshop where they made them, and the Collings cases, was closed down, emptied and leased to another company. and the remaining workers moved to work in the Collings factory.

I'm sorry to say that it seems unlikely that there will be any Waterloo guitars produced any time soon.

It was a brilliant notion by Bill Collings to make depression era guitars "that you could actually play"

I wish that I could have bought the WLS-Deluxe, as well but my WL12 fulfilled my need for a totally rebuilt Kalamazoo that a friend and hobby builder showed me - I didn't want to let it go!

If I had my "druthers", I'd have a WL-12 with the original neck profile and the aged "Boot burst" but I'm still regularly delighted with my rather garish looking WL12.

jontewright · #4 06-18-2022, 03:38 AM

As far as I know they're still catching up on pre-pandemic orders but not actually taking on new orders until they're all cleared. They're not ceasing production though, as far as I'm aware.

Maryc-k · #5 06-18-2022, 03:57 AM

They moved production of the last few back orders to the Collings factory. The building they were building in is leased to another company. As far as I know they are not taking any new orders. So, once they finish up the backlog they would have to relocate production of these elsewhere. And then restaff.

Since Collings is currently booking into 2024 it’s not certain when production will resume on these.

Jdogblues · #6 06-18-2022, 05:14 AM

I was told by one retailer that they have 35 on order and haven't received a new one in over a year.

29er · #7 06-18-2022, 08:02 AM

Congrats on your WL-12! They are special and I love mine. Finding any Waterloo is a challenge these days and that won't change anytime soon.

A.Wilder1 · #8 06-18-2022, 08:26 AM

Congratulations on the new Waterloo! I would love to try one of these one day.

Don’t be shy to join the club and post pictures when you can.

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=636935

Mr. Jelly · #9 06-18-2022, 08:33 AM

It's interesting that these cheap guitar revisions are like a whole different guitar design that have their own place in the guitar world. Nothing else comes close to them in the finale analysis. It's feasible that the production of them will cease.

CopyCat · #10 06-18-2022, 08:34 AM

A local dealer told me they’re shipping out one or two a month these days — likely the back-ordered models mentioned above.

Good idea to grab one when you can, so congratulations on the new guitar. These guys bloom with play time.

cc132 · #11 06-18-2022, 10:03 AM

A great Waterloo is worth holding out for. I'm currently on my second, a Scissortail, that I've had for years. It was my only guitar for a couple of years and did just fine.

I bought it because I played a Kalamazoo Oriole, which it's based on, about a decade ago. I'm still kicking myself for not buying that one. It remains one of the most strikingly good guitars I've ever played.

Yesterday, an actual Oriole showed up on Craigslist locally. I couldn't believe it. I ran to the bank and got cash, and then met up with the seller. I was already making plans on selling the Waterloo on my way there. As much as I love it, an original would just be so much more special to have.

I got there, and the Oriole did undoubtably have that magic sound that only an 85-year-old guitar can have. It also had strings that were an inch off the fretboard, even after a neck reset, a bridge that was bellying so bad that it looked domed, almost no saddle left to shave down, and the general feeling of a wooden structure that was in the middle of slowly imploding.

I thanked the seller for his time, put my money back in my pocket, and went back home to my Waterloo.

I'm not saying there aren't any vintage guitars I'd trade it for, but that was a real sobering moment.

pagedr · #12 06-18-2022, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cc132

A great Waterloo is worth holding out for. I'm currently on my second, a Scissortail, that I've had for years. It was my only guitar for a couple of years and did just fine.

I bought it because I played a Kalamazoo Oriole, which it's based on, about a decade ago. I'm still kicking myself for not buying that one. It remains one of the most strikingly good guitars I've ever played.

Yesterday, an actual Oriole showed up on Craigslist locally. I couldn't believe it. I ran to the bank and got cash, and then met up with the seller. I was already making plans on selling the Waterloo on my way there. As much as I love it, an original would just be so much more special to have.

I got there, and the Oriole did undoubtably have that magic sound that only an 85-year-old guitar can have. It also had strings that were an inch off the fretboard, even after a neck reset, a bridge that was bellying so bad that it looked domed, almost no saddle left to shave down, and the general feeling of a wooden structure that was in the middle of slowly imploding.

I thanked the seller for his time, put my money back in my pocket, and went back home to my Waterloo.

I'm not saying there aren't any vintage guitars I'd trade it for, but that was a real sobering moment.

Yeah that's the problem with those old Kzoos, they were so lightly built that many didn't survive, and many of the ones that did have serious issues. Still some good ones floating around but they're definitely becoming harder to find.

_DKE_ · #13 06-18-2022, 12:14 PM

First, let me say thanks for all the responses. This is my first thread on AGF and it’s great to be surrounded by such knowledgeable kindred spirits.

Second, I’m glad to see that so many others love the waterloos. I’m lucky enough to have a lot of work through the end of the year and in to the next and lord knows that the old acoustics I own don’t love touring. The Waterloos are my pick for old sounding/small/new guitars and this thread has been extremely helpful

Rudy4 · #14 06-18-2022, 12:33 PM

I've played a couple of the Waterloos and although they have a better tone and improvements over the instruments they were designed to honor, they wouldn't be a choice for me.

There's nothing particularly magic in how they are made and I've often marveled at both their popularity and the fact that none of the other off shore producers haven't moved towards capturing some of their market.

There's always the mojo associated with Bill Collings and them being made in America, so there's that.

I've wondered to myself if Collings might be aware of a few competitors tooling up to offer copy cat designs of Bill's work. That might explain their lack of any push to reestablish the manufacturing operations, but then again it might boil down to a combination of all the other factors such as scarcity of trained labor and the uncertainty of the economic situation that holds them back.

Collings is a great company and they certainly had a great thing going with a firm lock on the concept of producing better built and better sounding versions of "catalog" guitars.

cc132 · #15 06-18-2022, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rudy4

There's nothing particularly magic in how they are made

A lot of them are ladder braced, for one thing. There aren't any other production ladder-braced guitars, to my knowledge. If you want a ladder-braced guitar, your options are Waterloo, something from a small builder like Fraulini or Hauver, or vintage.

Waterloos used to be a great value proposition. My first one was, if I remember correctly, $1200 used. My second one was a brand-new Scissortail, which I think I got for $1700. For what they are, who made them, and how few similar options exist, they were a bargain.

I played a WL-K at Austin Vintage Guitars recently that was, hands down, the lightest built new guitar I've ever played. It almost felt like it was made out of balsa wood. It was also supremely responsive and fun to play. I haven't played any other new guitars recently that matched its lightness.

I have to admit, when I see rarer models selling for $4k or more, I start to wonder if they really make sense. You can get a lot of guitar for that money, and I'm not sure that a Waterloo is where I'd look to spend that kind of cash. But when you find them for a good price? They are a great buy, in my opinion.