Collings a “factory guitar”? Why?

[TDavis]

Several people around here have labeled Collings guitars as “factory guitars”, seemingly lumping them in with builders like Martin, Taylor & Gibson that are basically all made by computer run machinery, and very little if any hands-on work on any of their instruments.

I always considered Collings a “boutique” guitar like Bourgeois, Huss & Dalton, Lowden, Thompson, and others that produced a fraction of the guitars even on a monthly basis than the other builders spit out.

Was Collings a boutique guitar up until 2017, when Bill Collings passed away? What caused them to be just another corporate manufacturer, rather than one that still did a lot by hand?

[warfrat73]

It's because of production methods and output, not quality.

[warfrat73]

Have a look at the photo tour here, it'll give you a sense of it: https://www.collingsguitars.com/shop...ood-selection/

vs

Huss and Dalton:

[Graylocks]

Originally Posted by warfrat73

Have a look at the photo tour here, it'll give you a sense of it: https://www.collingsguitars.com/shop...ood-selection/

vs

Huss and Dalton:

Juxtaposing the two doesn't necessarily mean one is a factory and the other isn't. I'd call both shops and, of course, Collings is a much larger shop than H & D. But Martin, Taylor, have exponentially larger output than Collings - more than 100,000 a year. Those are factories!

[warfrat73]

No, juxtaposing them doesn't make one a factory and the other not... I commented that it would give a "sense."

But it does show the difference in scale.

And the Collings shop tour shows them using things like CNC laser cutting, and shows workers preforming the same task multiple times, rather than performing multiple tasks on one instrument like we see in the H&D video.

Feel free to google it and see what the rest of the internet has to say about.

[vanpatten]

Does it matter if the instruments leaving are superb and free of flaws? Should we expect to pay less because it’s made in a “factory” environment? I don’t hear a lot of Collings QC issues. Martin, on the other hand…

[LakewoodM32Fan]

It's an interesting question, right? And one I don't propose to have an answer to. I don't think CNC is in and of itself the point at which one becomes a factory vs. a small shop/boutique builder. Driftwood Guitars and Goodall (both currently two-person operations) have CNC machines.

The concept of "having enough staff so that everyone does just one thing repetitively to the guitars" is an intriguing point, one where I personally would consider a starting point for a discussion of "has this shop now become a factory?" I don't know Collings' operation well enough to say definitively that it has happened there, but you only need to briefly glance at factory tour videos for Martin, Taylor and Gibson to know that is exactly what's going on over there.

And then again, recent team pictures of Bourgeois and Santa Cruz show upwards of 20+ people employed at each...which is more than Huss and Dalton which according to a 2020 Artisan Guitar blog has "five craftsmen". Admittedly those team pictures at Bourgeois and SCGC likely show support and office staff, not only people who work on the guitars themselves.

Meanwhile, a Texas business spotlight on Collings (date of article approximately 2017) says Collings has grown from a one man operation to 90-plus employees. To my mind, 90+ is right around the ballpark of where I'd start to consider a place closer to a factory than a boutique.

And as others have said, I do not equate being labeled a factory to putting out mass market quality guitars. I absolutely believe that a factory can keep to its boutique quality roots as long as the desire to do so remains embedded in the company's DNA and business+operations practices. It's when a factory decides to abandon certain practices that lead to a decline in quality for the sake of creating more product that one then crosses that threshold into making "mass market" guitars, which I certainly don't think Collings does. And it's clear from Martin and Taylor (I'm less familiar with Gibson) that those two factories can do both mass market and boutique style instruments as I've played and owned inspiring guitars from both of those companies.

[SRL]

Why do we use machines and automation in production? Because they are more accurate, reliable, and cost-efficient than humans. (Machines don't come in to work hungover or take two-hour lunch breaks)

Why do we practice division of labor? Because there are massive economic gains to be had in specialization and assembly-line production.

Companies that use these things get lambasted for being "factories" ... and yet, virtually every modern convenience we enjoy, from Trucks to TVs to Twinkies, is far more reliable and affordable because of factory automation. We all benefit greatly from it, we all know why—but to do the same for guitars is somehow a problem? Ridiculous.

What matters is the quality of the finished product, not how it's built.

[hifivic]

I saw plenty of "hand work" going on at the Martin factory.

[jklotz]

There is no reason a factory can't make a great guitar. They buy materials in larger quantities so they have a bigger pool to pick from than small shops. They have better machinery for tighter tolerances than a small shop. They have more resources for R & D. It's just a matter of how they allocate those resources, be it for higher quality or to produce higher numbers.

I've got a Collings and an Huss and Dalton. The H&D has a bit more of a "hand made" feel to it, but it is by no means a better or worse guitar. They are both great guitars that I am quite fortunate to own.

[rampix]

I was thinking the same thing Vic. As far as I can tell there is a lot of hand work going on in the Martin "factory". From hand carved braces, to hand set necks, bindings, etc.

[thingthatisdone]

Because they are not a factory. They are a small ~100 person operation where one person builds either an acoustic, electric, archtop, or mandolin from start to finish. However, I believe the Waterloos are factory-made.

[Zissou Intern]

And, yet, doesn't Collings have one person, Bruce Van Wart, voicing a majority, if not all, of the Collings guitar tops? Does that happen at Martin, Gibson, Taylor, Guild, Larrivee?

[Matts67]

...who cares? It's a matter of semantics...buy and play what you enjoy playing. Arguing over the technicality of whether something is "hand made" or "factory made" is kinda pointless.

[DBW]

The Keebler elves work in a factory too even though it's in a tree. Mmm- Fudge Stripes. I think there are only 10 of them.