Bill Collings

Video

Oral History Information

Interview Date
Birth Date
Deceased Date
Job Title
Founder
Company Name
Collings Guitars

Bill Collings' passion for guitars may have started on his father’s workbench when as a boy he tinkered with woods and making things. His father’s background in engineering was also an influence and before too long Bill made up his mind that he wanted to build guitars. Unlike many luthiers, Bill really began creating the tools he needed to make a guitar. He worked to improve the tools he could buy, but mostly made what he needed himself. This idea carried over when he formed Collings Guitars in Austin, Texas and wanted to expand the production without compromising the handcrafted art of guitar making. As a result Bill engineered his own CNC machines and computers in order to free up time so that more time could be spent crafting the instrument by hand after the wood was shaped by computer driven machines.