The black and white ladder-braced Waterloo is built very much akin to a mid-1930's Kalamazoo KG-14. It features a spruce bridgeplate, protein-based glue, and a lightweight build of solid mahogany back and sides and spruce top. The construction is simple, just as the 1930's originals were, but the workmanship is all Collings. The guitar is beautifully built, right down to the saddle fit and fretwork.

The WL-14 sings with the focused low end and punchy midrange you'd hope it to; it's a top-notch ragtime and blues picker, but that's likely not a surprise!

In order to keep the pricing nice and low, the guitar is built with an unspecified spruce top (red, white, Sitka -- whatever they have is what gets used). The satin finish, although perfectly applied, is thin and not sanded or buffed out. The body features binding only on the top, and is without a rosette. The soundhole is bound, in keeping with tradition, and the aged white pickguard is the same shape as what you'd find on a 1930's Kalamazoo. The guitar's neck is built with a rosewood fingerboard and simple dots; and this version features an adjustable truss rod (although the model can be ordered with a T-bar reinforcement). Vintage style Stewart MacDonald Golden Age tuners, a silkscreened logo, and an ebony nut continue upon the vintage / budget theme.

The guitar plays, feels, and sounds astonishingly "right" for lack of a better term. Blindfolded you'd be hard pressed to hear the difference between this ladder-braced Collings WL-14L and a really good original Kalamazoo original. You will certainly notice a difference though -- thanks to the Collings' perfect set-up, and perfectly located frets. Unlike the Kalamazoo, the Collings WL-14 plays in tune, and plays easily.

Comfortable neck carve with a contemporary feel and manageable size. 1-3/4" nut width, 24-3/4" scale, 2-3/8" string spread at the bridge. Bone saddle, ebony bridge pins. L-00 size body, with a lower bout 14.25" across. Serial # 359.

All that and a nice hardshell case too.