Collings 290 Dark Walnut w/ Throbaks

Exposed double black humbuckers, rich Walnut finish, black plastics - nothing more brooding and 70s than this newest 290 build from Collings!

1970s guitars often get a bad rap. It's widely known that they don't quite measure up to their predecessors of the 50s and 60s, but that doesn't mean they weren't cool. In fact, they still are.

If you can find a way to get around a heavyweight body and land a guitar with great sounding pickups, you can often hit the 70s guitar lottery. The idea that you could also find an old 50s guitar that assumed the identity of a 70s guitar is at play here. And that's how this newest Collings 290 was born.

With its deep, dark Walnut finish over Mahogany body, and a pair of exposed double black Throbak humbuckers, this build screams woodshop makeover. Yet when you pick it up and play it, you realize it's anything but a stoner's high school project. This single-cut solidbody never sheds the attitude, but it most certainly incorporates finesse and refinement that makes it play and feel like the best of what mid/late 50s Kalamazoo electrics had to offer. The medium-fat Collings neck aims right at that smooth late 50s carve, while the Throbak ESG-102Bs provide that clear, edgy early Pat # tone. The wraptail maintains the immediacy and fundamental attack we love in a good Special, with the power and punch a great pair of humbuckers can offer. If you haven't already figured it out yet, we love HB 290 builds!

There's something understated and almost mysterious about how this 290 presents itself. But behind it all lies a guitar fit for nearly any situation, and quite capable of wowing even the most discerning and demanding of guitarists.

Paired with hardshell case.