Collings 620 Mahogany Top Full Body Sunburst w/Throbaks

If you love 335s, and you love Les Pauls, and you've spent any time with Collings' 470 JL, you already know the neighborhood we're talking about. This one just lives at the warm end of the street.

We've had quite a few 620 models come through, and they've all come with flamed maple tops. We thought it'd be cool to spec one with a mahogany top, so when this one arrived at the shop it got our attention immediately (and it's the whole reason we're excited to tell you about it).

Quick refresher on the model, in case the 620 is new to you. It's a semi-hollow, 1 5/8" of Honduran mahogany with a solid maple center block running down the middle, a genuinely carved top rather than a pressed one, and an extra-long mortise and tenon neck joint that makes the whole guitar feel alive and resonant. Collings says it blends the resonance of a semi-hollow with the artistic execution of a carved archtop, and honestly, that's about right. It's the guitar for folks who want 335 air without giving up Les Paul focus.

Okay. Now take that maple top off and put mahogany there instead.

Maple over mahogany is the classic recipe for a reason, and we love it. The maple brings the attack and the top end and that little bit of snap that keeps the mahogany underneath from getting too thick about things. It's the Les Paul formula. It works.

But go all mahogany and you're after something else on purpose. You give up a little of that bite (just the tiniest bit), and what you get back is warmth, wood, and a big fat midrange that sits beautifully in a band. Think about the difference between a LP Standard and a Special, or what happens to a 335 when you pull the brightness out of the recipe. The attack gets softer, the note gets rounder, and there's a lot more going on in the middle, which is where a guitar actually spends most of its night.

The thing that keeps it from getting murky is that maple center block, still doing its job right up the middle. Focus, sustain, and a tight low end from the block. Warmth and complexity from the mahogany all around it. That's a real departure from both a standard 620 and an all-mahogany solidbody, and it's a combination you just don't run across quite as often.

The looks are a treat too. It's a full body sunburst, so the burst wraps around the back and sides instead of stopping at the top, and on mahogany that gives you a deep reddish glow coming through the grain rather than chasing figure. Tortoise binding, tortoise pickguard, amber knobs, Waverly tuners. It's warmer and more vintage-leaning than the ivoroid-and-radio-knob look you usually get on a 620, and it suits the wood perfectly.