This week marked a small but meaningful shift in my guitar world. After months of reaching instinctively for the Clapton Strat—whether for a quick catch-up, a short burst of phrasing, running scales up and down the neck, or simply to unwind—I finally gave her a well-deserved rest. Back in her case she went, resting like a veteran after a long tour.
In her place on the stand now sits the Collings 290 DC S. And she didn’t just take the spot—she owned it.
The 290 has been surprising me in all the best ways. From the very first unplugged strum, she gave off an amplified resonance—as if there was a subtle speaker inside her body. That raw, vocal presence in her acoustic tone immediately caught my ear. It wasn’t just volume—it was voice. And when I plugged her into Love Notes, she didn’t just speak—she sang. That gritty, earthy roar felt alive, expressive, and honest. No frills. No fuss. Just tone.
Even when rolling off the tone knob, the clarity stayed intact. She didn’t get muddy or lose definition. Whether I was fingerpicking mellow blues licks or digging into chunky rock chords, the 290 responded with warmth and bite in equal measure.
What made this shift even more meaningful is realising how little I miss the bells and whistles—the toggles, the multiple pickups. With just a single P-90 and no toggle switch in sight, the 290 proves that less can be more. She’s raw, stripped-down, but full of soul. The kind of guitar that doesn’t ask for attention but earns it.
There’s a certain joy in discovering a guitar that doesn’t replace another, but stands tall in its own identity. As Clapton rests, the 290 rises—not as a backup, but as a worthy co-pilot in this ongoing journey.