The Collings D2A Hill Country in Sunburst is a dreadnought built with intention. It is not flashy for the sake of attention. It is designed to deliver power, headroom, and clarity in a way that feels rooted in pre-war tradition but refined through modern precision.

At the heart of this instrument is a top of Adirondack spruce, chosen for its strength and dynamic ceiling. Paired with East Indian rosewood back and sides, the result is a voice that is wide, deep, and authoritative. The low end is piano-like and focused, the midrange stays open and woody, and the trebles cut with clarity without ever getting brittle. The Hill Country scalloped X-brace pattern, built without a tongue brace and carved from Sitka spruce, gives this guitar a quick attack and dry, responsive character. It has the kind of punch and immediacy that flatpickers crave, but it remains nuanced under a lighter touch.

The Hill Country build and voicing approach sets this D2A apart. The ultra-thin nitrocellulose lacquer finish, applied in a Hill Country Vintage Satin, keeps the top lively and unrestrained. The sunburst top adds visual warmth that feels earned rather than decorative, complementing the ivoroid body binding and hand-poured tortoise pickguard set with matching rosette ring, wedge, and heel cap. The 2-style zipper backstrip and clean ebony peghead veneer, stamped logo on the back only, reinforce the understated, heritage-driven aesthetic.

Playability is equally considered. The Honduran mahogany neck features the Hill Country large profile, a full but not overly chunky carve that transitions from a modified C to a soft V with rounded fingerboard edges. It fills the hand in a confident way without slowing you down. The ebony fingerboard carries gold mother-of-pearl short diamonds and squares, set on a 14 to 26 inch compound radius for effortless chording down low and smooth lead work higher up the neck. The aged bone nut at 1 3/4 inches and cutthrough saddle, paired with a 2 5/16 inch bridge spacing, give the right balance of room and control for both flatpicking and fingerstyle.

Details matter here. The ebony belly-style bridge, ebony pins, relic nickel Waverly tuners, square peghead with volute, hybrid mortise and tenon neck joint, and fully adjustable truss rod all speak to Collings’ obsession with structural integrity and long-term stability. Strung with D’Addario EJ-17s and weighing just 4 pounds 15 ounces, this guitar feels alive in your hands.

This is a dreadnought for players who want authority without excess, tone without gimmicks. The Collings D2A Hill Country is built to be driven hard, opened up over decades, and relied on night after night. It is a serious instrument for serious players.