Collings D1A Hill Country - Adirondack Spruce & Honduran Mahogany #36065

The Collings D1A Hill Country is a guitar born of tradition, vision, and devotion, carrying forward the spirit of the late Bill Collings. Few figures in modern lutherie have influenced the craft as deeply as Bill, whose unrelenting commitment to precision and artistry redefined what a handmade guitar could be. His team in Austin continues to honor that legacy with instruments that embody both soul and engineering mastery, and the Hill Country series represents the most personal expression of that philosophy. This D1A captures the timeless pairing of Adirondack spruce and Honduran mahogany, elevated through a build and voicing approach that coaxes every ounce of resonance, balance, and vitality from the wood.

The Adirondack spruce top sets the stage with its legendary headroom and dynamic power, while the Honduran mahogany back and sides provide warmth, clarity, and a woody immediacy that feels both articulate and deeply rooted. The Hill Country construction and scalloped Sitka spruce X-bracing pattern, designed without a tongue brace, give the guitar an especially open and responsive voice. The result is an instrument that projects with authority yet retains a sweetness and nuance that invites the player to explore every detail of touch. At just 4 pounds 7 ounces, the guitar feels alive and effortless in hand, resonating with an intimacy that grows richer with each note.

Visual details echo the care poured into its sound. The tortoise body binding frames the mahogany with quiet elegance, perfectly matched by the hand-poured tortoise pickguard, rosette ring, wedge, and heel cap. Ebony is chosen for the fingerboard, bridge, pins, and endpin, its depth of color serving as a striking contrast to the golden hues of spruce and mahogany. Gold mother-of-pearl dots shimmer against the fingerboard, understated yet refined. The peghead veneer in ebony carries no logo on its face, only a stamped mark on the back, allowing the instrument to speak for itself without ornamentation.

The neck, carved from Honduran mahogany, is shaped in the Hill Country profile. Full and substantial but never cumbersome, it transitions gently from a modified C into a soft modified V, with rounded fingerboard edges that make extended playing a joy. Aged bone is used for both nut and cutthrough saddle, ensuring tonal integrity and clarity across the fretboard. Medium 18% nickel-silver frets and a compound radius from 14 to 26 inches allow for both smooth chordal work and expressive lead playing, all supported by the rock-solid stability of a mortise and tenon hybrid neck joint and a fully adjustable truss rod. Relic nickel Waverly tuners complete the vintage aesthetic while offering steadfast reliability.

Finished in a high gloss, ultra-thin nitrocellulose lacquer on the body and a high gloss satin on the neck, the D1A Hill Country feels as alive to the touch as it looks. The 25 1/2 inch scale length provides both snap and sustain, while the ebony belly-style bridge with 2 5/16 inch spacing invites expressive right-hand articulation. Delivered with D’Addario EJ-17 strings and housed in a deluxe hardshell case, it is ready for the stage, the studio, or the quiet solitude of personal playing.

The Collings D1A Hill Country is more than an instrument. It is a continuation of Bill Collings’ dream that guitars should inspire their players with every note, a dream carried forward in wood, wire, and voice. It sings with authority, grace, and the enduring spirit of its maker, a guitar that feels destined to become a lifelong companion.

Other specifications Include:

• Top Adirondack spruce
• Back & Sides Honduran Mahogany
• Construction Hill Country Build and Voicing
• Neck Honduran mahogany
• Body Binding Tortoise
• Fingerboard Binding Ebony
• Peghead Binding None
• Bridge Ebony belly-style with 2 5/16" spacing
• Fingerboard Ebony with gold MOP dots
• Fingerboard Radius 14" - 26" compound
• Bridge Pins/End Pin Ebony
• Nut Aged bone, 1 3/4"
• Saddle Aged bone, cutthrough
• Neck Profile Hill Country (large) Full but not overly chunky Modified C to Modified V with a rounded fingerboard edge.
• Peghead Profile Square with volute
• Neck Joint Mortise & tenon hybrid
• Truss Rod Fully adjustable
• Frets Medium 18% nickel-silver
• Peghead Veneer Ebony with no Collings Logo on front and stamped logo on back
• Tuners Relic Nickel Waverly
• Backstrip 1-style (Walnut)
• Rosette Hand-poured ring from matching pickguard set
• Scale Length 25 1/2"
• Brace Material Sitka spruce
• Brace Pattern Hill Country scalloped X-brace (no tongue brace)
• Body Finish High Gloss ultra-thin nitrocellulose lacquer
• Neck Finish High Gloss Satin ultra-thin nitrocellulose lacquer
• Pickguard Hand-poured tortoise w/ matching rosette ring, wedge, and heel cap
• Strings D'Addario EJ-17
• Case Deluxe hardshell case
• 4 lbs 7 oz
• 36065

For more information about the Collings D1A HC, please contact us.

Product Images

Product Videos

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Collings OM1A Hill Country-Adirondack Spruce & Honduran Mahogany - No Talking Demo with Matt Chulka

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Behind the Scenes at the Bourgeois Guitars Factory with Master Luthier Dana Bourgeois