Vintage Martin Tenor vs. Collings UT1?

:) Those are so totally different in tone, feel and appearance that I don't think they compare well.

The Collings sounds more like a little guitar to me - a really awesome, great-sounding responsive little guitar. The Martin - even in Tenor - has that really light construction, really mellow on the one hand, potentially loud on the other, but always very 'uke' sounding.

I feel like the Collings has more bite, better fingerpicking sound.

The Martin - I think sounds better strummed, but that's a total generalization.

It's the player, not the instrument, that gets the sound you want, but for me - if I was going to do classic uke tunes, melody style, or jazz - I'd want the Martin. Folk, fingerstyle, blues, I'd want the Collings. Oversimplified, but that's how I'd break it down.
 
Jnobianchi said:
:) Those are so totally different in tone, feel and appearance that I don't think they compare well.

The Collings sounds more like a little guitar to me - a really awesome, great-sounding responsive little guitar. The Martin - even in Tenor - has that really light construction, really mellow on the one hand, potentially loud on the other, but always very 'uke' sounding.

I feel like the Collings has more bite, better fingerpicking sound.

The Martin - I think sounds better strummed, but that's a total generalization.

It's the player, not the instrument, that gets the sound you want, but for me - if I was going to do classic uke tunes, melody style, or jazz - I'd want the Martin. Folk, fingerstyle, blues, I'd want the Collings. Oversimplified, but that's how I'd break it down.
Click to expand...


I completely agree with Jnobianchi. The Collings have more definition and more punch, at least to my ears. The Martins have the advantage of old wood but I think they both are lighter builds.
I also think the Collings ukes sound great when new but will continue to sound better while the Martin is probably set as far as the tone goes.
 
Modeled after Martins...yes, but thats probably as far as they go (apart from using the same basic woods). I think the Collings is probably braced differently and has a different top wood thickness. I can't verify that at the moment, but I remember reading something in an old post about those differences.....
 
Aloha Aaron,
Here is my 50's Martin Tenor...thin fast neck with Martin 620 Fleurocarbons..medium weigh, deep rich sweet sound, medium volume...nice tone, clean sound..
 
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Collings fan's here and Collings for sure! But just a warm reminder, the bridge string slots of Collings are cut according to their original strings (perhaps just a little bit wider), so if you want to change the original high-G string to a low-G, you have to widen the bridge string slot. :)
 
smellofstrings said:
Collings fan's here and Collings for sure! But just a warm reminder, the bridge string slots of Collings are cut according to their original strings (perhaps just a little bit wider), so if you want to change the original high-G string to a low-G, you have to widen the bridge string slot. :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not crazy about those style bridges :(
 
smellofstrings said:
Collings fan's here and Collings for sure! But just a warm reminder, the bridge string slots of Collings are cut according to their original strings (perhaps just a little bit wider), so if you want to change the original high-G string to a low-G, you have to widen the bridge string slot. :)
Click to expand...

That alone will not work very well. Changing from high-G to low-G tuning will make the low-G string intonate poorly,.....playing very sharp. On a low-G setup the saddle position for that string will be set back further (increased scale length), so it's just not the slot width to consider when switching from high-G to low-G.
 
I emailed Collings about this issue awhile back and they replyed that no modifications need to be made when going to a low G string on their ukes.
 
joejeweler said:
That alone will not work very well. Changing from high-G to low-G tuning will make the low-G string intonate poorly,.....playing very sharp. On a low-G setup the saddle position for that string will be set back further (increased scale length), so it's just not the slot width to consider when switching from high-G to low-G.
Click to expand...

I'm not worried about that. I'm a guitar/ukulele tech, so I can put a new saddle in if need be, or any other modifications that may be needed.
 
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