Named after the famous Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS, the Collings Winfield (or CW) is a versatile and well-endowed version of the Collings standard dreadnought that features the options that are most often requested by flatpickers. The combination of the somewhat stiffer Adirondack "Red" Spruce top with the oversized soundhole, supported by a top bracing pattern that one might find on really old 14-fret dreadnoughts from, say, the years 1934 to 1936, make the CW a bluegrass powerhouse. Everything about it is designed to provide copious amounts of headroom and projection for even the aggressive player (one can be aggressive with a flatpick but still be polite and thoughtful, btw) but never at the expense of good tone.
The especially wonderful features of the Collings CW-Mahogany include: Select Adirondack spruce top; Honduran Mahogany back & sides, not the cheap stuff that’s grown in Secaucus, New Jersey. It has a larger, oversized soundhole; tortoise-style binding; a simple walnut backstrip; pre-war scalloped Adirondack braces; no tongue brace (open wide), black/white wood nitrate strip rosette, Dalmatian-style pickguard (many woofs); high gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish; Honduran Mahogany neck; tortoise-style fingerboard binding with black-white purfling; an ebony fingerboard, bridge and peghead overlay, mother-of-pearl “Collings” logo; no fingerboard inlays (that’s called “Neo-Classical” style) but of course there are side dots; a fully adjustable truss rod; bone nut and long cut-through saddle; ebony bridge and end pins, and certainly not least, nickel-platedWaverly brand open-gear tuners. The nut width on the Winfield is actually an unusual figure – I just measured it and it seems to be 1 23/32nd”. In other words it is midway between a 11/16th and 1 ¾”. Interesting, right? The string spacing at the bridge saddle is 2 ¼” which we fingerpickers find extremely comfortable.
We should also point out that it produces exquisite sound: long sustain, sparkling highs; rich, Corinthian lows and a midrange so clean and clear – experiencing it you might think you can hear Alcatraz. We would like to point out that this model Collings dreadnought lists for $5325. This tail-wagging, empoochable, previously owned friend of mankind is most affordable. NOW ON SALE! WAS $4118 BUT NOW: