About John: Equipment: Acoustic

2000 Collings SJ
Bill Collings in Austin makes about 150 instruments a year, and I bought this one brand new from Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto, CA. This "Small Jumbo" was his flagship model at NAMM in 2000 and features a maple top, curly mape back and sides, and an ebony fretboard. Big sound without being boomy, and plays like a dream. I love the green crushed velvet inside the case, too...

1992 Taylor 420
Another instrument I bought new (also from Gryphon, coincidentally), the Taylor 420 (a 410 with Rosewood back, sides, and neck) has been my main gigging guitar for nearly 15 years now. It's outfitted with a Fishman thinline pickup (in 1993, by Frank Ford at Gryphon in Palo Alto), and has been refretted once (by Steve Neal at the Blue Guitar in San Diego), and had the bridge replaced (by Larry Brown at Boulevard Music in Los Angeles) after a particularly hot day of sitting in the car popped it off. Despite the abuse this puppy has taken over the years it remains a top notch instrument, and very few guitars outplay it, either in tone, volume, or pure playability.

2006 Eastman 615
I finally got rid of my Epiphone mandolin in the summer of '06 and picked up this beauty at the Fifth String in Berkeley, CA. Eastman, a Chinese company, has been making violins and archtop guitars by hand for decades, and recently got into mandolins with an incredible line. The sound jumps out of this thing, and even my big hands don't have too hard of a time picking it!

1999 Flint Hill Dobro
Nothing to write home about, but it's what I learned on, so I'm sentimental...