Collings and Julian Lage team up for a signature electric guitar, the 470 JL

NAMM 2021 isn't taking place in the physical realm this year, but you'll find all the hottest January gear launches in our guide to the biggest guitar, amp and pedal releases of 2021 so far.

Collings has paired with jazz and modern guitar virtuoso Julian Lage on an acoustic guitar model, the signature OM1 JL. But now the company and Lage have joined together on a first-ever collaboration: the new – and electric – 470 JL.

The new guitar boasts fully-hollow construction, with a trestle block for stability and feedback resistance.

Features include a solid Honduran mahogany body with a maple laminate top, a set Honduran mahogany neck with a C/V hybrid profile and a 12-inch radius 22-fret ebony fingerboard.

Other specs include a slightly-longer-than-standard 24 7/8” scale length, relic nickel Waverly tuners with vintage oval buttons, a pinned ebony with tune-o-matic saddle top bridge and a Bigsby B3 vibrato tailpiece.

Collings Julian Lage electric model

(Image credit: Collings Guitars)

A pair of Ron Ellis Ellisonics, a higher-wound pickup with the “fidelity and clarity of a true vintage single coil” are controlled via master volume and two tone knobs.

Aesthetic touches, meanwhile, include an ultra-thin nitrocellulose lacquer with a hand-rubbed “Antiqued” patina, an acrylic tortoise or parchment pickguard, non-grain ivoroid body binding and a new “haircut” peghead profile.

The 470 JL is available in Antiqued Black, Antiqued Blonde and Antiqued Sunburst. For more information, head  to Collings Guitars.

Richard Bienstock

Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.