The pre-war era of American flattop guitar making has come to be known as “golden” for a reason. Lauded for its short but brilliant periods of construction innovation, the years from 1930-1942 were filled with new instrument runs that featured bracing, fret access, and body dimension changes that would define the features and sounds of the modern acoustic guitar. Emerging out of our fascination with this era of guitar making history, Collings is proud to offer the CJ35.

Featuring a mahogany back and slope-shouldered body, this variation of our CJ model incorporates a non-scalloped bracing configuration with three tone bars and a short 24 7/8″ scale length. This design provides the CJ35 with a focused voice and powerful, full-bodied highs, making it equally well-suited for a variety of playing styles.

CJ vs CJ Mh vs CJ-35 vs CJ-45 T

While all CJ models share the same body dimensions, key differences are outlined below.

• Our CJ is a standard build featuring East Indian rosewood back and sides with grained ivoroid binding on the body, fingerboard, and peghead, a belly bridge, and a 3-style backstrip.
• Our CJ Mh is a standard build featuring Honduran mahogany back and sides with tortoise binding on the body, fingerboard, and peghead, a belly bridge, and a walnut backstrip.
• Our CJ-35 is vintage-inspired featuring Honduran mahogany back and sides with non-grained ivoroid body binding and no purfling, no binding on the fingerboard and peghead, a Wenge fingerboard and straight bridge, shorter 24 7/8″ scale length, and non-scalloped X-bracing with three tone bars.
• Our CJ-45 T is our Traditional build with a fundamental-focused tone featuring Honduran mahogany back and sides, non-grained ivoroid body binding with no purfling, no binding on the fingerboard and peghead, a fully-exposed rosette, East Indian rosewood fingerboard with ebony straight bridge, shorter 24 7/8″ scale length, and Wartime scalloped X-bracing.

*Example shown with optional sunburst top