Guitaripedia

Every guitar has a story.

Collings

I-35

Named for the interstate through Austin and carved from solid wood. No waiting on a 1958 original required.

James Valentine of Maroon 5 had been holding out for a vintage ES-335, the way a lot of guitar players do. A friend of his had a semi-hollow from a shop in Austin, named after the interstate. By 2011, when a camera crew walked through his rig, there was one in it.

Introduced
2006
Type
Hollowbody electric (semi-hollow)
Class
Production
Read the story · 3 min

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The short version

  1. 1958

    The other guitar

    Gibson’s ES-335 arrives, 16 inches wide and made of laminate. Not this guitar.

  2. 2006

    Summer NAMM

    Collings shows its first electrics. The I-35 is the double-cut semi.

  3. 2011

    The plywood one

    Collings adds the I-35 LC, a laminate version, and James Valentine shows off his I-35 on camera.

  4. 2020

    Main guitar

    Buck Meek calls his I-35, with ThroBak pickups, his main guitar in Big Thief.

  5. 2021

    LC Vintage

    A looser laminate version, with a thinner neck, joins the family.

  6. 2026

    Frisell

    Bill Frisell says his I-30 and I-35 are “incredible.”

Side A

A1

Holding out

A lot of guitar players are waiting on a guitar they may never own. For James Valentine of Maroon 5, it was a vintage ES-335. He’d been holding out for one. A friend of his had a Collings I-35.

By 2011, when he walked a camera through his rig, an I-35 was in it, and his review was short and warm:

It sounds great, it’s really warm, it’s got all those good 335 sort of characteristics.

Onstage he played “She Will Be Loved” on it, starting on the neck pickup for the quiet voice-and-guitar opening and switching to the bridge when the song turns into a rock song. That’s live. The record came out in 2002, years before Collings built its first I-35.

A2

Carved, not pressed

Collings is an acoustic shop at heart. It started making electrics in 2006, out of Bill Collings’s interest in carved-top instruments, and the I-35 showed up at Summer NAMM that year alongside the City Limits and the 290. It’s named for Austin’s interstate. (The 290 got the other road.)

The 335 comparison is going to come up, so let’s get it straight. Gibson’s ES-335, from 1958, is 16 inches wide and made of laminate, with a maple block down the middle. The I-35 is 15 inches, smaller, lighter, and a bit more angular, a 335 pared down. And it isn’t laminate at all. Tony Nobles, reviewing it in 2006:

In contrast to the traditional method of using pressed plywood and bent sides, Collings carves the back and sides from a single slab of mahogany. A solid top is then carved from bookmatched maple. The body is heavily chambered.

There’s still a maple center block, which is what lets a semi-hollow get loud without howling back at the amp. The back runs over the heel like a violin’s, and the heel is bound and carved to match. That’s the acoustic shop showing.

A3

Why the pickups are wound light

The pickups are Lollar Low Wind Imperials, humbuckers wound a little weaker than usual, and that’s on purpose. The solid-wood I-35, Collings said, “can get muddy with a higher wound pickup.” A carved mahogany and maple body already has plenty of warmth. Hotter pickups would just pile on more.

The very first I-35 reviewed had fancier parts, a Brazilian rosewood board and a custom pair of Lollar PAF-style pickups. The hardware has changed since then. The idea hasn’t.

Flip the record · By the numbers

  • 15"

    Body width. An inch narrower than a 335.

  • 1⅝"

    Body depth. The same as the solid 290, with air inside.

  • 24⅞"

    Scale length, a hair longer than a Gibson’s and shorter than a Fender’s.

  • 2006

    The year Collings, an acoustic shop, started building electrics.

Side B

B1

The plywood one

Here’s the twist. Five years after carving an answer to the 335 out of solid wood, Collings built a laminate one. The I-35 LC arrived in 2011 with maple laminate top, back, and sides. At NAMM that year the story was Bill Collings experimenting with plywood, chasing “a sound that you can’t quite get out of solid wood.” The brief was David Grissom’s 1959 ES-335. A looser-laminate LC Vintage, with a thinner neck, followed in 2021.

Those are their own guitars. Some of the players people connect with Collings semis are playing the LC or the Vintage, not this one. Check before you copy anybody’s rig.

B2

Main guitar

Buck Meek of Big Thief doesn’t hedge: “I have an I-35 with ThroBak humbuckers, and that’s my main guitar in Big Thief.” On tour in 2021, an I-35 Deluxe with ThroBaks carried “Real Love” and “Masterpiece.” Years later, it’s still on his gear lists.

Anthony da Costa calls it “one of my favorite guitar models of all time,” and his own is the original design, a solid maple top on a mahogany body. About his Collings guitars on a tour with Aoife O’Donovan, he was blunter: “They are the only guitars that I play.” And Bill Frisell, in 2026: “I love my Collings—I have an I-30 and an I-35 that are awesome, they’re incredible.”

Nobody’s building 1958 again. Plenty of players spend years waiting on one. Valentine was holding out for one, and by 2011 there was an I-35 in his rig. Meek calls his the main guitar in his band. Da Costa said Collings guitars were the only ones he played. None of them had to wait on a 1958 for any of that.

Put this on

You’ve read about it. Now hear it. Here’s what this guitar sounds like, and what to listen for.

  1. Premier Guitar · 2011

    Rig Rundown: Maroon 5’s James Valentine

    Valentine walks through his I-35 and tells the story of holding out for a vintage 335. He explains how he plays “She Will Be Loved” on it live, neck pickup for the quiet start, bridge for the loud end.

    Watch it on YouTube

  2. Collings Guitars · 2017

    I-35 vs I-35 LC with Anthony da Costa

    Da Costa plays his own solid-wood I-35 against the laminate LC. The best way to hear what the carved body does.

    Watch it on YouTube

The cast

The people, and the specific guitars, that made the legend.

  • 2020

    Buck Meek

    I-35 with ThroBak humbuckers

    “My main guitar in Big Thief.” He also tours an I-35 Deluxe.

  • 2011

    James Valentine

    I-35

    Maroon 5’s guitarist, who’d been holding out for a vintage 335. Not the guitar on Songs About Jane, which came out before the I-35 existed.

  • 2017

    Anthony da Costa

    Original-design I-35

    Solid maple top, mahogany back and sides, ThroBak pickups. “One of my favorite guitar models of all time.”

  • 2026

    Bill Frisell

    I-35 (and an I-30)

    Owns both. The I-30 is the fully hollow one.

Liner notes

Specs, construction, rarity, value, and every source we used.

Two Lollar Low Wind Imperials on a 15-inch carved-maple semi-hollow named for Austin’s interstate — Collings electric, not an ES-335.

Body
Semi-hollow Honduran mahogany with maple center block; premium flamed maple top; unbound f-holes; non-grained ivoroid body binding. Width 15", length 17 5/8", depth 1 5/8", total length 40"
Neck
Honduran mahogany; extra-long mortise and tenon; haircut peghead, ebony veneer, MOP Collings logo; peghead unbound
Fingerboard
Rosewood, MOP long dots (5mm non-tapered); 12" radius; medium 18% nickel-silver frets (count not printed on the live page); non-grained ivoroid binding
Scale
24 7/8"
Pickups
Two Lollar Low Wind Imperial humbuckers
Hardware
Kluson ABR-1 (nickel-plated zinc w/ retaining wire); Kluson stop tailpiece (nickel-plated zinc, steel studs); nickel Gotoh tuners with Collings logo; black/cream/black pickguard; deluxe hardshell case; D'Addario NYXL1149 (.011"–.049")
Electronics
50s-style wiring; CTS 500K / Jupiter Vintage Yellow. Amber or black top-hat knobs; cream or black rings. Dealer sheets: volume and tone per pickup, 3-way
Finish
High-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer
Nut
1 11/16"
Open the full research fileConstruction details, the complete player record, production numbers, dated value estimates, and sources

Live factory I-35, 17 September 2026. Factory inches plus 5mm dots; mix flagged. Fret count not printed on the live page. MusicRadar (Neville Martin, 13 May 2012) on the I-35 LC prints 22 frets, 381 mm / 41 mm / 43 mm against this inch card — mix flagged, not averaged. I-35 Deluxe, I-35 LC, I-35 LC Deluxe, and I-35 LC Vintage are other cards. No Gibson SKU.

Construction

The job was a carved-wood semi-hollow from the shop that already made the D2H. Sitka, rosewood, and herringbone stay on the acoustic plate. This one is a hollowed mahogany body, a carved maple top, a maple stick through the middle, two Lollar Low Wind Imperials, and a name off the interstate through Austin.

Collings “Our Story” puts electrics in 2006, from Bill Collings’s interest in carved-top instruments. Wikipedia, citing Guitarist November 2006, dates the I-35, the City Limits, and the 290 to Summer NAMM that year. Vintage Guitar (Tony Nobles) reviewed the I-35 in that same November issue. Detroit Guitar’s 2025 electric roundup repeats the NAMM date. The live I-35 page does not print a first year. This plate starts in 2006.

The name is the road. Wikipedia and Nobles: Austin’s interstate, I-35. Not Highway 290. That highway is the slab (collings-290).

The silhouette is a double-cut semi-hollow at 15" wide. Nobles: pared down from a 335, slightly more angular, smaller and lighter. Construction is the keep-apart. “In contrast to the traditional method of using pressed plywood and bent sides, Collings carves the back and sides from a single slab of mahogany. A solid top is then carved from bookmatched maple. The body is heavily chambered.” The back runs over the heel like a violin; the heel is bound and carved to match. This is Austin: extra-long mortise and tenon, Lollar pickups, a haircut peghead. Not a Gibson SKU. Not an ES-335 (gibson-es-335). The 335 is a 16-inch Kalamazoo laminate with a maple block, 1958. This is a 15-inch Austin carve, 2006.

Current production is the live inches recipe in the table. The live page does not print a fret count or call the nut bone. Named examples, not a factory weight: Dave’s Guitar Shop Scarlet Sunburst 7.2 lb; Dave’s Lemon Burst 7.0 lb; Miami-Guitars aged Blonde 6 lb 14.1 oz.

The first reviews were already this guitar with different hardware. Nobles’s 2006 example: Brazilian rosewood board and peghead — an upgrade, not the current rosewood/ebony card — TonePros locking tailpiece and ABR-1-style set, Sperzel tuners with ivoroid buttons, in-house ivoroid rings, knobs, and truss cover, a custom Jason Lollar PAF-style pair, medium C, bone nut. Current standard hardware is Kluson and Gotoh. Current standard pickups are Lollar Low Wind Imperials. Brazilian is not the live recipe.

I-35 Deluxe is the same carved box with a trim package. Factory: grained ivoroid on body, fingerboard, and peghead; in-house grained-ivoroid top-hat knobs, rings, and truss cover; no pickguard. Same scale, same Lollars, same maple block. It is not this table.

I-35 LC is laminate construction, 2011. Premier Guitar (8 April 2011): maple laminate top, back, and sides; mahogany neck; TonePros; Lollar Imperials. NAMM 2011 booth tape: Bill experimenting with plywood — “a sound that you can’t quite get out of solid wood.” MusicRadar (Neville Martin, 13 May 2012) quotes Collings on David Grissom’s 1959 ES-335 as the laminate brief, and on pickup wind: low winds on the solid I-35 because it “can get muddy with a higher wound pickup,” standard winds on the LC. Current factory LC pages print Lollar Low Wind Imperials and a maple/spruce center block. Keep both. 2011 copy said a solid maple block. Running change, not a fight. MusicRadar measured the LC at 381 mm (15") wide and 41 mm at the rim, 22 medium-oval frets, 43 mm bone nut — mix flagged, not averaged. I-35 LC Deluxe is the laminate plus Deluxe trim.

I-35 LC Vintage is 2021. Guitar Player (Dave Hunter, 28 June 2021): Aaron Huff on a looser laminate — new ply and block recipes, thinner neck (0.845" at the first fret against the shop’s 0.865"), ThroBak ESG-102B, Luxe Bumblebee caps, DiMarzio 500K, soft-aged nitro. Vintage Guitar (Pete Prown, October 2021): $6,500. Hunter prints a 1.73" nut on that review guitar against the factory 1 11/16" cell; mix flagged, not averaged. Vintage card, not this table.

The other Collings electrics are other guitars. 290 is the P-90 slab named for the highway past the shop. City Limits is the carved maple-on-mahogany single-cut. SoCo is the single-cut semi, named for South Congress — Vintage Guitar (Phil Feser, April 2008). I-30 is the fully hollow Buck Meek begged for. 360 is the later offset. D2H is Sitka and East Indian rosewood, herringbone, no pickups. Same shop. Not this semi.

Bill Collings died in July 2017. “Our Story” has the shop continuing on his recipe. The I-35 is still a guitar you can order.

Players

Do not hang a Gibson ES-335 on this plate. Do not recruit SoCo, I-30, 290, or D2H players as if they were this guitar. Do not flatten every I-35 LC onto the carved-wood card.

Buck Meek. The named I-35 this plate can put in a player’s hands. Premier Guitar (23 April 2020): “I have an I-35 with ThroBak humbuckers, and that’s my main guitar in Big Thief.” He met Aaron Huff at Kerrville. Reverb News (2 December 2021) lists a Collings I-35 Deluxe with ThroBaks on “Real Love” and “Masterpiece.” Keep I-35 and Deluxe. Guitar World (30 May 2022) and Premier Guitar (22 October 2025) still list a Collings I-35. The I-30 he begged Huff to prototype — fully hollow — is the other guitar.

James Valentine. Premier Guitar Rig Rundown, 11 October 2011. A friend had an I-35; he’d been holding out for a vintage 335. “It sounds great, it’s really warm, it’s got all those good 335 sort of characteristics.” Live “She Will Be Loved”: neck pickup for the voice-and-guitar start, bridge for the rock end. The Songs About Jane record is not this guitar. Collings had not built an I-35 in 2002.

Anthony da Costa. Collings factory video, 20 March 2017: “one of my favorite guitar models of all time.” His personal I-35 is the original design — solid maple top, mahogany back and sides — with ThroBak PG-102 MXV pickups. Equipboard, via everything sundry: “They are the only guitars that I play. I’ve been jamming my Collings I-35 and Statesman on this current tour with Aoife O’Donovan.” Statesman is the trestle-braced hollow. Not this table.

Bill Frisell. Premier Guitar (18 March 2026): “I love my Collings—I have an I-30 and an I-35 that are awesome, they’re incredible.” I-30 is the hollow. This sentence is the I-35. Album-to-guitar credits unpublished here.

Also known to play stays short. Bill Nershi of String Cheese Incident: Equipboard, via Premier Guitar, mainly uses a Collings I-35. Chuck Garvey of moe.: Equipboard, via Premier Guitar Rig Rundown, I-35 with ThroBaks. Liberty Ellman’s Radiate (Premier Guitar, 4 March 2016) is an I-35 LC. Joey Landreth’s touring semi (Revv Amps, 11 September 2025) is an I-35 LC. Paul Stanley’s is an I-35 LC Vintage. Those are other cards. None invented.

Rarity

You can order a new I-35. Current production is not rare. The factory has not published I-35 unit totals this pass. Serials date a guitar. They don’t count a year. That is why a first-year census is unknown, not the chapter.

What is actually thinner: earliest 2006 examples. Deluxe, LC, LC Deluxe, and LC Vintage are other cards. They do not thin this one. Bill-era instruments sit in a different pile from a guitar you can buy tomorrow. That is age, not a census. Brazilian-board 2006 review guitars and Meek’s ThroBak main guitar are named objects. They are not a vintage I-35.

Value

Informal estimate, 17 September 2026. Not an appraisal.

Ask vs sold labeled. Celebrity lots are not-comps. No invented medians or factory counts. The live factory page does not print a street price.

New street. Named dealer asks, not a factory cart: Dave’s Guitar Shop I-35 Scarlet Sunburst $8,125; Dave’s I-35 Lemon Burst $7,780; Miami-Guitars aged Blonde $8,550. Deluxe sits higher: Dusty Strings I-35 Deluxe $9,005; Acoustic Music Works 2026 MAP on a Deluxe Acid Wash $10,025. LC and Vintage are other cards: Reverb new I-35 LC Tobacco Sunburst $6,925; Austin Guitar House I-35 LC Vintage Black $7,900. Historical lists, not 2026 street: Vintage Guitar 2020 reprint of the November 2006 review $6,000; Guitar Player June 2021 and Vintage Guitar October 2021 I-35 LC Vintage $6,500; MusicRadar May 2012 I-35 LC £3,799.

Used modern. Reverb Price Guide on the solid-wood I-35 did not print a clean USD band on the product page this pass. Flag: thin sold-comp access on the carved I-35. Reverb Price Guide on I-35 Deluxe (78 orders, Good to Mint): $3,923–$6,626. Named Deluxe solds, not a series average: 27 August 2026 Very Good $5,250; 20 July 2026 Excellent $6,000. Reverb Price Guide on I-35 LC (206 orders, Good to Mint): $3,826–$5,793. Named LC solds: 28 August 2026 Very Good $4,850; 8 August 2026 Excellent $5,800. Do not average those guides with the missing solid-wood band.

Vintage / collectible. There is no 1950s I-35. Early shop electrics from the 2006 window are used modern with age, not a vintage band. Meek’s ThroBak main guitar is one artist object. Not a comp.

See also

  • gibson-es-335 — the 1958 Kalamazoo laminate this Austin carved-wood semi is not
  • collings-290 — same 2006 NAMM electric launch; P-90 slab named for the other highway
  • collings-d2h — Sitka, rosewood, herringbone dreadnought from the same shop; not this semi

Sources

Guitars this one gets compared to, confused with, or descended from.