$275 Orangewood vs $5000 Collings Acoustic Guitar

In this video, we're going to compare a $275 Orangewood Echo Acoustic Guitar with a $5000 Collings D-1 Acoustic Guitar. We'll be unpacking the similarities and differences of these two guitars, and talk about what makes these guitars vary so vastly in price. By the end of this video, we hope to give you the info you need to make your own decision as to how much money you should spend on an acoustic guitar.

*CORRECTION: Orangewood Guitars are made in Indonesia.

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Recording Chain:
Earthworks SR25 Microphone
Universal Audio Apollo Twin
Logic Pro X
*Tracks level-matched w/ no EQ
*Both guitars used D'Addario EJ16 Phosphor Bronze Wound strings

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[MusoraMedia]

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[MusoraMedia]

Skip to the playing examples!
Fingerpicking: 1:18
Crosspicking: 4:28
Strumming: 4:48

*Correction: Orangewood Guitars are made in Indonesia.

[davidkulmaczewski]

I've seen several of these types of reviews, comparing two guitars with similar features but vastly different price points. What I would like to see now is a comparison of two guitars with similar prices, but different feature sets and lineages.
For example, both Martin and Orangewood offer a dreadnought acoustic 12 string for about $500-600 (Martin X1D12 is about $600, and Orangewood Echo 12 is $495). The Martin has a solid spruce top, laminated sides and back, a *laminated* neck, and a "Richlite" fingerboard. It has basically zero ornamentation . . . no binding anywhere, a basic rosette, and no fret markers on the fingerboard (just dots on the side). Versus the Orangewood which has a solid sitka spruce top, laminated back and sides, solid mahogany neck, and ovangkol fingerboard, with binding everywhere (body top and back, neck, and headstock), fancy fingerboard inlays, abalone rosette, and gold hardware. The Martin is made in Mexico, and the Orangewood in Indonesia.
But only one has "Martin" on the headstock.
So given a fixed amount of money, is it worth it to forsake a lot of features, both cosmetic (binding, inlays) and functional (solid vs laminated neck, wood vs synthetic fingerboard) to buy a budget version of a "top name" brand, or take a gamble on a (seemingly) much nicer but unknown one?

[stanleychytla]

For someone who is just starting to play guitar, then I believe having a good setup to ensure playability is the most important regardless of the price paid. Once a person gets to a proficiency level and knows that they will continue playing, then they can upgrade to a more expensive guitar. People's closets are full of $1, 200+ guitars that never get played because the owner lost interest. You can get to that point with the $275 guitar.

[JacobParkYusuk]

Buy the Orangewood and a nice used Honda Civic for the price of the Collings (unless you are RICH).

[roccorodriguez]

You could buy 18 orange wood guitars for the price of 1 Collings. Keep 1 for yourself and donate the other 17 to a music program where it’s needed the most.

[ranielyfire]

The strumming playing test showed the most difference for me

[chesapeake]

Law of Diminishing Returns on full display. Yes, the Collings sounds slightly better, but $4, 725 better? I saw this in action 28 years ago when I bought my $1, 200 (1990 dollars) Taylor 410 and compared it to my $129 (1986 dollars) Alvarez Regent. About the same difference as this test. That and a foray into semi-expensive electrics cured my overspending on guitars. Unless you're a recording artist, the cost/benefit just isn't there.

[Supperconductor]

Great demo - in my experience, a good player really minimizes the difference between lesser and greater guitars. Still the Orangewood is a great value.

[PaulIsbell]

The Collings certainly has more dynamic range in the lower frequencies however for the price, I think it’s smarter to buy the best you can afford and put the time into practice with that instrument.

[jamesmoffatt]

The Collings had more presence...You could definitely hear that was somewhat restricted in the Orangewood. Both had great balance across each's spectrums.

[azcharlie]

A spruce (or cedar) top is the most important thing for sound. Solid back and sides may add some tone, but not that much. The set up, and strings make a huge difference. I find the neck (slightly wider) of the Orangewood Echo Live to be more playable than any acoustic I've ever had. When it comes to expensive guitars, you're paying mostly for aesthetics. When you get rich from your playing ability, you can buy pretty guitars.

[stevenleonmusic]

I've only been playing for a year and I'm far from being an expert but I will say this: It's not whether or not people can detect a difference in the sound; it's whether or not people can QUANTIFY that difference. The answer is most likely no and that's because the actual tone of a guitar is highly subjective. Whether its guitars or professional cameras or power tools, the key differences between cheap and expensive equipment are usually based on objective and quantifiable metrics. Flagship cameras aren't $8, 000 because they take better pictures; they're $8, 000 because they have features that make taking good pictures dramatically easier and more efficient. A guitar that is expensive is only worth the price tag if it is built with things like ease-of-use and versatility in mind.

You have to ask yourself different questions than "does it sound better?" like: "Is the intonation good?", "Is the action appropriate?", "Does it have convenience features like an on-board tuner, a pickup and/or level controls?", "Is the build quality solid and are the materials of high quality/rarity?". Those are the types of things that differentiate a $5, 000 guitar from a $275 guitar. The difference in sound quality is almost purely subjective; a person might even spend hours in an audio editing suite making their $5, 000 guitar sound like a $275 guitar because they like the acoustic qualities of the latter. So the playing comparisons are nice in terms of seeing what the difference is but they're practically meaningless in the context of the guitars' prices.

I do like that you guys talked about more than just the sound quality in your comparison. My only issue is that the title is a tad "click-baity" and there just seems to be a pervasive issue in the musical instrument world in regard to comparing instruments based on their sound and trying to relate that to price—when that's only a small piece of the puzzle. A bargain guitar that is hard to play won't be useful no matter how good it sounds and there are so many ways to augment the sound of the guitar for actual recording/performing that I would say playability and ergonomics should be everyone's top priorities, followed by technical aspects like intonation and tuning (i.e. how easy it is to tune, how well it stays in tune, how sensitive it is to weather, etc.). I wish more videos would focus on things like string spacing, fretboard width, tuning and action because those are the pervasive issues that have plagued my guitar learning experience over the past year.

[paca_bill]

Nice review! For a more accurate comparison, you should be comparing the Collings to the Orangewood Highland collection, which are all solid guitars instead of laminated sides and back. Granted, the price jumps up to about $645/$945 (difference being the electronics pickup system). As you point out though, part of what you are paying for is the name, prestige, and the backing of the company; similar if you purchase a Martin, Taylor, Guild, or something similar. One thing that improved the playability for my Orangewood was swapping out the Ernie Ball strings for a set of Elixirs, but that's a personal choice.

[leeasbury]

The difference is almost negligible when you consider they will be eq'd in post to sound too close to really tell, especially in a mix. Orangewood are good guitars. I played an Oliver Jr mahogany live in a streaming concert from a local studio. I have Babicz, Breedlove's, Larivee, Tacoma, first run PRS acoustic with LR Baggs Anthem, and some others, but chose the Oliver Jr for live performance because of the playability. Now, I have a couple newly released all solid wood Breedlove Companions I would've chosen for the playability and all solid wood response for a live set, but I'm stills shopping for another Orangewood because they're just dependable and expanding their selection of different types of acoustic baritone, bass, and other, even higher end all solid wood guitars, still affordable to most.

[designer]

The Collings seemed to have a lower, rounded sound, whereas, the Orangewood seemed to have a high, thinner sound that occasisonally tended toward tinny. Overall, the two guitars sounded similar and, I agree, that the Orangewood would certainly be acceptable for a beginner.

[kedduff]

Here’s a at home practice trick to make ANY guitar sound like 5 Grand...Play your Guitar in your bathroom or walk in closet. Trust me you’ll get spoiled lol

[jackkilduff]

Do you ever compare guitars after they have been used for a couple of years? Be interested in hearing how well some of the less expensive ones hold up.

[matteamcclung]

I feel that as long as you have a decent quality guitar, it doesn't matter if it is $200 or $5000 as long as you enjoy the tone it creates. There are definitely some specific tonal qualities that are hard to create without using expensive materials, but that doesn't make its tone superior and there are a lot of great tones that can be created with cheaper materials that some may prefer.

[gingertaylor]

I would buy the $275 guitar the$5000 guitar does not sound almost 20 times the price better
and you will earn the same amount of money playing the cheaper one
and if this $275 fell to bits after 10yrs I would buy it again, the $5000 could also fall to bits as well