Collings Waterloo WL-K versus Recording King RPS-11 

to my ears (both through my Bose S1 Pro, and my Shure SRH940 headphones), the waterloo sounded more resonant (louder) and lush. the most striking difference was in the trebles. the trebles on the waterloo were thick and round and lovely, whereas the highs on the recording king were a bit shrill and would break up and distort. that being said, for the money, that little RK is pretty cool. i'll take one of each, please! ;)

Man that was some good playing!!

I’m sure they feel different when played, both both have warm tone. The recording king had more clarity and sustain than I expected. It seems like a lot of guitar for the money.

I loved your playing. The Waterloo is a real experience as I am convinced mine is ancient and on the verge of disintegration. This makes me play with a lot of care. I you find one second hand grab it.

I've got the RK and only changed the tuners to Sta-tites. I love the little thing.

I own both the Recording King and also the identical Waterloo WL-K Southwest; plus I also have one of the plain WL-K, with a light burst top. They are based on the 1930 Gibson made Kel Kroydon catalog guitars. Collings only made 60 of the painted top Waterloo WL-K, so they're kinda rare. Especially considering Waterloo haven't been shipping any guitars for several years now (at least according to my local source). It's tough comparing a several thousand dollar guitar to several hundred dollar guitar, and I personally can't stand the tight narrow neck of the RK, but I was able to pick through a dozen of them when they first came in and get the best sounding one, (and boy was there a huge difference!) so I've held on to it, mainly because I mounted a 60s Teisco gold foil into the soundhole and it KILLS when plugged in. But for pure acoustics, the Collings Waterloo series are top of the line. There are all sorts of subtleties that are lost between the soundhole and your computer speakers that are indescribable. I'm just sorry that the Waterloos don't seem to be available any more, as I really want to get a WL-S Deluxe, which is their take on the OS Stellas of the 20s...

Nice comparison. Waterloo is great but Recording King does an amazing job in a budget instrument. Thank you

To these ears there isn't a better one, they're just different.

your comments are spot-on. Great playing BTW🙂

Collings are super expensive here in Australia. I have the RK 9plus which is same but with laminate back and sides. It is a lot of fun, very lightly built, nice and loud and has that old time tone. I did have a little issue with the neck, which I talk about on my guitar channel. Regards from Sydney 👋🇦🇺

Wonderful playing Roger, I really enjoy your reviews and am a fan of Recording King guitars. Both guitars sounded great to me, on looks alone, I prefer the simplicity of Recording King, I have the 000 version of this series and it's a great playing, sounding and value for money instrument. The narrower nut and tighter string spacing on the bridge was a deal breaker for me, having fairly big hands, I need that space to have any hope of playing fingerstyle cleanly. The Collings with a natural or sunburst top would appeal to a broader range of people I think, just my opinion, to each their own of course. Thanks for your excellent reviews and it was great to hear you playing some blues, keep up the good work. Best wishes from Spain.

I have a G6 parlor also a dirty 30's TS . What is confusing is one the RK web site is they state the G6 had a 1 11/16" nut got mine from Sweetwater and it states 1 3/4" which mine is. Also some show the truss rod adjustment at the body some at the head stock . The RK videos show the 11 series with the adjustment at the body and also states the 000 has a 1 3/4" nut . Point is I know the early models had the peg head adjustment and the nut width is not consistent. The G6 I have does not need fret work other than a polish no fret buzz. It could use a bit more relief. Only if I dig in the low E has a bit of fret buzz and it comes and goes RH based.

Id like to hear a Jim Dandy compared in this too :)

I have a recording king dirty 30 and really like it.

Both guitars sound really good. i question comparing the two when the price points are so different. What i will say the Recording King was a more balanced sound. The Waterloo sounded nice, but was bass heavy. Thanks for a great video.

Yes the waterloo is superior,but hard to beat the pricepoint on the recording kings,great beginner guitars for someone interested in old fingerstyle blues.i have a 1955 harmony palm beach i recently restored and aside from needing the intonation adjusted down the road it sounds amazing.love these little parlor size guitars.

Incomparable price, i say RK! 🙌🏼 anyway, you make the best video, nice play, real sound. Help me a lot . Thx!

The Waterloo wins. The tone is just generally more rounded and less brassy. BUT. . . I think I'm going to get one and artificially age it. (Vibrate it for a week or so.) After that I bet the tone will mellow and it will compare to the Waterloo!.

I actually and surprised that the Recording King sounded better through the mic. I think it's the scale length letting it ring more

Wow that Recording King held its own for such an affordable guitar. I just ordered an Eastman E10OO-SS, had I known about the Recording King I might have saved myself some money!

I thought the recording king won. It’ll cut through the mix better. Better clarity. Although the Waterloo is warm, it’s not going to record as well.

Listening blind i would probably prefer the Recording King. However after owning numerous guitars of that kind (more than 20) and now owning a Waterloo i would never go back, the Waterloo feels like all of my previous guitars were cheap copies. Also can't deal with the thin narrow necks and long scale) wonder why all those copies stay with that.

Without the side by side comparison, the sound difference between these guitars would be hard to spot! The feel of the neck could be make or break though, I like wider string spacing but that price difference is hard to ignore! Thx

Recording King sounds more like the Delta recordings . Robert Johnson was not playing expensive Gibson and Martin guitars. He was playing budget guitars like the Kalamazoo and the Stella.

The recording king is probably more accurate to what one of the old time blues player could afford and you will get that rough sound that some really like

For front porch blues, the Recording King is the winner! The longer scale gives it a really cool swampy blues sound. The Collings sounds really nice, (of course), but not distinctive to me…it sounds very much like so many other small body guitars. In contrast, the first few bars on the RC made my ears perk up, and really listen. Maybe not a beautiful tone, but one that commands attention. Roger, great playing as always! But,(trying to be diplomatic), irrespective of how nice it might sound, I wouldn’t play on my couch, much less get on stage with a guitar that looked like the Collings… at 66, I am now self conscious about virtually nothing. But, I would really be self conscious about an audience,(or my wife for that matter), seeing me with this instrument. If someone in the audience cracked a smile, I would assume they were amused by my guitar. As a performer, you want people to look at you, but not because they think your guitar looks like a Luna…🙈🙈🙈. I will apologize now to anyone I may have offended. Keep strumming!

Can anyone point me in the right direction to learning to play music like was played in the demos? Much appreciated in advance. Thanks.

I liked the Waterloo better although being the owner of a Waterloo WL-12 with a gorgeous burst and a sound that improves by the day I am prejudiced! The Recording King is great but Waterloo's are amazing and feel like vintage guitars.

Waterloo sounds much more warm and woody.

Thank you, I definitly prefer the waterloo, great playing, can you tell us the piece you're playing ?!

I love mahogany guitars!

I like the King more of a bite. The Gibson may be a bit muddy for me. It would have ta be a lot better sound for me ta go with the gibson

I'm looking for an on-the-road piece and I'm torn between this RK and the Takamine GY93. I really don't mind that the latter isn't an all-solid construction. It'd be helpful if you could weigh in. Thanks.

Similar in some regards, but the string spacing and scale length couldn't be any different given the shape.

Waterloo

I have a all solid RC RD-318 dread that makes me cry, a parlor would be a lot of fun and being an RC would be a big plus.

The recording king’s tone is much more suited to the blues you are playing!

I liked the Waterloo sound much better.

I actually like the RK better.

☑ well honestly the waterloo sounded about 1.1 times better than the RK [not 5 or 6] 🤔🙃🙄😌😑😝

Both sound great. The collings has more of. ....

I don’t hear the $3000 price difference

Hands down, the Recording King. The Waterloo is wonderful, but not better than the RK, at least not for added thousands more.

The Waterloo sounds 10 times better.

For the money I’ll take the recording king. For posterity I’ll take the Waterloo.

Collins are overpriced…save a ton of money and get the recording king.

Small guitars sound like rubber bands on a butter cup

no comparison - even with internet compression...