Collings makes some of the best acoustic guitars in the world and counts Lyle Lovett, Pete Townshend, Keith Richards, and Joni Mitchell among his customers. His company, located outside Austin on U.S.

It's beginning to rain on a hot afternoon in Austin, Texas, but Bill Collings doesn't seem to notice. Sitting across from me in a rusty metal chair behind his factory that makes guitars, mandolins and ...