[Coler]

Originally Posted by fregly

Coler, how do like Ciaran's guitars compared to the other Irish builders ? You are fan, obviously, getting a third now. I have been mulling over ordering an OM mahogany/alpine. His wait times are not too bad at the moment.

I am just a hobbyist who is lucky enough to be able to afford nice guitars. McNallys were my preference over Lowdens and McIlroys. I think they are very different. Ciaran refers to his sounds as a fusion between the traditional American steel string sound and the classic Celtic sound and that is exactly right in my view. I think his pricing is extraordinary value for what he is doing and delivering.

I should say, I bought my first two from dealers and then commissioned this build. I have no association/affiliation with Ciaran other than being a very satisfied customer. I didn’t know anything about him until I was offered my OM 12 string as an option. I thought I was going in for a Guild F512 but this one blew me away. The 6 string OM came up randomly enough in a dealer local to me and having tried it I couldn’t let it go passed. I part-traded a roughish (but very sweet sounding) D18 Modern Deluxe on the basis that I could always find another of those (and frankly I had lost some confidence in the guitar - it sounded amazing and played very nicely but the neck geometry was not pleasing and my judgment was it was going to be into reset territory sooner rather than later).

So when it was time to replace the dread in my life this seemed like an obvious option. I’m obviously very excited to receive the guitar.

Here are some recordings of my OM (cedar on waltnut). This is just me in my kitchen (a touch of comp/reverb added in GarageBand) and I am nothing to write home about but I think the guitar is well reflected in them. These were done into a zoom recorder, one track.

Bare fingers/short nails in DADGAD



Using a thumb pick in standard here:



Strumming pretty heavy on this original song (in standard, capod):



Drop D and bare fingers (I think)



Here is my NGD thread when I bought this one (some nice pics there)

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=634066

I would recommend a McNally to a friend with zero reservations.

Edit: here are some updated shots from when my dread was sprayed:









It will be after Christmas when I receive it (although possibly finished next week, but neither of us wanted it to be shipped over Christmas) and I can’t wait. I spend waaaaaaaaay too long drooling over these pictures.