There was NO WAY I was gonna wait till Christmas to open the box! Had a
(f)unboxing with my son this morning after opening my front door to find the UPS elves had dropped by during the night. My son said the "woods smell a bit Christmasy". The cedar does have that nice hint of spicey mulled wine going on..
The finish is very thin Satin as I requested, so you can see some of the Padauk pores. The woods are exceptionally characterful. As to the sound, I'll wait a bit to comment and do some recording, except for a couple of things:
1) McNally guitars definitely hit that mid-Atlantic spot between "Irish" and "American" tonal envelope, he seems to be able to combine the best of both worlds.
2) His work represents remarkable value in the luthier guitar market.
3) Yay cedar! No hanging around waiting for this stuff to open up. I've been playing for a couple of hours and enjoying myself in the process.
Happy Christmas All!