If you’re at all unfamiliar with this range of , Ciaran McNally works out of Craigavon, Armagh in Northern Ireland. He previously studied lutherie in both Northern Ireland and London, moving on to work for Lowden as a senior craftsman and Atkin Guitars in Canterbury as the company’s production manager. Since that time he’s launched his own stable of handmade instruments that seek to “take the warmth and complexity of Celtic guitars and add some of the definition and fundamental qualities of American guitars”, concluding that he feels that the result is a more versatile instrument.
Ciaran’s Foundation range represents the most basic guitars he builds, the catalogue extending up to the more all-singing, all‐dancing bespoke builds. But while the Foundation guitars may inhabit the lower rungs of the McNally ladder, that’s not to say that corners have been cut or quality intentionally reduced in order to keep costs down. On the contrary, even the briefest glimpse around this S-32’s real estate will confirm that it embodies a very high level of craft combined with some very fine‐looking timbers.
As for the rest of the McNally ground floor, the Foundation instruments are a quintet comprising a parlour (model P), the S (which stands for “small”), an OM, a dreadnought and a jumbo. Even here there is some flexibility in the range as you have a varied choice of tonewoods. For tops, for example, you can choose between mahogany, spruce or cedar; for backs, rosewood.