Description
Michael O’Leary was born in the picturesque medieval village of Graignamanagh, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland. His workshop is located nearby in Milford Carlow. Michael played guitar from an early age, influenced by his father, who was also a keen player. He grew up in an environment rich in music, of which the guitar held pride of place. Michael followed a rich family tradition in the art of creativity and found working with fine woods his most gratifying medium of expression.
Michael O’Leary is one of Ireland’s most renowned luthiers. He builds around nine guitars a year with his son Alec. His guitars are made with a unique bracing system that combines features of both lattice bracing and fan bracing concepts to produce truly phenomenal guitars. This concept was developed due to constructive discussions and feedback from some of the world’s greatest players, including the Assad Duo, David Russell, Berta Rojas, Manuel Barrueco, John Williams, Xuefei Yang, Aniello Desiderio, Roland Dyens, and more. Many of these players own an O’Leary guitar and play it regularly in concert.
This incredible guitar from 2021 is the “Exclusive” model, the highest model built by Michael O’Leary in his Irish workshop. It has a cedar soundboard combined with a beautiful Ziricote back and sides. It features distinctive elements of O’Leary’s guitars, such as the intertwined rosette, the elevated fingerboard, and the braceless back. Due to its construction, this guitar has a massive volume yet maintains its balanced beauty and subtlety of tone. Thanks to its incredible setup, this guitar is effortless to play. Despite being a second-hand instrument, this guitar is in excellent condition with minimal playing marks and is ready to make its way to any concert situation.
Check out the presentation video of this specific guitar below in which you will find plenty of extra information about its playability and sound.
Luthier: | Michael O’Leary |
Construction year: | 2021 |
Top: | Cedar |
Back and sides: | Ziricote |
Scale: | 650 mm |
Nut: | 52,5 mm |
Weight: | 2215 grams |
Air body frequency: | G/G# |
Tuners: | Scheller |
Strings: | Knobloch EDC 34.0 |
Case: | Leona |
Condition: | Excellent |