A personal reference
Driftfire No. 776, made for Andy McKee, is an Opus Virtuoso GA with a 650 mm scale and 44.5 mm nut. It is a completed artist instrument, not a stock signature model.
Steel / Instrument family
Grand Auditorium
A versatile steel-string body for melody, accompaniment and an individual fingerstyle voice.
The playing brief
What makes this direction different?
Grand Auditorium is a direction for players moving between individual notes, full chords and a broad dynamic range. Body proportions are only the beginning: neck geometry, soundhole position and the intended tuning complete the brief.
The neck-body joint
The archive includes a 12-fret GA, No. 666, as well as 14-fret examples. The number of frets to the body is specified separately from scale length and total fret count.
Soundhole and comfort
A central or offset soundhole, cutaway and forearm or rib relief are discussed as a complete construction. No single body name guarantees a particular loudness or tonal balance.
Completed instruments
The work, in detail.
These photographs, measurements and films belong to the numbered guitars. They are reference instruments, not a fixed specification or a statement of current availability.
No. 776 / Opus Virtuoso
Andy McKee Guitar – Opus Virtuoso “Driftfire” (Steel-String GA)
- Scale
- 650 mm
- Nut
- 44.5 mm (1 3/4″), natural mammoth bone, hand-shaped, polished and semi-scalloped
No. 731 / Opus Magnum
Steel-string Acoustic GA guitar – Opus Magnum – Ancient Kauri
- Scale
- 650 mm
- Nut
- 44.5 mm (1 3/4″), mammoth bone, hand-shaped, polished and semi-scalloped
No. 666 /
Luthier’s GA 12-F acoustic guitar no. 666
- Body
- 12-F Grand Auditorium (GA)
- Scale
- 650 mm (25.6″)
- Nut
- 44.5 mm (1 3/4″), natural bone, hand-shaped, polished and semi-scalloped
Before you choose
A few useful answers.
Can a GA be built for alternate tunings?
Yes. Tell us the tunings, string gauges and playing approach you expect to use. Scale and setup are chosen with those requirements in mind.
Is there a film of Driftfire here?
No recording is attributed to Driftfire unless it is identified as that instrument. Its photographs and specifications are available in the Museum.
Made for your playing
Your Grand Auditorium.
Tell us what you play, what feels right on your current instrument and what you would change. The specification, price and anticipated timing are agreed before the build begins.
Discuss an instrument