Twelve or fourteen frets
Frets to the body describe the neck-body joint, not the total number of frets or strings. This choice changes access and the layout of the instrument, and is considered with the body and bridge position.
Steel / Instrument family
OM
The Orchestra Model: a steel-string starting point for a close, articulate playing relationship.
The playing brief
What makes this direction different?
For fingerstyle, flatpicking and players who prefer the proportions of the OM body. The archive includes both traditional-looking and deeply individual instruments, with the joint, scale and access chosen for each build.
Your scale and spacing
Miles Davis No. 778 has a 24.9-inch scale and 43 mm nut. Ember No. 734 uses 650 mm and 44.5 mm. Neither is a compulsory OM specification.
An individual expression
Al Di Meola's Ember is an Opus Virtuoso OM with an ultra-deep Florentine cutaway. A related commission would be a new instrument with its own agreed materials, setup and details.
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. 734 / Opus Virtuoso
Al Di Meola Guitar — Opus Virtuoso “Ember” (Steel-String OM)
- Scale
- 650 mm
- Nut
- 44.5 mm (1 3/4″), natural mammoth bone, hand-shaped, polished and semi-scalloped
No. 778 / Opus Virtuoso
OM – Opus Virtuoso – Miles Davis
- Type
- Steel-string OM, 12 frets to the body
- Scale
- 24.9 inches
- Nut
- 43 mm, mammoth bone, hand-shaped, polished and semi-scalloped
No. 654 /
Luthier’s OM 12-F acoustic guitar no. 654
- Body
- 12-F Orchestra Model (OM)
- Scale
- 647.7 mm (25.5″)
- Nut
- 44.5 mm (1 3/4″), natural bone, hand-shaped, polished and semi-scalloped
Listen to the instrument
Recorded voices.
The number and title identify the guitar actually heard in each film.
Before you choose
A few useful answers.
Does OM mean twelve strings?
No. OM means Orchestra Model. A 12-fret OM and a 12-string OM describe different things. The paired-course, twelve-string version has its own page.
Is the recording below Al Di Meola's guitar?
No. The film is labelled with the instrument actually recorded, OM No. 654. Ember and the other examples have their own Museum records.
Made for your playing
Your OM.
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