I first met Joe Veillette about 35 years ago at the Chicago NAMM show, Joe and his then partner Harvey Citron were building a line of guitars called Veillette-Citron. I fell in love with the beautiful smooth lines the beautiful Maple tops and purchased several of their instruments.
Back in the 70's it was hard to get people to even look at
beautiful handcrafted boutique guitars. So needless to say, I sold very few of
their guitars. Back then, there were only a couple of companies making real high
quality instruments. Over the years I have watched Joe's progress and I have
seen a lot of very cool guitars come out of his shop. I am always looking
for old VC guitars so if anyone knows of one for sale? I want to add one
to my personal collection.
Today, guitar players are much more intelligent than they were
30 years ago. I am very happy about this because today it is much easier to get
people to notice how well some guitars are built. Today's guitarists aren't as
easily fooled by BS hype and retro brand names like they used to be during the
70's 80's & 90's. I suppose we can thank my old buddy Paul Reed Smith for
that. After all before he went production line machine made PRS changed the face
of the entire guitar market. I consider
Paul Reed Smith to be one of the
greatest guitar designers of all time. If there was ever a Mount Rushmore
monument to guitar builders I would name Paul Reed Smith,
Leo Fender,
Ned Steinberger, & Rick
Turner the original founder of Alembic.
Veillette Citron was probably the first company that I can
remember to go to a 25 fret guitar, Joe and Harvey were pushing the envelope back
then. They are perhaps most remembered for their "Shark Model" which was a
very strange looking Baritone Guitar. It was the first Baritone guitar I had
ever seen.
The 12 String Gryphon Baby Guitar is one of the coolest
sounding instruments that I own. It is impossible to sell many of them because
you have to see, feel and hear one before you will buy it. But believe me once
you play one you will want one. Call me for info.
Ed Roman
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