Guitar

Veillette-Citron - another almost forgotten American maker of quality guitars

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Hello Guitarz,

Here are some pictures of my 1978 Veillette Citron. It's a shame that not many people know of this company as this is one of the finest instruments I've ever had the pleasure of owning.

Everything about the guitar is top notch. I'm not much for quilted woods, but this one is more subtle and isn't a quilted maple cap - the body wings are solid quilted maple (the pattern carries across the front and sides to the back). All the hardware is custom made; the brass knobs, strap buttons, control cavity cover, bridge and tailpiece are all deliberate, non-mass produced design choices. The electronics (which appear to be simple) are actually quite sophisticated as each of the volume knobs is a push-pull coil tap affair whereas the smaller switch is a phase reversal switch; however, unlike other manufacturers (B.C. Rich comes to mind) the control layout is still very clean. All of the sounds are genuinely usable.

The neck has a 25 & 5/8" scale length. The action is very, very low and there is absolutely no buzzing; if you hear any buzzing you are playing sloppily and the guitar will let you know.

You can't help but think Alembic when you look at it, which is unfortunate as it really should be considered on its own merits. These guitars are still changing hands fairly cheaply; if you find one you owe it to yourself to try it.

The Veillette Citron company is no longer in business as far as I know, but Veillette still makes instruments, usually with non-standard scale lengths/string arrangements. Some history on the company can be found here:

www.veilletteguitars.com/press_citron.shtml

Best Regards,

Derek Bell

- Custom Handmade Short Scale Bass - Alembic Meets Danelectro!
guitarz.blogspot.com: Guitarz reader Paul H. writes: I'm an old Deadhead, so I love me an Alembic-style bass. This one is weird. Love the rosewood tailpiece/bridge, but I'm not too sure about the Dan-O headstock. The eBay listing tells us that:...

- Gig 10 Raptor Bass Prototype With Quilted Maple Body & Matsumoku Neck
guitarz.blogspot.com: Here at Guitarz we like to applaud small guitar companies everywhere who of course have to compete against the usual suspects in the guise of Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, etc and also against cheap Chinese imports. Having said that, I...

- Matsumoku-made Westone Thunder Iii Guitar From 1983
guitarz.blogspot.com: It's funny how your perception changes over time. I remember thinking, back in the day when they were being produced, that Westone guitars were all rather ugly - although I would have been first to admit that they were "ugly...

- Bc Rich Nj Series Made In Japan Electro-acoustic Jazz Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com: B.C. Rich's NJ Series replaced the B.C. Rico brandname that originally appeared on their Japanese-made instruments and which had been the subject of a lawsuit from the Rico Reed Company. Although the initials NJ stood for "Nagoya,...

- Westone Spectrum Mx From 1985 In Red Cellophane Finish
guitarz.blogspot.com: Here's another "Spectrum"-named guitar from Japan, this one bringing proof that Haryama weren't the only Japanese guitar makers in the 1980s producing cellophane finishes. This Westone Spectrum MX is a Matsumoku-made guitar...

Guitar