1970s/80s Veillette Citron - one of maybe 3 in the UK £2500 Hatfield

[TheGreek]

Having a few financial and health problems currently so taking this opportunity to move this on. I have this advertised elsewhere so if you're serious, be quick.

I had to import this in from the States - there are very few of these in the UK - they built about 270 basses and guitars during the 70s/80s. I also had a fretless (green) which I sold here and I believe that there may be one other owned by a BCer in the UK. Named owners include Bjorn from ABBA and Tina Weymouth from Talking heads.

Check the videos in a lower post.

 

These sell in the USA for over £3,500 (not dollars). Joe Veillette is currently building hollow bodied basses

http://www.veilletteguitars.com/press_citron.shtml#:~:text=Veillette-Citron was a pioneer,first-ever production baritone guitars.

I always said that this would be the last bass to go but as an owner of several custom basses I think it would only be right to hang on to those built for me by @Andyjr1515. I often drag this out for visiting BCers to try so many of you will have seen and tried this. This is now around 40 years old and has a number of little knocks which are hard to photograph but can only be noticed on close inspection. Any serious buyers are welcome to view.

Here are a few photos:

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by TheGreek

[silverfoxnik]

Wow - didn't think I'd ever see this on here @The Greek

If this is the one I played at your place a few years ago Mick, then I can only say that it's an absolutely stunning instrument - beautiful in terms of its playability and a gorgeous, rich, inherent tone to it!

GLWTS 

 

 

[gregouille23]

Very sorry to hear it. Lovely bass, I had never seen this design before! GLWTS

[TheGreek]

Similar items:

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/142715050819?ViewItem=&item=142715050819

https://reverb.com/ca/item/6705085-veillette-citron-fretless-bass-1979-red-orange-sunburst-407

https://reverb.com/item/5390683-rare-veillette-citron-bass-guitar-1980-4-string-maple-ebony-purpleheart-neck-through

http://www.musical-instruments-for-all.com/267093/bass-guitars/1981-veillette-citron-fretless-bass.html

https://www.bassic.de/kleinanzeigen/veillette-citron-bass-vintage-1981.4904/

https://reverb.com/uk/item/267040-veillette-citron-vc-ii-bass-1980-natural-maple-handmade-active-elect-beautiful-fretless

Edited August 5, 2020 by TheGreek

[oldslapper]

Sorry to hear about your health (and financial) issues Mick!    Sucks you have to sell this bad boy. 

Way out of my league I’m afraid. But GLWTS 

 

[silverfoxnik]

48 minutes ago, oldslapper said:

Sorry to hear about your health (and financial) issues Mick!    Sucks you have to sell this bad boy. 

Way out of my league I’m afraid. But GLWTS 

 

Ditto to this btw, Mick! 

[claustra]

glwts and best wishes, Mick.

[Deepbass]

get well soon mate (gwsm) and glwts 

[ped]

Good luck, a very special bass indeed 👍🏼

[Deepbass]

 

"Here's more reading re VC guitars and basses. This article was written in 1997..

Veillette-Citron guitars are very rare birds today. Veillette-Citron was a pioneer in neck-thru-body construction with highly-figured maple and exotic hardwoods, sophisticated electronics, and other trend setting features, especially in modern, high-end electric bass design. They also created the first-ever production baritone guitars. Today, their hand crafted instruments are highly sought after by collectors, but lack of know ledge about this small company (many people think they're French) makes it possible to occasionally find over looked V-C's languishing in stores and pawn shops for only a few hundred dollars. Grab `em.

For star power, members of Orleans, Blondie, the Waitresses, and the B-52's played Veillette-Citron guitars and baritones, while Talking Heads' Tina Weymouth used a V-C bass, and Kasim Sultan (Utopia), Rutjer Gunnerson (ABBA), and Van Halen's Michael Anthony used their 8-string basses. Eddie Van Halen got a Shark baritone, and other V-C ban players include Jorma Kaukonen, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Devo's Robert Mothersbaugh, and James Taylor. Not a bad list of players, eh?

Veillette-Citron was founded in 1976 by Harvey Citron and Joe Veillette (pronounced "Vay-ette"), who met in architecture school. Citron had been playing guitar and performing since age 12, while Veillette had studied acoustic guitar building with luthier Michael Gurian. Eventually, both Joe and Harvey gave up their architecture careers to collaborate on guitars. They displayed a guitar and a bass in the Vinci Strings booth at Summer NAMM `76, and stunned the guitar community with the beauty and elegance of their designs. With a distribution agreement and orders in hand, they bought equipment and opened their own shop in Brooklyn. The first V-C catalog, from 1977, shows 6- and 12-string guitars, and a long-scale bass, all made of incredibly flamed maple, with laminated maple and ebony necks, ebony fingerboards, lacquered solid-brass and gold-plated hardware, deluxe Schaller tuning machines, and two "high clarity" humbucking pickups with coil taps, phase switches, individual Volume and Tone controls, and a Master Volume. Their basses had 24 jumbo frets, and the guitars had... 25! From the start, most of their instruments were custom-built and came with a variety of configurations and options, like 2- and 3-stage pickups, stereo wiring, and various body woods, including koa, walnut, or East Indian rosewood. Their 8-string bass became one of their most popular instruments. V-C evolved in friendly convergence as an East Coast equivalent of Alembic, with similarities in design and approach.

Where other companies moved to mass-production techniques to meet demand, Veillette-Citron emphasized craftsmanship, making each instrument a labor of love.

In 1979, v-c moved upstate to Kingston, NY, on the Hudson River not far from the Catskill mountain town of Woodstock. By 1980, V-C was making three series of instruments, most with just 22 frets: The Standard (black or sunburst finishes, basic electronics, rosewood finger-boards, chrome hardware), Classic (figured maple, two-stage pickups, ebony boards, gold hardware), and Limited Edition (exotic woods, deluxe electronics with 3-stage pickups, special carving and detailing). They had also tapped into the Woodstock music community, and, in conjunction with John Sebastian, V-C developed the first "Shark" baritone guitar, with a body shape similar to the Guild Thunderbirds that Sebastian and Zal Yanowsky had played in the Lovin' Spoonful. Harvey developed a new single-coil pickup for the Shark, and in 1982, V-C introduced their new S Series guitars, baritones, and one or two-pickup basses, with maple bodies and set-neck con struction, which retailed for under $1,000 (other V-Cs were priced from $1,250 to well over $2,000). Unfortunately, an expected infusion of capital for expanded production capability fell through, and increasing frustration with the business-end and daily grind led V-C to disband in 1983. They never had more than a half-dozen employees, and V-C's insistence on maintaining the integrity of their designs, quality, labor-intensive hardware and hand-wound pickups were not cost effective. Where other companies moved to mass-production techniques to meet demand, Veillette-Citron emphasized craftsmanship, making each instrument a labor of love. In all, Harvey and Joe built approximately 500 instruments in their seven-year run, about half of them basses, and including no more than 15 Shark baritones.

Earlier V-C instruments are distinguished by hand- tooled brass knobs and strap buttons, engraved brass control cavity backplates, and intricate details of workmanship too numerous to mention here, while later ones used commercially available endpins, plastic knobs, and plastic backplates. They continued throughout to fashion their own brass tailpieces and fully adjustable bridges. They're scarce today, and are more common on the East Coast and in the Midwest than out West."

[TheGreek]

Part exchanges considered....what do you have?

[silverfoxnik]

I know it's not cheap, but I am surprised that that bass hasn't sold yet.. 

Especially considering how rare these are and how good they are! 

GLWTS Mick

Whoever does buy it in the end will not be disappointed. 

[ProfJames]

If I had the money I would love to try, alas............good luck with the sale and also your health

[TheGreek]

So you know what you could expect from this wonder bass. Ms Weymouth demonstrating for me.

...and here at 1:11.30

 

[TheGreek]

Don't care if this doesn't sell...I'll keep it!

Probably wasted on the uninitiated anyway.

[Brother Jones]

Don't be downhearted. It's a really bad time to sell; and I suspect many sales will be regretted by the vendors. 

If I had the cash I'd be all over this, and I'm sure I'm not alone.