A long time ago (about 30 years, actually), our friend John Sebastian came by the Veillette-Citron shop and asked about a baritone guitar.

We built it, and he happily played his V-C "Shark" baritone for many years.  In fact, that was the project that kindled Joe's long-term fascination with baritones.

John has remained a friend and neighbor, and his taste for baritones hasn't changed even after all these years.

When he came by the shop once again recently, he was nice enough to sit for the camera and make a nice little video featuring our Grand 16" baritone acoustic:

It's always a treat to see John and hear him play, and we're glad to call him a friend.

Enjoy the video!

With the great response we've had to our Terz 12-string model, we just had to expand the 'family'...

we're now thrilled to present the Terz 6-string, and the Terz Cutaway!

The 6-string brings the shimmer and sparkle of its 12-string sibling, along with a harpsichord-like precision and definition when played fingerstyle.  The tuning is perfectly matched to the natural range of the 14" body shape.  Even our simple "guitarmaker's fingerstyle" sounds fresh, lively, and unique on this fascinating instrument.

For players who really want to explore the high reaches of the Terz tuning (getting almost up into Gryphon range!), we are now also offering both 6-string and 12-string Terz models with the optional cutaway body.

It's not the first time we've had to clarify - actually, it's a Gryphon!

Thanks to Jimmy Vivino for straightening this one out.

(Sounds pretty good too!)

We're no strangers to custom orders - almost every guitar we build is custom in one way or another.

However, some instruments go pretty far beyond a typical 'custom'.

After the sneak peek in our last Newsletter and the pre-finish teaser in our last "What's New" post, we're thrilled to now present the finished, assembled, and totally incredible (we think) Doubleneck Acoustic!

The upper neck is a standard-tuned 6-string, and the lower neck is a D-tuned Gryphon.

Ebony fingerboards and bridges perfectly complement the simple black binding and trim, and a natural finish over the mahogany and spruce body gives this piece a beautiful, clean, and modern look.

A side soundport directs some sound right at the player, for a really immediate and intimate connection between instrument and musician.  It also gives a nice view of all the bracing and interior structure of the guitar.

The open headpieces with ultralight Gotoh "Stealth" tuners look beautiful and minimize weight, allowing this lovely instrument to balance quite well, whether sitting or standing.

The tone of this guitar is vibrant and complex - very 'vocal' and responsive midrange, and a big, open bass response.

Our happy customer, Bruce Lukoskie, came up to the shop to pick up his new guitar, and was kind enough to record this little video while he was getting to know it - the huge range of textures, tones, and possibilities make this piece incredibly intruguing.

Pieces like this one are incredibly satisfying to build - the challenges of designing, fixturing, and crafting such a unique guitar make us think in new and different ways, and open up possibilities and concepts we might not have considered otherwise.  Invariably, details & techniques from these super-custom pieces tend to find their way back into our standard models.

Who knows what we'll do next?  Check back soon...

Here's a happy St. Patrick's Day video - a "Celtic Song" from Kaki King on her brand new Gryphon recorded this March 13th.

If you've looked carefully, you may have noticed a new instrument in our front-page instrument rotations...

Now, officially - we're pleased to introduce the Concorde, our newest bass!

This instrument is designed to push even further into the 'acoustic' and hollowbody territory.

A heavily chambered body with dual soundholes is complemented by our newest bridge design,

a one-piece height-adjustable wooden bridge system that looks and sounds great!

The pickup system is straightforward and effective, with a single pasive Citron humbucking pickup.

Controls are a Volume and the wonderful Stellartone rotary tone control, which offers 16 different positions

with different capacitor/resistor networks, for a very progressive and linear adjustment, an extremely wide

range of usable sounds, and totally repeatable settings thanks to the stepped "clicking" rotation.

The hollow body and passive electronics make this bass incredibly responsive to the touch and feel of the player.

Don't be fooled by the single pickup...there are a LOT of tones in this instrument!

This bass was one of the stars of our NAMM exhibit in January, and got picked up more than any other bass in our booth.

We're thrilled with it, and can't wait to make the next one!