I recently bought this on a total whim. I had to have it. She's an absolutely beauty, but I just don't play it and I'm in no position to be holding onto items for collector sake. That and the fiance wasn't terribly happy when I brought it home. I really have other things besides basses that I should be putting money into (like our house and cars!). I am the second owner and it's been wall art for me. I put new strings on it, and have played it about 5 hours.
Veillette-Citron pioneered boutique basses right along with a lot of the other NY luthiers like Fodera, Spector, Carl Thompson, etc.. and other west coast greats like Alembic. The quality is right on par with these great builders if not higher.
This was built in 1980. I've been in touch with both Joe Veillette and Harvey Citron about this and they are both great guys to talk to. According to them, there were just over 500 V-C instruments made, most of which were guitars. So, there's less than 250 V-C basses in existence. Harvey admits that this particular bass was among the nicest they ever put out.
Everything on the bass except the tuners and pots was made in house, even the bridge and strap buttons. All the non-VC made parts were top-of-the line at the time like Schaller tuners and Allen-Bradley pots. The tone is VERY modern for being a vintage passive bass. It's bright and punchy. From what I've figured out, the controls are vol and tone for each pickup w/ a 3 way selector switch. I believe each vol pot is a push-pull for coil tap and one of the tone pots is push-pull for series/parallel?
The neck is very comfortable with wide flat frets like Rics or older Alembics (from what I've heard). The frets are in good shape and the truss rod is functional. The rest of the bass is in excellent shape for its age. The bridge is tarnished as brass does. There are a couple clear coat checks/cracks on the back and one on the front between the fretboard and neck pickup. The glue joints on the neck and body can be felt as the different woods expanded and contracted over the years. It's without question structurally sound. There are several other small dimples and scratches that are hard to notice and would not photograph. The only thing that shows how much this bass was played are the pickup covers. The inside lower corners are worn through. This bass must have been played a LOT. But it's clear the original owner REALLY babied this thing because that's the only evidence of player wear. However, I'm working on getting new replacement covers from Harvey.
The inside of the brass control plate has the serial number and Harvey's signature. The bass comes with the OHSC, but it's beat with ripped tolex and busted seams. It works, but I can't say for how long! It also comes with the original warranty card! The serial number on the card doesn't match the bass but as Harvey explained, there was a store that bought several V-C basses. This store most likely just sold the wrong case with this bass.
The top is a gorgeous hunk of book matched crotch walnut with high grade flamed maple body. The neck is 3-pc maple and walnut (or rosewood?). I guess it's 7-pc if you count the fine laminates between the larger main laminates!
Here's specs:
Neck: 34" NT
Fretboard: Ebony, 22 frets
Nut: Brass, 1.70"
Width @ 22nd fret: 2.38"
Spacing @ bridge: .70" (18mm)
Strings: med-lt GHS Boomers (5 hours play time)
Hardware: gold, Schaller tuners
I'm asking $2250 shipped in the US. I'll ship anywhere worldwide. Just email me for a quote.
Pics:
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...Citron%201980/ 
