Veillette-Citron Owners!

[woodyng2]

Rickenbacker beat them to building through neck through basses with the 4000 series....by 19 years - in 1957.

And Alembic.
In fact the reputation for VC company was that they were known as “the East Coast Alembic”,
in terms of the high quality of their instruments.

 

[bholder]

I remember drooling over their ads back in the day, but I've never seen one in person, even though they were local to me at the time. Sigh. And that Gryphon 12, I swoon over that...

 

[Bob_Ross]

they were known as “the East Coast Alembic”.

I have a long suspected that VC gave themselves that moniker!

 

[bholder]

Just completely coincidentally, a buddy of mine sent me this link asking "What is Steve playing here?" The Viellette Gryphon!

 

[Larry Balara]

Does anyone here know the dimensions of the Citron 4 string humbucker bass pickup?

 

[Twocan]

16+ years after starting this thread, I’m back! A March, 1980 VC popped up locally this week and I could not resist. Just finished cleaning and setting it up with GHS nylon tapes. Enjoy!

 

[woodyng2]

Gorgeous finish on that! And it sounds great with the tapewounds!

 

[Twocan]

For sale 1980 Veillette Citron

“Alembic of the East Coast” “Hippie Sandwich”

• Twocan (+69 /0 /-0)
• Feb 28, 2026
• Updated Mar 25, 2026
• Views: 848
• Reaction score: 2
• Comments: 11
• Category: For Sale: Bass Guitars
• alembic boutique citron guitars custom veillette vintage

$2,250.00

7 watching

Easy come, easy go! (Funding a custom build)

 

[woodyng2]

Yours is like mine, only even better!
Love the tobacco color, lack of the builtin thumbrest, and brass vs chrome hardware.
And as the piece d resistence’, only 8 pounds! (Mine is about 9.5 lbs).
Good luck with the sale! Very few people seem to even know what they are, much less how great they are.

 

[Vincent Gallo]

Here are a few images I've found on the internet:
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I owned the first 8-string that Joe and Harvey ever built. An incredible looking instrument. Fancy maple. It cost $1,500 back in 1978. Joe and Harvey had taken it to the NAMM show I believe in 77. To protect the custom flight case, they put masking tape along the outer edges of the case to prevent scratches.
A year later, when I purchased it from Manny’s in NYC, the tape was still on the case and I couldn’t get it off. So I drove to the Veillette Citron shop, and they both spent two hours helping me remove it. By then, it had badly gummed up and dried onto the case edges.
Over the years, I’ve owned 19 Veillette guitars and basses, including the only double-neck they ever made (6/12). Several I ordered directly from Joe and Harvey. I currently own 10 early VC's.
I’m still actively looking to buy any early production, early body-style instruments with brass knobs. Any guitars, basses, 12 strings, or 8 string basses. I even buy empty original cases. If you’ve seen any or have one for sale, I’m happy to pay strong prices.
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