2010s Veillette Avante Gryphon High-Tuning 12 String Guitar

A friend bought this Korean-import-version Veillette Gryphon from Elderly Instruments in 2019 at a slightly reduced rate because it had a slightly damaged heel. These are tres cool little boxes but the one-bolt connection at the heel is, perhaps, a design flaw. They're 12 strings but strung in unison like a mandolin and with a short enough scale so they can be tuned almost an octave above a normal guitar. Standard pitch for these is DGCFAD above normal tuning -- so 10 frets up.

The sound is somewhere between mandolin, bandurria (because of the glued-on/pin-bridge setup), and a guitar with a capo on it. It's woody and sweet and extra-chimey. I think this would be great on record when you need just that little extra something that's not just a guitar with a capo on it. The benefit of being able to pick around mandolin-style for lead work is nice, too. It's also loud and cuts beautifully. Since it's been back in the shop for resale (as of December 2024) it's been a favorite of folks to pick-up and play and we've been serenaded by it a lot down at the workshop end of the building.

Repaired included: regluing a damaged section of heel and reinforcing it, adding two extra neck bolts so they could attach into fresh/undamaged wood and support the joint, a restring, light cleaning, and a setup.

Setup notes: the neck is straight and action is bang-on at 1/16" at the 12th fret. Updated note: this has been living in NYC since 2019 without any adjustments and it came back here for resale and all I had to do was tune it up and it was still perfectly setup. That attests to the stability of this little guy!

• Scale length: 18 1/8"
• Nut width: 1 15/16"
• String spacing at nut: 1 3/4"
• String spacing at bridge: 2 7/16"
• Body length: 15"
• Lower bout width: 12 1/2"
• Waist width: 7 3/8"
• Upper bout width: 8 1/2"
• Side depth at endpin: 3 1/2"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back/sides wood: solid mahogany
• Neck wood: mahogany
• Bracing type: x
• Fretboard: rosewood, zero fret (yay!)
• Bridge: rosewood, bone saddle
• Neck feel: slim C-shape, ~12" board radius

Condition notes: It has a damaged heel area (light pulling-out of the grain) that's repaired (and going strong 6 years) and two extra bolts in the back of the body supporting it. I would've added four like a Fender, but the neck block isn't large enough to do that. It's otherwise essentially "like new" -- very clean save for the most minor of usewear on the body from a bit of playing-time.

It comes with: It has its original foam/semi-hard case!