New York / Korea
Veillette

Metal, spruce top, mahogany sides and back, mahogany neck, rosewood finger board
ca.  2016 CE
Length: 31.75 inches
Strings – Lutes – Guitars

Printed on back of headstock:  Designed by Veillette Guitars / Woodstock, NY / Handcrafted in Korea / Serial number P-1191

The Avante Gryphon by Veillette has a smooth, deep cutaway with a pair of boomerang-shaped sound holes. It roughly splits the size difference between guitar and mandolin. Its 21 frets are more closely spaced than on a guitar, but roomier than on a mandolin.

With the 12 black chrome closed back tuners and a sizeable headstock to house them, the Gryphon neck is heavier than the regular guitar.  The instrument is still light overall and the body’s shape places your picking-hand elbow in a good anchoring position, both playing and standing. While 12-string guitars feature octave-tuned string pairs, all six courses of the Avante Gryphon are unisons, as on a mandolin, therefore it sounds a lot like a mandolin.