Veillette Nylon Baritone Acoustic

I'll tell you exactly what got me here. My friend Pat Metheny released MoonDial last year, a solo album recorded entirely on a custom nylon baritone. No overdubs, just Pat and this guitar. He described it as "a beautiful, rich, almost infinite-feeling new world." When one of the most curious and gifted musicians on the planet says that about an instrument, I start asking questions.

Those questions led me to the Veillette Grand 16" nylon baritone, and honestly, I get it now.

There's a tenderness to this instrument that's hard to describe until you've spent some time with it. It doesn't have the volume or projection of a steel-string baritone, and that turns out to be a feature, not a limitation. The lower register is warm and full-bodied without any metallic bite, and the upper strings have that beautiful nylon clarity that's almost vocal. Pat called the overall vibe of MoonDial "hardcore mellow," and I can't think of a better way to put it. This nylon baritone lives in that space.

Joe Veillette has been refining his nylon baritone designs for a long time, and you feel that experience the moment you pick one up. The deep body gives the lower frequencies genuine room to breathe and develop. The offset soundholes, one of Veillette's most distinctive design choices, allow him to brace the top more lightly, which means the whole instrument is  alive and responsive under your fingers. For a nylon baritone, that responsiveness is everything. And at just under five pounds, it's a joy to hold for as long as you want to play.

It plays beautifully, too. The scale length and tuning are matched with real intention, the string tension feels natural, nothing fights you, and the ebony fingerboard gives every note a focused clarity that complements the warmth of the nylon strings perfectly. The Fishman Matrix pickup means you can take all of this to a gig without compromise.

MoonDial opened something up for me, a whole new way of hearing what a nylon baritone can be. If you've ever been curious about this world, the Veillette is a deeply satisfying place to start exploring it.

If you'd like to find out more about this item, just call or e-mail me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you about it.

ABOUT VEILLETTE GUITARS
Veillette Guitars is a three-person shop, building 5 to 6 instruments a month in Woodstock, NY. A flexible approach fosters creativity, inventiveness, and curiosity. The pursuit of new ideas — both their own and their clients' — produces an uncommonly wide range of innovative instruments. Veillette has been very fortunate to attract a broad spectrum of players including: John Mayer, James Taylor, Dave Matthews, Kaki King, David Torn, Eddie Van Halen, Todd Rundgren, Colin Hay, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, John Sebastian, Jimmy Vivino, Mike Gordon (Phish), and Mike McCready (Pearl Jam). With a list like that you know that something very special is going on at Veillette Guitars.