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Don't play guitar, but..
By: Joe from Oregon
Submitted: 9/10/2023
1 person found this review helpful.
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Product Review
At a Dave Mason concert I heard this guitar for the first time. What an ear-catcher! A unique, fantastic sound, especially when played on acoustic or soft volume songs.
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Very cool
By: Will Simmer
Submitted: 8/27/2021
8 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
I was shopping for a new mandolin and ran across this. I use it to double acoustic Guitar and mandolin parts in the studio and it sounds amazing.
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Just as described. AWESOME!
By: JP S
Submitted: 4/14/2020
8 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
This little guitar plays very well. The action is great and it stays in tune. Sounds fantastic unplugged but plugging it in with a little reverb is GREAT!!
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What a unique instrument!
By: 145Blues
Submitted: 3/6/2020
6 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
I had heard this instrument live at a performance two years ago and fell in love with it. Sonically it fills the space between a standard 12 string guitar and a mandolin. I have a mandolin, but my hands are large so it's difficult for me to fret the strings, not to mention the different tuning. The Gryphon is much easier to play than the mandolin and it's tuned like a standard guitar in high D. I was amazed at how loud it can be acoustically for an instrument its size. I haven't performed with it yet so I have no review of the electronics as of yet except the placement of the output jack, volume and tone controls are well designed. The 9volt battery, from experience, has a much longer lifespan than my older Taylor that uses two AA's.
I was apprehensive in buying the Korean made version over the American made version because of fit and finish. I had seen some Korean made Gryphons where the tuning nut and bridge alignment were off. The price difference put the American made version out of my budget.
I was very pleasantly surprised with the product that was delivered! Fit and finish were spot on, intonation was perfect and it came in one of the finest soft cases I have ever seen!
AMS has come through again! I have purchased thousands of dollars worth of instruments and equipment from AMS. Fast delivery, top quality instruments and great customer service! Trifecta of satisfaction for customers! Zero interest payment plans for a guy like me made it possible for me to get what I needed sooner than later.
Love the Gryphon, love the company and I always recommend AMS to my friends.
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Game Changer
By: Spence P.
Submitted: 7/23/2018
8 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
The mandolin is a fine instrument, but let’s be honest, some of us guitarists don’t have the hours in a day to woodshed an unfamiliar instrument for a few select parts. The Gryphon fixes this problem, as well as adding a great auxiliary acoustic instrument to your arsenal. It tracks wonderfully with existing acoustic parts, much like a high strung guitar, and absolutely kills in the mando department. It’s built very well, and you should stop reading this and just go buy it already. Trust me.
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ONE OF MY BEST PURCHASES EVER
By: urbndvd
Submitted: 7/22/2018
11 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
I became aware of the Veillette Avante Gryphon high-tuned 12-string completely by accident on YouTube. Because I was familiar with Joe Veillette as a well-known custom builder of high-end acoustics, I was intrigued when I saw this guitar and watched some of the posted videos. It was evident from those clips that this was something special. However, as good as the clips might be, they can't give you a truly accurate idea of the pristine sound quality that you're going to hear when you actually have this guitar in your hands.
The Avante Gryphon is a Korean-made version of the Gryphon custom shop model that Joe Veillette makes by hand in Woodstock, New York, and that sells for four times the price. Upon discovering a small Korean guitar maker that could make an affordable version of the Gryphon that met his high standards, he agreed to the production of this model.
The Avante Gryphon has a solid mahogany body, sitka spruce top, double-acting truss rod, piezo pickup under the bridge saddle, and a custom-voiced preamp with a 9-volt battery box. Volume and treble roll-off controls are located inside the upper sound hole. The design is fantastic and the workmanship is flawless.
The Veillette is tuned up 10 frets from a standard acoustic so it's as if you placed a capo at the tenth fret of a regular guitar. The tuning is D-to-D and, unlike a standard 12-string, all the strings are tuned in unison. All the chord shapes and scale patterns you already know still apply. This is definitely NOT a mandolin. For one thing it's much more resonant. It's a unique instrument with its own character and I would suggest watching the YouTube clips to get an idea of what it's capable of.
The sound is so pure, so clear, so perfect that, as I remarked to a friend of mine, "I wouldn't even want to hear the expensive hand-made version."
I have a lot of guitars - possibly too many guitars - but this is one of the very best and most enjoyable instruments I own.
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Very underrated
By: Tad
Submitted: 2/2/2018
10 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
First off this should be listed as acoustic/electric 12 string. Not in the travel guitar section. Joe Veillette build amazing Guitars! Now this one isn’t his ones made in USA but this is worth the price of admission! It’s like u took a capo and put it at the 10th fret on a normal acoustic! So it sounds so close to a mandolin! I use it live for layering guitar parts when there are already enuff guitars on stage. But it can be used as the only guitar on stage too!!! It sounds amazing!! The pickup that’s installed is very natural sounding. Do a search on the net for Joe Veillette! He is the MAN!!!
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Delivers as advertised!
By: Keith
Submitted: 3/30/2017
11 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
Great instrument. You can really cop the mandolin vibe plus lots more. Inspiration out the wazoo. Plays like a dream. Coolest thing I've bought in years.