Guildedagain
Enlightened Member
Standardization
Word began to get around the rock world and before long Veleno began getting more and more calls from famous rock guitarists. The problem was that most of them wanted custom jobs, and would always say, "Now, here's what I want you to do with it," John recalls. Unfortunately, Veleno Guitars was just a two-man operation by this time and the design depended on making "cut and dry," standardized guitars, so Veleno could not accommodate all the custom requests. The callers would become insistent, and would invariably use the line to Veleno, "Do you know who I am?" Of course, the joke was that John mostly didn't know who they were!
Sometimes players had reservations about Veleno for curious reasons. Johnny Winter, interviewed in the July 1974 Guitar Player talked about his current gear: "I've also got a really strange, all-metal guitar made by John Veleno. It's got the thinnest neck in the world. Since it's solid metal, you don't have to worry about it warping. But I'm not quite used to it. The neck's a little too thin. The worst part about it is that the neck is silver, and it's got little black dots on it, and when the spotlight is shining on the neck I really can't see the dots, so I haven't been using it on stage. But he makes pretty nice guitars. If I played it, and got used to it, I think it'd be a real nice guitar to play."
The players
Who else played Velenos? During the '70s some significant artists were seen playing Veleno aluminum guitars. We know that Mark Bolan, Eric Clapton and others owned Velenos. Jorge Santana eventually bought one. Other well-known guitarists who played Velenos included Pete Haycock of the Climax Blues Band (a gold Veleno can be seen on the cover of their Gold Plated lp), Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, Ronnie Montrose, then of the Edgar Winter Group, Martin Barre of Jethro Tull, Ace Frehley of Kiss, Dave Peverett of Foghat, and Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad. One of the last appearances of a Veleno was on the album cover of Panorama by the Cars. Not all of these folks purchased their guitars directly from John.
Who did purchase new guitars from Veleno? Veleno did not keep detailed records of everyone who bought his guitars from him, but a partial list in his scrapbook reveals some interesting names. The list includes Eric Clapton (#2), Mark Bolan (#3), Mark Farner (#4), Lou Reed (#5), Gregg Allman (#6), Ray Manet of Rare Earth (#7), Dave Peverett (#8), Dan Fergusson (#9), Sonny Bono (#10), Pete Haycock (#11), Ronnie Montrose (#12), Jeff Lynne of ELO (#13), Miami-area guitarist Johnny Olafson (#14), Terry Blankenship of Damon (#18), John Stone of Chocolate and Vanilla (#19), Robert Bond of the Texas band Rise (#21) and Mark Klyce of Love Date (#58). Clearly the celebrity exposure early-on had its effect down the guitar pecking order later.
Reportedly, several guitars were made for Ronnie Montrose with thicker necks reminiscent of late '50s Gibsons. The normal Veleno neck is quite thin, reflecting necks like Kapa and Hagstrom in the '60s and anticipating tastes of the late '80s.
Veleno recalls that shortly after Jeff Lynne bought his Veleno guitar Electric Light Orchestra appeared on a New Years Day celebration television program during which ELO performed on the Thames river in London. There, shining brightly, was the Veleno Original for the world to admire.
Word began to get around the rock world and before long Veleno began getting more and more calls from famous rock guitarists. The problem was that most of them wanted custom jobs, and would always say, "Now, here's what I want you to do with it," John recalls. Unfortunately, Veleno Guitars was just a two-man operation by this time and the design depended on making "cut and dry," standardized guitars, so Veleno could not accommodate all the custom requests. The callers would become insistent, and would invariably use the line to Veleno, "Do you know who I am?" Of course, the joke was that John mostly didn't know who they were!
Sometimes players had reservations about Veleno for curious reasons. Johnny Winter, interviewed in the July 1974 Guitar Player talked about his current gear: "I've also got a really strange, all-metal guitar made by John Veleno. It's got the thinnest neck in the world. Since it's solid metal, you don't have to worry about it warping. But I'm not quite used to it. The neck's a little too thin. The worst part about it is that the neck is silver, and it's got little black dots on it, and when the spotlight is shining on the neck I really can't see the dots, so I haven't been using it on stage. But he makes pretty nice guitars. If I played it, and got used to it, I think it'd be a real nice guitar to play."
The players
Who else played Velenos? During the '70s some significant artists were seen playing Veleno aluminum guitars. We know that Mark Bolan, Eric Clapton and others owned Velenos. Jorge Santana eventually bought one. Other well-known guitarists who played Velenos included Pete Haycock of the Climax Blues Band (a gold Veleno can be seen on the cover of their Gold Plated lp), Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, Ronnie Montrose, then of the Edgar Winter Group, Martin Barre of Jethro Tull, Ace Frehley of Kiss, Dave Peverett of Foghat, and Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad. One of the last appearances of a Veleno was on the album cover of Panorama by the Cars. Not all of these folks purchased their guitars directly from John.
Who did purchase new guitars from Veleno? Veleno did not keep detailed records of everyone who bought his guitars from him, but a partial list in his scrapbook reveals some interesting names. The list includes Eric Clapton (#2), Mark Bolan (#3), Mark Farner (#4), Lou Reed (#5), Gregg Allman (#6), Ray Manet of Rare Earth (#7), Dave Peverett (#8), Dan Fergusson (#9), Sonny Bono (#10), Pete Haycock (#11), Ronnie Montrose (#12), Jeff Lynne of ELO (#13), Miami-area guitarist Johnny Olafson (#14), Terry Blankenship of Damon (#18), John Stone of Chocolate and Vanilla (#19), Robert Bond of the Texas band Rise (#21) and Mark Klyce of Love Date (#58). Clearly the celebrity exposure early-on had its effect down the guitar pecking order later.
Reportedly, several guitars were made for Ronnie Montrose with thicker necks reminiscent of late '50s Gibsons. The normal Veleno neck is quite thin, reflecting necks like Kapa and Hagstrom in the '60s and anticipating tastes of the late '80s.
Veleno recalls that shortly after Jeff Lynne bought his Veleno guitar Electric Light Orchestra appeared on a New Years Day celebration television program during which ELO performed on the Thames river in London. There, shining brightly, was the Veleno Original for the world to admire.
