Veleno guitars

[Mick Bailey]

I always fancied owning a Veleno guitar and was just looking around to see if any are for sale. I spotted this; https://denmarkstreetonline.co.uk/pr...e-Frehley-KISS
What an insane price. Time for a re-think.

Has anyone stripped one down and photographed the construction?

[The Dude]

This isn't an answer to your question, so apologies in advance. I owned a Kramer aluminum neck guitar in the early 80's. I didn't keep it long. I live in South Dakota and the extreme temperature changes made it difficult to use and difficult to keep it in tune. The neck was even cold to the touch at times. I'd think an entirely aluminum guitar would be even more susceptible to temp changes. Unless you live in a region where temperature is fairly consistent, I wouldn't even consider one of these unless you never intend to do outdoor gigs or toss it in a cold backseat to drive to a gig.

[nosaj]

This isn't an answer to your question, so apologies in advance. I owned a Kramer aluminum neck guitar in the early 80's. I didn't keep it long. I live in South Dakota and the extreme temperature changes made it difficult to use and difficult to keep it in tune. The neck was even cold to the tt to mention the ouch at times. I'd think an entirely aluminum guitar would be even more susceptible to temp changes. Unless you live in a region where temperature is fairly consistent, I wouldn't even consider one of these unless you never intend to do outdoor gigs or toss it in a cold backseat to drive to a gig.

And not mention the road salt is hell on aluminum
nosaj

[The Dude]

Yes. The inability to use it as a shovel when you get stuck is definitely a detriment.

[Enzo]

Odd you should mention... We are just starting to get snow here, last couple weeks or so. And my wife and I sometimes discuss what we should do with my cremains when I croak. I suggested, to be useful to society, they put my ashes at a roadside corner in a bucket with a shovel. Like they do with sand. SO if the road gets icy, my ashes can be used for traction..

[Mick Bailey]

I think your cremains should be incorporated into circuit boards to make a batch of limited edition Enzo amps. The selling point being that if they ever break they can fix themselves.

On the subject of Kramer guitars, I'd wanted a Travis Bean for a long time, but settled for a Kramer 'tuning fork' DMZ 2000. The real problem with that was the extreme weight - mine weighed almost 13lb and I could only use it for a couple of numbers even with a 4" wide keyboard strap. I'm in agreement regarding tuning stability and that cold neck - my bandmates were pretty fed up with my constant tuning. A real shame, but it had to go. The Veleno is just out of interest and to keep out in my living room - not as a gigging guitar, but the prices are insane. I have a fascination with metal guitars and the Veleno is an extreme, and with more information I could build one - that would make a nice project.

[Mick Bailey]

An update to this is I came across a local company that's able to 3D scan a Veleno body/neck etc to reproduce it exactly as it was originally made - machined from solid (thought the original necks were cast - not economical for a one-off). There's a lot more to it than just that, but at least I'd have the basis to be able to build a complete guitar. Now I just need to find someone willing to dismantle their guitar into all of its component parts and allow it to be scanned.

[tedmich]

As an aside, cast aluminum is very different from std. CNC'd from billet aluminum; it usually has way lower thermal expansion, thus the crappy cast aluminum pistons in your car fit tight right on startup while fancier types rattle like a diesel until up to temp.

Thus a good CNC base material for an Al guitar might be MIC6 aluminum which is cast high strength 7000 series alloy that is stress relieved; its also cheaper for big pieces.

My friend had a tuning fork Kramer and it was cold heavy and sounded terrible, metal is far from the best material for things constantly handled IMHO, except maybe for tools/guns.

[tedmich]

PS Gittlers are a bit cheaper and available in 100% titanium alloy!

at least only 3lbs...(~$3k/lb...)
https://gittlerinstruments.com/

Their web site includes a hilarious story of their founder being screwed over by his business associates who had him sign a contract in a language he couldn't read :O https://gittlerinstruments.com/the-original-gittler

[Mick Bailey]

There's a foundry nearby that will cast a void-free alloy bar for machining in pretty much any alloy composition required. It would be more efficient to make a proper pattern, but it's easier to machine a slab from a scan and eliminate the pattern. All this is theoretical, because I'd still need to get my hands on an original guitar. My own Kramer sounded fine and nowadays would have kept it, but when I was a gigging guitarist I needed something that I'd get more use out of so swapped it for a Kramer Pacer Custom II that I still play (despite pointy headstocks being right out of fashion).

[tedmich]

I found this Valeno "Tribute" guitar made by Luthier Greg Bailey, nice and shiny

after reading this thread,
http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Guitars/rec/3472/
Im convinced these are a poor design and vastly over priced, but to each their own ; )

[Mick Bailey]

I agree that they're vastly over priced and appreciate the tuning issues. There's no way I'd pay more for one than any other novelty guitar, but it would be an interesting build over the winter months now I've completed my Hurdy Gurdy.