Fast-forward to late '94 and it's the beginning of one of the most interesting and enjoyable chapters in Vince's career. After over 20 years of playing, building, repairing, buying, selling, trading--basically living for the guitar--Vince is tapped by the Fender Custom Shop to help develop a new concept for the guitar industry and bring it to life. When his prototypes meet with mass approval and new orders mount, he takes a risk and forms a new company to get the ball rolling. As the story goes, Vince spends the next four and a half years using his skill and experience on a new project... making new guitars look and feel like their well-worn and well-played predecessors.

By the end of 1999, the work Vince and his crew have been doing is taken back "in-house" to be done back in California. They've shipped over forty-eight hundred guitars and it's been one sweet ride. Vince knows how lucky he's been. He'd seen huge success doing something he'd only dreamed about while growing up. He'd had the chance to do a lot of great work for many of his musical heroes (some of whom are friends today). He'd taken a risk and it had all paid off.

Today, his name is attached to an entire genre of guitars, and much his to surprise, they've already seem to have become modern collectables.

      The start of the new millenium finds Vince working on some ideas for guitars of his own. He wants to take everything he's learned and put it to work. He's had a idea for a new design in the back of his mind for a quite awhile.

     He's watched more radical designs come and go, and his experience tells him that all in all, guitar players are actually very traditional at heart. He wants the new design to be familiar- something that will be readily accepted by players. While he has a "soft spot" for the aged favorites he'd been working on for the last several years, he's ready for something new.

     For Vince, the idea is to find a fresh but familiar way to unify all of the things he had liked best from the guitars he'd experienced- the look, feel and tones of the most memorable new and vintage pieces he had owned and played over the years. The vision was pretty clear, and it isn't long before the initial design are put on paper and the prototypes for the Legato are being built.

     Like anything worthwhile, the process doesn't happen overnight. He builds, he plays, he listens. He consults with long time friends and experts about what they'd like to see, hear and feel. He gets prototypes out to players he knows have great ears and hands. And it works. It's now the middle of 2003 and after a few prototypes and a great response from a couple of well-known artists and some promising initial sales, it's pretty clear that Vinetto Guitars has "legs". Vince continues to build and tweak in a small shop in St. Louis.

      Welcome 2004. Vinetto is getting attention. There's a bit of a buzz on the 'net. People are wondering what's up. In March, there's a great article on the story of Vince's past work and a great product review in the highly-regarded Tone Quest Report. (If you're interested in more detail on the story you're reading, be sure to click here to download the PDF version of that issue.)

      By summer it becomes clear that it's time to take it to the next level, so Vince starts looking for more space.  In October, Vinetto Musical Instruments, LLC moves to its current location in a small industrial park in the central St. Louis area. It's a comfortable and efficient shop where Vince and his fellow builders and assistants are writing the next chapter in the story.

-Ingrid Marcheski

A note from Vince Cunetto

    It's been a long and interesting journey from my first teenage attempts at building a guitar to where we are today here at Vinetto.

     We're a small group of luthiers dedicated to building great instruments for very discerning players. We use state-of-the-art technology to assure the fit and accuracy you'd expect today. But, because of the hands-on nature of the way we build, our output is limited. As you would expect, we concentrate a lot of effort into every detail of every guitar. It's all part of our attempt to bring you what we hope you'll find to be some of the very best guitars in the market, period.

      We keep in close touch with our players and get a lot of good comments on the guitars. What we hear most often is that players feel like there's something about these guitars that inspires them to be able to once again play things they'd lost, or better yet, to play new ideas they'd been wanting to find. To some this may sound silly, but we're often told that there's a definite "vibe" to the these guitars that just isn't found in other electric guitars today.

     Some say it comes from our painstaking handwork and attention to detail. Others site the design of the guitars. Still others talk about superior materials and workmanship, excellent fit and hand-buffed lacquer finish. And almost all of our players say they've found a level of tone and playability they've never experienced in any of their other guitars. Of course, we never get tired of hearing comments like that.

      Although there are a lot of years of guitar passion and experience behind Vinetto Guitars, we're excited about the challenge of charging into today's brave new world of high-quality, handcrafted "boutique" electrics. We're constantly working on new ideas and responding to requests from our players. We've intentionally positioned ourselves in the same arena with builders known for exceptionally high quality guitars, and put our work up against their's at every turn. It gives us the chance to continually prove ourselves and to fully explore all the new things we're doing. Maybe that's why our guitars are turning a lot of heads and continue to meet with overwhelming approval from very satisfied customers and dealers alike.

     Here at Vinetto Guitars, we're driven to craft the finest electric guitars availabe today. It may sound odd, but around here superior craftsmanship and technical excellence are not they goal... they're just part of the process. Beautiful guitars can be a true pleasure to own for a lot of reasons, but we firmly believe that the only thing that makes a guitar truly great is if it can meet the measure of being a great musical instrument... a tool used to bring out the best musical expression the player has to give. And that's where you come in. To that end, we sincerely hope that you'll get the opportunity to enjoy the experience of owning one for yourself.

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