 Venn was one a handful of guitar makers in the 1950s and 60's to wind his own pickups and use wooden pickup covers aesthetically matched with the highly figured hardwoods he used in the body and neck of his instruments.Venn built or repaired for fine guitarists such as Phil Baugh, Maurice Anderson, Tom Morrell, Bud Isaacs, Norm Hamlet, and Tiny Moore.William Eaton apprenticed with John Roberts in 1971.