Vigier Guitars

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Vigier Guitars is a French manufacturer of electric guitars and basses.

[edit] History

1978: Patrice Vigier sets up as an independent luthier.
1980: Exhibits at his first music show in Paris introducing the Arpege series and the following:
A/ Trapezoid through body neck
B/ Metallic reinforcement under the fretboard
C/ Creation of a fretless guitar with a metallic fretboard:
D/ Electronic supply by accumulator
E/ Through body Anchor Bridge

1982: Creation of a ball bearing Vibrato and the first memory guitar incorporating a processor (Nautilus System).
1983: The Passion series is revealed. An Arpege guitar with a flat fingerboard is made to fit Stanley Jordan's way of playing, the action of the string is set very low (0.5mm)
1984: Release of a carbon fibre neck guitar and a guitar including a ROM memory.
1985: The Marilyn series is presented.
1989: Creation of the carbon reinforced neck (90/10).
1991: The Excalibur series is revealed, with a bolt-on Neck, as well as the Floyd Rose Vibrato pivoting on needle bearings.
1996: The Excess Bass is released and an active noise reducer for the pickups appears.
1998: 18 years after the first fretless guitar, the Surfreter is introduced.
1999: Creation of the reinforced Zero Fret. Thanks to Bumblefoot, the fretless guitar starts to sell worldwide; in the 18 years prior Vigier had sold only one.
2000: The 7 string Excalibur hits the market. The Expert is also released, featuring 3 single-coil pickups. For the 20th anniversary, a special guitar is created, decorated with gold and jewels for a value of 30,000 euros.
2001: A new Excalibur is released featuring the 2010 vibrato; a non-locking tremolo system pivoting on needle bearings.
2003: At the Frankfurt Musikmesse, a guitar is presented incorporating a Midi system to control the pickup selector, volume and tone controls. It was never to be released, since Vigier never approved the final version.
2005: The Excalibur Shawn Lane is built with a flat radius and becomes the guitar with the lowest action offered on the market[citation needed].
2006: The Roger Glover signature bass and the Bumblefoot signature guitar are unveiled. New features also appear: a new strap button with secured endpin and heavier locking tuners that increases sustain.
2007: The Excalibur Indus and Excalibur Special are made available in a left-handed version.

[edit] Notable Vigier players

Vigier is played by reputed musicians and bands like Ron Thal, Deep Purple, Shawn Lane, Stanley Jordan, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Buckethead, Simple Minds and Gary Moore.

[edit] External links

The official web site:Vigier guitars information center

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