Authentic is how we wish you would describe Vigier. Authentic because while industrial guitar manufacturers spend most of their time on marketing and paying musicians to play their guitars, we have devoted 20 years to sound research, technological developments, and manufacturing improvements that respect tradition. Authentic because we have only one manufacturing site that builds as many guitars in a year that an industrial manufacturer does in a few days. This is why our guitars receive the attention that an expert musician looks for in a professional instrument. Take one in your hands and you'll hear and feel Vigier is authentic. Original antique violin Custom black diamond Ron Thal Excalibur® Original and Custom models have our undetunable, reliable, and exclusive Floyd Rose type tremolo mounted on ball bearings. If you're a heavy tremolo user, this is the guitar for you. Ultra white gold Ultra Blues light sapphire Special fire burst The Excalibur Ultra is an alliance of nice looks and efficiency. With its set of EMG 81 & 85 pickups, clean, crunchy or dirty sounds of all types of music are embraced with accuracy. The Ultra Blues subtly merges the world of the classic single-coil and humbucker sound. Both single-coils are like those on the Expert '63 while the bridge pickup is a Virtual PAF by DiMarzio. The Excalibur Special is the luxury version of the Supra. Its flamed maple top gives it a little more heat and sustain. A colored headstock is available as a special order. Mick Taylor Shawn Lane Supra7 urban metal Indus textblack Christophe Godin / Gnô Supra urban blue Our 7 string's colossal sound reputation comes from its clarity and precision with overdriven amps. The Indus has the Supra's characteristics, but has the hottest sound of all of the Excalibur range. Its black textured finish gives it a classy and high-tech look. The Supra™ is the most simple and efficient Vigier. You will love its crunchy bridge and warm neck pickups that can all be splitted in intermediary positions. Equipped with our non-locking tremolo mounted on ball bearings and locking machine heads, it is free of tuning hassles. Ron Thal / Bumblefoot If you are into progressive music, the Surfreter® Jean Beauvoir is undoubtedly the guitar you need. With our exclusive Delta Metal fingerboard and our 20 year experience, we can guarantee that it is the only fretless in the world with such sustain. The Surfreter is available in two versions: Supra (as shown) and Special with a flamed maple top. Tim Donahue Surfreter Supra in clear red with colored headstock option Craig Erickson Expert retro white Walter Trout Expert retro blue Expert retro red Alain Perez / Khaled If you're not stuck in the past, the Expert® is the single-coil guitar that you've been looking forward to. It combines tradition and modernism and is available in 3 pickup configurations: Retro '54, Standard '63, and Texas Blues. It is noiseless with a single-coil sound that has been rarely heard. Our guarantee against de-tuning is its non-locking tremolo mounted on ball bearings. Three classy and discrete colors with a Flip-Flop effect are available: retro red, blue and white. - A 3 single-coil guitar made for expert ears. Geezer Butler / Black Sabbath Roger Glover / Deep Purple Excess Surfreter natural alder Excess Indus textblack Excess clear red Masayoshi Yamashita / Loudness The Excess® series has been adopted by various players including some of heavy metal's legendary bassists. It’s a very efficient bass, designed for stage performance. The sound is full with a lot of room and has the quality to "cut” through. Also available fretless with the Delta Metal fingerboard for endless sustain. Glenn Hughes Available in 4, 5, or 6 string, the Passion has the main construction characteristics of the Arpege model. Its differences are the pickups that are set close together and the electronic Nick Douglas / Doro composed of a balance and a parametric equalizer. The sound of the Passion is unique and can be percussive with a lot of room. Available in 4, 5, or 6 string, the Arpege is the state of Vigier art. Its 10/90 neck-through construction, combined with a laminated body, give this bass incredible response and makes it lightweight. Like on all Vigier basses, its pickups are ultra dynamic with a wide frequency response range. Its active electronic is Arpege natural maple essentially composed of a balance and 12 preset Passion natural alder sounds made by two parametric equalizers. Passion antique violin The Marilyn has always been acclaimed as a pretty and sexy guitar. With its set of DiMarzio X2N pickups it is a very powerful and efficient guitar. It overdrives any amp and leaves room for tone at the same time. The 10/90 neck-through-body construction and the Phenowood fingerboard give force to the sound. The Marilyn is a guitar that takes you to extremes. VIGIER® GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS NECK We manufacture two types of necks: bolt-on for the Excess®, Excalibur® and Expert® series and a neck-through-body for the Arpege®, Passion® and Marilyn® series. • Comfort The master element of the guitars sound and comfort is the neck. It always receives particular attention every time we develop new concepts to improve its performance. Because the neck is hand finished, each one can be verified by our luthiers. They will make sure nothing was overlooked. And our reputation is proof that your hands will feel it! • Wood To manufacture the neck, we use the same maple wood selected by great classical instrument makers for centuries. This wood is cut in Europe's forests and dried naturally for years before it will be used (7 years actually). The humidity level is strictly controlled while it is stored. • Fingerboard and frets Each fingerboard is rectified to the one hundredth of a millimeter to ensure it's exceptionally straight. Frets will then be fitted, also rectified and polished meticulously. A Phenowood™ fingerboard is used on the neck-through-body models. Its physical strength and stability offer excellent wear resistance, high response, plus neat and accurate fretting. 10/90 Neck System™ Traditional maple or rosewood fingerboards are your choice for the bolt-on neck models. • Delta Metal™ fretless fingerboard For the accomplished musician who wants to enter the discipline of fretless playing, we developed the Delta Metal fingerboard in 1979. Gold in color, it is immediately striking and features a hard surface that will stay even for a long period of time. It produces sustain comparable to fretted instruments and is rich in harmonics. Exclusively available on 4 string bass models and 6 string guitars. • 10/90 Neck System™ 20 18 Material strength This exclusive advanced concept of 10% carbon and 90% wood replaces the traditional metal truss rod with a dense carbon 16 14 strip to reinforce the neck. Employed for over 15 years on all Vigier guitars and basses, this concept makes the neck strong 12 and stable during climate change. To get a full sound, we never believed it was logical to drill a hole through a neck and then 10 8 insert a rod of metal inside. Necks with the 10/90 System are solid, notes ring longer and your sound is precise and powerful. 6 4 Wood necks with truss rods are too flexible; they absorb the energy of the string and shorten sustain. Our 10/90 Neck System 2 0 also contributes to tuning stability because with wood necks, the metal truss rod rubs and causes detuning problems. Wood Steel Graphite Carbon • Hardened zero fret technology A zero fret has always been fitted on all of our instruments. This slightly higher fret balances open or fretted string notes, ensures perfect string height and minimizes string friction to help avoid detuning when using the tremolo. We've been able to harden it so it lasts longer and make it removable so it's easier to replace if needed. • Graphite string retainer On guitars equipped with our non-locking tremolo a graphite string retainer is used to press the E and B string onto Removable zero fret & graphite string retainer the zero fret. This guarantees perfect tuning stability while using the tremolo. • Finish In order to completely protect it as well as enhance its feel and play, a matte varnish is sprayed on every bolt-on neck. BODY • Comfort When we design the shape we keep in mind the harmony between the player and the guitar. The perfect balance of the instrument is achieved by aligning the neck with the axis of the human body. Our guitars weigh approximately 3Kg and are undoubtedly one of the lightest in their category. So, for those who play spectacular, action filled concerts, or just endlessly somewhere, we are positive that you'll appreciate the manageability and lightweight. • Wood Depending on the models, we can use alder, maple, or ash. Selected in Europe's forests, these woods are real and solid. They are dried naturally for years in our factory before we cut them. The body is made up of only 2 center-joined pieces not 4, or sometimes even 7 pieces like industrial makers. • Finish The summit of quality is shown in our finishes. Our master finisher sprays over 10 thin coats of varnish between numerous sanding procedures. A minimum amount of varnish is sprayed to avoid oversealing the wood so it can vibrate, yet be protected like on an acoustic instrument. After, we will wait at least one month before we proceed with final sanding and polishing -this is state of the art. Please refer to the end of the catalog for each models standard color.