Vigier Guitars

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

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 marketFact|date=November 2007.
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.

Notable Vigier players

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

External links

The official web site: [http://www.vigierguitars.com Vigier guitars information center]