Pierre
Stratologist
It's a single-cut, glossy neck axe... It has a tune-o-matic and two humbuckers, but it's not quite what we could expect of such an axe.
I mean, it's a bolt-on. It also as a 5 way switch. And stainless steel frets...
It's French, too. It smells of croissants and fancy cheeses. Reminds me of home.
It's a Vigier. This one, to be more accurate: http://www.vigierguitars.com/page/fiche_produit.php?id_prod=2392
The GV model was built to compliment the Excalibur (Super Strats) and Expert (vintage Strats) models the brand was already offering. It's got a few of the classic Vigier features: stainless-steel frets, zero-fret, carbon-reinforced, truss-rod-less neck. Schaller tuners with oversized locking wheels, brass-encased strap pins too.
But it also has some GV-specific features: Amber pickups (yuuum...), Phenowood fingerboard (basically a very dense, pore-less, jet black fingerboard). And unlike the Excaliburs, this has a tune-o-matic style bridge.
It's also built out of alder; there is a thin maple-top; about 5mm perhaps. The neck is maple and the carbon stripe is visible, giving the impression of a three pieces neck. In reality the reinforcement doesn't go all the way to the headstock.
This bridge is more comfortable to use than a TOM. It's flatter in profile and has less sharp angles. It feels nice against the side of my palm.
The rest of the hardware is chrome and pretty standard.
So wait, what makes it special then?
Patrice Vigier designed it for sustain. And it feels. Notes just keep ringing. Chords are like a wall of sound. This is actually quite a bright-sounding guitar; be ready to increase the bass on your amp a bit.
The amber pickups sound quite balanced and help retain the guitar's acoustic voice. Notes ring very clearly and they're very 'rich' sounding. I guess my tone-descriptive buzzwords suck. But let's say this guitar has tons of harmonics. It's also THE LEAST forgiving guitar I've ever played. Every single note, harmonic, and mistake will ring out. It's not a Telecaster, but those who've played a Tele and were surprised at how response they are compared to other guitars will find the same feeling there.
Note the 5-way switch. I was wondering why position 4 sounded a little thin... That is because, unlike what I'm used to with my Music Man and all my other guitars, this isn't the outer coils in parallel. Rather, it's the split bridge pickup on its own. Position 3 is both pickups split. Position 2 is the neck pickup split. This is probably the only thing I'd ever consider changing. I really do miss my mixed split tones.
This is not a modern metal axe (... duh). I got some very good thrash and classic metal tones though. And to be fair it's not like it can't do any styles. It's just a little more vintage voiced (looser bass, brighter tone) than my other axes that I use for more modern styles.
Ah, did I mention it's gorgeous?
It's built fantastically well. Nothing loose. Everything tight. It stays in tune, and is setup pretty much exactly as I would do it. Which is good since, obviously, there is no truss-rod!
The neck is a medium 'D'. Not my favorite usually, but now that I'm working on my picking and fretting, it does help me position my hand better in order to avoid the 'shoulder'; they get in the way of the thumb-over-neck technique I want to put behind me.
The neck is painted but I don't really care about that. The neck finish will never be my technique's bottleneck!
Voila.
I mean, it's a bolt-on. It also as a 5 way switch. And stainless steel frets...
It's French, too. It smells of croissants and fancy cheeses. Reminds me of home.
It's a Vigier. This one, to be more accurate: http://www.vigierguitars.com/page/fiche_produit.php?id_prod=2392
The GV model was built to compliment the Excalibur (Super Strats) and Expert (vintage Strats) models the brand was already offering. It's got a few of the classic Vigier features: stainless-steel frets, zero-fret, carbon-reinforced, truss-rod-less neck. Schaller tuners with oversized locking wheels, brass-encased strap pins too.
But it also has some GV-specific features: Amber pickups (yuuum...), Phenowood fingerboard (basically a very dense, pore-less, jet black fingerboard). And unlike the Excaliburs, this has a tune-o-matic style bridge.
It's also built out of alder; there is a thin maple-top; about 5mm perhaps. The neck is maple and the carbon stripe is visible, giving the impression of a three pieces neck. In reality the reinforcement doesn't go all the way to the headstock.
This bridge is more comfortable to use than a TOM. It's flatter in profile and has less sharp angles. It feels nice against the side of my palm.
The rest of the hardware is chrome and pretty standard.
So wait, what makes it special then?
Patrice Vigier designed it for sustain. And it feels. Notes just keep ringing. Chords are like a wall of sound. This is actually quite a bright-sounding guitar; be ready to increase the bass on your amp a bit.
The amber pickups sound quite balanced and help retain the guitar's acoustic voice. Notes ring very clearly and they're very 'rich' sounding. I guess my tone-descriptive buzzwords suck. But let's say this guitar has tons of harmonics. It's also THE LEAST forgiving guitar I've ever played. Every single note, harmonic, and mistake will ring out. It's not a Telecaster, but those who've played a Tele and were surprised at how response they are compared to other guitars will find the same feeling there.
Note the 5-way switch. I was wondering why position 4 sounded a little thin... That is because, unlike what I'm used to with my Music Man and all my other guitars, this isn't the outer coils in parallel. Rather, it's the split bridge pickup on its own. Position 3 is both pickups split. Position 2 is the neck pickup split. This is probably the only thing I'd ever consider changing. I really do miss my mixed split tones.
This is not a modern metal axe (... duh). I got some very good thrash and classic metal tones though. And to be fair it's not like it can't do any styles. It's just a little more vintage voiced (looser bass, brighter tone) than my other axes that I use for more modern styles.
Ah, did I mention it's gorgeous?
It's built fantastically well. Nothing loose. Everything tight. It stays in tune, and is setup pretty much exactly as I would do it. Which is good since, obviously, there is no truss-rod!
The neck is a medium 'D'. Not my favorite usually, but now that I'm working on my picking and fretting, it does help me position my hand better in order to avoid the 'shoulder'; they get in the way of the thumb-over-neck technique I want to put behind me.
The neck is painted but I don't really care about that. The neck finish will never be my technique's bottleneck!
Voila.
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. Arguably some of the ultimate superstrats available!
