Staying on the cutting edge of guitar technology is a difficult task. A huge number of
companies, large and small, have sprouted
up over the past several decades, all vying
for a piece of uniqueness and notoriety in
the industry. Hailing from the city of Grigny,
France, is Vigier Guitars, a company that
has already left such a mark in the trade.
Vigier is often credited with being one of
the first companies to implement carbon-fiber technologies into guitar necks, yielding
an instrument that is tremendously strong
and durable. Moreover, in 1982 the company introduced the first guitar to utilize a
microprocessor in the body to store program
sounds. Not a company to rest on its laurels,
Vigier also helped innovate the fretless guitar,
introducing the Surfreter fretless model in
1980 (garnering the attention of such greats
as Shawn Lane and Ron Thal). Almost thirty
years later, the Excalibur Ultra Blues model,
Vigier’s representation of past-meets-present,
aims to continue their tradition of impeccable
design and extreme attention to detail.
From the first glance after opening the case,
this particular Excalibur model is unquestionably stunning: The blue flamed, closely
matched maple top is exquisite, as if you
were looking into a natural pool of water.
Running your eyes over each aspect of the
flame reveals a dense range of apparent valleys in the top that reflect elegantly against
the light. This, backed with a fine piece
of alder, gives the Vigier a nice balanced
weight, not too light, yet not to heavy on
the shoulder when slung at waist-level. The
Vigier finishing process also demonstrates
their obsession with detail, as the varnish is
dried for a minimum of five weeks. The guitar
doesn’t stop at the “eye candy,” though.
Attached to the dazzling body is one of the
most comfortable necks a player could hope
to come across: a one-piece, sealed maple/
carbon composite material with a matte
varnish. The ensemble is topped off with a
Teflon nut and matching headstock, weighted
down by a custom set of Schaller locking tuners made especially for Vigier (oversized to
enhance sustain). The Ultra Blues is equipped
with a tried-and-true trifecta of Dimarzio pickups, consisting of two Virtual Vintage DP401
single coils and a Virtual PAF humbucker in
the bridge position. Interestingly, the five-way switch employs an unconventional wiring
scheme that never coil-taps the humbucker;
rather it combines it with either the middle or
neck pickup in certain positions.
As you know, some basic unplugged characteristics of an electric guitar that are apparent
upon first inspection tend to become major
factors in what the guitar will sound like
plugged in. If the instrument can sustain well
without being amplified, chances are it will
sustain very well when projected through a
nice combo or stack. The Ultra Blues certainly
has these qualities, notably due to the addition of the oversized Schaller locking tuners
and the superior bridge design. The bridge
pivots on ball bearings, not the traditional
knife-style setup. The reasoning behind this is
that knife-style pivoting works quite well when
the bridge is newer, but wears out rather
quickly, and can be very detrimental to tuning
strength. Unamplified chords project quite
well, and can be discerned from several feet
away, while open strings rang out loudly.
I should mention that when we removed the
guitar from the shipping box, the handle
broke off of the case almost immediately,
which resulted in the case, and the guitar
inside, hitting the floor from several feet.
Granted, this might have been due to the
shipping from France, or perhaps a fault in
this particular case. Sometimes, however,
curses can turn out to be blessings, because
the accident helped solidify Vigier’s construction reputation: the guitar was perfectly setup
with no fretting issues. On top of that, it was
perfectly in tune, even after being shipped
halfway around the world only to have the
case fall off of the broken handle.
Plugging In
The guitar continued to shine when plugged
into a 1973 Marshall Superbass, and then
a Vox AC30 reissue. Make no mistake: the
Excalibur Ultra Blues is a highly versatile guitar. The pickup switching system allows for a
multitude of useful tones, especially with the
added combinations of the full humbucker
tone with either single coil pickup. The
bridge position combined with the middle
produced tones that were very suggestive of
another highly sought-after instrument: the
early Ibanez Iceman models with the triple
coil pickup arrangement. Steve Miller-esque
tones abound with this guitar, as do many of
the sounds that fit perfectly with contemporary styles of music. The neck pickup provides
a very nice setup for deep, droning, single
note riffs—go heavy on the tremolo and
reverb with this one. When combined with
the bridge pickup, the sound is massive, and
every note can be discerned from the densest of chords. The tones are powerful, well
refined and anything but raw… which leads
me to another point.
The Ultra Blues is certainly a superb electric
guitar, the result of painstaking research to
correct every flaw that has affected those
instruments over the past several decades.
Ironically, this might be its downfall with a
lot of players. While it might seem trite to
fall back on saying it’s “too perfect,” a lot of
players might feel that way when holding and
playing it. Guitarists are a finicky bunch. They
like to establish their own sounds, and are
in a constant battle to stand apart from the
pack. Embracing the “flaws” in certain instruments have forced guitarists to develop those
unique sounds, which in turn give them their
own voice. Jimi Hendrix turned the feedback
issues with his setup into an instrument all in
itself. More recently, Jack White has taken
the raspy, pawnshop guitar tone to new
heights, grabbing the attention of millions
with it. That’s not to say that the Ultra Blues
couldn’t achieve any of this, but just that a
lot of players might be put off by how refined
it sounds, and how well it’s put together.
Those guitarists who are used to an instrument that requires a bit of effort and coaxing
to get their own sounds out of it might find
the Ultra Blues a little too accommodating.
Clearly, this is a guitar built for the guitarist
who has spent years upon years honing his
craft, and is looking for just the right instrument to be their tool of expression.
Undoubtedly a Jack-of-all-trades, the Vigier
Excalibur Ultra Blues is a product of skill,
dedication and patience. Every concern in
the design of this guitar has been worked
and reworked, and it surely shows. If you see
one hanging in a shop, I highly recommend
you try it out. While they are slowly gaining
more ground with dealers in this country,
Vigier is still a brand that’s unknown to a lot
of players, which is an indignity considering
how well-designed they are.
Buy If...
you’ve got the funds for one of
the finest guitars around, with
refined, polished tones and
effortless playability.
Skip If...
your desires are less extravagant, or
you prefer an edgier, rawer tone.
Rating...
4. 5
ONTHEWeb
Head online to hear sound samples of the guitar in action at
premierguitar.com
Vigier Instruments
MSRP List: $3691 Street: $3138
vigierguitars.com
