# Vigier Excalibur Custom (NGD...lying a bit)...56k'ers be warned...



## SirToastalot (May 11, 2008)

Okay folks, I've actually had this guitar for a few weeks. I took the Eurostar to Paris to pick the Custom up from its previous owner (apologies for not making an uber-mega-epic pic story from that!). This is a 1997 model and it was in amazing condition; it was never gigged with. The owner was moving onto a brand new Vigier Shawn Lane signature model.
This is my first guitar with a Floyd Rose and I was getting nervous about changing the gakky rusty strings that were on it. I was so intimidated by the trem-system that I left the guitar in standard tuning for a couple of weeks. Thanks to the recent batch of bank holidays I had the time and courage to finally get this guitar setup in DGCFAD tuning. I got some Dean Markley Blue Steel 11-52s, an extra trem spring, read one or two Floyd guides online and watched some tutorials on Youtube. Those videos were most helpful! Oh yeah, some Planet Waves Lemon Oil, Guitar Polish and cleaning cloths also arrived in the post. This was a good oppurtunity to clean the other guitars as well!





Cleaning between small gaps and getting some gunk off the maple fingerboard. My Vigier 7-string is lurking back there.




This thing scared me so much! The ball bearing system is cool though.  
I used an old toothbrush wrapped in soft material to keep the trem level with the body when changing strings.

Onto the daylight shots:












The odd 'zero fret'. 



















I read somewhere that these Vigier Floyds are made by Schaller.




Some buckle marks on the backplate. That's the only indication of heavy usage!




You can see the carbon strip in the neck. Handy place for the allen keys.

Some gratiutious outdoor shots:

















With the Excalibur Ultra and Supra 7-string:




Damned mirror plate...I tried to avoid getting into these shots.













Some specs: 
Seymour Duncan pickups. TB-5 at the bridge, SSL6 in the middle and SH-5 at the neck.
24 frets
25.6" (650mm) scale...yes, you read that correctly
Bolt-on maple neck with the 10/90 System (10% carbon, 90% wood)
Alder body with flamed maple top
Licensed Floyd Rose pivoting on ball bearings

Overall a nice addition to the collection even if I'm not a big Floyd Rose aficiando. Really fast thin-ish neck, good for small-handed folks like me!
It's in D-standard so that I can play some Gojira, Death and mid-90's Paradise Lost amongst others.
If Vigier made their only 7-string model look anything like the Customs/Ultras then I'm sure they'd be a lot more popular.


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## -K4G- (May 11, 2008)

That is a hot finish.


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## FYP666 (May 11, 2008)

Nice find man! 

More pics of that 7-string! Now!


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## Carrion (May 11, 2008)

Zero frets ftw.


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## Se7enMeister (May 11, 2008)

why arnt all trm ball bearing


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## Esp Griffyn (May 11, 2008)

amazing, total Shawn Lane vibe about it. Hope it sounds as good as his did!


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## matt7 (May 11, 2008)

I had the pleasure of playing a 6 string fixed bridge one of those the other day. THE nicest guitar ever. How much did you pay for your 7 and how much would you be looking if you were to sell it


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## Blind Faith (May 11, 2008)

why did you have to post that i thought i was over my vigier GAS 

That finish looks sick! i demand more photos of all the vigiers


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## Apophis (May 11, 2008)

Awesome, I love your collection


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## maliciousteve (May 11, 2008)

Stunning looking guitars mate. What a trip for a guitar too! 

I've played the Shawn Lane vigier and it's a top quality instrument. But I didn't find the flat fretboard radius very comfortable. Great for legato and guys who don't have an aggressive picking style, but if like me, you like to play hard it can be hard to get your head around.

I see you live in Bushey, I practicly live there , as my girlfriend lives in Bushey and I'm there 3/4 times a week.


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## -Nolly- (May 11, 2008)

Fucking lovely guitar mate! Vigiers are incredible guitars, and yours is particularly beautiful to boot.
Congrats!


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## Rick (May 11, 2008)

Looks great, Toasty.


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## TemjinStrife (May 11, 2008)

Awesome guitar! I love the Vigier take on the Superstrat design... although the Shawn Lane model's flat board and razor-thin action were too much for me.



Se7enMeister said:


> why arnt all trm ball bearing


Because ball bearings are NOT the most efficient way to return to zero. The ZR trem, the Vigier bearing trems, and the Steinberger S- and T-trem are very finely balanced and will not always return to center, whereas a knife edge will due to its construction.

This can be an advantage and a disadvantage; the reason the Steinberger Trans-trem is a bearing trem is because it is possible to force it to return to different "zero positions" to allow it to transpose.


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## SirToastalot (May 11, 2008)

Thanks for all the nice comments so far! 
I've had 'gas' for Vigiers since I was 15 years old...that was way back in 1999 when I saw a Total Guitar review for the Indus model. It also helps that I'm half French.  Don't hurt me!



FYP666 said:


> More pics of that 7-string! Now!


Haha, I'll upload some soonish...is it cool to start a new thread even if it hasn't got a 'New Guitar Day' topic in the title?



matt7 said:


> How much did you pay for your 7 and how much would you be looking if you were to sell it


I bought the Supra 7 back in 2005 from France for about £800/1200 Euros. Secondhand of course. Not a bad price - Vigier had increased their new guitar prices by 20%.
I've got no idea about how much I would sell it for, I haven't contemplated moving on without it. I like it too much. What do you reckon?  



maliciousteve said:


> I've played the Shawn Lane vigier and it's a top quality instrument. But I didn't find the flat fretboard radius very comfortable. Great for legato and guys who don't have an aggressive picking style, but if like me, you like to play hard it can be hard to get your head around.
> 
> I see you live in Bushey, I practicly live there , as my girlfriend lives in Bushey and I'm there 3/4 times a week.



Yep, I live in that cruddy commuter town. I'd invite you over for a jam but I don't exactly have much of a rehearsal space or fantastic amp setups! I'm sure something can be arranged. Is there going to be a London SS.org gathering soon?

I still talk to the Custom's previous owner. Unfortunately his new Shawn Lane turned out to be a bit of a lame duck; he's sent it back to Vigier headquarters twice! The action was off and there was a lot of string buzz. 



TemjinStrife said:


> Because ball bearings are NOT the most efficient way to return to zero. The ZR trem, the Vigier bearing trems, and the Steinberger S- and T-trem are very finely balanced and will not always return to center, whereas a knife edge will due to its construction.



Interesting observations there, I haven't tried Steinbergers yet. 
Patrice Vigier has actually sold his Floyd Rose system seperately to some customers due to special requests. They've replaced O.F.R's on 'normal' guitars with the Vigier F.R. and the results haven't been completely successful, Patrice did warn them beforehand. The system is definitely fine-tuned to the designs aspects of his guitars, e.g the zero fret, carbon strip in the neck and slightly strange scale length.


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## kherman (May 11, 2008)

Congrats!

The Vigier bearing system is interesting.

Basically look like their notching a Schaller Floyd II larger and adding the bearing system.


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## D-EJ915 (May 11, 2008)

the colour is really nice, congrats


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## ibznorange (May 11, 2008)

That guit is fucking awesome dude. I love vigiers, there is a guy in town with 2, which ive had the blessing of playing. 

I really want one of the surfretter ones


TemjinStrife said:


> Because ball bearings are NOT the most efficient way to return to zero. The ZR trem, the Vigier bearing trems, and the Steinberger S- and T-trem are very finely balanced and will not always return to center, whereas a knife edge will due to its construction.



Im going to have to say from a physics/engineering standpoint, youre arguement makes no sense, not attacking you or anything, just saying. 
Ive not once had my ZR return to anything other than zero. Not a single time. Knife edges make perfectly good sense in theory, but unless everything is perfectly milled, they can bind pretty easily. They work fine usually, but im yet to have any ball bearing trem return incorrectly. Theres hardly any friction on the ball bearings, just like the knife posts. From a physics standpoint, theres LESS binded movement to lock them up wrong


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## Codyyy (May 11, 2008)

Why a 0 fret?


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## MattyCakes (May 11, 2008)

Codyyy said:


> Why a 0 fret?



uber heavy why else?


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## Stitch (May 11, 2008)

Se7enMeister said:


> why arnt all trm ball bearing



bcs thts jst t wy thngs r. we no nd vwls or sntnce strctre, y nd bll bearing?



MattyCakes said:


> uber heavy why else?





Grow up, because that was real insightful. 



Codyyy said:


> Why a 0 fret?



Vigier are a manufacturer that feel that a zero fret imparts extra tone and managability with setting up.

They certainly do affect the tone - the effect is akin to a brass nut compared to plastic, although I'm not at all sure of the 'lower buzz free action' argument - namely because no low action is buzz free and I've achieved pretty good results with all other sorts. Obviously you can't file the nut for lower action although you don't need to widen the zero fret for extra thick strings, just the nut needs to be done. However, taking the whole action down requires you to 'dress' the zero fret like you would a normal fret but with a mind to it being slightly taller than all the other ones, and if you cock up you've got to take out the whole fret, install a new one and start over.

Not a fun job, trust me.


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## Pauly (May 12, 2008)

Awesome! They make an Excalibur lefty and I'm certain one day I shall own one!


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## FortePenance (May 12, 2008)

DAMMMN. Fuck me sideways, i've been gassing for an Excalibur Custom (black albeit) ever since they reviewed one in Guitar Buyer last year. It's insane. Good job, good job!


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## SirToastalot (May 13, 2008)

ibznorange said:


> That guit is fucking awesome dude. I love vigiers, there is a guy in town with 2, which ive had the blessing of playing.
> 
> I really want one of the surfretter ones


Thanks man. I took a risk and bought a Vigier without playing it or a similar one beforehand. No regrets though.
The Surfreter is crazy...fretless metal fingerboard. 
Bumblefoot plays them and gets some great results.



Stitch said:


> Vigier are a manufacturer that feel that a zero fret imparts extra tone and managability with setting up.
> 
> They certainly do affect the tone - the effect is akin to a brass nut compared to plastic, although I'm not at all sure of the 'lower buzz free action' argument.



Just to add - it's there so that the sound of an open string closely approximates the sound of a fretted string. It's a nice feature but not that mind-blowing. 
As for eliminating unwanted string sounds...there's been some minor string buzz on all my Vigiers, dunno if I've done something wrong though.



Pauly said:


> They make an Excalibur lefty and I'm certain one day I shall own one!


Yeah, they finally caved in to all the requests! Great stuff even if their "base-models" (Indus & Special) are the only ones available in lefty.



FortePenance said:


> i've been gassing for an Excalibur Custom (black albeit) ever since they reviewed one in Guitar Buyer last year. It's insane.


I've considered grabbing a Black Custom as well but they seem to be the most expensive when going secondhand. It's not the best colour to show off the lovely flamed maple top either. I actually prefer the look of the Excalibur Original in Clear Black(?). Mark/Megadeth7684 used to own one:



















All it lacks from the Custom is the maple top, binding and coloured headstock.
If one becomes available I'd be all über it!


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## Shawn (May 13, 2008)

Very nice. I like the top, the color and the maple fretboard, the pickguard is sharp looking too. 

Nice collection!


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## FortePenance (May 14, 2008)

SirToastalot said:


> I've considered grabbing a Black Custom as well but they seem to be the most expensive when going secondhand. It's not the best colour to show off the lovely flamed maple top either. I actually prefer the look of the Excalibur Original in Clear Black(?). Mark/Megadeth7684 used to own one:
> 
> All it lacks from the Custom is the maple top, binding and coloured headstock.
> If one becomes available I'd be all über it!



The lack of body binding is exactly why I prefer the Custom haha. It looks sexy. I agree the black doesn't really show off the flame top. It's a shame but I think it contrasts a maple board pretty sweetly.


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## Pauly (May 15, 2008)

Do want!


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## abyss258 (May 15, 2008)

That's the tastiest blue guitar I've seen in a while... OM NOM NOM.
Beautiful


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