NGD: 2014 Vigier Expert Retro 54 hardtail

Dave Merrill said:
I don't play 1/1,000,000th of the speed of at least one major Vigier demographic, and I never will, and I'm ok w that.
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But actually, I wonder if this is just a more technical type of guitar than I'm used to. I've always been a heart and spirit guy, not so much about technical perfection. I have guitars that touched me somehow, that's why I bought them.

When I first played my Collings, I immediately went, woah, now I'm paying attention. Took multiple visits to the shop to actually decide to buy it, but that was mostly about the money, I knew right away it was special, for me.

I've only bought a guitar without playing it twice before, and I ended up returning both of them.

This Vigier was an opportunity to get an instrument that's so well respected, has some unusual advantages, isn't that available, and is usually out of my price range. But I didn't do it out of love, more for Reasons.

We'll just have to see if I end up bonding with it.
 
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Dave Merrill said:
The more I play it the more I like it.
This is good.

Don't know what's up with that tone control. Turned way down it's almost in cocked wah territory. Not an option I've had before.
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I have that effect in my guitar, and I use really low value caps, so I’m thinking that’s the case with yours. I’m glad you’re liking it!
 
Dave Merrill said:
Got to play it some more last night. Good guitar, doesn't have the foibles of my EJ, or maybe its mojo either, maybe. Or I'm way less used to it, which, of course, I've had the EJ for 5 years. We'll see...

I'll look into lowering the action. @Andy Eagle, those distances you said are from the bottom of the string to the top of the 12th fret, not fretting anything, yes?

Think my first step may be be to switch it to 10s, like my other guitars; it's got 9.5s now I'm told.

Re pickup switching, if I had my druthers, one of the controls would have a push-push switch to add in bridge or neck, to get the other 2 possible combinations. OTOH I hear all push-push pots are crap, except maybe the Fender S1. Might look into that, unless the Vigier uses 1M pots like I hear some do. I'm hesitant to add a mini-toggle for that, but maybe.

As it is, the middle pickup is much nicer than the one on my EJ, which is spikey and unpleasant by itself. I'd like to hear neck-bridge, but since I never have on a strat, is hard to say anything except I'd like to have all choices available.

These pickups have more fullness and level than my EJ, but less top end sparkle too. Not dull by any means, but the EJ is some kind of alive, even when I'm complaining about the high end balance between the pickups. The single tone control on the V is refreshingly simple.

Onward!
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Vigier ship with 9~46 but anything works. They make specific nuts for different gauges. You won't get glassy sparkle without bent steel saddles. You are right about push push pots all crap.
 
Thanks @Andy Eagle.
  1. Seller says it's got 9.5s on it now, don't think he changed the nut, but a prior owner might have.
    1. Do you think I need to get a different nut for 10s?
    2. Where would I get that? Their site's accessories page doesn't mention it.
  2. Is the Fender S1 switch/pot something I should stay way from?
 
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Dave Merrill said:
Thanks @Andy Eagle.
  1. Seller says it's got 9.5s on it now, don't think he changed the nut, but a prior owner might have.
    1. Do you think I need to get a different nut for 10s?
    2. Where would I get that? Their site's accessories page doesn't mention it.
  2. Is the Fender S1 switch/pot something I should stay way from?
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1.You shouldn't but they just press in no glue.
2. The S1 is made by CTS and just fine.
 
Response from 1Patrice Vigier to my questions on the Vigier forum:
None of our guitar is middle pickup only in position 3
If you install 10 string, you must get the right nut, the Vigier nut that has 2 dots on the bottom. You can order it at EMMA Music in France.

We are working on a site for our musician to gets Vigier parts from us...
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However, this page seems to have a nut that covers multiple string sizes, including both 9.5 and 10.
If I'm reading that right (I don't speak French), the one I have should be ok.
Do I have that right, far as you can tell?
 
Dave Merrill said:
Response from 1Patrice Vigier to my questions on the Vigier forum:

However, this page seems to have a nut that covers multiple string sizes, including both 9.5 and 10.
If I'm reading that right (I don't speak French), the one I have should be ok.
Do I have that right, far as you can tell?
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Andy could opine better than me on this, but having looked into zero nuts before, I think the actual nut is really just a string guide, and can handle a wider range of strings than a regular nut, since the zero fret itself is doing all the heavy lifting. You might do some searching for forum threads about zero nuts in general to know for sure. I think Patrice might be trying to communicate just that you need a Vigier brand nut, not that you need a separate one for each gauge of string. I have the email for the US manager of Vigier, so I’ll pm you his email address. I had some specific questions for him a few years ago, and he was very helpful.
 
DESCRIPTION
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Description. :D

1 SILLET (guide-cordes) DE MARQUE VIGIER MODÈLE ENTAILLÉ​
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1 nut (strings guide) of brand Vigier - notched model

Pour tout modèle Vigier sans Floyd Rose (ces derniers ayant un sillet bloc-cordes en métal)
Sillet de marque Vigier pour tous les modèles (sauf Floyd Rose)​
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For every model Vigier without Floyd Rose (these last ones have a locking nut made of metal) Nut of brand Vigier for all the models (except Floyd Rose)

Petit rappel : le sillet chez Vigier ne sert en fait que de guide-cordes puisque les cordes viennent reposer sur la frette zéro. Les entailles sont plus profondes. Il ne sert donc à rien d'essayer de le mettre sur une autre guitare.​
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Small reminder: the nut at Vigier in fact only serves as a string guide because the strings go over the zero fret. The cuts are deeper. There is no point trying to put it on another guitar.

Teflon
Pour tirants 9-42 9-46 10-46
Longueur : 42.17mm
Hauteur 7.3mm​
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Teflon.
For sizes 9-42, 9-46, 10-46
Length: 42.17mm
Height: 7.3mm
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
Description. :D



1 nut (strings guide) of brand Vigier - notched model



For every model Vigier without Floyd Rose (these last ones have a locking nut made of metal) Nut of brand Vigier for all the models (except Floyd Rose)



Small reminder: the nut at Vigier in fact only serves as a string guide because the strings go over the zero fret. The cuts are deeper. There is no point trying to put it on another guitar.


Teflon.
For sizes 9-42, 9-46, 10-46
Length: 42.17mm
Height: 7.3mm
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Yeah.
Hard to reconcile that with "If you install 10 string, you must get the right nut, the Vigier nut that has 2 dots on the bottom", when I told him there were 9.5s on there now.
Most likely a case of a person not listening totally carefully, maybe some language issues too.
I wrote the US Vigier guy already, hopefully will get some clarity soon.
 
Dave Merrill said:
Yeah.
Hard to reconcile that with "If you install 10 string, you must get the right nut, the Vigier nut that has 2 dots on the bottom", when I told him there were 9.5s on there now.
Most likely a case of a person not listening totally carefully, maybe some language issues too.
I wrote the US Vigier guy already, hopefully will get some clarity soon.
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Maybe the one for sale there would be ok for 9s or 10s, but the one originally in place is cut for 9s?
 
Vigier did this because if the nut in a zero fret system has any sideways play the string will move and "ping" when you bend it. This and the damper get rid of this problem but the nuts are so exact size they only accommodate the one string gauge each.

I don't know why Patrice said they never used a standard 5 way wiring because I've seen it and it was defiantly stock. The wiring would be exactly the same on the Schaller mega switch just a different model of switch. You can't do both options on the same model Schaller mega switch.
 
Andy Eagle said:
Vigier did this because if the nut in a zero fret system has any sideways play the string will move and "ping" when you bend it. This and the damper get rid of this problem but the nuts are so exact size they only accommodate the one string gauge each.
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Hmmm, from what I can see there are two sizes you can get now, one for 9-42, 9-46, 10-46, and one for 11-52.

Andy Eagle said:
I don't know why Patrice said they never used a standard 5 way wiring because I've seen it and it was defiantly stock. The wiring would be exactly the same on the Schaller mega switch just a different model of switch. You can't do both options on the same model Schaller mega switch.
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Instead of going to a different switch for bridge-neck, I'm more inclined to do what @Joe Bfstplk was talking about, an S1 to switch between those two different position 3 wirings.

But first I have to check what pot values are in here. I've heard some are 1 Meg, which I'm sure isn't available in an S1.
 
Dave Merrill said:
Hmmm, from what I can see there are two sizes you can get now, one for 9-42, 9-46, 10-46, and one for 11-52.


Instead of going to a different switch for bridge-neck, I'm more inclined to do what @Joe Bfstplk was talking about, an S1 to switch between those two different position 3 wirings.

But first I have to check what pot values are in here. I've heard some are 1 Meg, which I'm sure isn't available in an S1.
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Not sure if the Schaller switch would work with that wiring. I took the Schaller one out of my Custom 22 triple P90 guitar to make the middle switchable to neck+bridge....
 
Andy Eagle said:
megaswitches
It's all on here.
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Looks like two different versions of the megaswitch - "Megaswitch S" and "Megaswitch E" - are used to get the required switching happening for Strat standard wiring and Neck+Bridge in the middle. It appears the Vigier would have the -E variant. Looking at its internal connections, it appears it is indeed possible to get the thing to swap in the Middle by switching the jumper on pin 7 from pin 6 to pin 1....
https://schaller.info/en/sss#
 
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