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loudfunk « Been a main stay around here for a long time... »
Published on 03/23/11 at 15:26...and for good reason. Been using Vigiers for over 10 years now.
They're like the best kept secret in the Super Start class.
This guitar is their fretless version of the Excalibur, 2 humbuckers and a single coil, with the 5 way selector, going bridge, half bridge and middle, bridge and neck, half neck and middle, and neck pick-up for a sound.
I've used with string gauges ranging from 009 to 042 to 013 to 056. With a wound g string as well as a plain g string.
Bridge is a hard tail, seeing that a whammy bar would make for a slippery ride with no frets and all.
Fretboard material is what Vigier calls Delta metal, which I believe is essential brass.
Fret markers on both sides of the fre board, kinda like fret edges.
UTILIZATION
Easy enough to get to the top frets, intonation and sustain is another story. Or better put is the players responsibility. As a rule with fretless guitars they have a tendency to have a really fast decay on their sustain when it comes to the plain strings. Your options are...heap on gain and compression, that will help. Use a wound g string so you have only 2 plain strings, or fret with the finger stood up so the edge of the finger nail becomes a node point, this way you have all the sustain you could ever want-regardless of gain levels-on the plain strings. Kinda like a sarod player.
SOUNDS
Great way to get a more cello like sound, wonderful with a sustainac or ebow. With the nail stop technique makes for a great lap steel sound.
Chords while a pain in the neck to intonate are a fun ride.
As for the brass board, it sustains better than most woodboards...obviously. However, not a fun hang in cold climates when you bring it in from the car. Or for that matter in hot climates.
OVERALL OPINION
Not an instrument that will have one sounding great in minutes, but with a couple of days it's be a fun ride.
The advantages...you get to slide down into pitch, slither harmonics around, in general get all kinds of fun in between and out sounds. The bad part...sometimes that happens when you don't intent it to.
The fret markers on the side of the finger board are a great initial aid, however once you get cruising it's easier to just have your ears guide you and more importantly learn to recover when landing in out territory-or not.
I' say the best bet for any one starting to experiment with fretless guitars is to have a tuner in line to double check the starting point. Or better yet play over a drone you pre-record. This way you can actually hear that major third that your tuner tells you is 14 cents flat will actually sound it tune. The beauty ot Just Intonation over equal temper tunings at work.
They're like the best kept secret in the Super Start class.
This guitar is their fretless version of the Excalibur, 2 humbuckers and a single coil, with the 5 way selector, going bridge, half bridge and middle, bridge and neck, half neck and middle, and neck pick-up for a sound.
I've used with string gauges ranging from 009 to 042 to 013 to 056. With a wound g string as well as a plain g string.
Bridge is a hard tail, seeing that a whammy bar would make for a slippery ride with no frets and all.
Fretboard material is what Vigier calls Delta metal, which I believe is essential brass.
Fret markers on both sides of the fre board, kinda like fret edges.
UTILIZATION
Easy enough to get to the top frets, intonation and sustain is another story. Or better put is the players responsibility. As a rule with fretless guitars they have a tendency to have a really fast decay on their sustain when it comes to the plain strings. Your options are...heap on gain and compression, that will help. Use a wound g string so you have only 2 plain strings, or fret with the finger stood up so the edge of the finger nail becomes a node point, this way you have all the sustain you could ever want-regardless of gain levels-on the plain strings. Kinda like a sarod player.
SOUNDS
Great way to get a more cello like sound, wonderful with a sustainac or ebow. With the nail stop technique makes for a great lap steel sound.
Chords while a pain in the neck to intonate are a fun ride.
As for the brass board, it sustains better than most woodboards...obviously. However, not a fun hang in cold climates when you bring it in from the car. Or for that matter in hot climates.
OVERALL OPINION
Not an instrument that will have one sounding great in minutes, but with a couple of days it's be a fun ride.
The advantages...you get to slide down into pitch, slither harmonics around, in general get all kinds of fun in between and out sounds. The bad part...sometimes that happens when you don't intent it to.
The fret markers on the side of the finger board are a great initial aid, however once you get cruising it's easier to just have your ears guide you and more importantly learn to recover when landing in out territory-or not.
I' say the best bet for any one starting to experiment with fretless guitars is to have a tuner in line to double check the starting point. Or better yet play over a drone you pre-record. This way you can actually hear that major third that your tuner tells you is 14 cents flat will actually sound it tune. The beauty ot Just Intonation over equal temper tunings at work.