Lori Linstruth of Dutch band, Guilt Machine plays a few different guitars including a Vigier Excalibur. Vigier is a French guitar and bass maker and they are not very commonly seen in the USA. Linstruth, for one, thinks guitarists and bassists on this side of the Atlantic should take a closer look.

Tell me the story of your Vigier. When did you get it?

In 2007 I was contacted out of the blue by Mr. Vigier, who had somehow come across some videos of me playing and thought I might enjoy the Excalibur. He sent me one to try on a long-term loan, and I liked it so much that eventually we worked out a deal. It's an awesome guitar, and Mr. Vigier was very sweet to make it possible for me to have one.

What are the year and model?

It's an Excalibur Custom, I believe 2006 or 2007.

Tell me about why you like this guitar; what are the best things about it?

It's got super-low action and the strings feel really light. 9-gauge strings feel like 8's, which is great for my weak little girlie hands. I think the light feel is because Vigier uses some kind of special technology for building the neck, technology that makes it possible for it to be extraordinarily straight and stable. The trem is also super smooth and allows you to get subtle nuances -- not that anyone would ever say I'm exactly subtle with the trem, hah! Tone-wise it took a while to get used to how the guitar responds to my right hand, but once got used to it I loved it.

Is there anything you do not like, or anything you would change about the guitar?

Vigier Excalibur Custom HSS In Translucent Gold

This one is natural wood. In a perfect world the color would be the only thing I'd change, as I have a weakness for brightly colored guitars, colors that others would consider garish or ugly.

Since most people here will not be familiar with the Vigier (although the few whom I've spoken to who own one speak highly of them), can you compare it to more common guitars? Is it closer to Fender? Gibson? Jackson? Ibanez, etc?

Hmm. . . I'm actually stumped there because I'm not so familiar with Jackson or Ibanez! I would say, based on my experience, that it's closest to a Fender HM Strat (or any "super strat"), but with a much higher-quality feel to it, a faster neck, and a vastly better trem.

What sort of guitarist or genre of music do you think this guitar is best suited to?

The humbucker-single-single configuration with 5-position selector gives you a lot of versatility as to the sound. Anything from fusion to rock to classic metal would probably work well. And if you are into "shred," the low action and easy feel are perfect. They even make a super-shred Shawn Lane model, with the lowest action imaginable.

What sort of amp do you use with it and why?

For the past few years I've recorded everything with the Line 6 Pod 2.0, mainly because that's the best sounding preamp that I've found for home recording under the conditions I have to work with (read: I need to use headphones to record everything as a courtesy to my family and neighbors so they don't have to hear my mistakes).

Guilt Machine have just released their debut CD, On This Perfect Day. Now, here's some video of Lori shredding: