Vigier Guitars, uncrowned frets?

[ikarus]

So I am on the hunt for a used Vigier Excalibur. I have gotten pictues of a few used ones and I must say the fretwork doe look strange to me, especially for a high end guitar. The frets look flat and uncrowned to me. Is this normal? Would this be a deal breaker for you?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

All the Vigier stuff I've ever played has had impeccable fretwork, and there is nothing glaringly wrong I can see, aside from what looks like some wear on older, possibly pre-stainless builds (Pic 1 & 2). But evaluating this sort of stuff from single, off angle pictures is almost impossible.

 

[somethingsomething]

I mean, that first pic is a Vigier from 1992 (saw the listing on Reverb) so the frets are probably pretty worn. Don't know about the other two, but it's probably wear as well.

 

[Dumple Stilzkin]

You are going to have a hard time finding someone who would complain about the frets on a Vigier.

 

[Sermo Lupi]

Vigier uses a very large fretwire on the Excalibur, dimensioned on their website as 2.64mm wide and 1.2mm high (or 2.28mm wide and 1.4mm high on the Shawn Lane Excalibur). For comparison, Dunlop's 6000 wire, which is sort of the litmus test for absurdly large jumbo frets, is 2.99mm wide and 1.47mm high.

I'm pretty sure what you're seeing in your first photo is wear. However, your last photo looks fine to me.

What might be throwing you off is that the crown of a very wide fret is more subtle than on a narrow fret, since it's a wider, shallower 'hill', if you get what I mean. The frets on the guitar in the last photo will intonate perfectly well. The frets in the first photo probably are a bit worn, but I'd wager it looks worse than it actually is because the shallower crown on a wide fret means the flat of the wire is exposed more rapidly and by removing less material.

Judging by the uniformity of the fret surface (no flat spots under the strings, deformities, etc.) I'd guess that all these guitars play perfectly fine despite how flat the frets look on close-up.

 

[manu80]

Same as above. Not found of Vigier looks wise but they're flawless, so maybe it's been already badly refretted but never heard any complaints on this. Their work is really flawless.

 

[ikarus]

thanks everyone for the replies. I am a bit paranoid lately. i bought a Suhr modern that has a high fret, it doesnt even produce a tone on the 17th fret. And Suhrs also are supposed to have impeccable fretwork too.

 

[Musiscience]

thanks everyone for the replies. I am a bit paranoid lately. i bought a Suhr modern that has a high fret, it doesnt even produce a tone on the 17th fret. And Suhrs also are supposed to have impeccable fretwork too.

Wood is wood, it expands and contracts with humidity and temperature changes continuously, which is something manufacturers have no control over once the guitar leaves the shop. Suhr has terrific QC, so I’m certain it left the factory perfect with no high frets, and probably shifted a bit somewhere along the way. Same goes for Vigier, and all other manufacturers.

A high fret is usually a very cheap and easy fix though, so you’re in luck!

 

[ikarus]

Wood is wood, it expands and contracts with humidity and temperature changes continuously

A high fret is usually a very cheap and easy fix though, so you’re in luck!

I know I was just dissapointed because everybody seems to get awesome Suhrs and I got one with issues.