Minimum Vital 
Electro-Cittern Richard Caro
Jean-Luc on stage in Sarlat 2004
In 1995, in order to explore new acoustic guitar sounds with the band, I got the idea for a very special guitar. I was dreaming of a big acoustic cittern that would have triple strings courses with sympathetic strings moved by resonance, in order to get a very rich sound. Of course such a guitar didn’t exist at all! So I went to the workshop of Richard Caro, a famous guitar maker from Bordeaux, and asked him if he was interested to build such an instrument. He was, he designed it and finally finished it in December of 1998.
We called it: Electro-Cittern. This gorgeous guitar has no less than twenty strings, distributed as follows: the E and B strings are tripled like South American Tipples, the G and D strings are doubled as in a 12 strings guitar, the A and E bass strings remain single. Moreover, it’s got 8 sympathetic strings using extra light gauge, resounding with the others. This superb guitar immediately took his place in the Vital Duo experience. I used it in every acoustic parts of the Ex Tempore album, where it catch the ear with his beautiful harmonic resonances.
It’s an ideal guitar for playing tunes as En Castille, which is a stimulating mix between flamenco and early music. But my best memory of stage experience with this guitar is back in summer 2006, where Thierry and I played the song: Ballade pour une orgie, with Christian Decamps, singer from the french band Ange. It was a magical moment in the company of one of the best French song writer of the 70’!
Ballade pour une orgie (avec Christian Décamps)
at the "convention Ange" - bergerac(24) in 2006
Vital Duo - "Officium / Mauresque"
(video by Gilles Pialat)