Virgil Arlo - Legendary Tone.

There has been a lot of interest in the man behind the Virgil Arlo persona. Virgil picked up the nickname, "Arlo" in his younger years, due to his resemblance to a famous musician. When it came time to write his name on the back of pickups, his full name wouldn't fit so he just wrote "Virgil Arlo." He never wanted to be famous, so working under a pseudonym made a lot of sense to him.

Much of the success of Virgil Arlo is due to word of mouth in the session player communities of Nashville and Los Angeles.

Back in 2005, Pat Buchanan, the Nashville session and touring legend, won the ACM Guitarist Of The Year Award. Well before then, he had established himself as a force in the industry. Pat has been heard on thousands of recordings and uses Virgil Arlo Pickups in his main working guitars. He's one of the most respected guitarists on the scene, so when he endorses a product, many of his peers follow. Pat has been a terrific ambassador for Virgil’s work and his endorsement started a ripple effect through the industry.

By 2013, Virgil was still relatively obscure. He had an established following in the session player communities of LA and Nashville, for his amp mods, guitar repairs and pickup designs. During this time a partnership with ToneSpec's founder was formed, and soon after, his first website was launched along with a dealer network.

Access to a large dealer network, including legends like Rudy Pensa (Rudy's Music) and Rick Kelly (Carmine Street Guitars), led to an explosion of orders. By 2016, dozens of videos popped up on YouTube of pros playing, which led to even more orders. Soon after, Virgil Arlo — the man who didn’t even know what Facebook was — had a rather large following of over 30,000 guitarists.

Today, the same meticulous winding methods, specially crafted magnets, and unique charging techniques that Virgil pioneered remain the foundation of every Virgil Arlo pickup. In late 2019, Virgil walked away from full-time winding. Today the Virgil Arlo staff continue to follow his exact process with uncompromising attention to detail, ensuring that each pickup lives up to the reputation that made the name legendary among professionals.