The legendary guitar tech known as Virgil Arlo was famous around the world, setting the gold standard of guitar pickup makers, over the years he worked on many vintage guitar amps and guitars too.

Virgil Arlo had an exclusive list of clients that were very particular when it came to tone. Trusted to build the best pickups for prized vintage guitars, people also asked him to restore or modify vintage amplifiers. His modifications were fairly simple but very effective & his restoration work was second to none.

In early 2019 Virgil stopped working on amplifiers, later that year he retired from making pickups.  He had an amazing career that touched the work of many musicians over the years. 

A lot of people ask how he came up with the name “Virgil Arlo”, the truth is that he didn’t come up with it by himself. Back in his younger days some of his friends thought he looked a lot like the musician Arlo Guthrie, so they started calling him Arlo. Virgil didn’t like this so much, which only lead to them calling him Arlo more often. 

Virgil never signed his pickups back in the early days of his winding career. In fact, he didn’t even put a label with his name on the box. Since he never had a customer ask him to sign a guitar or amp that he repaired, he never thought of signing or branding the pickups. He never wanted any attention or fame, he just enjoyed his work.

When his pickups starting gaining popularity, people started asking his to sign his name. Since his legal full name was too long, he just dropped his last name off and signed the pickups “Virgil Arlo”. This solved the problem of having to write a long last name on a small guitar pickups, but it also helped him maintain his anonymity, which was always very important to him. 

This site will remain active for information purposes. Take a look around to see some of Virgil’s favorite amps, tubes & capacitors.

For more information about Virgil Arlo Pickups, visit www.VirgilArloPickups.com