ped

Won these, too - full on [color=#ff0000]bidding war[/color] costing me the princely sum of £2.20

Ah right OK, sounds cool. I remember a chap telling me that Vigier wanted to buy his rare bass (think it was a later Nautilus when they changed it to a programmable system with less knobs) but because he didn't have the pedalboard to match they passed. My fretless should be here next week... I've ordered a set of finger puppets for it, check them out

[quote name='Bbiigg Kev' timestamp='1487325516' post='3238920'] Hi Ped, Nautilus is RARE me thinks !!! Have you ever been round the Vigier museum at PV factory, now that is interesting !!! Also have you tried Surfreters ? [/quote] It's rare alright - I was offered a Nautilus bass several years ago and at the time I wasn't in a position to buy - It was in Canada and not 100% electrically sound so I passed. Kicking myself now, though. I've emailed the guy since but he's not responding so maybe he's using a different address or something. Would love to see the museum - didn't know he had one, to be honest. I have just been talking to Patrice about doing an interview for us so perhaps I'll go and see it one day. Don't suppose you took any pictures? Never tried a Surfreter but did have a Delta Metal fretless which was the same playing surface, it really sang but I was forever polishing it!

[quote name='thodrik' timestamp='1487181709' post='3237857'] I have an Excess II in a finish I think was called 'urban grey'. I've had it since 2004. The pick ups are ridiculously powerful. Terrific bass and great for rock music and slap. I think the treble EQ point is set a bit too high for my tastes though as I think it is a bit glassy when boosted. I also have an Arpege IV five string and I think that there a couple of pics of it earlier in this thread. If I am being honest I don't really rate the phenowood neck as highly as the big slab of maple on the Excess. That is just personal preference though. The three band EQ for each pick up is pretty mad but a cool feature. My brother has an Excalibur guitar which is a very nice super strat type guitar. He describes it as almost too perfect and if pushed he prefers the quicks of his seventies Tele Custom. [/quote] Yes the Benedetti pickups are amazing. The old ones have a really unusual 'Tabletop' shape I can't play guitar but my friend bought an Excalibur too after trying my bass years ago. I have to say that even I can strum it as the neck just seems to disappear in your hand, it's so well finished and feels really played in. The finish is amazing, too. If I did play guitar I'd get this one

I sold my 'Comfort Strap' because with a heavy bass I found it bouncy and with a light bass it wasn't very comfortable or soft. I really like [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/290872-nsd-lakota-leathers-3-strap/page__view__findpost__p__3122109"]Lakota Leathers[/url] straps and have one I use on my basses now. It's the softest leather I've ever seen and it feels much more comfortable for not having 'padding' as such. It's also very grippy and stops neck dive more than the Comfort did. Cheers ped

Very nice indeed. Graphite rules!

Sweet, love that

So now it's a sandwich? Some people.

Mine are Passion #733 15/10/88 Arpege #93 15/12/86 Arpege #130 Not sure because the database only starts with series 2... have emailed Patrice.

[quote name='fihermanmusician' timestamp='1487009853' post='3236247'] [font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]Hello all you Vigier Bass owners.[/color][/size][/font] [font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]I have a Vigier Passion 5C with the strap button underneath the top horn. [/color][/size][/font] [font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]How have you managed the strap attachment without the strap slipping to the back if you route it over the end of the horn? I’d be interested to know. I resorted to a custom made strap. I have a leather loop about 100mm long x 35mm wide, stitched to the main strap, with two holes punched in it for the button, giving a choice for best angle and balance. Not perfect, but best I could think of. Just means I can’t change straps easily.[/color][/size][/font] [/quote] Good question. I find when standing up the strap hangs quite straight from the strap pin so I like the design - however on one of my basses (the black fretless above) the strap button had been moved to the end of the horn which you could try. I moved it back as I said I find it works well for me.

Pino tearing it down on his fretless Vigier http://youtu.be/YTWt_pKiMl4

Here are some other Vigiers I've owned: Series 3 five string Passion [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/lukeward2004/media/PasionTotal7-1.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/lukeward2004/PasionTotal7-1.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Series 2 four string Passion [url=https://flic.kr/p/Me4EL4][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/Me4EL4]Vigier Passion 1985 series II[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/chiscocks/]Christopher Hiscocks[/url], on Flickr Fretless 4 string series 3 Passion [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/pedullaman/media/05685a88.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/pedullaman/05685a88.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[quote name='thodrik' timestamp='1486937823' post='3235784'] That is a funky looking bridge! I'm interested to know what all the various knobs and switches do as well. Great buy! [/quote] Yes it's a cool design - Vigier's own, which they used for a while before switching to the Kahler bridge. It's very adjustable although the string saddles are really 'deep' so need filing down for a super low action. The knobs are as follows: Switch at the top is for pickup selection (front, both, back) and the knob below that is volume with a pull for boost Down the right hand side there's a frequency select between 80hz and 5200hz, pull to activate, then the gain for the boost/cut of said frequency (+/- 15dB), a little phase switch for series/parralell and finally a tone control that to me feels like it has a huge clean boost too. It sounds neutral about half way round! The output on the top is for bypassing the active electronics completely and the main output is on the side of the bass. The pre-amp is very complicated to get your head round but really useful once you master it! It's hard to find these circuits unmodified now as lots of people replace them with a standard 2/3 band system. Cheers ped

This is winging its way to me from Spain. A member here was going to buy it so I helped them out with some info. They decided against it so I took over. It's a series 1, fretless five string. I've never seen one before. Hopefully Patrice V will be able to tell me when it was made as it pre-dates the serial number database. [url=https://ibb.co/nEQS8v][/url]

I think it's the coating on the strings. Because you're not always earthed when you're playing due to the coating between you and the string itself. This explains the tiny crackles as you move your hand. Some basses are more susceptible to this than others for some reason, but I used to notice it at home with may Marleaux bass. Try replacing maybe just the G string and see if that works. As you say, it's not noticeable when at volume and IIRC it stops after you've played the strings for a few hours.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1486710084' post='3233954'] So this isn't something to provide useful thoughts and information to us all? It's just for you? Ok, nothing to see here then. I've probably ordered from them all with no problems to be an adult and make a choice. [/quote] Wrong side of the bed this morning? Gear4music for me as they're just down the road so I can pick up the item!

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1486677042' post='3233846'] I do like this [url="http://atlansiaguitars.com/Bass-Guitar.php?line=Century"]http://atlansiaguita...hp?line=Century[/url] [/quote] You said minimalist!

Atlansia do some cool ones [url=https://ibb.co/hNUs8v][/url]

I believe you can do this on a bass whammy but I can do the same in my VB99. Sounds cool with an octave below at the same time (herd of elephants) I'm sure there are other octave up pedals I have seen but can't name any I'm afraid!

Octave up

Almost matching. Really nice. Have you recorded anything with either of them? I may have some exciting Vigier news soon, watch this space.

Very nice. They really changed the shape with the series 3 basses didn't they? I remember seeing that one on eBay, didn't someone try installing a pick guard?!

I think it was bought by Al Embic

Here's what Elixir say: [color=#000000] [font="sans-serif"][size="2"]Info from Elixir: Thank you for bringing it to our attention. We[/size][/font][font=sans-serif][size=1] are aware of the issue. Their new packaging is designed to make it significantly more difficult for someone to counterfeit our packaging. The counterfeit strings themselves offered here are invariable low quality uncoated strings. [/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000] [font=sans-serif][size=1]Please can Chris add this link to the Bass Chat thread or provide it to their community. Buyers have the ability to report sellers of counterfeit goods. They would be doing everyone in the e-Bay community a favor – and help other bass players not to fall for inferiour quality product. [/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Calibri, sans-serif][url="http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/replica-counterfeit.html"][font="sans-serif"][size="2"][color="blue"]http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/replica-counterfeit.html[/color][/size][/font][/url] Many thanks[/font][/color]

Fiancée sounds very close to finance doesn't it? Similar interest rates too