three

That looks superb, especially for its age - and it's a fairly early one (with the original case I think). These have a unique tone (a fat Ric as Andy put it - accurately) and look very cool indeed. I'm not sure about the scratchplate - I thought that they were black one ply. Mine is but it's a replacement anyway! Lovely to see one of these that isn't modded - mine was massively modded in the late '70s and early '80s and no longer has the characteristic Ripper tone. That said, I still love it - it plays incredibly well

Lines just cause problems for me - I read a post a long time ago about just 'listening' - it was a revelation. I play fretless short-scale mainly too and that just confuses the issue if moving from long-scale fretted to short fretless. This is what's getting most use at the moment

Nice to see that again Andy - side and front red LEDs if I remember correctly, and a very lovely coco top and back. It went to live in Birmingham with the guy that replaced Dave Swift in some major Midlands jazz orchestra (I believe). As with most small bodied short-scales, a bit of a nightmare on a strap - these things really don't balance well (though that doesn't stop me!)

As above, it certainly will run in stereo and this is one of the major advantages of the Anniversary electronics package, along with separate volumes rather than volume and pan as with Sig. I prefer Anni to the Sig package - the former is reasonably close to Series 1 electronics (but with humbuckers rather than single coil as far as I remember). To activate the stereo, you'll just need a stereo jack to twin mono jacks - I had one made up for about £20 I think (good cable and a nice job). Of course, if you don't have them already, you'll need two rigs - it all adds to the fun!

Yes please! Absolutely outrageous - I love these. I've not had the chance to play one but this looks to be in stunning condition. Is it Sig or Anniversary electronics? Three purple heart stringers? Lovely - great to see a view of this from the side to marvel at the body lams. Love the cone peghead too - very much in keeping with the overall aesthetic.

Thank you for all the very kind comments and certainly - I'll sort something out in the next day or two

I'm really looking forward to seeing this one! While we wait, I thought it might be worth posting this. I picked up the bass recently after more than a decade of waiting. It has been gigged around the world but is in staggering condition - at least 9.5. I wanted to restore it to 10 and this was the first stage - re-plating the gold (24k hard plate - work undertaken by one of the most extraordinary bespoke platers on the planet). The eagle-eyed will notice that there's a slight change from the original. The stabilising bars were inadvertently plated with the rest of the bridge components - the plater offered to remove this but I opted to leave it - I rather like the effect. The next step is to buff everything back to a glass-like finish (there are one or two patches where there's a little dulling), then a re-shoot for the board - all organised and I'll update as work is completed

Ah yes, I had it but sold it a few years ago - I’ll try to find a pic (that really fits the bill)

They certainly did and I think it was VO5 (but a particular variant of that)

These come up very rarely on ebay but usually in the US. I had one cloned around ‘82. Not a difficult job for a decent electronics engineer

About £1800 (from a quick check)

Thanks for the review Alberto, as a short-scale player (mainly) it's good to see a run through of this model. Some very useful tones and I'd suspect playability is impressive. I'm not too sure about the shape but for me, it's actually ergonomics, playability and tone that really matter. On the basis of the review, I'll be seeking to try one of these soon. As for the 'decent player' comment, I'm sure this wasn't intended as a criticism, just an unfortunate construction in context. I'm with Cuzzie on this, you're certainly a better player than me

Dear me, what a collection. This all makes sense - I used to see a lot of Sai cabs around Manchester, where I lived in the '70s and '80s - I've returned now, though not so many Sai cabs. I had no idea that Sai was a Chorley firm. I saw both the disco and band gear but never anything in Orange - a special order no doubt. Those four ported bins look astounding. I used to work with a very similar pair, though JBL loaded with on board horns (as the Sai design). They were immensely heavy but sounded fantastic - great for smallish FOH use. Lovely to see some of this vintage gear in such good condition, and hopefully still earning its keep.