three

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

Fabulous basses and a brilliant seller - the best Fender-type necks I've ever played (by miles!)

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

Fantastic basses with superb playability and fat, tight tone (well, with the EMGs, I can't comment on the Aguilars). Superb design and build quality is excellent - everything is entirely solid. Very comfortable to play with real attention to ergonomics. As a short-scale player, I doubt any prospective purchaser would be disappointed - a really high-end bass in a relatively diminutive package

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.

Swap? On topic, I have never played a rig that sounds anything like as good as the Hellborg (I don't use mine with the Hellborg cabs but it sounds pretty marvellous with Berg). For me, this is off the scale, especially the preamp. Everything is super over-engineered and beautifully designed to perform like high-end studio gear. Just wonderful. If you can carry it, £1300 is an absolute bargain in my view

I remember these from the ‘70s - I was a big bin user back then. However, I know very little about Sai. Gauss were as good as it got in those days. Fascinating find. Heavy I’d suspect?

Hi, I've sent a Personal Mail

Was this the one that Andy Travis built? I recognise that Celinder pickup - 'think it used to be mine To continue the plexiglass theme, I was in a famous Manchester music shop late on a '70s Saturday afternoon. A mate of mine that worked there offered me an original Dan Armstrong plexi bass for £40. I just about had the money but wanted a pizza on the way home. I'm sure the pizza was lovely but not the best decision

Thanks for all the very lovely comments - if there's any sun in the North this week, I'll try to get some further and more detailed images

What!!! Unbelievable... a stunner

An absolutely gorgeous instrument - fortunately for my bank, I don't play fives or 35" scale. Otherwise, I'd be in trouble. Astounding craft work and a bass to treasure

Outrageous - some of the finest luthiery and carving I've ever seen for the price of production line instrument. I play one 34" bass and the others are all 30" - weirdly, 32" doesn't suit me at all. If it did, this would be on its way up north. One of BC's finest sellers too... I'm starting to crack