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Rickenbacker 4000, it is painted. Some Alembics fill the bill, but they are practically all custom. SKC has produced a single pickup unit. Maybe it was a bolt-on. Spalt Viper. But no, it is a bolt-on, too. Gibson Grabber, EB-series... Meridian Aural II neck through + custom options... My custom fretless. Marleaux Diva. Kelvin Daly builds custom stuff, too. A talk to a local luthier is clearly your choice. Those specs mentioned are already limiting the possibilities quite some. At the same time you can adjust string width, woods, weight etc. to your specs.

That neck looks fab without front dots.

FX loop = Send/Return? Put an instrument cable there. Those connectors tend to oxidize.

That surely makes the sound of a gigant bee... you just have to play some Rimski-Korsakov!

The case has a nice V figure inside. Patrice = attention to details...

Then the impractical issue is that the string length is very long. You lose quite some of the string to the bridge end. On a longer scale (+34") or with the shorter strings the silk may reach the half-position. Not good. Soundwise it is up to you. If you believe it makes some difference, what am I to say. Many musicians (as well as marketing departments) tend to tell about incredible and magical enhancements made by changing some simple (but so magical) part to another. If something is superior, everybody will use it. You can start with words like: bolt-on/neckthrough, bridge, nut, passive/active, maple/rosewood, stainless/nickel, RW/flat... We are waiting for your findings for the ultimate instrument.

I have linked this video before, where Tom Kennedy keeps his right thumb on top of the pickup. His left seems to be most of the time behind the neck. How is it with Gary Willis? Mine (right) floats and left wanders somewhere in the space, so obviously I am not able to do the same things as they do...

By the way, a bass should be tuned slightly lower to sound exact with bigger bands. As an example my Peterson SAM tuner has adjustments for different instruments, like the bass! Yes we are talking about cents, but they do a difference.

Note: this is not only piano related thing. Piano is used as an example, and many pianos have been used and harmed to get actual results. Although we use the tempered scale, you can not tune a piano dead straight. It can not be. When you listen to a piano in different keys, it sounds, yes, different. You have to take this into account with accompanying instruments. 440 Hz is fine, but how about the harmonics? Second should be 1760 Hz, but you have to add 35 cents to make it sound right. This is not exactly tempered anymore. There are physical facts, harmonics, overtones and their behaviour, that tempering can not put aside. This is one reason for sound differences. Another thing is to tune an instrument to some other reference, like to baroque A (415 Hz).

Please @ped local lager is so terrible, there was a text in one local pub's toilet: "We don't sell beer, just rent it". Trying to find that particular instrument after all these years is next to impossible. I may hunt down the boutique owner.

@ped but I have played one. The shop had two new red instruments, a 4- and a 5-string. I have seen the 4-string later on and it was modified with a detuner. Full carbon. What was the 5-string then? Was the neck painted or... This gets really interesting.

Passion bass 5: 001 - 240 (the first few made in 1989 were with the carbon neck) All of the following were made later, so probably these are only with 10 / 90 necks: Arpege bass 5: serials 001 - 076 Arpege bass 6: 001 - 027 Passion bass 6: 001 - 030 @ped: take a look at this 4-string for the red colour I mentioned earlier. Note the bridge and controls and the neck! https://www.bassic.de/kleinanzeigen/letztes-preisupdate-auch-tausch-vigier-passion-iii-1990.5147/

@ped , according to the lists, there are few. I have played one see through red 5. It was in a shop and my intention was to buy it in 1994 or so. When I had the money, she was gone. I bought an MG Quantum 5 SPi. The MG is sold, but I do have a burgundy red Passion II 4-string from 1988, and an amberburst (or similar) from 1989.

The neck actually goes up to the neck pickup. The rest is maple. These are light, stiff, and true high end instruments. Very playable. Benedetti single coils (some have visible polepieces) and the Vigier preamp offer lots of sounds. 18 V circuitry. Schaller strap locks, tuners, and bridge. Some notes... First instruments Patrice Vigier made had wooden neck. There was even a model with metal in between the fretboard and the neck. Electronics were developed. During the series two time there were two models available, Passion and Arpege. The neck was available with Delta metal fingerboard (fretless), or fretted with phenolic resin board. No front dots. Carbon fibre neck, no truss rod. Passion had two options for electronics, the semi-parametric (as above) and another with interchangeable ROM packs (two visible dots in the top close to the pots hold the circuitry). The latter has two pots, a Vol and a rotary switch with different preset sounds. There were few different packs available. Some colours include black, burgundy red, green and blue. Later on there were also "sunbursts", natural, and some see-throughs available. I may have seen a silvery one with a ROM pack, maybe. HW is silver, black or gold. Arpege has the neck pickup closer to the neck and a bass pot. There was a very special circuitry available, called Nautilus. Lots of pots and even a memory with a display for several sounds. External power box. Ultra rare. Ultra complicated. Series III is a neck through, and since then the necks have been 10/90, where the numbers represent the percentage of carbon fibre / wood. Series IV is a bolt-on. Electronics and HW vary. Most of the basses have 4 strings but there are few 5- and 6-string instruments. You want one, buy this now. The next time you see one may take some time.

Take a look at the strap button at the end of the bass. Three numbers. Vigier has a database in his pages that tells the build date according to the serial.

What is the serial (and the build time)? Does the semi-parametric go upwards or downwards, when turning the frequency pot clockwise?

Will the next body be done from two parts? Top can hide a lot of what is underneath.

Yes, he did. A 5-string fretless, maybe?

This is called "semi-parametric mids". Shape attenuates (down to -3 dB) or boosts the selected frequency (up to 11 dB). Fully parametric would give the possibility to adjust the Q-factor, which is the width of the boost/cut. Here the Q is constant. You can compare this semi-parametric to a wahwah pedal. While playing, try to turn the freq, when the shape is at zero or 10.

8 & 15 August, 1-4 & 19 September... looks good, although these are practically private parties.

Now that's a nice start! When will the fretless and 5 string versions arrive?

No, I am not. There are some limitations and arrangements within these gigs. But getting back to the stage! (Just came from the rehearsals, there is clearly a place for some homework...)

My 2 x 12" can handle 1.3 kW, so no need for an extra cab. My amp has enough power to make me deaf. Week and a half to the next gig! 7 booked already for August and September!

If the amp is able to push power into 2 channels of 4 ohm loads (total of 2 ohms), go ahead. If the amp says 8 ohm per cab, you can try the 12 ohm setting. The impedance described in a single number is always an approximation, as it changes over the frequency range. In theory the bigger impedance is easier for the transistor amp. If your amp is a tube/valve unit, it is recommended to match the amp's output transformer to the cab(s). 8 to 8, or 4 to 4. When in doubt, 8 is a good guess, and avoid driving the amp to its limit. Usually the temp of the amp tells something about the matching, as hotter equals worse match: 1) Lower impedance requires more amps (A) from the transistor amp(lifier) and the head will be hotter. 2) Impedance mismatch in the tube amp drives the output transformer harder and the excessive heat may melt it. These are generalizations.

I might use the word refining...