itu

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?

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