Vigier Porn!

[mk1967]

On 30/03/2018 at 18:32, wright/watt said:

 

Sorry - I made a mistake during uploading. Could you please erase the double posts? Thank you

 

Edited July 24, 2018 by mk1967

[marcblum]

23 hours ago, mk1967 said:

I suppose it's the same colour like those on my beloved 1993 Arpège III fretless 😍 - where it's called "Antique violin" (I guess)

That one as a sixer! Damn.

[wright/watt]

On 24/07/2018 at 10:48, mk1967 said:

I suppose it's the same colour like those on my beloved 1993 Arpège III fretless 😍 - where it's called "Antique violin" (I guess)

Funky orange did sound good...but antique violin it is 😀 Thanks...ps I bet your Arpege Series 111 plays and sounds as good as a Stradavarius like my Passion series 111?

[mk1967]

I bet they both do 😀 - for months I have now been searching for such a wonderful Passion III like yours...😍

[ped]

Anyone up for a bit of case porn? 

Apparently Vigier only made these fitted hard cases for a year or so. Made of wood, quite light actually - I don't have the key but I doubt the locks are up to much. Feels pretty solid and it's nice to have one that fits perfectly. 

I've had it for ages, but recently gave it a bit of a clean so thought why not get some snaps.

 

[mattbass6]

Very cool indeed. Nice 😁

[itu]

Do have two Passions, a burgundy red with an original teardrop hardcase (I am the second owner) and a kind of yellowburst with a detuner. Serials told that these ladies were made in 1988 and 1989. I hunted these for ages, saw the first Passion (ROM version) in the 1980's. Fell in love instantly but did not have the money at that time. Now a happy owner of these two. Lovely instruments.

If the NT fretless looks somewhat long, it has a 36" scale. Passive, step attenuator, coil switch, hollow, handmade by an incredibly talented Finn, Kristian Ukkonen. Finnish birch, blackwood fretboard and walnut top. Very nice and easy to play. Straps are handmade by lady Katariina Larisuo, both sides shown.

Edited September 10, 2018 by itu

[ped]

Very nice, my Passion is '88 too. Where did you get the green control knobs!

[fleabag]

12 hours ago, itu said:

Do have two Passions, a burgundy red with an original teardrop hardcase (I am the second owner) and a kind of yellowburst with a detuner. Serials told that these ladies were made in 1988 and 1989. I hunted these for ages, saw the first Passion (ROM version) in the 1980's. Fell in love instantly but did not have the money at that time. Now a happy owner of these two. Lovely instruments.

If the NT fretless looks somewhat long, it has a 36" scale. Passive, step attenuator, coil switch, hollow, handmade by an incredibly talented Finn, Kristian Ukkonen. Finnish birch, blackwood fretboard and walnut top. Very nice and easy to play. Straps are handmade by lady Katariina Larisuo, both sides shown.

Oh man, those are lovely.

[itu]

8 hours ago, ped said:

Where did you get the green control knobs!

The bass was missing the eq knobs so I visited a local electronics shop and bought few knobs and several hats. Tried red and black hats but green seemed to fit at that time. The frames are grey.

[ped]

28 minutes ago, itu said:

The bass was missing the eq knobs so I visited a local electronics shop and bought few knobs and several hats. Tried red and black hats but green seemed to fit at that time. The frames are grey.

Ah I see! I had a hard time finding spares for mine. The splines are 6mm are they not, and the knobs collet fixing type?

[itu]

12 minutes ago, ped said:

The splines are 6mm are they not, and the knobs collet fixing type?

Yes, the same. I was lucky to find the right sized knobs right away. Sometimes this small country that I live in (Finland, or Infland) may have two parts somewhere in Lapland - or not.

[wright/watt]

20 hours ago, itu said:

Do have two Passions, a burgundy red with an original teardrop hardcase (I am the second owner) and a kind of yellowburst with a detuner. Serials told that these ladies were made in 1988 and 1989. I hunted these for ages, saw the first Passion (ROM version) in the 1980's. Fell in love instantly but did not have the money at that time. Now a happy owner of these two. Lovely instruments.

If the NT fretless looks somewhat long, it has a 36" scale. Passive, step attenuator, coil switch, hollow, handmade by an incredibly talented Finn, Kristian Ukkonen. Finnish birch, blackwood fretboard and walnut top. Very nice and easy to play. Straps are handmade by lady Katariina Larisuo, both sides shown.

Stunning pair of passion basses there...A good club to be in👊😀

[Snarf]

On 02/07/2018 at 09:24, mattbass6 said:

As soon as it gets here I promise, I'll get pics posted ASAP 😋

Dude! Do you have it yet, I'm sure you do! Let's see it! 😁😁

 

Well. It's been quite a while since I visited Basschat to my shame. Damn I've just been catching up on some seriously sexy Vigier action!

[mattbass6]

11 hours ago, Snarf said:

Dude! Do you have it yet, I'm sure you do! Let's see it! 😁😁

 

Well. It's been quite a while since I visited Basschat to my shame. Damn I've just been catching up on some seriously sexy Vigier action!

Morning. I'm afraid I don't have it. There was a little delay but, that's all good. I have my no.1 but, I am looking forward to when this new beasty arrives. As soon as it does, I will post some pics, I promise 😊

[Snarf]

Ahhh damn, sorry dude! Soon I'm sure, and I'm very intrigued to see how it looks. And hear! You'll have to post some clips of it too

In fact, I'd actually really like to hear the tone variation between some of the old basses compared to the new ones!

[Abjatar]

Hi Guys, i have some stuff hanging around, including my most recently acquired Arpege III 6.

 

[ped]

22 minutes ago, Abjatar said:

Hi Guys, i have some stuff hanging around, including my most recently acquired Arpege III 6.

 

Wow!!! LOVE the Arpege guitar, too. I'd probably go as far as learning the guitar if I could find one. 

[Abjatar]

The guitar is awesome! It was similar for me. I wanted to learn the guitar so I started looking for one. I got super lucky, within a week or so this one was with me. 😃 First series, serial 037. 

[ped]

10 minutes ago, Abjatar said:

The guitar is awesome! It was similar for me. I wanted to learn the guitar so I started looking for one. I got super lucky, within a week or so this one was with me. 😃 First series, serial 037. 

Yeah very! I've missed out on a couple but the one I really wanted was a carbon necked Passion guitar going for silly money a few years ago. I just don't think I'm ready to plunge into guitar playing for financial and time limiting reasons!

[marcblum]

19 hours ago, Abjatar said:

Hi Guys, i have some stuff hanging around, including my most recently acquired Arpege III 6.

 

Not long ago the Vigier Arpege 6 bass was mine. I bought it from a guy in Spain. Played it for two years and replaced the Vigier electronics by a Glockenklang 2-band-eq. Btw I'm located in Germany. Then decided to reduce my weaponary and to stay with my other Arpege 6. This one moved to Romania and apparently very quick to ...where?

[Abjatar]

1 hour ago, marcblum said:

Not long ago the Vigier Arpege 6 bass was mine. I bought it from a guy in Spain. Played it for two years and replaced the Vigier electronics by a Glockenklang 2-band-eq. Btw I'm located in Germany. Then decided to reduce my weaponary and to stay with my other Arpege 6. This one moved to Romania and apparently very quick to ...where?

Hi Marc,

i know it was yours 😉 

it's in Munich now and It's probably going to stay here. I also reinstalled the original Electronics.

[MNY]

Hello All,

My Vigier story is quite an unusual one. Some years ago not long after I first started to play bass I tracked down a JD Supernatural to a shop in Birkenhead called Fusion Music. I hadn’t ever seen one in the flesh let alone had the opportunity to buy one, despite them becoming popular off the back of the success of Level 42. I remember travelling with my Dad over the water from Wigan to view and purchase the said JD. 

Whilst we were in the shop looking at the bass which was on a shelf about 10 feet in the air, we got chatting to a French gentleman who had several flight cases with him. I believe this was early 80’s and may even have been Mr.Vigier himself looking to set up a UK dealer network. He showed me a Vigier Passion bass which I vaguely remember being a red/orange burst. The bass definitely had a full graphite neck and I do remember him eschewing the virtues of the bass for slap styles. I could have bought the bass off him for around the same price as the JD just under £700, but frankly I had no idea what I was looking at. I ended up buying the JD which looking back I probably loved because it was played by Mark King. It was an ok bass but went in trade for a Status a couple of years later. I bet if I’d bought the Vigier I would have saved myself a few quid swapping basses. 
 

Not being much of a handy man I have always found myself getting frustrated when having to mess about adjusting truss rods and bridge saddles, I know some folks like it but to me it’s a chore and a waste of playing time. Over the past few weeks I have struggled with the changing temperatures and even though my basses were stored in a stable environment their necks were definitely moving, practically every day. In my frustration I started to look at basses with more stable necks like Spector and Dingwall and came across a shop in Blackburn that had a couple of Vigier basses in stock. From there the research started. I literally scoured the internet and read as much as I could about the brand including several threads on this very site. I couldn’t find any negativity at all (apart from one absurd review in an online bass magazine which slated the build quality and lack of truss rod). After a chat with my lovely long suffering and ever reasonable wife I despatched myself off to Warwick to visit the brilliant Bass Direct to view the only stock Passion bass I could find in the UK. A beautiful blue 5 string. On the snowy drive down I tried to convince myself it was maybe too expensive, it was a 5 string (I haven’t ever kept one for a long period) I should look at other guitars including some Sadowskys, Mayones and maybe the stunning Haynes bass they have in stock. On arrival I was presented with an incredibly beautiful Vigier bass to try through a Genzler rig similar to my own and from there it was game over. I  could have bought half of the basses in the shop for what I was going to shell out for the Vigier,  minus the p/ex on my own basses of course. Needless to say I didn’t even look at the extensive range of drool worthy items on display. 
 

Initial impressions are very positive. The sound is not really what I am I used to hearing having played wooden necked Jazz bass variants in the main with a couple of exceptions, but it’s a really amazing tone especially with both pickups engaged, when it seems to have a real growl. This is my favourite setting for both finger playing and slap. I have been worried about the low B but I needn’t have been, not only does it sound clear as a bell I am enjoying using it as it never sounds at all woolly.  Sorry for the long post, I sincerely hope that the Vigier remains in my possession for a very long time as I can’t imagine that there is much better out there in terms of quality of build or tone. The look won’t be to everyone’s taste but I find it quite refreshing  and faithful to the ‘one that got away’ all those years ago.

My very best wishes to you all for the year ahead. 

 

 

[thodrik]

19 minutes ago, MNY said:

Hello All,

My Vigier story is quite an unusual one. Some years ago not long after I first started to play bass I tracked down a JD Supernatural to a shop in Birkenhead called Fusion Music. I hadn’t ever seen one in the flesh let alone had the opportunity to buy one, despite them becoming popular off the back of the success of Level 42. I remember travelling with my Dad over the water from Wigan to view and purchase the said JD. 

Whilst we were in the shop looking at the bass which was on a shelf about 10 feet in the air, we got chatting to a French gentleman who had several flight cases with him. I believe this was early 80’s and may even have been Mr.Vigier himself looking to set up a UK dealer network. He showed me a Vigier Passion bass which I vaguely remember being a red/orange burst. The bass definitely had a full graphite neck and I do remember him eschewing the virtues of the bass for slap styles. I could have bought the bass off him for around the same price as the JD just under £700, but frankly I had no idea what I was looking at. I ended up buying the JD which looking back I probably loved because it was played by Mark King. It was an ok bass but went in trade for a Status a couple of years later. I bet if I’d bought the Vigier I would have saved myself a few quid swapping basses. 
 

Not being much of a handy man I have always found myself getting frustrated when having to mess about adjusting truss rods and bridge saddles, I know some folks like it but to me it’s a chore and a waste of playing time. Over the past few weeks I have struggled with the changing temperatures and even though my basses were stored in a stable environment their necks were definitely moving, practically every day. In my frustration I started to look at basses with more stable necks like Spector and Dingwall and came across a shop in Blackburn that had a couple of Vigier basses in stock. From there the research started. I literally scoured the internet and read as much as I could about the brand including several threads on this very site. I couldn’t find any negativity at all (apart from one absurd review in an online bass magazine which slated the build quality and lack of truss rod). After a chat with my lovely long suffering and ever reasonable wife I despatched myself off to Warwick to visit the brilliant Bass Direct to view the only stock Passion bass I could find in the UK. A beautiful blue 5 string. On the snowy drive down I tried to convince myself it was maybe too expensive, it was a 5 string (I haven’t ever kept one for a long period) I should look at other guitars including some Sadowskys, Mayones and maybe the stunning Haynes bass they have in stock. On arrival I was presented with an incredibly beautiful Vigier bass to try through a Genzler rig similar to my own and from there it was game over. I  could have bought half of the basses in the shop for what I was going to shell out for the Vigier,  minus the p/ex on my own basses of course. Needless to say I didn’t even look at the extensive range of drool worthy items on display. 
 

Initial impressions are very positive. The sound is not really what I am I used to hearing having played wooden necked Jazz bass variants in the main with a couple of exceptions, but it’s a really amazing tone especially with both pickups engaged, when it seems to have a real growl. This is my favourite setting for both finger playing and slap. I have been worried about the low B but I needn’t have been, not only does it sound clear as a bell I am enjoying using it as it never sounds at all woolly.  Sorry for the long post, I sincerely hope that the Vigier remains in my possession for a very long time as I can’t imagine that there is much better out there in terms of quality of build or tone. The look won’t be to everyone’s taste but I find it quite refreshing  and faithful to the ‘one that got away’ all those years ago.

My very best wishes to you all for the year ahead. 

 

 

That is a beautiful bass. Lovely colour and finish. Thanks for sharing!

[MNY]

@thodrik you’re welcome. Thank you. I hope in some way the story was as interesting as the bass.