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NBD - Vigier Excess 5


mattbass6
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Please welcome “Stormbringer” to the family. I can’t tell you how happy I am with this beautiful, custom colour order, Vigier Excess 5. As soon as I opened the case, my heart skipped a beat. As soon as I played it, my fingers just fell in to place. I really have found my "home". Lina and the team are simply amazing, just like their basses. They are so helpful, friendly, patient and supportive. A truly wonderful company. My original Excess 5 “Wrathchild” now has, the perfect companion. Happy days. So worth the wait. Can't wait to record with it and play it, live 😍

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Edited by mattbass6
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Nice! I love that purple finish. Congrats!

I have had an Excess four string since 2004. Still going strong. It seems that the pickups on the five strings are slightly different to the old Benedetti style pickups on the four string models. They look quite like the pick ups on the Arpege and Passion models though I have no idea if they are indeed the same.The old Benefetti pickups on my four string are ridiculously powerful. Frankly almost a bit too powerful.

I have a five string Arpege but I personally prefer the design of the Excess. 

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19 hours ago, thodrik said:

Nice! I love that purple finish. Congrats!

I have had an Excess four string since 2004. Still going strong. It seems that the pickups on the five strings are slightly different to the old Benedetti style pickups on the four string models. They look quite like the pick ups on the Arpege and Passion models though I have no idea if they are indeed the same.The old Benefetti pickups on my four string are ridiculously powerful. Frankly almost a bit too powerful.

I have a five string Arpege but I personally prefer the design of the Excess. 

Thank you @thodrik. I am super pleased, as you may be able to tell 😉 I skirted around the idea of Vigier for a long time and I finally to bite. I am so glad I did. Everything about them just, suits me. As for the pickups, I only know these ones but I am sure @ped will be able to answer your questions. They are powerful and sound, amazing.

Edited by mattbass6
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Yepp, the Vigier quality is top notch. 

What I like about the Excess though is that, rather than being a take on a 'boutique' Fender Jazz, it is almost some kind of hybrid between a Precision, Jazz and a Rickenbacker. Fifteen years in and I am still finding new sounds by finding different blend points for the pickups and EQ settings. 

I still like basses with a truss rod, but the joy of the Vigier is that once you have set it up, the set up will never change with temperature or humidity changes or using heavier or lighter gauge strings. It makes it a brilliant workhorse bass. 

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4 hours ago, thodrik said:

Yepp, the Vigier quality is top notch. 

What I like about the Excess though is that, rather than being a take on a 'boutique' Fender Jazz, it is almost some kind of hybrid between a Precision, Jazz and a Rickenbacker. Fifteen years in and I am still finding new sounds by finding different blend points for the pickups and EQ settings. 

I still like basses with a truss rod, but the joy of the Vigier is that once you have set it up, the set up will never change with temperature or humidity changes or using heavier or lighter gauge strings. It makes it a brilliant workhorse bass. 

That's precisely what I love about them too. They just have this ability to do anything you need it to do. I also love the almost traditional look but updated, and with modern sensibilities. Perfect.  I agree also that once set up, you never have to worry about it again. 

Edited by mattbass6
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You’re right, something about the shape of these just looks right. Vigier have some excellent design language. 

I’m not sure about the pickups actually, as all the Vigs I’ve owned have been old models. However I know Mr. Benedetti passed away and that meant no more pickups. I have a feeling the new ones are made by Delano but could be wrong. Patrice Vigier will tell you if you send him an email, he’s a cool guy and I met him at the London bass show a couple of years ago. 

Love the purple. Never seen one like that before. Enjoy!!

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Gotta love a Vigier neck. My friend has an Excalibur guitar and even that feels perfect in my hand and I can’t play guitar. Nearly bought an Excess 5 like your amber one a few years ago but couldn’t afford it - think I’ll get one eventually. Never say never!

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The necks really are beautiful. They just feel right and in the end, that was the final selling point for me. I played a Yamaha 2025x and my amber one back to back, it was no contest, for me. A very smooth, comfortable feel.

I hope you get one soon, @ped. What would you have?

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I had my Excess 4 up FS at Bassdirect for quite a while & reduced by couple of hundred as I wasn’t getting much interest, after they asked me to reduce again I decided to get it back as I’d take too much of a hit .. when it arrived I noticed it had a bit of condensation on it & felt cold like it had been stored overnight in a cold warehouse .. started playing it & the (low) action was just perfect, like it had just been set up ! What a neck !

So that made me change my mind & keep it, I only (foolishly) tried selling as I was so used to jazz bass length & initially struggled with the extra frets etc

I have taken the preamp out as I felt it was a bit noisy (never gelled with preamps) & just wired in parallel with vol pot, perfect for me :) same as my two jazz basses.

Have now gigged it & just love it, so glad I came to my sense lol

Love the fret dots on your 5 btw .. I went back to 4 strings a couple of years ago & think the Vigier has an even better neck than my previous Dingwall ABZ5 ..... kinda don’t wanna try an Excess 5 just in case I like it too much lol

Edited by sifi2112
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The stability is just amazing. Glad you decided to keep it too. There is bugging like them out there, in my opinion. Like you, I’ve had Dingwalls along with many other great basses but this is honestly the first time I feel wholly at home with a bass. Enjoy and go try an Excess 5 as well 😉

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  • 1 year later...

Thread necromancy: vigier guitar necks are the best necks I've ever felt, no contest. Nothing else comes close. Not pre-factory PRS Customs, not 80s high-end Ibanez, not the Kramer Nightswan II I had, or any of my Hamers, not even the EBMM Steve Morse model or the Zion Radicaster!

If you play guitar, you owe it to yourself to source a second-hand Vigier before the end of the year when you'll start incurring more costs for purchases from the continent.

So, are the bass necks equally sublime? This might be a perilous question.... XD
edited to add: see, my post IS relevant, I'm asking how the bass necks are! :P

Edited by nobody's prefect
defence against spurious necromancy
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