Vigier Excess 1, black and maple, original version with scratchplate. - *SOLD* £1200 York

[ped]

Hi folks

 

A recent acquisition, imported from Germany last year. This bass is fantastic and has the lowest action I have ever encountered. The sound is like a 60s jazz bass but with a more even response thanks to the amazing 10/90 neck, which is rock solid and has the perfect amount of relief. The fretwork is fantastic and the attention to detail is as you'd expect from Vigier.

 

The bass has a few marks and has been played a lot, but nothing that detracts from how awesome the bass clearly is. The edges of the neck have a few marks (nothing you can feel) and the body has a couple of marks too, but it's been loved and used, not neglected. 

 

I changed the original white pearl scratch plate for the black one which I had custom made (by TinyTone, with 'light' relic to match the body). When doing this I was interested to see the system Vigier use when they mount the pickups to the scratch plate rather than the body. There are lots of quirks which make this bass a really neat fresh approach to building a bass. Things such as countersunk threads for the strap pins, and the hum defeating system built into the bass (you can see the adjuster is accessed via a small hole on the scratch plate). I'll include the pearl plate and another darker pearl plate which was given to me kindly by a member of BC.

 

One thing to note, the pickups are held to the scratch plate with a hex bolt and nut which is neat - they may have been over tightened in the past to make a couple of the 'ears' (not visible) to crack, and they have been repaired with some sort of epoxy compound which is 100% effective and obviously not visible. They're probably stronger than ever!

 

The finish is really thin, and I think I read somewhere that Vigier perfected the use of a special process to allow this. You can see the grain of the wood through the finish in some lights. It's very tactile.

 

WEIGHT - pretty light. No truss rod and specially sourced and aged French alder and maple add up to only 3.6kg

 

The EQ is quite unusual too - you can read more here but essentially you only need to use it very sparingly, and in fact cutting can bring out the mids really nicely too, so everything form P thump and slap sizzle are on hand. In fact, this bass has the best front pickup P bass sound I have had in a jazz - and there's no noise because of the hum system.

 

It's strung with brand new Elixir 40-95s, and I'll put the original metal knobs on if you prefer.

 

It comes in a Thomann 'hard foam' style rectangular case. I have a box, so I could post, but I'd prefer to meet somewhere. I'm in York so fairly central and happy to travel a reasonable distance.

 

So why am I selling? Well, frankly I've been playing two of my basses pretty much exclusively for the last year, and I'm having a bit of a clearout. I prefer the 70s spacing on a jazz style bass, and though it's nice to have a 60s style in the tool kit, I can't afford to have it around when I don't play it much. It deserves to be someone's no.1. I'll be selling a few other bits in the coming weeks.

 

Any questions, let me know. This is a very low price for one of these, but less than I paid with import duty etc.

 

Cheers

ped

 

 

[White Cloud]

Breathtaking... I would have this in a heartbeat had I been seeking another acquisition. 

 

Great price and top seller. 

[Bigwan]

Bargain. Best basses I've ever owned. My Excess 5 string blows me away every time I play it. 

 

I'd have had this if I didn't already have a Roger Glover signature... 

Edited January 23, 2023 by Bigwan

[Bigwan]

Actually, if I had the cash I'd have it anyway as a modding platform. Always wondered what a Vigier P bass would be like... The ultimate P! 

[ricksterphil]

Nice bass, tempting too as I've flirted with joining the VOC before.

 

The grub screw on the bridge looks like it's about to fall out - on the D string saddle?

[ped]

32 minutes ago, ricksterphil said:

Nice bass, tempting too as I've flirted with joining the VOC before.

 

The grub screw on the bridge looks like it's about to fall out - on the D string saddle?

 

Ah well spotted, in fact that's a longer screw, probably a replacement. It's a cool bridge actually, not sure who makes it.

[ikay]

PM'd

[ped]

On hold in super fast time!

[dmccombe7]

Very nice indeed.

I did wonder about the grub screw. Think i would either replace it or cut that one down to a decent length.

Vigier do make some wonderful basses.

GLWTS

Dave