Rog,  here they come:  

 

   As shown the tails on Johns basses (except the V-head and the V-bass) are significantly shorter than on the Spyders).  What do you think\?  Oliver  

This one goes way over the top, but there's no harm in fantasizing -
 
Think of a dragon's claw clasping the bottom end of the neck-through. Now morph that claw to the hand in the Alembic logo. See if you can fit in more of the logo, perhaps as an appendix. Or have it melt like Dali's watches.
 
Now back to work.

One of what Adriaan's been smoking please  ;-)
 
Thanks for the pictures Oliver. I like the short tailpiece in the left hand picture.  Perhaps Mica could tell us all if there is room for that on the Dragon's Wing?

Hi Rog,
you?re welcome. I also like this.
I think it would look great.
Maybe Mica can tell if this would work; I don?t
know why they changed the design from short to long back then.  
Maybe they could do different ones following the curve? Two longer in the outer position and two shorter in the inner position?
Man this is really making sense.
I feel like it would be my own bass project....
 
Oliver

Sorry, double posted.
 
Oliver
 
(Message edited by senmen on October 29, 2003)

Well, I live in the right country for what you suppose I'm smoking. But I don't smoke. Anything. At all. Convinced? No, you're not. But I don't. - Well, I hope that has cleared the air (waves his arms like a madman, grins like a bassplayer).
 
It's just that no one seems to have thought much about a fitting tailpiece for the Dragon Wing before the instrument was nearly complete!

I like Olivers idea of two different lengths.  Of course, the technicalities of this idea lie with Mica.
 
Adriaan - I believe you!  You also seem to have a point about the tailpiece - I was set on a bird tailpiece until I saw it on the picture Mica posted, and now it doesn't look right...obviously someone at Alembic has been thinking about this too to have decided to create an MDF mock-up tailpiece.
 
This is all very interesting!!

Rog,  
can you phone me up?
0049-211-41854413
 
Oliver

Oliver's idea is BRILLIANT.
 
If you want it a little less symmetrical, you could also have the longer ones on the E and A strings, and the shorter ones on the D and G.

For what its worth, I also really like Oliver's idea; short and long. Perhaps they could be positioned in a slightly staggered fashion to echo the trailing edge of the claw. Also like the wooden mock-up from Mica's post of 10/27. So many things to think about, but at least these are pleasant conundrums ;-)

Here's another hair-brained thought...expanding on Oliver's idea, could the ends be tapered to look like a dragon's talons?
 
I also like Adriaan's suggestion of a modified, half-moon tailpiece.

I like the dragon talon idea. You could merge the Entiwistle tailpiece and the dragon idea by doing that. Maybe make little dragon talons on the end with wood they have lying around. Of course its not my money or effort building this.

Here's some pictures that may clear a few things up:  

 1.54 inches available space.  

 1.43 inches available space  

 crammed to the block route, the hanging Spyder tailpiece. I don't think we can make an individual tailpiece with two anchor screws (required) in this small available space.  Not that we don't usually like the tailpiece smashed  right against the bridgeblock so the practical space available is about a 1/4 inch less.  The bottom center scallop is so near to symmetrical that a symmetrical tailpiece that stays close to the edge will probably look crooked.    With just over a tenth of an inch difference between the two sides, I'm afraid that staggered length tailpieces will look more like a mistake.   My vote is for the Dragon Wing tailpiece. I think it's the least distracting of any of the choices so far since it echoes the shape of the body and doesn't look like something just stuck on it. But that's just my opinion.  The finished tailpiece will have the slope like the bird (when viewed from the edge), the mock up is for footprint only.

You can always trust Mica for a scientific, balanced view of things!  :-)  
 
By the Dragon's Wing tailpiece Mica, are you referring to the MDF mock-up?
 
(Message edited by rogertvr on October 29, 2003)

P.S.  Mica
 
That picture Oliver has published of one of John's basses - how much would that cost to build?