hi paul!
sorry i've been out of touch. i'll send you a message about the off-topic stuff
and thank you for your kind words. i don't think the theory behind the 'big bird' ever made it to the thread. you're right, it's about sustain. early on i asked mica about how the mass of the tailpiece affects sustain: i wanted as much sustain as possible. i considered individual tailpieces, as on spyders, but i prefer the look of the bird. in any case mica determined that there isn't enough room for individual tailpieces on the 'simple' bass
so i asked if a tailpiece could be custom-machined to look exactly like a standard bird, but extend down into the body with the goal of having as much mass of brass as four individual tailpieces added together
that's exactly what chris made for me!
next time around i'm going to ask mica to do almost the same thing again, but in ebony. the 'big bird saddleblock' would be a block of ebony, recessed into the body like the 'big bird', with the exposed top face of the block carved in the shape of the classic alembic ebony tailpiece shim, as on yahya's 'big bass' for example. as mica has said, nowadays the shim is purely aesthetic: we use the wooden shim just because it looks so cool. the 'big bird saddleblock' would look exactly as cool as a tailpiece shim, but it would impart added sustain and also give a somewhat warmer, woodier, more 'ebony' sound compared to a brass 'big bird'
but that's for next time!
vriendelijk groeten!
marc
