June 2003 The Spyder Basses We were shocked and dazed to hear of John Entwistle's untimely death last year at the start of The Who's tour. Just two days later we were to meet with him and discuss his next custom bass and a special limited edition of the Alembics he played widely throughout the 1980s. We almost scrapped the project, but since the tour went on, we took up the mantle and went on with the Spyder basses. We are producing only a limited number of these basses: just 50 of the 4-strings and only 25 of the 8-strings.

	The Spyder basses are similar to the John's personal Series II basses, but they aren't exact replicas (which would be much more expensive). The changes we made for playability are the regular 12 inch fingerboard radius, unlike John's which were totally flat, and we moved the neck to the bridge about a half an inch. The body shape gives total access to all 24 frets with complete comfort - there is nothing in the way of your fretting hand getting to the uppermost frets. We used the same templates for the body and peghead shapes as we used on some of John's basses, and even many of the craftspeople that made his basses still work here, still crafting as we always have.

	One of the decorative details we kept from the original basses was the spider web inlays on the body. These inlays are made from solid sterling silver and are done by hand. They run as deep as they are wide, so the amount of silver is quite substantial. Many people thought his inlays were brass because the silver yellows over time under the finish. It's a good time to talk about balance. One of the things John enjoyed most about the basses we made was the balance. The large upper body half really counters the complete lack of an upper horn for attaching the strapholder, it also makes a fine armrest for between songs.

	The individual string tailpieces weigh almost twice as much as a regular single tailpiece. This extra mass keep the strings in motion longer giving this bass some remarkable sustain properties. Each pair of strings shares a tailpiece on the 8-string version, and each string has its own bridge saddle for intonation. For proper nostalgia we use the "Hat" knobs on this model. We've also used the 20th Anniversary electronics for this bass. It's the closest thing you can get to a Series I/II. These electronics use the same control layout as a Series I: 2 volumes, 2 filters, 2 Q switches, a stereo mono switch and an on/off switch for the LEDs.

	Of course we couldn't resist installing side LED markers along the edge of the fingerboard, a classic Alembic feature since 1970. All the stage basses we made for John had side LEDs, but now we add a small inlay of sterling silver around each one so the marker is visible even when the LEDs are turned off. We include a mini toggle switch by the output jack to turn the LEDs on or off. The batteries for the LEDs are in a compartment on the upper body half and are completely separate from the battery for the active electronics so if you should let the LED batteries run down, it won't affect your output.

	4-string peghead	8-string peghead	LEDs	Inlay	Tailpieces	4-string

SPECIFICATIONS 4-string Spyder bass Flame Maple top and back Exploiter body shape Walnut core Purpleheart and Maple neck 20th Anniversary electronics Ebony fingerboard with Mother of Pearl ovals Side LEDs in red Individual string tailpieces 8-string Spyder bass Flame Maple top and back Exploiter body shape Walnut core Purpleheart and Maple neck 20th Anniversary electronics Ebony fingerboard with Mother of Pearl ovals Side LEDs in red Individual string tailpieces Prices available on request (and significantly less than the bass recently auctioned at Sotheby's).

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