To be honest again, I prefer the classic Man Ray photograph:
 

 
Not as sexy, agreed.

So it has nothing to do with the smell? Ok.
 
Why not use the fish as the truss rod cover?
 
Manfred

Jij Manny, grrrrrrrrr. Alles goed?
 
Alembic used to have a goldfish called Edwin, when that fish passed away, they start calling me The Fish..........
 
Dear Sam, it is Walnut Burl.
 
Dear Werner, all strings at the same time?

Dunno, have to try with different gauges to find the appropiate gauge first ;-)

 
 
(Message edited by thebass on January 08, 2004)

Dear Edwin:
 
I vote for the headstock (for the logo that is, not for the part of the sexy painted-on bass)
 
Joe

Too late for votes - Mike followed your emailed instructions already, Edwin, so it looks like your photo #1 (was number 4 from the pics I sent to you).
 
Of all the photos, I thought #4 and #7 were best.  
 
Help me adriaan, what's gristelijk?

Moder Mica,
 
gristelijk is a funny way to spell christelijk. The fish itself but surely the design of the one on Ed's bass reminds of a symbol lots use in the christian church. That fish is a symbol of the Lord Jesus.
 
Paul the bad one
 
 
Adriaan???

I didn't even catch the bass clef.  I just now saw it after rereading Adriaan's post.  Very clever.
 
Sam

Mica,
 
We're speaking Dutch here, as you might have guessed. Gristelijk is a wordplay on christelijk, which simply means christian, and it is used when referring to protestants, whether they belong to the 'black stockings' church (think Amish) or to an 'EO' type of community (think a praise type of public broadcasting company). It's not a rude reference, but not very sympathetic either.
 
The fish is of course an early christian emblem:  the Greek word for fish ICHTOS (sometimes spelled ICHTHUS) is an akrostichon of 'Jesus Christ Son of God' in Greek - perhaps not exactly that phrase, but you get the idea.  
 
Not sure if it's the same in the US, but here in the Netherlands there's lots of people driving around with that sort of an outline of a fish on the back of their car. I must say Edwin's fish is drawn a bit more in freehand style than those emblems.
 
Also, most people have the fish facing to the right, and I think you're right in making it face to the left. It's a rule of the thumb for portraits: the model should never have the face turned to the right (for the viewer).
 
Adriaan

For those who wonder what the wordplay is in gristelijk ... and don't laugh!
 
#1
The word christelijk, like the word christian in English, starts with a K sound in 'official' Dutch.
 
#2
Protestants typically try to distinguish themselves from denomination to denomination by pronouncing biblical names differently. In the Netherlands, some imitate jewish, others pronounce each letter as if the name was in Dutch.
 
#3
The letters ch are used in regular Dutch spelling for a sound that is at the same time an R and an aspirated H. There is also another spelling for the same sound, g, and this is nearly always used when the word starts with this sound.
 
#4
The southern Dutch regions, plus the neighbouring Flemish Dutch speaking Belgian regions, pronounce this sound softly, with less of the R in it. (It's easier on the throat.)
 
#5
The 'soft G' regions are traditionally Roman Catholic.
 
So once you've connected all the dots, you know how to pronounce christelijk properly, and everybody laughs.
 
Yes, you too can understand Dutch humour. Or you can check out the funny pictures on Edwin's website.
 
Last but not least, I wonder why someone archived so many messages on this thread today?!
 
Adriaan

And to think I sometimes have trouble with British humor...
 
As long as we're exchanging cultural stuff, yes, you also see people driving around the US with the fish symbol on the back of their car (frequently with additional bumper stickers in varying degrees of fervor).
 
However, at least here in California (probably banned in Kansas...), you also see a pretty fair number of people countering with a variation. It has the same basic outline of the fish, but a couple of small legs/feet have been added, and the body of the fish is filled in with Darwin.
 
-Bob

...and then the response from the fish people (no offense, I'm christian) with the above upside down and the words Darwin is Dead next to it...
Or the one with no tail on the right side that says ALIEN inside. Yeah, we have all kinds here in California!

...or the Jewish version, where the body of the fish contains the word LOX.

(This is supposed to be Edwin's topic, right? Oh well, happens all the time.)
 
I know I've seen the dead Darwin a few times, and maybe the LOX (most likely while visiting in New Jersey), but never the ALIEN. So mostly because I was too tired to do anything useful (like going to sleep), I plugged in a Google search on darwin jesus lox alien cars symbol fish and came up with this one:
 
http://www.evolvefish.com/fish/emblems.html
 
A little something for almost anyone here, other than the original (presented for your amusement only).
 
But none of them incorporate the bass clef, like Edwin's - I also didn't see that until it was pointed out, very nice touch.