This was taken last week with Allan Holdsworth..

Allan Holdsworth

I never noticed the different tailpiece on Johnson's bass before.
 
Cool shot- thanks for that.

Great shots!
I was lucky enough to see two concerts on this most recent Holdsworth tour.  
I even got to talk to Jimmy Johnson about Alembics!  What a truly nice guy he is!
 
Pat

amazing. what did jimmy hadd to say about alembics?

Interesting block of wood Holdsworth has in his hands.

It looks as if Alan picked out a guitar he could carry along as hand baggage on the plane. It's very tiny, especially compared to Jimmy's full size Series bass.

the man who introduced us to 5 string basses on a
general level.
great player..right in the pocket!!

Wow !
Thanks for the nice photo !
 
Is this bass his latest one ?
I am interested some points.
1: Head shape (Fan or Cone ?)
2: Neck width (Narrowest width just like 76's 5 strings ?)
3: Tail piece shape  
 
He is always my hero.
And Narrowest 5 strings Series basses are my favorite !
 
Eiji

I told Jimmy that I had recently gotten a used Series II.  He asked how I liked it, and I said I love it, but that I was still getting used to the controls.  He immediately volunteered some quick info to get me started, which I thought was VERY nice of him.  He also seemed genuinely interested to hear about my particular bass.
He mentioned how easy it was to deal with Alembic, and that I might want to give them a call.  He mentioned The Upgrade, and I told him I inquired about it, and that there's a very long wait.
I did embarass him a little by accident.  I told him that I've been a fan for over 25 years, and that his use of Alembic and the Series II was really why I was interested and eventually got one.
 
I don't know too many details about his particular bass, but it definitely has the cone headstock, and it looked to me that the spacing was pretty narrow.  The tail piece shape is really cool - it accentuates the omega!
 
Pat

I'm not the biggest Holdsworth expert, but for many years now he has been playing custom guitars by Bill DeLap.  He played the Steinberger GL for a little bit, then started playing DeLap guitars which used Steinberger hardware.  I believe the latest DeLaps he's playing have wood necks instead of graphite, but they're all similar in size.  There are baritone DeLaps too, which, between their small body size and Holdsworth being tall, create a sort an image of strange perspective.
 
David Fung

Thanks David !!

David is right on (as usual!).  Allan stated that he likes the particular De Lap he's playing as it's small enough to pass as carry on luggage on a plane.  Most people think it's a tennis racket.
If memory serves, I think he had to sell many - if not all - of his other DeLaps.  I seem to remember that this happened a few years back.
 
I know that a few years ago he had to sell his Synthaxe(s).  When the DeLeo brothers from STP/Army of Anyone heard he was without one, they got one for him!  (I thought that was very cool.)  So now he has a Synthaxe again, but it's so old that he can't risk taking it on the road.  He said he's never sure if it will even turn on again when he shuts it down!  (I think Synthaxe went out of business in 1986 or something like that.)
 
How cool would it be if Allan started using a Series II guitar!

If memory serves, I think he had to sell many - if not all - of his other DeLaps. I seem to remember that this happened a few years back.  
 
geez...that stinks....

Hmm, I didn't know he played bass.