Mark's comment in another thread about avoiding the temptation of bassnw of course prompted me to immediately visit their site, and drool over stuff that I don't need (but want anyway).
In the process, I came across this freak of nature:
I don't recall ever seeing this contraption before, but apparently it was marketed as the "Soundborn Octopus", and is a retrofit bridge designed to facilitate the conversion of a 4-string into an 8-string bass.
Has anyone here ever handled a bass with one of these installed? I don't know that I would ever try to seek one out, but I'm still curious about it. Seems like a nifty idea with an extremely limited target audience! Guess that explains the rarity.