Original spares may be few and far between (6)
I believe the answer is:
sparse
'be few and far between' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'original spares' is the wordplay.
'original' indicates an anagram.
'spares' with letters rearranged gives 'SPARSE'.
'may' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for sparse that I've seen before include "One's not at all thick" , "Meagre, thin on the ground" , "not packed together" , "rarely occurring" , "Thinly populated" .)