LEH Club

#21
I'm expecting to take delivery of an LEH 5 in the next few weeks. Ash body, redwood cap, ebony board, reverse-P and FatStack in 70's position. I'd met Ellis at the Sadowsky shop, and am deeply intrigued by the ergonomic aspects of the design. Will report after I've had a chance to play it for a while...
 
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#22
Seng Chen said:
I picked up my Offset 5 in Portland last week. Ellis has been such a pleasure to work with on the details and new features so I was really looking forward to meeting them in person. They gave my partner and I a tour of their shop which was really nice since my partner is a visual artist who works with wood and other materials (look out for some super cool basses in the works, maybe at NAMM). The bass feels and sounds great, and the experience really everything I could have hoped for, especially as my first time getting a custom instrument.

NECK: Amazon Rosewood fingerboard, with spalted maple dot inlays on a quartersawn Maple neck finished in matte nitro, Luminlay side dots
BODY: Quilt Maple on Alder 1/2 Weight Reduced to improve balance. Finished in a custom Tiger Burst, high gloss poly
ELECTRIC: Nordstrand 3Band custom wired to boost only, paired with a set of Nordy Fatstack pickups, passive/mute/active switch, Fishman rechargeable battery
FADERS: Treble-Mids-Bass
METAL: Hipshot Ultralite Tuners and Gotoh quick release Bridge, Labella RX Nickels 45-130

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22 frets!
 
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#23
Joebone said:
I'm expecting to take delivery of an LEH 5 in the next few weeks. Ash body, redwood cap, ebony board, reverse-P and FatStack in 70's position. I'd met Ellis at the Sadowsky shop, and am deeply intrigued by the ergonomic aspects of the design. Will report after I've had a chance to play it for a while...
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Ellis does a great job with the balance with the weight reduction. Even with a low-friction strap, mine settles into a perfect playing position for me. Balancing it on my finger, I find the center of gravity to be between 16/17th fret, slightly to on the D-string side of the A-string, right around the head-side neck-bolts. Feels solid without feeling heavy, though that is as much the precision construction as design.

An unexpected surprise with the sliders is being able to feel their relative positions without looking, which is hard to do with knobs. Of course we should be using our ears before looking at controller settings, but with the sliders there’s no chance of rolling off volume when you mean to change the tone.

Joebone said:
22 frets!
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Yep, it was on my “Love my Fender except…” list along with the weight and rechargeable battery. I missed being able to play some jazz melodies in the higher octave without the 22nd fret F.
 
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#24
Seng Chen said:
Ellis does a great job with the balance with the weight reduction. Even with a low-friction strap, mine settles into a perfect playing position for me. Balancing it on my finger, I find the center of gravity to be between 16/17th fret, slightly to on the D-string side of the A-string, right around the head-side neck-bolts. Feels solid without feeling heavy, though that is as much the precision construction as design.

An unexpected surprise with the sliders is being able to feel their relative positions without looking, which is hard to do with knobs. Of course we should be using our ears before looking at controller settings, but with the sliders there’s no chance of rolling off volume when you mean to change the tone.



Yep, it was on my “Love my Fender except…” list along with the weight and rechargeable battery. I missed being able to play some jazz melodies in the higher octave without the 22nd fret F.
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I've also asked for 22 frets...I guess you were the first to float that boat!
 
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#26
I absolutely love my new offset5. I drove to PDX and picked it up earlier this month. Ellis is just the best.
 

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#31
Seng Chen said:
I picked up my Offset 5 in Portland last week. Ellis has been such a pleasure to work with on the details and new features so I was really looking forward to meeting them in person. They gave my partner and I a tour of their shop which was really nice since my partner is a visual artist who works with wood and other materials (look out for some super cool basses in the works, maybe at NAMM). The bass feels and sounds great, and the experience really everything I could have hoped for, especially as my first time getting a custom instrument.

NECK: Amazon Rosewood fingerboard, with spalted maple dot inlays on a quartersawn Maple neck finished in matte nitro, Luminlay side dots
BODY: Quilt Maple on Alder 1/2 Weight Reduced to improve balance. Finished in a custom Tiger Burst, high gloss poly
ELECTRIC: Nordstrand 3Band custom wired to boost only, paired with a set of Nordy Fatstack pickups, passive/mute/active switch, Fishman rechargeable battery
FADERS: Treble-Mids-Bass
METAL: Hipshot Ultralite Tuners and Gotoh quick release Bridge, Labella RX Nickels 45-130

View attachment 5161128 View attachment 5161130 View attachment 5161132 View attachment 5161133 View attachment 5161135View attachment 5161134 View attachment 5161146 View attachment 5161136
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Great bass!!! I watched that one during the whole building process on IG!
 
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#33
Here's my L.E.H.... also the one used in the Dickies interview.

IMG_4807.jpg IMG_4806.jpg

A few months ago I ordered one of the more traditional J's and it should be completed soon! I'll come back with pics! Love this bass! Didn't take me long at all to bond with it. It honestly played perfectly right out of the case.
 
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#34
Seng Chen said:
I picked up my Offset 5 in Portland last week. Ellis has been such a pleasure to work with on the details and new features so I was really looking forward to meeting them in person. They gave my partner and I a tour of their shop which was really nice since my partner is a visual artist who works with wood and other materials (look out for some super cool basses in the works, maybe at NAMM). The bass feels and sounds great, and the experience really everything I could have hoped for, especially as my first time getting a custom instrument.

NECK: Amazon Rosewood fingerboard, with spalted maple dot inlays on a quartersawn Maple neck finished in matte nitro, Luminlay side dots
BODY: Quilt Maple on Alder 1/2 Weight Reduced to improve balance. Finished in a custom Tiger Burst, high gloss poly
ELECTRIC: Nordstrand 3Band custom wired to boost only, paired with a set of Nordy Fatstack pickups, passive/mute/active switch, Fishman rechargeable battery
FADERS: Treble-Mids-Bass
METAL: Hipshot Ultralite Tuners and Gotoh quick release Bridge, Labella RX Nickels 45-130

View attachment 5161128 View attachment 5161130 View attachment 5161132 View attachment 5161133 View attachment 5161135View attachment 5161134 View attachment 5161146 View attachment 5161136
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That top and finish are stunning. I really like her design ideas and am curious how the neck contour feels versus a Sadowsky NYC. I'm very fond of my NYC PS5 but don't have large hands and would like a slightly smaller neck contour with 18mm spacing. An Offset 5 with reverse P neck and Big Rig bridge pickups and a quilt top would be sweet.
Offset 5 — L.E.H. Guitars
 
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#35
detoxxx said:
Here's my L.E.H.... also the one used in the Dickies interview.

View attachment 5199305 View attachment 5199304

A few months ago I ordered one of the more traditional J's and it should be completed soon! I'll come back with pics! Love this bass! Didn't take me long at all to bond with it. It honestly played perfectly right out of the case.
Click to expand...


I’m already saving for another one. ;-)
 
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#38
Dr. Cheese said:
This is one of the most interesting bass threads I have started in Avery long time. LEH is really doing something different, and that requires a vision.
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I met Ellis during a long pre-pandemic visit to the NYC Sadowsky shop. I gather they had a lot to do with devising the Sadowsky single-cut, and checking out the post-Sadowsky work has been fascinating. The design focus and craftsmanship have roped me in, and communicating with Ellis during the course of this build has been a delight.
 
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#40
MAJOR METAL said:
High five to Ellis coming to build on the west coast! :bassist:
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I disagree, but only because NYC lost our best builder and repair person!!

A couple of things…Ellis uses They/Them pronouns.

Ellis is one of the best people in the biz.

The bass that I got to play was a 5 string Offset that had a neck that felt like a well loved ‘65 Fender…like it had been played many, many years. It shocked me how comfortable it was.

I also see the Tyler headstock similarity and love it. It’s well proven that it’s advantageous to the instrument, and poses no balance issues because Ellis is a total pro.

Tyler, like many, many other bass builders, definitely took elements from the proven Fender recipe, but they played and sounded nothing like a Fender. Not even close. That’s a very strange statement for anyone that has ever played one. They were very modern sounding basses with the Bartolini pickups and the Demeter preamp. Amazing, amazing basses that no one seems to want to give up for a reason.

Last thing…everyone should reach out to Ellis and buy a bass. They’ll make you the bass of your dreams. Ellis knows that if I got a big, well paying gig tomorrow then I’d be calling with an order.

Last last thing….I’ve asked Ellis if they’ve thought about a medium scale bass and/or making a bass with 24 frets, and both of those things are possibilities….which is good and bad news for me…haha
 
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