Unnecessarily complicated short scale project

[Andyjr1515]

With the Psilos, the through neck had the angled ramp incorporated.  We couldn't hide the block like @Kiwi (lovely job, by the way  ) because the body was only 25mm thick! :

 

 

The judgement/hope was that the block would 'wrap round' the player and therefore not be in the way.  And to our great relief, that's what it does 

 

 

[Kiwi]

The block was made out of mahogany and it's unfinished beyond the visible parts so it's shrunk a bit in the last 5 years, but it could have been made out of anything solid.   There's so much I would do differently if I had a second stab at things.  Aluminium might have saved a few hundred grams without loss of performance and it's soft enough to be shaped with wood tools.  Maple or other woods were possible as well.

 

I would have widened the recess as well because it's a bit tight around the sides.

[Hellzero]

Just in case, here's how to get the best of both worlds according to the Dobbratz brothers, the two Le Fay basses owners.

 

It's what they call the RHT which stands for Right Hand Tuning, so basically a headless with a headstock.

 

It has become my number one bass.

 

 

 

 

 

And yes, it's a stainless steel fingerboard.

[Andyjr1515]

46 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

And yes, it's a stainless steel fingerboard

Wow - that's a new on me!

[Kiwi]

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

 it's a stainless steel fingerboard.

I've played a Vigier Delta metal fretless (also stainless) and very good it was too.  Not as bright as I expected but great sustain and mo dead spots.  

[Hellzero]

Indeed, sound wise it's very close to my Leduc Masterpiece fretless basses with a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, not harsh at all, with a bit more harmonics.

 

I'm a huge fan of the Vigier Delta Metal fingerboard fretless basses, which was first offered by Vigier in 1980 as the Arpège fretless bass, and have owned a few over the years, like this very early one, bearing serial number 004 (not mine).

 

 

But I've always wanted a sixer metal fingerboard fretless, so my wife offered me, last year, the above mentioned Le Fay Remington Steele 6 RHT CC CAP Big Block (that's its name !).

Edited January 16, 2022 by Hellzero
Photo added and text reorganised

[alittlebitrobot]

wow wow wow, that is stunning @Hellzero

 

Thanks for all this insight, everybody 😄 I just thought I'd show the forum what I got up to last year, and it's turned into a very informative resource for my next build.

[Kiwi]

18 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Just in case, here's how to get the best of both worlds according to the Dobbratz brothers, the two Le Fay basses owners.

 

It's what they call the RHT which stands for Right Hand Tuning, so basically a headless with a headstock

I just stumbled across this in my Reverb feed.  Bogart were up to the same thing.  

 

 

 

[alittlebitrobot]

It's interesting, this feels a bit like a missed opportunity to me. With HellZeros LeFay, the RHT allows for a much cleaner headstock, but the Bogart one opted to maintain the look of tuning keys.

Obviously they feel that the appeal of RHT is an ergonomic one rather than aesthetic, but still..

[Hellzero]

The strings changing is really fast and clever on the Le Fay as it's a self locking system (without any locking device).

 

Check this : 

 

 

That said, on the Bogart basses, the tuning keys are used as a locking device, which is very clever too. 😉

[alittlebitrobot]

Nice. That looks very satisfying to use.