Review: L.e.H. Guitars Offset 5-string

A bass that is just eccentric enough to be stimulating, while firmly grounding itself in tradition.

Review: L.e.H. Guitars Offset 5-string

A bass that is just eccentric enough to be stimulating, while firmly grounding itself in tradition.

It’s perhaps a trope, but I have occasionally noticed an abstract relationship between a luthier’s location and their design philosophy. The oil-finished alt-woods that often constitute a contemporary MTD bass exude the upmarket lumberjack-chic vibe that represents the urbane side of Upstate New York. By contrast, the flamboyant and quasi-psychedelic flourishes and filigrees of a top-of-the-line Alembic are as Northern Californian as redwoods, vegan bakeries, and $3,000-per-month “studio apartments.” This relationship between place and perspective hit me as I got to know the L.e.H. Offset bass. Built by longtime Sadowsky shop manager L. Ellis Hahn in New York City, the Offset is so New York. New York defies description, sure, but my point demands I try: NYC is a place where hard-working people go to compete with other hard-working people, but unlike in other hard-working places like West Virginia or Guangzhou, many New Yorkers are conspicuously fashion-forward. New York City is
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