1.146 Delafos (?) 1997 4 String 3 Course French-made Hourglass £225 + soft case in good condition £15
The label has been defaced, but the workshop appears to be called Delafos and the individual luthier “Nicolas”.
The body appears to be made mainly from beautiful bookmatched brown/black streaked solid ebony – an unusual and striking choice. The soundboard is spruce with trefoil soundholes and the flat headstock walnut (with vestigial scroll). Closed, guitar-style tuners. The shallow body is a little over-engineered with kerfing and internal struts on back and top – indicating it may have been designed by someone who mainly made guitars. The finishing is sound but not perfect. The hollow (and narrow) fingerboard also looks like ebony, but with an oak or ash veneer on top. Closed, guitar-style tuners. Bone nut, bridge and cap on endstock. Unusual, rosewood endblock for ball-end strings (possibly a later addition?). Overall length 34”, upper bout 5½”, lower bout 7¼”, depth 1¾”, FBW 1¼”, VSL 26⅜” (short/medium scale). New 6½ fret.
This is a solid instrument made from good quality and interesting materials, with good intonation and a very low action. It has a crisp sound from the spruce top, and a good treble from the stiff, shallow body, even high up the fingerboard.
