Harley Benton Guitars….

chor808 · October 2023

I'll get more pics once I've got time...

chor808 · October 2023

Did a blind test with my 14 year old shredder against my Yamaha sg1802. He picked the Harley Benton much to his shame... Once the blindfold was off he changed his mind...:-).

I'll never play a Harley Benton he told me...:-)

Honestly if your on the fence just go and get one, they have definitely improved since the last one I had about four years ago...

guitarjack66 · October 2023

BillDL said:

stufisher said:

I wrote to Thomann as @BillDL suggested (thanks again Bill) and I got a request yesterday.
They chastised me for not returning it and getting my tech to check it out but they have offered to partly compensate (amount TBC) for the work done to fix it. I need to send them his invoice for consideration.

That's where I would have called upon my "apologetic" tactic. Something along the lines of:
"I really didn't want to sound as though I was complaining, because I like the guitar a lot and I know that you are very busy having to deal with people complaining about trivial things all day, but I wanted to let you know just in case there has been a bad batch of pickups used".

I always liked Becks Bier, so when I saw a slab of 24 cans in Asda at a really good price on the run up to New Year many moons ago I snapped it up gleefully. Becks in cans was a new thing. It was only after I had a can that that tasted like pisswater I realised they were brewed by Scottish & Newcastle under licence. I found it hard to believe Becks would have allowed their beer to go out like that, but I couldn't find a UK contact to let them know there must be a bad batch, or that it was just shit. I ended up emailing Bremen.

I received a response within the hour apologising profusely (like Harry Enfield's Jurgen character apologising for the conduct of his nation in the war) and asking for my home address to send me replacements. I responded several times telling him I wasn't looking for freebies and simply wanted to alert them to the scheiße quality of their canned beer. He insisted and I relented. At 10am the next day - a Saturday no less - I had a UPS driver at my door with a case of 12 bombers very large bottles of Becks.

Das war sehr gut.

skullfunkerry · October 2023

carlos said:

To everyone on this thread who bought a HB, how about some pictures?

I already posted a picture of mine, along with my other two guitars... here are a couple more:

And as it looked when it first arrived:

Dave_Mc · October 2023

carlos said:

To everyone on this thread who bought a HB, how about some pictures?

I'm not at home at the moment- I'll try to get one in the next few days if I can figure out how to post them!

Good news @stufisher keep us posted

That looks awesome @chor808 ;;

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Tall_martin said:
@dave_Mc Sounds like quite a lot of minor niggles, do you like the guitar?

LOL sorry for the confusion- it's awesome ("incredible" I think I said before, and I haven't changed my mind) for the money. It'd still be very, very good at twice what it cost. I just wanted to point out the little things I'd noticed- I didn't want to have a totally uncritical review and I don't want people to think they're getting a custom shop Gibson for £100. If I overshot and gave the impression it's not good or anything like that- sorry, I was overcompensating for how good I thought it was!

LOL it just goes to show you can't second-guess how people will read what you've written- I was worried I'd written far too positive a review that would just add to the hype! None of the little things I pointed out (as far as I can tell so far, anyway- I haven't taken it apart, restrung it or anything like that) make it a bad guitar or anything like that. Or really make it any worse than it'd be if it didn't have them (apart from the neck dive, but that's not really related to cost or QC anyway).

I guess the best explanation I can give of how good I think it is is that I'm fighting really hard not to order any more before this sale ends...

Dave_Mc · October 2023

chor808 said:

Did a blind test with my 14 year old shredder against my Yamaha sg1802. He picked the Harley Benton much to his shame... Once the blindfold was off he changed his mind...:-).

I'll never play a Harley Benton he told me...:-)

Honestly if your on the fence just go and get one, they have definitely improved since the last one I had about four years ago...

I sometimes think I should've got one sooner when they were even cheaper- but I also get the feeling (having only tried the one I have now) that they're getting better all the time. An extra £20 or whatever isn't much if it gets you something quite a bit nicer...

skunkwerx · October 2023

Heres a couple more of mine.. the wood itself is still Harley Benton...

Before and after:

After:

I did a video of it here giving it my initial thoughts and showing some close ups:

https://youtu.be/gqGRTENevlU?si=gk-X15YwHxhrjkMZ

My playing probably isnt great and I dont explore
many tones but what can ya do.

But for the cost of it, something like £130 it was fine.

Bridge post inserts were at a wacky angle, but as part of the upgrade a new bridge was installed and the holes re-drilled/old ones plugged.

String ferrules were held in with merely hopes and dreams. Those were glued back.

It was a fun project buying bits and having Feline do the fettling to over a few months probably in total.

It has more sentimental value than it is worth, the fun of the project, making it a little unique, the experience.

For me, its great, but I still want a Gibson V!

Specs on paper are now equivalent to my £1000 Ltd guitars, either my CTM or Phoenix. The LTD's both feel a LOT heavier, more solid.. wider string spacing.

Sound wise, either or though.. maybe the LTD's have more sustain.. but they feel doubly as heavy as the V.

Different pickups though.. yes Emg's in one and Duncan custom 5 in the other, and the V now has Duncans distortions..

Believe it or not I've not bothered actually sitting down and really comparing, like really really comparing them.

I will try this weekend.

Whilst I pick the V up a lot more often, maybe I do because its so light, a shape I've actually come to favour, or because I invested more time and energy in it?

If I had to save one from a fire, I'd reach for the Phoenix..
Why? Subconsciously it must be a better guitar.. maybe. Maybe I like it more because it cost more. Who knows.

I'll try and sit down and do a proper comparison on the weekend.

Offset · October 2023

.^^ Skunk, I like the fact you've made it not only your own but it's very personal to you. Great job and a fun project by the sound of it. I also like the fact you did it knowing you wouldn't recoup your expenditure - but did it because you wanted to.

Personally I think it looks great - given all your upgrades I'd love to hear you do a back-to-back comparison with a Gibson V when you finally, and inevitably, get one :-)

skunkwerx · October 2023

Offset said:

.^^ Skunk, I like the fact you've made it not only your own but it's very personal to you. Great job and a fun project by the sound of it. I also like the fact you did it knowing you wouldn't recoup your expenditure - but did it because you wanted to.

Personally I think it looks great - given all your upgrades I'd love to hear you do a back-to-back comparison with a Gibson V when you finally, and inevitably, get one :-)

Thats it! It's something I would play out with as well, or take on holidays etc because it's cheap, I wont mind if it gets dinged up/nicked.. well I would mind but you know.. wont be heartbroken.

So It serves a purpose as well as being something that I just enjoyed doing.

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Harley Benton Guitars….

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