Harley Benton PB-Shorty SBK Standard Series

Just recently received this bass, need to scale down in respect of neck for health/functional reasons, and this is the answer to my problems, may upgrade or modify the nut as I have fitted it with Pyramid "Rooftop" stings and the E is .112, so it's guage is causing a small amount of fret buzz, but this is in no way the a fault of HB,

The finish is flawless, the frets are smooth, the tuners are solid and the pickups are as punchy as you like, may upgrade to EMG Geezer Butlers, but again, this is a personal choice, all in all, does it sound like a £1k bass? No, but equally it sounds nowhere like a £99 bass, imho, it can stand up against my £380 Squire Jaguar (with flatwounds) that cost near 4X more, HB definitely got this one right 🤘🏼

I had an elbow injury 2.5 years ago and had to sell my Jackson 5-string and Marcus Miller 4-string basses due to intensive pain and stuff...
I was looking at various options neck wise, since I still needed a bass guitar for my recordings, when someone advised me to try a short-scale.
I didn't want to spend a lot of money, nor I am fond of returning products to the dealers, so I bought this one and never really looked back!

The guitar is cheap, but the build quality does not really lack!
For this price, you can't really buy a decent bass guitar, let alone a short-scale.

Pros:
- It plays well and stays in tune
- Neck and fretboard are really comfortable, frets are nicely done
- The pickup delivers quite a punch, sometimes it's even hard to tame it :)
- Finish is flawless and for a satin one it's not really hard to mantain
- The overal build quality is really good

Cons:
- Cheap electronics; volume knob is really sensitive and works weird, while the bass sometimes buzzes and "rumbles" when turning the knobs, so I may replace both pots and pickups someday
- A very strong neck-dive (can be fixed by changing the tuning heads and adding some weight at the back strap holder and the electronics cavity)
- I really dislike the pickguard color, but it's nothing since it doesn't affect the funcionality or playability

Overall, I would really recommend this guitar for beginners, occasional/everyday home use or if you're looking to try something new.

For this price, you can't really go wrong with this little guy! :)