Harley Benton R-458 BK Progressiv Series

Jeg hader at skulle skrive noget negativt om denne guitar, for jeg er glad for den, men her kommer det så.

Den er ved ankomst hos mig pinligt ringe justeret og de to dybeste strenge kan man ikke spille på. De lægger sig bare fladt ind til gribebrædtet og så kommer der jo ikke meget lyd. Jeg går i gang med at justere strengehøjde, men de skal sættes så langt over gribebrædtet at alt der kunne minde om spilbarhed fordufter øjeblikkeligt.

Så altså halsen skal justeres. Jeg hader at skulle pille ved trussrod, men finder en Youtube video der viser, hvad man skal gøre. Jeg vil jo helst ikke ødelægge noget, for hvis ikke den kan ordnes så skal den jo returneres og byttes til en guitar der virker.

Men jeg gør som instrueret i videoen og imens jeg gør det, kan jeg nyde en lyd der minder om en tændstik der knækkes langsomt. Synes ikke det er en lyd der indgyder tryghed. Men det lykkedes da og efter at have justeret strengehøjden til den nu justerede hals. Har jeg efter en times tid en guitar der fungerer.

Jeg skriver det her, fordi at jeg kunne godt have tænkt mig at Thomann havde justeret halsen inden de sendte mig guitaren.

Jeg kunne jo godt selv, men alligevel. Intonationen var nemlig perfekt og så undrer det mig bare at halsen ikke er justeret på nogen måde og er så dårligt sat op.

Næste kritikpunkt er stemmeskruerne. De er virkelig dårlige. Jeg har aldrig oplevet dårligere stemmeskruer. Guitaren kan dog stemmes og den holder også stemningen sådan nogenlunde når først det er gjort.

Ellers er hardwaren på guitaren rigtig god og især volume og tone kontrollerne er gode. Faktisk virkelig lækre synes jeg.

Selve malearbejdet er desværre heller ikke så godt og der er lidt malingpletter hist og her på hals og hoved. Det er lidt ærgeligt for guitaren er ellers ret flot synes jeg, bare lidt sjusket finnish.

Pickupperne er lidt mudrede i lyden, men de er okay. Synes dog ikke de lader til at være Hi gain som der står i beskrivelsen af guitaren på produktsiden. Har dog kun min RG at sammenligne med. Så måske er de hi gain.

Ikke gode, men okay og de fleste kan nok leve med dem guitarens pris taget i betragtning. Selv påtænker jeg at udskifte dem med nogle SD's.

Halsen er meget flad og virkelig god at spille på. Den er hurtig og bånd stikker ikke ud nogen steder.

Alt i alt er guitaren rigtig god til pengene og jeg er næsten helt tilfreds.

Jeg ville bare sådan ønske at Thomann selv havde justeret halsen inden afsendelse. Det giver sådan et dårligt førstehåndsindtryk når det er så ringe justeret, men nu er jeg kommet mig over min umiddelbare skuffelse og er faktisk glad for guitaren som den er nu :)

I am from Russia, and for this price you cannot buy a NEW 8-string instrument of this quality and cheaper from us, even taking into account the UPS delivery, which is almost 50% of the cost of the guitar. The guitar cost 199 Euro with delivery to my city.

Appearance. It is beyond praise, it is modern, with a cutout for the left hand and your play will be comfortable even if you have large palms. Minimalistic design, strict and to the point.

Neck. It is comfortable and not difficult to switch from a 6-7 string instrument to this eight string instrument. Slimmer than Schecter C-8 deluxe
The amaranth onlay is finely sanded, but needs to be impregnated with lemon oil. After soaking her with lemon oil for the first time, she drank with thirst and I soaked her with the second portion. About an hour elapsed between the first and second oil impregnation. The second portion of the oil was absorbed more slowly and this was enough to remove the residues. I deliberately chose a fretboard made of amaranth, not maple, because when changing the frets, it will not need to be coated with a special impregnation, but it is enough to spread it with lemon oil. And the density of amaranth is higher than that of maple, which means that the sound transmission is better and closer to rosewood.
After a few days I had to grind down the sharp edges of the frets, as they came out, and I could injure my hand if I started playing. THIS HAPPENS WITH ALL NEW TOOLS EVEN FOR 3000-5000 euro AND THIS IS NOT A MINUS OF THIS TOOL. This is most likely to blame for my dry indoor climate, since I do not have a humidifier to create good humidity. To avoid this, store your guitar in a case, there it will not dry out as much.
The frets themselves are quite normal, I would call them Jumbo. At the same time I polished the frets to a shine. Bands and vibrato have become better tuned. Regular plastic fret markers. The tuners tend to get upset sometimes and I plan to replace them with GOTOH.
Body. The body is made of Basswood archtop with a nice cut near the neck-to-body attachment, the timbre block is shielded, the potentiometers are smooth. Painting, varnish, everything as on instruments is several times more expensive!
SOUND. This is what struck me the most. I have enough guitars and have something to compare with, so, the sound is wonderful, although I do not really like the single-coil sound on distortion. CLEAN WITHOUT ANY ALTERNATE SOUND PICKUP WONDERFUL !!!
The pickups suit me, but I still altered them, checking the coils and finding the beginning and end of the coils, the color scheme of the wires turned out to be like Di Marzio's. Having soldered the white and black wires, I made a serial circuit and sent it to a Push-pull, which I bought separately. Red (hot) to 3 way switch, Green + bare to ground wire. The result is a versatile instrument for any kind of music.
The scheme turned out as follows: Bridge, both neck and with Push-pull so separate coils. And although I made a change with this and lost the warranty, I got a great instrument for the low price, THANKS THOMANN, Very happy with the guitar!

I've been playing guitar for a long time, and I was curious to try those 8 string guitars that are rising up now in the market. My problem, as many other people, the budget. I was not in position to buy a 900$ guitar now, so I told myself that this budget 8 string could satisfy my curiosity, and if it failed as a guitar, the economical loss won't be as much. But it paid off:

Pros:

-Good construction and finish, it feels a bit light but not an issue.
-Good tuners.
-Good electronics. For the sound gourmets maybe these pickups are not of their taste, but they do a pretty good job IMHO. A little too hot I must say, but that's not an issue for me.
-It doesn't feel as alien when coming from a 6 string. This is because of its neck length and width. It feels very comfortable.
-Well intonated and decent string action (for my taste anyway)

Cons:

-The nut is made of cheap plastic, I strongly recommend to change it. Also it's set up sort of too high, when you voice a chord in the 0-3 frets and you apply a little bit more pressure, the chord detunes a lot.

- The strings are too light for what the instrument is (the F# one, so the 8th, felt like I was holding a bow instead of a guitar...). Change the set and get harder strings (like a .10 or plus).

-It depends on the unit, but for mine I will need to do a fret job. Some frets buzz where others don't (not a truss rod issue, that's tested already)

-Packaging. Just covered in carton board and air bags to secure the instrument, mine came with a hit in the head, half the size of a pinky's nail. Not something that is very bad but I could've been less lucky.

-The jack plug is not well grounded/connected, I get a familiar not-good-grounded noise (like when you touch the tip of a connected jack) when I move the jack in a particular position . I haven't opened the guitar but it seems like a quick fix.


So there you have it, as it is a budget instrument you'll need to adjust it, but for what it does and what it costs it is very good.