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Nice, but lacking QA
Cheap guitar, we all know this. If looking at this you probably want to know if this 7 string is passable as such, i.e. playable.
First of all I would like to point out that this is a very nice guitar at heart. Looks and craftdwarfship is far above price range. It's an insane deal, you get a lot for the money.
Body: Cutaways are nice. I really like the shape both aesthetically and practically. Five stars. It is not heavy. No neck dive.
Woodwork is nice, no complaints, no toolmarks, no roughness.
Neck is OK, not 'sticky', shape is OK and does not feel cheap at all. Edge of fretboard is nicely rounded, no sharpness or frets poking out. Purely cosmetically: Some fret pockets are visible from the side under the lacquer, some are not.
Nut is made of nice material. I know this because I had to file the slots.
The fretboard material is VERY nice and smooth. Five stars.
Body paintwork w/o flaws. It does get shiny after a while where touched often (mine just under the strings). Paint is not fragile or thin. Lacquer on one spot on the neck is a bit rough though, but not a problem. Strap pins are nice and secure.
Tuners settle in after a while, and then keeps tuning well. No real issue there (but of course far from pro level). As with all cheap / old tuners you have to tune up, and tune down by tuning lower and then going up. Guitar now stays in tune OK, but it took a couple of weeks for it to settle, possibly due to crappy strings. But I will upgrade the tuners eventually.
Strings are absolute crap, feel cheap and soon gets gets lots of shiny dents. Please change these at your earliest convenience.
Bridge is OK, Hipshot style. Have made quite a few adjustments to it already, no problems noted. I may swap for a real Hipshot, but that can wait. String ferrules on the back are loose, easy fix with a drop of glue or two.
Pups are special. I happen to like them. Far above what I expected on this cheap guitar, and more than just 'usable', and by that I mean that they do not need to be swapped immediately. But they will be swapped in the future.
I see complaints that the pups are too loud.
Now, if only there were some kind of device, conveniently located on the front of the guitar, that could be used to lower the output...
Controls are absolutely fine. Good feel, do what they are supposed to. Electronics is OK, no hum or such. Battery located in soft pocket in main cavity, need to remove screws to change. Output jack is properly mounted, flush on the jack plate, which is nice looking.
BUT: Mine had some issues. I should have returned it, but I did not.
These issues are often to be expected on cheaper guitars, but somehow I thought Harley Benton would be different. Should also mention that I own two other HB:s that did not come with any of these issues, maybe this particular one slipped through their QA.
Anyhow:
1. Neck angle (really a problem with the angle of the top, since back and neck pocket were absolutely parallel). Strings could not be lowered properly. I could have shimmed, but ended up carving the neck pocket (with a very sharp scandi-knife and a lot of patience). Not something I would recommend, very fiddly to get straight, but turned out very nice. Body material is easy to carve.
2. Neck screws are too long. Body material is soft, so the neck screw ferrules digs into the wood when tightened, the screws even risk penetrating the fretboard. Added some shims under the screw ferrules. Easy fix, but for this soft wood there really should have been a neck plate instead of ferrules.
3. Uneven frets. I had to learn how to level frets, not something I really wanted to do. Not difficult, but scary and took a few hours and patience. Straight aluminum bar, double sided tape, 440 grit paper, then polishing. Turned out surprisingly well.
4. Nut was cut too high. I don't own nut files, proper ones cost more than half of this guitar, so I used needle files. Turned out OK. Might need more work.
Finally: It is now a proper guitar. String action ca 1.5mm on high E, ca 2mm on low B, and no buzz. Feels like a proper electric guitar that would cost a lot more money. Note that this is partly because the good quality of the guitar materials and parts used by Harley Benton.
First of all I would like to point out that this is a very nice guitar at heart. Looks and craftdwarfship is far above price range. It's an insane deal, you get a lot for the money.
Body: Cutaways are nice. I really like the shape both aesthetically and practically. Five stars. It is not heavy. No neck dive.
Woodwork is nice, no complaints, no toolmarks, no roughness.
Neck is OK, not 'sticky', shape is OK and does not feel cheap at all. Edge of fretboard is nicely rounded, no sharpness or frets poking out. Purely cosmetically: Some fret pockets are visible from the side under the lacquer, some are not.
Nut is made of nice material. I know this because I had to file the slots.
The fretboard material is VERY nice and smooth. Five stars.
Body paintwork w/o flaws. It does get shiny after a while where touched often (mine just under the strings). Paint is not fragile or thin. Lacquer on one spot on the neck is a bit rough though, but not a problem. Strap pins are nice and secure.
Tuners settle in after a while, and then keeps tuning well. No real issue there (but of course far from pro level). As with all cheap / old tuners you have to tune up, and tune down by tuning lower and then going up. Guitar now stays in tune OK, but it took a couple of weeks for it to settle, possibly due to crappy strings. But I will upgrade the tuners eventually.
Strings are absolute crap, feel cheap and soon gets gets lots of shiny dents. Please change these at your earliest convenience.
Bridge is OK, Hipshot style. Have made quite a few adjustments to it already, no problems noted. I may swap for a real Hipshot, but that can wait. String ferrules on the back are loose, easy fix with a drop of glue or two.
Pups are special. I happen to like them. Far above what I expected on this cheap guitar, and more than just 'usable', and by that I mean that they do not need to be swapped immediately. But they will be swapped in the future.
I see complaints that the pups are too loud.
Now, if only there were some kind of device, conveniently located on the front of the guitar, that could be used to lower the output...
Controls are absolutely fine. Good feel, do what they are supposed to. Electronics is OK, no hum or such. Battery located in soft pocket in main cavity, need to remove screws to change. Output jack is properly mounted, flush on the jack plate, which is nice looking.
BUT: Mine had some issues. I should have returned it, but I did not.
These issues are often to be expected on cheaper guitars, but somehow I thought Harley Benton would be different. Should also mention that I own two other HB:s that did not come with any of these issues, maybe this particular one slipped through their QA.
Anyhow:
1. Neck angle (really a problem with the angle of the top, since back and neck pocket were absolutely parallel). Strings could not be lowered properly. I could have shimmed, but ended up carving the neck pocket (with a very sharp scandi-knife and a lot of patience). Not something I would recommend, very fiddly to get straight, but turned out very nice. Body material is easy to carve.
2. Neck screws are too long. Body material is soft, so the neck screw ferrules digs into the wood when tightened, the screws even risk penetrating the fretboard. Added some shims under the screw ferrules. Easy fix, but for this soft wood there really should have been a neck plate instead of ferrules.
3. Uneven frets. I had to learn how to level frets, not something I really wanted to do. Not difficult, but scary and took a few hours and patience. Straight aluminum bar, double sided tape, 440 grit paper, then polishing. Turned out surprisingly well.
4. Nut was cut too high. I don't own nut files, proper ones cost more than half of this guitar, so I used needle files. Turned out OK. Might need more work.
Finally: It is now a proper guitar. String action ca 1.5mm on high E, ca 2mm on low B, and no buzz. Feels like a proper electric guitar that would cost a lot more money. Note that this is partly because the good quality of the guitar materials and parts used by Harley Benton.
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