Harley Benton Bass Guitar Kit P-Style Reviews

Great starter kit

I bought this kit to ease the boredom of lockdown.

It was easy to assemble & the parts supplied were of an okay quality - exactly what you'd expect from a kit of this price.

The only bit I changed was the bridge, for something with a bit higher mass and I added copper shielding to the control cavity.

The paint finish (rattle-can) that I decided to add was the most time-consuming thing - YouTube videos are your friend!

Overall a nice bass, great enjoyment building it, and a useable bass at the end.

Recommended!

Good value kit

Everyone needs to build a bass at least once in their life. Before you do, buy one of these kits and have some fun where most of the hard work is done for you and the parts cost isn't starting to cause awkward domestic situations.

It is a complete kit, half an hour with a screwdriver and you can string up a working bass, the strings are even supplied.

The quality is fine, I expected so much more work than it needs to be ready for finish. Wood looks good, the neck is straight and well fretted, all in all very impressive for the money and you are buying an experience too.

With a little creativity and effort plus a few well pleased investments in upgrades, I think this can make into something nice.

Mixed feelings, but overall positive

I will use this bass for playing at home and recording.

What I liked:

Neck seems very good, frets also. There were no sharp ends. Grain on the back side (maple) is really nice. Fretboard also came in a very nice color. Body is very light (and very soft, prone to bruises), finish is great. Hadrware is also good: tuners are solid, pickup sounds really decent, bridge is nice, pickguard is prewired wich was nice. It?s all nice and neat.

What I didn?t like:

prewired holes for tuner screws missaligned. This meant that I had to refill all the screw holes and drill new ones. Also, predrilled holes for the pickup were not good as one hole was drilled too close to the upper edge of the pickup hole and when inserted like that, pickup could not fit. So again, I refilled the holes and drilled new ones. I had to sand the pickguard a little to fit the pickups through a little bit.

If the holes alligned I would have given 5 stars.

When I assembled the bass I was able to get good medium action (little below 3 mm) without fretbuzz. Only fretbuzz was at the last fret which needs to be sanded down a little bit (but that is not a minus, I?ve had much worse on much more expensive basses). Neck needed a fair bit of adjustment as it had quite an up-bow, but it was easiliy fixed.

Sound is really good, and the tone pot is good. There?s quite a difference with tone closed and fully opened.

Anyways I would reccomend this kit, but only to people who don?t have problems in patching missaligned holes and drilling new ones due to chance of holes being drilled wrong. For the price you get a really nice p bas.

Oh yeah strings that come with the bass are sh**, you can use them to set up the bass and see how it sounds.

Excellent value for money with only minor niggles

Neck is pretty decent, the fretboard is effectively black, like ebony with more grain, does not look like rosewood at all. I think it looks really distinctive. Benefits from oiling. I didn't lacquer the back of the neck, it comes with a satin/matt finish that is very nice.

Would build confidence if they had a guide to which screw goes where, especially as there are enough scratchplate and tuning head screws that you could swap them over. For those unsure:

The larger headed countersunk screws are for the scratchplate.

The four very long screws are for the pickups, beware of screwing them right down as they could pop out the back of the body... put them in a few turns and adjust when the strings are on.

The same screws for the bridge and strap buttons. Personally I think they are a bit short for strap buttons.

String guide uses a scratchplate screw; I reckon if you used a spare bridge screw it could come out the back of the headstock.

The tuning head screw drillings weren't very well positioned. I had to take great care tightening the screws and the heads are all at a very slight angle.

Body wood isn't super hard, but much better than the eBay strat body blank I bought a year ago. If I was redoing the build I would put on a light layer of primer then sand down until it was just left in any depressions, then skim the body with fine filler then sand with fine wet and dry.

Videos that show people putting on 3 very thin layers of lacquer are over optimistic. Do more than that. Yes it is worth waiting a week to finally sand and polish, but give yourself enough paint thickness to work at with confidence. Sanding needs to be really light t-cut will take out light marks so you don't need to sand aggressively.

Double acting truss rod needed to be tightend up, probably by 2-3 turns so not a huge amount. I expect it to need revisiting a few times as the bass settles down.

Setting up meant adjusting everything, including the nut (except the A-string intonation was spot on...) Nut was cut very high, this does need care and courage as it's the one adjustment that isn't reversible.

Pickup screw holes weren't ideally positioned, tilting the two halves forward. When I reassemble I'll move them so they are level.

Controls work fine, no buzzes. When I reassemble I will strip a longer section of the bridge earth wire to make the contact more definite, am worried it could slip out but don't want to strip it yet to make threading it back through easier. Would be nice if it was about an inch longer too...

Tuning heads very stiff until oiled with a drop of 3 in 1, get better with use. Not the best ever but I don't think they need replacing.

A neck wedge may be a good idea as the E-saddle is almost at the bottom and I reckon I could drop it buy up to half a mm or more.

Some of the scratchplate screwholes were way off, one or two not even visible. I put all the good ones in first, then fitted the other screws direct into the wood without a hole.

I fitted Fender flatwounds because I can't find the supplied strings - I'm not convinced they were in the box, but as I opened it a couple fo weeks ago...

The sound is nice, rich and rounded, perhaps not as much growl as a Fender Precision.

Good Modding Platform

Bought this with intention of modding it to be along lines of the billy sheehan basses. The stock pick up is surprisingly clear and punchy. Only issues i found were all the pick guard screws were missing and the pre drilled guides for the pick up screws were put too far forward. But both easy to get around.

Surprisingly good

I bought this instrument as my second bass with intention to find out what a P-bass is like (I had a "modern" 5-string already).

After assembly, which went without problems, I was positively surprised by the sound of this bass - it is much closer to upright bass than I expected.

All the parts are of good quality (for the money). I plan to do few modifications and experiments to the instrument - so far, I have changed the strings to BEAD tuning (using 5-string set lower strings).

Pros: sound, quality of parts for the price, quality of wood is surprisingly good too

Cons: I did not liked the original strings very much, but I planned for change anyway

To summarize, this is a great instrument if you plan to explore different non-standard setups, or just to try a real P-bass experience for little money

Surprisingly good.

The holes for the tuners and pickups where slightly off. Easily fixed. Otherwise a good kit. Loads of fun.

Perfect beginners bass

As soon as I received my P-Bass kit I began to re-shape the neck top. I used a jig saw and after grinding it, it looked cool already. At first I assembled the complete guitar, so that I was able to make alterations if needed. And it was needed. Many pre drilled holes did not correspond. I didn't see this as a problem as I dare to say that I am rather handy working with wood. Especially the holes at the neck, where the tuning knobs are to be placed, didn't all match. So I used cocktail sticks with wood glue. After drying, I grinded it with the machine using graduation 400. This went smoothly and I drilled new holes of 2mm. As the tuning knobs would cover the old holes there was no further problem. Than I had to drill another hole when mounting the pick ups. I found that the black earth lead was too short, so I connected a longer lead with the initial one. It is a personal choice to spray the body or to use oil or varnish. In both cases it needs a very good grinding starting with 240 than 400 and 600. I decided to spray the body glossy black. I started to spray 3 layers of primer (Motip 1 spray can) and when it was dry I grinded it again with 600. Than I was able to spray the body black. I used a (1) Motip spray can. I am not a regular sprayer, so I would advice to take your time and using a flat piece of carton on the ground and make sure the body is placed on 2 or three little objects (like egg cups). This makes spraying easier when starting with the side of the body. When the front was done, (it dries quite quickly) after an hour I could turn the body to do the rear side. Don't spray to fat! Better is to spray several times smoothly. If you would get a drip no problem; DON'T try to wipe it away or using a paint brush - just let it dry and with 600 sandpaper grind it away and spray that part again. After three times spraying the body looked fine to me. Although it might be so that not every part is as glossy as other part of the body. Don't be let down! After drying for three or more days you use some car polish and smoothly rub this in. It will be shining all over. Now it is time to assemble the bass. Make sure not to damage the body when using screws etc. This is why I advice to assemble the guitar at first, so screws go easier.... After tuning the bass I am very pleased with it and it is great fun making your own P-bass. Of course keep in mind that a guitar of this price should not be compared with a real Fender P-Bass. But it sure is a good instrument and also the sound is okay!

General findings

+ Light weight body ready to paint

+ 2 way thruss rod that works great

+ no fret leveling needed. no high frets . ready to go

+ good packaging

+ bridge,tuners, are okay quality

+ okay tone on the pick ups

+ easy install of the electronics

- almost all holes had to be repiloted/ re- drilled because they didn't match the parts

- low output

- needed neck shim

-- The nut is at okay height but of too soft material. shavings apear just when tuning

+- strings feel thin and sharp but that may be preference.

Overall it's worth the money and when being assembled porperly and maybe with a few upgrades you can really build the guitar of your dreams for a good price.

surprise

Wasn't out to get the P of my life, just wanted to get a P width rosewood neck in the house, also not bad to have some fun putting it together with my son. the package came fast, all there as expected, easy to assemble, the screws are bad and most of the holes are off, that could be better. the neck and the frets are nice, the body has a protective coating which is great, there's a neck dive but it's easily fixed with a good strap. For the money invested it's a lot of bass, i've put on a set of heavy flatwounds, using it unplugged at night to get some muscles working. doesn't sound bad plugged in either, but doesn't get a chance, since there's so many others for the stage and studio... All in i think it's fun and for the amount of money you guys are asking it's unbeatable.

Fantastic DIY Kit

NECK AND BODY:

The first thing I noticed was how well the neck was fretted. Incredible job, zero complaints. Perfect fret ends and perfectly level across the board.

Next, the body - you'll always need to do a bit of sanding whenever you get a DIY kit and this is no exception. It's not the prettiest wood, but I wasn't expecting a beautifully grained swamp ash body - and if you are expecting that, do yourself a favor and be realistic.

All the pieces fit perfectly - there's no need to adjust even any of the holes on the pickguard.

HARDWARE:

Very solid hardware. Everything works, the tuners tune, the bridge saddles move forwards and back, up and down... Nothing to complain about whatsoever.

ELECTRONICS:

The kit comes with a prewired split-coil P-bass pickup that sounds incredibly decent and plugs right into the wiring.

I'm not thrilled about the pots used, but that's my personal preference - the stock pots work perfectly fine.

PROS:

Price, build and very decent quality components.

CONS:

Not a fan of the potentiometers that come stock. The shielding on the pickguard could cover a larger area - but really isn't necessary.

GENERAL:

All in all - a fantastic DIY kit I highly recommend and will be buying more of for myself. The pros outweigh the negligible cons, and the value is incredible. 5 stars.

Good buy...enjoyable

I was interested in getting 'under the hood' of a bass and this kit was a great first introduction. You end up with a playable bass.

Pros: easy to assemble (1.5 hours while watching T.V.)

Neck slid into body perfectly!

Wiring was easy.

Bass doesn't sound too bad.

Cons: manual doesn't tell you which screws to use!

One screw broke under normal use.

Missing 2 screws!

Not bad for the price

Overall quite happy with the product. One or two small difficulties, especially determining which screws are used for which part of the build. When completed, it sounded quite well, although after a substantial amount of adjustments were required.

I don't think it would be well suited to a professional player however I would definitely recommend it to somebody who is looking for a simple bass that is fun to build. Overall a nice little project and fantastic for the price.

Fantastic for the money

I had not even set up a guitar before this purchase and part of the reason for the purchase was to learn how to do this and hopefully have a credible spare bass at gigs.

Obviously the quality of the parts is not going to be on par with a £1000 plus bass but I was impressed with the body and neck. The electrics are ok but obviously an area where an upgrade could help. Neck was straight and the only real challenge in putting this together is to get the headstock into the desired shape. It is not hard but just takes a bit of care and patience. I researched about painting the body but in the end just sanded it to remove the layer of primer and used wood dye with a wax coating . After shaping the head stock and getting the body ready it was quick and easy to assemble. I would recommend lining the pick up bays with copper shield ...not supplied but easily obtainable.

The result was that I have a useful spare for gigs and a bass which I can play around with in terms of adding picks ups etc etc

Pretty Good

The package arrived quickly and in very good condition, kit was very easy to put together and was incredibly easy to customize. Overall I'm pretty happy with the playability, there is a slight issue with the action where it does tend to be quite high no matter how many times I try to reset the truss rod but the neck is comfortable and the body is nice and light allowing me to jump around during gigs. The sound is fairly good for the price, couple it with a clean equalizer and a good amp and you're good to go for a gig. The endless ways you can customize the body and neck will also leave you with a truly unique bass playing experience and the months of work created a project that lead to (while not my best sounding bass) one of my favorite basses in my collection. I wouldn't take this bass to the studio but I would definitely take it to a gig for a few flashy photos.

All in all for the price, I would highly suggest this as a project for anyone looking for a genuine good time with their new instrument.

Good kit, the pickups could be better

I bought this kit along with a the telecaster building kit. The instructions were fairly easy to follow and I didn't encounter any particular problems when putting this kit together. The bass plays well, the truss rod works and everything is A-Ok, except for the pickups which sound a bit lame. I plan on swapping them out in the near future. A good starter kit for those wanting to try out building their own bass, the end product is worth it

I HAVE BOUGHT KITS FROM OTHER COMPANIES IN THE PAST. THIS ONE WAS BETTER.

requires some work

I needed a good body and neck to build my own custom Bass Guitar.

positive:

The body and neck are good and the neck fits the body (a bit loose).

Good neck plate and bridge.

The electronics work and are pre-soldered and fixed to pickguard.

All the parts needed are in the kit, including adjusting tools.

negative:

The screw holes do not match with pickguard and tuners.

Low quality tuning mechanisms.

Low quality pickguard.

The output jack is larger than the cavity, some wood needs to be removed.

conclusion:

This kit needs a lot of work, like drilling new holes and adjusting. It requires some basic understanding of woodworking to put it together. It also requires some knowledge on how to set up a bass guitar to make it playable, mostly adjusting neck & bridge.

a decent diy Christmas project

still using it after a year, I had to do a lot of improvements, some of them requiring quite a bit of care attention, the drill holes for the bridge are in line but slightly tilted, you can see it if you look closely,

the pickup holes are off axis and the magnets did not sit properly below each string so I had to relocate them, and i had to re-route the pickguard to fit the pickups in the new position. It looks like the body has not been modeled with the correct measurements, i changed two pickguards and I had to reroute them both. This makes me think that the bridge screw holes and the pickup holes may have not been drilled using the correct template....

Anyway, the neck is good, i managed to shape a vintage telecaster bass headstock out of the paddle sized original headstock.

The back of the neck is satin finished, so it is fast enough and the shape is a C more or less like a 70's precision bass. All in all I like it.

Great priced kit for a first DIY project

As others have already said, this is a great kit if you want to have a go at building your own bass. It was a first for me, and I had fun putting it together, With a bit of setting up afterwards I have a bass I'm happy to pick up and play.

A lot of the tedious work has been done here, all you need to do is paint and finish the body (and neck, if you want), then assemble the parts.

Pros:

- The neck is surprisingly solid feeling with a smooth satin finish pre-applied. The fret edges are filed down nicely.

- The body is pre-drilled for fitting the included hardware, and the tuners and bridge are solid, no complaints there.

- The body is nice and light.

Cons:

- A lot of the weight is in the neck, so there's a bit of dive, but you won't notice while playing.