Harley Benton Bass Guitar Kit P-Style 5-stars Reviews

Impressed

Stumbled upon this product via YouTube and thought why not, or how bad could it possibly be. However every minute from start to finish of building this kit, from routing the headstock to stringing up and jamming have been a sheer delight. My inner smile going full beam, and for the price its astonishing. The only criticism I have that approaches negative, would have to be the thin mass bridge (which I exchanged for a high mass) making it neck heavy to play..... However the high mass bridge helps with this. Utterly thrilled with this product. Hats of to HB once more.

Looks and sounds good

Bought this kit. Sprayed with metallic lake placid blue and go faster silver stripes. Looks and sounds good once set up. Would love to add a picture.

Excellent kit for experiments

Excellent kit for experiments such as practicing on finishing or learn how an electric guitar or bass is built like. For it's price the electronics and the pickup are pretty good and the quality of the woods in my opinion are better than other basses at this price point!

Great for getting your feet wet

TL:DR- Good kit all around, however you may get unlucky with quality control. At this price, it is expected. Buy new pickups ASAP. If you put time (and some more money) into this bass, you will find it to be genuinely fantastic to play.

This kit is an amazing buy, especially for someone who loves putting things together. I recommend you to buy it, especially if you are in Europe (and don't have to pay almost as much as the instrument for shipping). I, however, must list some gripes I have, which I will proceed with below.

To start, I understand that this kit is $85, so I am not mad, just a little disappointed. My main and most significant gripe is to do with the bridge. A single saddle height adjusting screw was extremely tight, leading to it being stripped, removing my ability to adjust it. I have managed to do fine using only half however seeing the saddle all tilted is irksome. My other issue was with one of the tuners being rough however honestly it isn't a big deal as it doesn't effect tuning.

Now, to some smaller gripes. The volume pot is very cheap, and really is more of an on-off switch than a smooth curve. The neck is very wide and thick which makes it heavy, causing significant neck-dive. I find this very annoying but didn't put it in the above section due to the understanding that this is expected on a cheap instrument. I also found the pickups to be extremely underwhelming. Expected at this price point.

Now, to what I have changed to make this bass truly fantastic. I am fortunate enough to have changed pickups on my other p-bass so I had some genuine fender pickups ready for a swap. I am a novice with soldering, however I managed to get everything hooked up. Small note, I soldered the ground wire to the bridge instead of it being loose like the instructions have it. Since the stock pickups don't require a backing to stay together, I had to find some foam laying around to hold my fender ones properly. Other than the pickups, I also added strap locks, and a new bridge from Hipshot to avoid worrying about the botched screw. Lastly, I put in a neck ship to help with getting the action I wanted.

In terms of physical work I have done, I have leveled the frets which also included polishing, along with shaping the headstock. I recommend anyone who does it, gets some nice small files (I managed to mess up my fretboard's edge using a large one). That's why we buy these instruments, though, right?

Another thing, is setup. I nearly completely compressed the spring on the E string with how far I had to adjust for intonation, however the whole instrument was properly intonated within the reach of the stock bridge. Now with my relief and action set right, along with good intonation, my bass feels and sounds amazing to play.

I genuinely love my bass, which I lovingly named rattle-can for how much it buzzed before I did the fretwork. I recommend that anyone with the means to do so, pick one of these up. It is a great time and super rewarding to see it when you are done.

Easy to assemble, fun to customise to your heart's content.

I had a blast building my first DIY bass. It's great to get to know the ins and outs of how a bass guitar works and all its parts.

It's particularly fun to shape your own headstock. I made into a sort of nose or beak that makes me smile every time I pick it up and play it. I painted the body and headstock in matching fiesta red (that part can take a few days) and then assembled the whole thing in half an hour.

Great tuners and decent pickups that capture the characteristic P-bass growl. Good quality for the price.

Great value

Kit arrived quickly and was of great value

I've just completed my one of these.

Much fun shaping the headstock, I took the body right back to give it a tru oil finish and gave the headstock a decal.

A small amount of fret dressing (a couple of high ones)

it's a really nice bass, sounds great, plays very well.

it's a bit neck heavy, i think a fender high mass bridge would balance it out lovely.

The body unfinished in the video is a bit red / orange. Having finished mine it's a lot lighter / more blonde / strawberry blonde in colour, looks very nice. But in photo's it's still quite dark.

A lot of fun for not s lot of cash, looking forward to gigging it...I've been playing for 32 years and I'm confident to use this bass live.

OK.

For the money - perfect kit. Neck fits the pocket perfectly. Hardware and electronics are standard like in every cheap guitar/bass kit and solderless, body not to much attractive but with a little work can look really good. A few sharp edges here and there (standard in every kit). I can recommend this kit without hesitation.

Best value bass I ever encountered. It's minimal features are more than enough to never need any major upgrades.

Big very very

Good clean fun!

I really enjoyed noodling about on this bass. I scraped the pickups and bridge, used a Fender Hi Mass bridge and some EMGs and it sounds pretty good!

The body reminds me of alder and I actually really like the weird composite they use for the fretboard, plus its a nice chunky neck.

I'd totally recommend this for a fun DIY project, and at the end you can build yourself a pretty nice bass, especially for the money - I would definitely do this again and I am curious about the other HB kits!

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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

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.

I love it!!

A beautiful bass, cant wait to use it!

Brilliant and Fun!

Im a full time bass player for 14 years. i have more thand 15 bass guitars ( Fender, Epiphone, hibson, custom mades).

if you can setup your guitar this is for you. For me the most important two things on bass is neck and pickup. Neck is after a little touch becomes perfect (even after unpacking it was really really good). I cant say pick up was amazing but it was as good as squier. I replace the pickup with EMG Geezer Butler PJHZ. There is not much differance between my 97 Usa Fender P bass.

After some adjusting, some sanding and painting and little upgrades it can be really serious bass.

Bass Guitar Kit P Style

Quick delivery so started building straight away. Found that you need to follow instructions in correct order. As the wood body looked good naturally I decided not to spray it but instead used a beeswax with stain in. Good decision as now it looks the "Bees knees" - pardon the pun. Easy to build all parts present and correct. Electrics work perfectly and it sounds beautiful. Really enjoyed the build and it did not need any adjustments made. Basically played straight out of the box. Would recommend this kit to anyone considering a self build bass guitar. Think that I may try a normal guitar next..