Harley Benton DC-Junior FAT Faded Cherry 5-stars Reviews

thanx for beautiful guitar!

Thanx for beautiful guitar! Useful and Cute.

Wow. Killer Guitar!

I won't be mentioning "for it's price" in this review. I have owned a Maybach DC Jr, Gibson and Epi Specials and I also built my own DC Jr from scratch. If I had bought this HB Jr first I would not have bothered building my own!

Ordered this on Saturday and it arrived Friday No issues.

Out of the box, you could tune this and go. The action was good if a little high, but completely fine. Frets were smooth, intonation was close and at the nut, all but the low E were perfectly cut. Low E only required the slightest of filing.

Overall the quality of the build and finish was spotless. Not a big fan of the "faded" matt finish but a bit of Scratch-X will give it a lustre. Weight is 2.86Kg/6lb 5oz - just perfect for a Jr.

The fretboard is a very nice dark colour, and as I will be rounding the fretboard edges I did a test and it does not look like dye was used to get this colour.

Tuners are fine - smooth and accurate.

The electrics are very good. Both tone and volume roll off very smoothly all the way down. Cavity and cover are shielded and very tidy.

The pickups sound really great. Don't see myself changing them. I forgot it has push-pull until I was taking off the tone knob and it popped up! The extra tone possibilities is great. Either way, this thing snarls or sings a lullaby just like a Jr should. Really fun to play.

The bridge is fine. It's not the highest quality but very decent.

Overall, I can't see myself changing much on this guitar. I did strip it down and give it a setup and will be polishing it and rolling the fretboard, but in terms of hardware there is no need.

This is my 4th HB - Te-52, ST-62, CST-24P-90 and now the DC Jr. I find myself a fanboy :-)

Bottom line, If you don't have a DC Jr already, buy one of these!

Great sounding Junior

Fantastic build quality. Classic P90 sound plus humbucking at the pull of a switch.

Wow

There is no better neck or fretboard on any other guitar at any price. You can upgrade anything you like but if you want a guitar that is built well and is comfortable, there is nothing better than this model. The fretboard glistens. I am astounded. It is a pleasure to play.

Just get it. GET IT.

I am *thrilled* with this guitar. At twice the price, I'd still love it.

just great!!!

Pros : fretwork almost flawless, the neck is dead straight and have no fretbuzz with action 1,5mm at high E and 1,8mm at low E.

P90 pickup is realy good , sounds like tele on steroids! It needs to be raised higher.Raised it with felt washers.

Paint and finish is ok. Pots and tuners work OK. Nut is ok.

cons: bridge saddles are sharp..can easily be fixed with sandpaper

Magic Marker

this guitar was almost perfect when it arrived...that is to say..everything is great about this guitar except for the headstock logo...then i got myself a black magic marker and after a little bit of creative painting on the headstock..this guitar is now perfect!!! for anyone still hesitating get yourself a black magic marker and no one will ever know if you are playing a gibson a maybach or a weird japanese gibson clone!!

apart from the stigma...this is a great guitar very fun to play with and sound good...pick up is not too punchy but rather laid back relaxed perfect for 50 's and 60's sound...

I like it!

I bought thus after seeing Guitar Geek's youtube review. I'm impressed. Looks the part (for me), plays well, sounds good, light but with good sustain and the strap peg on the top horn where it should be. I prefer the P90 coil tap option. I only gave it 3* for "features" because - well - a Junior doesn't have many but that's the point! The finish is poly but feels cellulose and is clear enough to see the wood grain. The nut it a little high for me but that's personal preference,. When you buy a car, you adjust the seat! I did change the knobs for saucy red ones because I'm a rebel :o). Plug in, everything on 10 and BOOF! If you want 99 switching options look for something with more knobs than a Peruvian brothel.

Happy Disbelief

Comparing mahogany p90 doublecuts I was drawn to 2 things about the HB DC JR Faded - the fatter "59" neck and the stacked P90. The neck is spot on - not 50's fat or 60's thin. The P90 has incredible flexibility and sounds fantastic. Build quality is excellent. This guitar has completely reset my expectations for the cost to quality ratio in the electric guitar universe - it's like winning the lottery!

Old school vibe on a budget

Cool looking and fun to play!

Best copy so far

Lovely looking, sounds great - great vibe all round - rock and roll.

Great budget DC

This is a great DC JR for the money, and a good guitar overall. I’ve read complaints that the neck isn’t really fat- it’s almost identical to my 06’ Gibson SG special with the “rounded” profile and also very similar to my 2018 MIM fender telecaster. Its not like a Gibson slim taper. I think this really is very close to a 1959 Gibson profile. I get hand pain from slim necks and do not with this neck. I was able to lower the bridge almost all the way down, I could set it too low with too much fret buzz, the bridge definitely goes low enough. I changed to 9-42 strings, intonation can be dialed in using the saddles , without having to push the bridge away from the posts. Standing with a strap, the guitar is well balanced with no neck dive. I found the pickup a little quieter than the 490T in my SG, and installed a spacer and added foam under the pickup to raise its height which increased volume and fatness, but it’s still a little less powerful compared to my SG. I planned to swap it for a genuine p90, and I might some day, but the original sounds good. The push/pull coil split is quite noticeable using my OR15 even with a lot of gain, but I can only hear a difference with my Marshall valvestate using a clean setting. The tuning machines work fine, but I may replace them at some point. I like the volute, it’s a smart design and doesn’t get in my way playing. The finish is very flat and smooth, doesn’t seem to be open pore. The fret ends are smooth and frets level. The nut was cut well. The tone and volume pots give a good range of adjustment, though the tone pot has a very loose feel. I guess the only thing that separates this guitar from a more costly guitar is the wood-it feels light and low density. The lightness has it’s benefit, but it also feels a little cheap. However, it sounds and plays great, fully functional, very resonant, has great sustain, the neck feels solid, it stays in tune, it looks good, and is put together very well. It’s not just good for the price, it’s a good guitar. I bought this because I’m a fan of the Gibson double cut Junior design, and I wanted a guitar to use in E std tuning, drop D, and even drop A (Melvins/Kylesa), and it’s been great. It’s a great punk guitar as well as blues, rock, and even heavier sludgy sounds. I don’t think this would be the best choice for low standard tunings because the bridge would have to move back significantly to get good intonation with larger than 10-46 strings. After owning it a few months, I think it’s a keeper. Shipping to the US was incredibly fast, ordered Tuesday and arrived Friday. 100% satisfied and impressed.

Nice new addition

This makes my second HB guitar and I am quite pleased. Well made and well put together. Coming from Germany to the USA affected the intonation slightly (wood does flex, obviously), but a minor tweak and this is now good as gold. Love the faded cherry color and the sound is great for single P90. Love the push/pull for single coil to humbucker. Great group of sounds. I highly recommend HB for anyone looking for an inexpensive but QUALITY guitar. Obviously swapped out the strings to my standard D'Addario .10-.46 (EXL-110W with the wound third string) and it is a great piece of gear.

Well worth the cash

The guitar appealed to me because of its simplicity, and a memory of seeing someone playing the Gibson version many years ago. I'm not disappointed. I can't put the guitar down, love the neck ( a bit of heft but not baseball bat), the feel and the sound. The setup suits me, the neck is straight so I'm not going to fiddle with it. The tone control is responsive, and there is a worthwhile contrast between the two pickup modes from the tone push-pull.. I've docked one point because I had to unscrew the jack socket to solve a connection problem with my leads, all now resolved. The main problem I'm having is stopping myself from ordering all of the other variants; sone deferred gratification is required. Just amazing for the price.

Great neck. Good guitar to just pick up and play

Small gripe first - The tone knob on mine is a bit loose and I'm not a massive fan of the push/pull. I spoke to Andy about this directly and he explained that a push/push would have been easier to use but they had a higher fault rate. It's a £5 mod so I'll be doing that myself.

That aside, the neck feels great - and while chunky is still smaller than my old Schecter C1. The pickup sounds good, and the body is good.

It's the guitar I grab when I can't be bothered to have to worry about switches or batteries. I love it.

bang for buck yes indeed

Nice guitar, does require set up and tinkering but for the money would you not expect this? Solidly built, the important stuff done right. I did replace the bridge with a lightning-bolt style and the studs were in the perfect spot such that i didn't have to use the 2 screws to align anything so i took 'em out as not needed - intonation was perfect. Did have to deepen the nut slots. 2 minute solder job so the coil is split when tone in "up" position rather than down. The pickup sounds great in both single coil or humbucking mode. The fat neck is not Telecaster chunky baseball bat but comfortable - not really fat but slightly more than regular import C shape. Weight of the guitar is good. Really nice that it is solid mahogany with no veneers. Finish is done well. One could shoot a lacquer color over this without too much trouble if one wanted a custom color. I like low action and with the bridge replacement I was able to get it to play fantastic. Stock bridge didn't allow for real low action. Overall very pleased with the guitar. Shipping to USA west coast was amazingly fast too.

Amazing guitar - Buy with confidence

It took a little while to get this one in my hands, but it well worth waiting for. Apparently, there has been an upgrade in build quality, based on some of the negative reviews here.

I've done nothing besides tune it up, check the intonation (which was spot on!), and play it. It plays great and sounds great.

Remember that guitar you bought in the past that made you keep playing it way past when you should have stopped, just because it was so good? For me, this is one of those guitars.

How they can make a guitar this good at this price point is truly remarkable.

Yes, I'll probably change the tuners to the keystone type because I like how they look, and likely put some speed knobs on to make the pull switch on the tone control a little easier to engage.

Like I said, buy with confidence. It's really good just the way it comes.

Beautiful.

Solid.

Very well made.

Great fit and finish

Excellent fretwork

A few wood scratches, nothing noteworthy

Immediately changed the pickup to a SD Antiquity, CTS pots and raised it with Lollar shims.

Tomorrow will put Hipshot locking tuners on it.

It's a phenomental guitar.

Great new version!

Love the new FAT versions, please make more versions in different colors and for lefties!

You can’t beat the quality for the price point, and if you are modder person this is a great platform to start from!

The best one yet!

This is my third Harley Benton, and also the one I like the best! I have had a few Les Paul's in the past but I've never had a DC JR. I really like this guitar. mahogany body and set mahogany neck, with an ebony fingerboard that has an almost dark mocha swirl going through it, that is subtly "eye catching" and very smooth feeling. The stacked P90/HB covers quite a few option's with the use of the tone dial, too. And sounds really good! The tuners are good and work well. The bridge, now here is the weak point of an otherwise excellent guitar!

The bridge is well made, but I feel to high for the DC Jr. I adjusted it fully flat to the body and found I still wanted to drop it some more. I like my action low. It's also fairly sharp. I swapped it out for a Musiclily replacement bridge bought from Amazon for £12, after seeing a YouTube vid on it. It's a cheaper option bridge, but it's shorter and fit's straight on to the existing posts. Leaving you more room for adjustments either way. It's smoother on your strumming hand too! Change that bridge Harley Benton and this guitar is 10/10.