Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit DC Style Reviews

Amazing kit for the price

This was used for a project with my daughter and the result was amazing (red, with a coat of sparkling glitter and with a couple of decorations). The quality of the body finish was better than expected and the other items were well above the quality I expected. Instructions could be better, especially identifying the screws and some pieces that were not mentioned anywhere. Overall extremely satisfied though, it made me want to buy more to explore more of my creativity!

Nice project, nice guitar

Shipping was fast for the fact it came from a quarter way round the world. The instructions were helpful but it's helps to have some knowlege of how to use tools. For the most part all the holes lined up well. The well beneath the neck pickup's height adjustment screws had to be made a little deeper (done with a drill bit), also the holes for strap knobs were not deep enough causing one screw to break. Other than those minor flaws the guitar went together well. What I was really impressed with is the action and sound quality. The set up was easy and the sound for the price and quality of hardware is exceptional. The sound is clean and clear, no humming or buzzing and the tone is nice. Other than my collectable guitars this a joy to play.

SG

Nice product and the pickup is good very easy to assemble, Highly recommended

Great kit for people looking to start building guitars

The kit arrived in a box containing three more boxes. The outer box had some dents in it, but because of the inner boxes, all the parts arrived safely and intact.

The wood of the body was already pre-sealed so it only required some light sanding in order to start painting. This was a breeze, I decided to do a satin white paint job on the body and front of the headstock.

The neck was a tab thick for my liking, therefore I took it to the belt sander to take approximately 2 mm of the back. This allowed me to make into more of a flat-backed neck in resemblance of an Ibanez neck.

The frets required a small amount of filing to get the sharpness off. This was not that difficult and to be expected on a kit under 100.

The end result is a well-playing guitar that definitely doesn't sound the best (again expected for under 100), but plays pretty good.

For me, this was more of an entry into building guitars in general and it therefore didn't matter what the sound was like. I heavily recommend it for this purpose, but not as a great guitar as is. Changing the pickups and electronics might make it a long way to a half-decent guitar though.

Awesome kit

This is the 2nd kit. Every bit as good as the first. I would highly recommend this if you are looking for a kit to build. Top quality all around.

A lightweight guitar kit champion

An excellent guitar kit. It was easy to assemble, the instructions were very clear.

Finished the body in 7 layers of wood spray paint following youtube tutorials.

The pickups are quite good and there is no issues with the wiring.

I have to applaud the guitar for it's weight - when strapped it feels lighter than any other guitar that I own!

Worth it

Few spots here and there that can be easily fixed other than these small things its perfect.

Perfect Project Guitar

I call this my "Ikea Guitar". It was a really satisfying project and despite it sounding like a toy guitar, it may be giggable after a professional set-up.

Great Kit

I have built several kits from others and this kit ranks up there in quality. The neck is straight and frets only need polished. They all are level and no sharp end frets. This would be great guitar build with kids just getting started, as painting will only require slight sanding to be ready for paint.

Great kit

I just sanded the body a bit with 220 and threw on a couple of coats of tung oil finish and it came out fine. The neck is ready to go if you like matte finish. I might change out is the pickups and pots - not bad but not great and as it turns out this guitar deserves great electronics. Yeah it's kinda rustic looking but it's light the action is dialed in pretty well. It's perfect for couch noodling.

Great but needs some work

I got quite a good guitar from this kit but I had to invest some time to get it that way. The nut was incorrectly cut & I had to replace it.Initially I was going to return it but the neck itself felt really nice.

The pickups are more than I expected.

So much value in this kit

This is my 2nd guitar kit with Harley Benton and I remain very impressed with the quality you get for the money (the other was a Tele).

The neck finish is beautiful and the instrument is very playable as a result.

The wood on the body is well carved, and there were essentially no flaws on any of the pieces, no residual traces of glue with maybe a couple of minor exceptions. I have not had the chance to spend a lot of time testing the pickups, but can tell the pickup change, tone and volume controls are doing what they should.

Overall, and while it's still early days, I am struggling to see how this could be less than five stars. This can be a great platform to make evolve (and tuners + pickups would likely be the first candidates for a switch) or just a nice affordable instrument by itself that has all the benefits of being made by you, and thus something special.

Great value for money but worth replacing the electronics

This is not the first kit I have made, but it is the first from Harley Benton.

First Impressions:

The instructions are better than others I have seen. I admit I didn't follow them, just read them when the guitar arrived and then filed them somewhere so safe they will never be seen again...

Construction:

The wood is nicely cut and sanded with a snug fit for the neck joint. I assembled the guitar straight out the box to test the components, played it for a bit (more on that below) and then took apart again to paint and correct any faults I had located. I would put this as ideal for someone looking to learn more about how guitars are put together and a great launch pad into the world of setting up.

Hardware:

The metal components are reasonable. I chose not to replace them as the guitar can hold it's tuning with no issues.

Playability:

The neck is massive! Maybe it is because I am used to shred machines but this thing took some getting used to! None of the frets buzz - a first for any kit I've made! Really good job.

Sound:

Oh dear... This is where the change was required. I binned all the electronics; it sounded weaker than the weakest cup of English tea in a swimming pool of water... Definitely worth buying new pickups if you want a good tone

Conclusion:

I really enjoyed this kit and I hope to buy another HB one soon. Best value kit I have made requiring the least overall work and clearly eye catching as my band mate instantly offered to buy it from me!

Shockingly solid and VERY easy to put together!

Granted - I have some experience with wiring and components, but this was so incredibly easy to assemble. It took maybe 2 hours to put together and have it sounding great. The pickups aren't as hot/high-output as I'm used to, but other that that it sounds great.

My only real complaint is that the neck is thicker than I generally like, but otherwise it plays great and sounds solid.

For the price... this is a no brainer.

Good fun to bild

Good initiation kit. You can bild a playable instrument thought fret work is a little bit rough and pickup are underpowered.

Nice kit with suprsingly good results

I purchased this kit for a bit of a project, with no real intent to keep it after I completed it. I have too many guitars already! So I chose an SG style kit as I'd never played an SG as I'm not keen on the looks of them. That may seem an odd reason to choose a kit, but again this was because I did not want to feel attached to the guitar and so feel no remorse when selling it after completion.

I've had a fair amount of experience with setting up, wiring and fret dressing. So my experience in the build maybe different from someone who has no previous guitar maintenance skills.

The kit went together fairly easily overall.

The electrics were a bit of a fiddle as the diagrams were not particularly clear as to which volume/tone pots were connected to which pickups. So a 50/50 chance to get it correct first guess. (yes, I got it wrong on first attempt, so had to take it apart and redo)

The neck fitted the body well and didn't require any shims to get the correct angle. There were two slightly high frets which I spot leveled and re crowned. The overall wasn't too bad so didn't require a complete fret leveling job. To be fair the two high frets were not terribly bad and the guitar would have probably have been adequately playable as it was, but as I have the tools and the skills for it I did them anyway. The overall fret finish wasn't very good though, they were scratched and rough in places. So they did all require a good fret polishing job. Also of note the light satin finish that the neck comes pre finished with make the neck very smooth and playable.

The body was made of three parts but not too badly matched so a tru oil finish was acceptable after some thorough sanding and finishing.

The tuners seem adequate, they hold their tune and function smoothly enough. I see no reason why they should need replacing.

The finished product.

I was very surprised with how playable the finished guitar was after a full set up. The neck is smooth and fast and I have managed to get a very low action at both the nut and 12th fret. The intonation is also acceptable after I finished setting it up.

Sound wise, I think considering the cheap pickups that you get in guitar kits they sound not too bad at all. I have no complaints about them. Obviously side by side with an expensive set of pickups you will notice a difference though.

Overall for the money with the correct tools and some guitar setup skills you can achieve a very playable instrument. I'm still going to sell the guitar on though as I have too many other guitars and only made this kit for the enjoyment of working on it.

Un bon petit kit pour s'initier au montage et au réglage d'une guitare

Il s'agit d'une guitare en kit, à assembler soi-même donc :-) Tous les trous sont préforés et le pack contient tout pour obtenir un instrument complet et jouable. Il vous faudra quand-même quelques outils : pince, clef, tourne-vis... et des bombes de peinture/laque/vernis... en fonction de l'aspect que vous désirez lui donner. L'ensemble est relativement simple à monter mais il vous faudra vous renseigner sur les réglages (intonation, hauteur des cordes, courbure du manche) et vous armer d'un peu de patience pour obtenir un résultat satisfaisant si c'est votre première fois. Une fois terminé, on se retrouve avec une guitare qui sonne étonnamment bien pour le prix (je pensais changer les micros mais finalement j'aime beaucoup le grave et vais seulement changer le micro chevalet) et avec le plaisir de l'avoir montée soi-même et la possibilité de la customiser en restant dans des prix raisonnables (j'ai changé les potards et vais changer les mécaniques qui ne tiennent pas super l'accord). Enfin, n'hésitez pas à acheter un autre jeu de cordes. Celui fourni fait l'affaire pour tester l'instrument mais je n'en suis pas fan.

EXCELLENT SG GUITAR KIT AAA++

EXCELLENT SG GUITAR KIT GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY AND VERY EASY TO ASSEMBLE.

Superb Quality

I was very surprised at the quality of the kit. Very easy to build, mainly due to the solderless connections. Sounds and looks great. Excellent as a base for a project/custom design.

Just waiting for the lip to come back into stock and I will be buying one of those too.

D i y Kit

Just arrived to day Only unboxed at the Moment But looking at the quality and finish of the Body & Neck Totally amazed

at how perfect Drilled & sanded ,neck is straight frets are all level so really looking forward to getting it made up and I think it should sound great when its done.