Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit JA

wonderful budget P90 guitar

My first kit. Pleasantly surprised by the body wood. Very well-matched three pieces. There were a few slight scuff marks around the cut outs so I decided that meant it was reliced. I bought a 9 euro, 125 ml bottle of clear matte, water-based varnish (through Amazon.fr. made by le Mauler. Le Suprême). 3 coats (without sanding off their sealer) . Looks exactly like it did before varnishing. Not plasticky like polyurethane can look. Easy to sand off if I want to do something else later. Being a fundamentally lazy bastard I secretly dreaded cutting out the headstock, but I got inspired by patterns in the wood grain and cut two 'horn' shapes out of the top and also profiled the side with a coping saw. After the fact it now looks like a gaping fish mouth. Maybe needs lipstick, you think. No. It's fine, really. It's got personality. Pros: - super light. 2,9 kgs /6,4 pds. in comparison my TE-20: 3,7 kgs; HB 35+: 4,1 kgs - natural wood look and feel - pick ups warm yet bright (effectively somewhere between my TE-20 and the HB 35+ -straightforward assembly. - neck and frets are impeccable. Also I didn't touch the satin finish they have on the neck. It's super smooth. - body really well contoured (appreciated when playing in sofa position). - High up the neck easily accessible - no neck dive - warm resonant sound unplugged (Being a geezer I'm up before dawn and like to play then -No tuning issues - intonation good out of the box. Cons: - B and E string slightly sitaring. (Hear mostly unplugged). Great for playing Norwegian Wood. Looks like I'll have to use my budget fret files for the first time. Or maybe it's the bridge? Same budget TOM as on my HB 35+ -the tuners feel like they got arthritis and it's a cold morning. They work but you have to apply yourself. I'll put in the same vintage style Klusons that I put on the TE-20. Future mods: -Put in a parellel/series /out of -phase switch (liked it on my TE-20) -swap different kinds of alnico magnets for the original ceramics . They cost less than 8 euros a set -move the pick up switch to the top left. It's really in the middle of the landing strip now.

great kit

fun to build and fun to play.

Very well made kit

I've been building guitars for over 20 years. This excellent quality of this kit really surprised me. Would be perfect for a first new guitar for new players, as it teaches the basics of how guitars are made. It would give a better understanding of the instrument and a good idea of how to improve or change the quality of your sound as your playing improves. For the budding luthiers, it's a great cost effective test bed for new techniques. Fantastic

Nice complect

Sadly cant put a photos, but only issue i’ve got that pickguard holes wasn’t drilled in right place

Great kit

Well built easy to construct. Requires some skill to shape the headstock and laquer with nitro but fantastic result. Looks and sounds better than my more expensive guitars.

Love it

Turned out better than expected. Delighted, action good, even close to intonated. Sounds great too.

Great kit for the price,over my expectations

This kit is great for the price,happy with the sound,look,parts...

If you have guitar repair skills,or if you are luthier or guitar repairman like myself you can make a great instrument out of this.

I made myself relic version in metallic blue,looks stunning.

All the holes lined up, frets are great from the factory,well leveled and crowned.No sharp or sticking out fret ends.

Only thing that I did was fine sanding and polishing them to the mirror finish.

PAINTING!-Body is not ready for basecoat and clearcoat.You will need 2-3 rounds of primer/filler and sanding before basecoat(paint) and clearcoat if you want a factory finish.I was going for grain texture so i just applied one coat of primer and sanded it lightly to seal the wood a little bit,and for better relic look wher primer would show along with that blue color...

After assembling I did a good setup and it is a really great guitar,no fret buzzing, no humming...Sound is great for the price,feels like at least 1000€ guitar...

My string height is 1.7 mm for low E string and 1.4 mm for high E string measured on 12th fret when 1st fret is pressed.

Pickup height and pole pieces height is also important. I was aiming for around 2.6mm on low E and 2.2 mm on high E when string pressed on last fret.Measured from top of pole piece to the bottom of the string.

Saddles were on the right place from the box,guitar is intonating perfectly from the factory.Truss rod was also needing jus a little bit of adjustment.Was almost perfect out of the box.

I used 9-42 Strings.

Overall if you have some skill I would highly recommend this kit.Im gonna order some more kits from harley benton for shure.

Good introduction to building your own guitar

Bought as a birthday present for my son who works in a music shop and is in to guitars. Quality for the most part very good for the price. A couple of tweaks with a little help from friends needed in order to complete the build as he wanted. He initially put the guitar together while we were on holiday. A successful present.

Beautiful Jazzmster kit

The building kit arrived with all the components, hardware and screws you need to complete the guitar. The body is smaller than the F jazzmaster so replacement parts, like pickguard do not fit without modifications. Rengas wood is rather soft, easy to work with, but it dents easily. The pre-drilled holes have been done in the right positions.

The neck is stellar in every way! It would justify the 95 euros for itself.

The hardware is ok, but I chose to do some extra routing to install a tremolo bridge. Finally the electronics are basic eg. small - dime size pots, but they work fine.

Overall, it is a well-made guitar kit to enjoy building.

Fantastic

You won't get better for the price