Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit Single Cut 5-stars Reviews

Single Cut Electric Guitar Kit

I recently built one of these kits to add to a growing collection of self-builds and kit guitars. This was my first Harley Benton guitar kit and was influenced by reviews from this site.

The kit arrived very well packaged and protected from knocks. Upon opening I was pleased to see an instruction manual and all parts present.

Building was a simple process with all parts fitting beautifully. I was particularly impressed with the fit and finish of the neck. The only adjustment needed was to the nut height: easily achieved with careful sanding. Fret ends were neat and smooth and the action was perfect.

The electrics are perhaps the most complicated part of the build. Although the entire process is plug-&-play, the cables would benefit from colour coded connectors or tape to aid connecting for the less electrically astute.

The body finish on my kit was excellent with no filling needed, just a light sanding to give a surface ready for paint. I opted for the "Gold Top" style of finish using Rustoleum paints and am delighted with the results. The back of the body appears to be mahogany. I finished this with three coats of teak oil, applied with a clean lint-free cloth.

Overall I couldn't be happier with this kit. The parts are not the highest quality but are more than reasonable for the price and would be easy to upgrade at a later date. The instrument plays beautifully with a very low action and a very comfortable U shaped neck profile. The pickups sounds incredible for the price and respond well to volume changes, going from clean to nicely crunchy.

I highly recommend this kit either for beginners or more experienced players who want to build their first instrument.

Great playing easy-to-build kit

This was my first experience in assembling a guitar, having previously only done basic maintenance and setup. Everything fit together well, and seemed of good quality. The end result was a good looking well playing guitar. The finish of the wood is pretty good, but it's not a very pretty grain and does probably not lend itself to staining. With solid paint though, it is all good.

The one big problem with this kit is the tuning machines. They have a lot of backlash in the gears and are mechanically rather sloppy, so they are both difficult to tune and do not stay in tune very well. Replaced them with a set of Kluson tuners, which made all the difference.

If you're thinking about ordering it, do it!

This is a kit you will not be disappointed with. The fit and finish is outstanding. I had originally planned on a black lacquer finish, but when I saw the quality of the wood I went for a natural clear gloss. The edging on both the body and neck looks great. The neck fit perfectly in the pocket and required only minor adjustment of the truss rod. The frets were level and only needed to be polished.

Pros:

Great looking wood.

Top appears to be maple while the back is mahogany.

Neck/fretboard very well made.

finished weight ~9 Lbs.

Instructions in English/German

Fast shipping

Cons:

Strings supplied less than desirable (my opinion)

Really awesome kit

Super simple and fun kit to put together or use as a base for a custom guitar.

Keep the price in mind and don't set unrealistic expectations - the parts are basic, but don't feel awful. I see some reviews with identified issues like incorrectly spaced pre-drilled holes, but I didn't have anything like that. One of my knobs came cracked though.

The neck seems quite nice and I was able to get decent string action after setting it up and using gibson specs - so it is possible to use the kit as a learning tool while reading forums and watching youtube videos for actual Les Pauls. The only challenge was to find 2 decent sticks that could be used to guide the neck into place, since it fits quite snug and you will need to put in 4 screws into the wood. I can see how this can go very bad if you don't align everything correctly. Maybe the kit should come with a guide to assist this fitting.

My first guitar kit, my first guitar - couldn't be happier.

First kit i owned

i highly recommend this kit to those who want to experience to assemble their own guitar, very easy to do wiring and also the sounds is great

Super kit

Very satisfying to be able to build your own Les Paul - style guitar ! Very clear building descriptions and straight forward electrics. Used automotive rattlecans to get a nice black whith golden stripe finish. Sound is very decent for a DIY kit. Only - very small - issue to consider, should you want to change the pickups for instance, you have to find a way in dealing with the connectors.

One for own use, One for Wedding decoration

Easy to build, very good for it's price. don't expect miracles for this price, but you can build a guitar you can even rehearse with.

Don't want to play? We used one of these kits as a wedding "guest book" and people loved it. Now it's hanging on our wall.

No Gibbo, but for 80 Euros!!! WOWWWW!!!

3rd attempt at DIY guitar building.

And THIRD TIME LUCKY!.....This was my masterpiece.

I turned this piece of wood and bits of metal and wire into a beautiful, LP GoldTop copy, and it is a BEAUTY.

Just ask my friends! :-)

Nice kit but needs some work

Sound of the elements is pretty ok. The pot meters crack a little so I might want to replace them. Did have some work on leveling the frets. But for the price a very nice kit to start with and it is just fun building your own guitar.

Pros: nice starting kit for the money. Fun to do

Cons: might need some extra work to make it perfect

Very Impressed indeed...

I won't go into a big novel on this guitar, But the guitar was as I expected and more... Just wish they would give you the option of sealer or non sealer if your going for the stain finish .. apart from that. Happy Days..

Far better than I expected

I purchased this kit, as I wanted an LP style guitar for the tone produced for recording some backing tracks, but had a limited budget. The result really surprised me. The veneer on the body is thin, so use minimum pressure when sanding. The finish is amazing. I am into natural finishes and so after a light sanding, just used thin clear varnish applied with a cloth. The result is quite stunning. A natural butterscotch with a light catching grain. It literally reflects light on stage in places.

The electrics are wrong. If left unchanged, the tone pots do not work. Five minutes with a soldering iron chnging one wire on each tone pot to the correct lug cured the problem. The cure is detailed on several reviews, so I won't bore you with repeating it hear. Once done, the volume and tone controls work very well indeed.

The back of the neck, I left as it came. The fine smooth varnish finish is perfect to play.

The only other problem was the nut. It came with the high E slot cut too near the edge. A replacement for under 2 euros cured the problem and allowed me to file it to the ideal depth.

The Frets were surpisingly good. After fitting the new nut, I set the neck to Gibson Les Paul specs and it plays perfectly. No buzz, surpringly low action. Can't ask for more.

The pickups are very acceptable, producing the rich creamy sound I was specifically after on the neck pickup, with the tone pot turned fairly down and very capable of the typical LP scream on teh bridge pick up if required. Sustain is amazing. In my opinion, a far superior performer to the Vintage/Revelation LP copies that cost 3 times the price.

The bridge is an obvious copy. Typical of a Chinese ebay replacement. I was lucky with mine, it works and I have left it on.

If I add the price of the nut and a set of D'addario 10's strings to replace the ones that came with it. I got the bargain of the century for under 100 Euros. I have played live, recorded 7 songs with this guitar and a professional performer (an ex-guitarist from Mott The Hoople) asked me if it was for sale. It isn't!

The wiring, bridge and the nut brought the quality rating down to Okay for the price. The rest is good.

So in short, if you want a good LP copy and are willing to spend 5 minutes resoldering, maybe a new nut and reasonable time setting up the neck carefully. go for it, you will not be disappointed. I reckon I would have to pay at least £500 to buy a ready made of equal playability. In fact, it has turned out to be a far superior performer to the Gibson Studio.

I have been as honest and detailed as I can. I hope this helps you.

This guitar is truly great!

I was so exited for this guitar to arrive and it did not disappoint. Harley Benton has come a long way from it's mediocre tendency a few years back. The sound is great. The pickups are much better than I expected (and they are great for pinch harmonics). I use this guitar now for gigs and busking. The only issue I had with it is that the neck was slightly twisted but it was an easy fix. It has a great range for lead and rhythm players. When I got it I was playing a lot of thrash metal with a metal muff pedal but without the pedal it is also great for rock. It has a beautiful natural finish. Originally since I had only seen photos on the website I was going to paint it but when I finally got my hands on it it was just too nice. The neck has an especially pretty pale finish on the back and is also the perfect thickness. Overall this is a very versatile guitar with a lot of range. I look forward to using this guitar for years to come.

More than expected

Very good built quality to the last detail. Every part included on the kit is showing how well considered everything is. Easy to assemble and the result was perfect even i am not an instrument engineer. The strings were tuned correctly without any squeaks at any fret. Added just a little natural polish to put some dark color to the wood and my new single cut guitar is ready. Very satisfied.

For the price 5 stars

For this price it's a wonderful guitar, very easy to assemble apart from the electronics, where you have to trial error because there is no labeling of what is what, but since there is no soldering it is very easy and quick other then that everything is clear in the manual. ~2 hours to assemble.

Components are not the best quality and strings are very bad, but for this price it's really a nice project.

HB LP kit

This product is great. I have built a number of FD style in the past so decided to try my skills with the LP style. It was easy to assemble, and with minimal wood-working skills you can have your own custom guitar.

As mentioned by others the wiring is not correct, you need to re solder the hot wire from the pickups to the right pot post or you have no volume control. Its an easy fix so no complaints.

The only other complaint/comment I have is that I wish the body did not come ready sealed, I opted for a stain the stain application.application which meant having to sand the body prior to

Every component of this kit is as good, or better than anything you can find in a music store at twice the price, from the neck, fretboard, pickups, electronics, and quality of wood

It sounds great and feels even better! You can't beat it for less than ¤100, I'm thinking about ordering another so I can have two with different color schemes.

Love building these kits!

Having built the Tstyle kit recently I caught the bug and fancied a go at the LP as they are such a lovely looking instrument. This one was also promptly delivered and well packed. The body was far better finished than the Tstyle and came up beautifully with Pelham blue on the front and butterscotch tinted lacquer on the sides and back. The neck joint needed a bit of work to get a snug fit. It was just a touch too tight but a simple task just to ease the fit with a chisel. As others have reported the volume pots are wired incorrectly. It's a simple job to remove the red wires from the pick ups from the centre connection on the pots and resolder to the left hand connection. The nut was also a bit high for my liking but was easily removed and the base carefully filed to improve the action. It's worth taking the time to trial fit the pickups, they are different as you'll find out if you fit one in the wrong place! The instructions are ok but don't go into great detail, you will need to be able to work done things out for yourself. Now, don't let any of the above put you off, there's nothing that will cause a serious oroblem, it's really quite simple to put the kit together if you're aware if the above and can do a simple bit of soldering. The end result is a nice looking guitar that plays very well considering the price and has a nice sweet mellow sound or can certainly rock if that's your style. I'm well pleased with it and hope you get as much pleasure from yours as I have from mine!

I ordered some day guitars

Found the process very easy and was very happy with the finished product, would have preferred the bodies had not been primed with filler as I had to sand it all off and stain my preferred colour

Fantastic value for money

Building this guitar was very straightforward. The instructions came in both English and German (which is ideal as my native tongue is English but I live in Austria) and were easy to follow.

All the holes were in the right places, all the components were there, and the wood was more interesting than I had expected for a guitar of this price. A minor complaint is that there were a couple of areas where I guess glue residue was left on the body which required lots of sanding before the wood would take a stain.

A second minor problem is that the bridge is very slightly out of position, so the intonation is not perfect even with all of the saddles at their longest extent. While setting the guitar up I compared the setup with my 1997 Les Paul Studio, only to discover that the intonation on the Harley Benton is better than on my Les Paul, which had been serviced recently by a professional!

I've just spent an hour swapping between this guitar and my Les Paul, playing through an amp with moderate gain and reverb but no effects. Can I tell the difference? Yes, but in terms of sound the Harley Benton is different - not necessarily worse. I'm pleasantly surprised at how nice the pickups sound. In terms of playability the real Les Paul wins, but I'm sure that as I play the new guitar, replace the cheap strings that come with it and work on the action - it will improve a lot.

Overall, a fun project to work on with a few minor hiccups along the way and a great end result. Bottom line is that you get a Les Paul style guitar for under €100, and lots os satisfaction - what's not to like?!

Great Kit...

If you fancy a bit of fun then this is for you..!!! Easy to build great little set up paint stain or set light to it..!!! Looks great and the weight is perfect...

Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit Single Cut

Very nice and affordable guitar kit, parts are well finished, mechanics are OK, and the final instrument is quite pleasant to the eyes. I cannot tell about its sound with the original pickups as these have been replaced by a couple of active EMG ones. The original strings have not been used but replaced by some D'Addario ones (EXL110). That combination of pickups/strings/body provided a good and powerful sound to my ears, but sound is very subjective to describe, it was ok for me.

For me, the main interest for such kit is the fact that this is the perfect occasion to learn about this instrument, how it works and get more experienced about fine tuning such as neck straightness, lowering action, adjusting intonation and pickup height. This is also a good learning process for some DIY works such as fret filing/polishing.

The action could be lowered at 1.5mm / 2.0mm at the 12th fret for the 1st and 6th strings respectively with no buzz, but this required slight filing of 2 frets.

Recommended stuff for those who wants to learn and willing to perform some DIY tasks, the final result is surprisingly good overall.