EdwardMarlowe

I gather that the Dusenberg Les Trem II, an aftermarket trem design that gives a vaguely Bigsbyesque look as a straight swap for an 81.5mm tailpiece, fits exactly onto a Harley Benton HB35. I have my wye on a different HB with a G style bridge and tailpiece... You see where this is going.... Anyone know if all HBs that have this arrangement use the same spec brideges and tailpieces? The guitar I have in mind is only about 130% the price of that trem, but that sort of mod feels much less uneconomical when it's so reversible... 

I think if I was going to get seriously into that sort of vibe, I'd be tempted by something like the ESP LTD TL6: 



Comes in a range of colours. The natural looks a lot more acousticy; the colours, especially solids, start to take it more in a Gretsch sort of direction. The left handed option comes in black alone; I'd be tempted to get one of those and have it pinstriped. Course, if the point is to have the visual of an acoustic for the incongruity with a brutal rock sound, that's not the way to go. 

Something with a piezo would likely be easier to manage from a feedback perspective, as you could get one of those foam soundhole inserts. Not sure anything similar exists for fitting round a soundhole pup... 

3 hours ago, ezbass said:

Chancers!

I know! I looked to see if there was a way to report it to ebay, but no dice. Pretty sure they used to have something that said "price gouging" in their report categories. I would get it if it was a rare / oop colour, or they'd stopped doing them left handed or something, but the model colour and all is on the Thomann website for about £100 or more less than the start price there.... Hate the thought of someone getting caught out by that, especially some young kid saving up for a guitar, or somebody's granny or whomever. 

Nice - that combination of the Western  US military star and a black Tele puts me in mind of Joe Strummer, Punk Rock Warlord. 

My HB MR Classic arrived recently, this is is being unboxed: 

Is it just me, or are some people on eBay going a bit mad with these? I've just seen one of the F-Offset-types HB on eBay with a start price not far off double what Thomann has them in stock for!

17 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

Intonation is, I would suggest, a bit over-blown, really. How many acoustic guitars have adjustable saddles..? Many arch-tops have movable bridges that are slanted as best as is needed for this compensation. Nothing wrong with individual string adjustment, of course, but I doubt the real effectiveness when playing 'normally', for most ears. If it's just for show, why not, but a pencil as a bridge held in place with an elastic band works, too.
As for vibratos, of any sort... An invention of Beelzebub. I'll have no truck with 'em. 

Interesting thought - I don't doubt it. I wonder how much it's a product of things like engineers getting involved in designing guitars, and the fact that over time we've simply been able to better measure these things. Technically, at least.... I've always been wryly amused by people who'll pay big money for superior hifi equipment that yes, on paper is better, and yes, that can be objectively measured..... but when it gets to the point that the human ear can't distinguish it.... TBH, I also suspect a lot of this has to do with it being a very male-driven industry. There's a viw that all men are somewhere on the spectrum by default, and it's hard to refute that when you look at the difference between how men engage in hobbies and how women do it...

Vibrato is something I'll ort of use if it's there, though mostly I'm very much a 'give the bar a wobble at the end of a number' kind of player. Fingerbending vibrato seems to come more naturally to me. I don't much miss a vibrato if it's not there. TBH, the real reason I'd love a Bigsby is just the look of the thing - it's pure art. I don't need to actually use it. Their most practical purpose imo is curing the neck dive on an SG.  

Give it a go! If memory serves, that's not a million miles away from what Kim Deal did in the Breeders. 

FWIW, waaaaaayyy back in the early mid 90s, height of grunge days, I once plugged a Tanglewood bowlback (a TM-07NC, as memory serves) into a Fender Performer 1000 via a Sovtek-EH Big Muff. The result was.... brutal. It is a sound that will very much appeal to a particular mindset, but the hardest bit was getting the feedback under control. It really HOWLED. 

I rather like the guitar. The vocals, less so. 

Opinions will vary on how successfully it pulls it off, but it sounds to me like it's very much Hendrix influenced. It has the emphasis on rhythm and the fuzz/ wah combination which, imo at least, became his signature sound. 

The really big debate is whether you put the wah or the fuzz first in the chain - and whether it makes a huge difference. Good article on that here - https://screaminfx.com/tech/wah-before-or-after-fuzz-pedal.htm

FWIW, Jimi always seemed to prefer the guitar to go into the wah before the fuzz. 

If you want a more uniform sound, there's always autowah, though that's a more limited effect by its nature too. Not bad, just different. 

5 hours ago, Crusoe said:

I wonder how I would play a finger picked version of "South of Heaven"...

This guy might be able to help with that... 

5 hours ago, randythoades said:

That sounds like a great idea, we could do a GC build workshop!

 

My plan for semi retirement (still a few years away) is to do one of those longer 3 months courses, where you learn literally everything and end up building several instruments to get up closer to the skill level needed to build a custom guitar like this. My personal choice would be a lightweight, thinline esquire / LP jr / cabronita type arrangement with a single Gretsch pickup or p90.

 

But there is a place down in Sussex (www.guitartechcourses.com - Guitar Tech Courses) that offers a shorter weekend course to build F styled guitar using various parts. I did their Pro Setup course (a present from my wife), which has to be the best money ever spent on guitar pursuits, so I suspect the building course would be a similar level of quality. I am comfortable now mixing and matching but never attempted frets or carving anything!

A parts-assembly one would also be interesting.... As very much a Fender/Fender style man myself, I would love the idea of something in between - pre-done necks, bodies with pre-cut pup / neckpocket / bridge / et al routes, but a huge, square blank otherwise so they could be cut into a custom shape... that would be interesting. (Wonder why that's never been on the parts market before - unless I missed it?). 

The set-up course sounds great, too - that's something I can see me benefitting from in a big way. 

Good to see another southpaw in the house! (One of us! One of us!) 

I have my old Epi LP Std hanging on the wall, this makes me think what I should do with it. It's still at the point of not being worth enough to encourage me to part with it. I'm in two minds about keeping stock, or switching the pups for some nice HB-sized P90s, and adding one of those Bigsbyesque kinda sorta trems that don't need any permanent mods.... If I do go there, I'll most likely also have it rewired for Master Tone, Master volume, and individual pickup volumes. Much more sensible than the standard arrangement, imo.... (Looking at that Antoria also makes me wonder why Gibson never played the home advantage and gave their Epiphones the "proper" headstock.... )

A black guard would look nice on the Aria, though I'd check carefully first.... might be worth looking at the feasibility of having a custom one cut, as those Stratalikes often vary just enough from a Fender/Squier part  for most of the readily available options to be an awful amount of work to not quite fit. 

Be interested to see how this goes. I'm no fan of the six saddle Telebridge myself; much prefer a compensated three-saddle. Makes the intonation more of a compromise, sure, but they just have a mojo for me - which I haven't ruled out being largely cosmetic. Horses for courses, I guess; I would take the original three saddle every time over a six saddle in the same way as I love a Bigsby and loathe a Floyd Rose.... 

Bought it? For thirty quid, you stole  it.   A friend had one of these years ago - surprisingly nice for what was considered a very budget model. I loved the basic design - stripped back to MT & MV, and the switch in a sensible place! 

On 24/05/2023 at 07:17, randythoades said:

Wow...!

Just been reading this through. Looks like an amazing project and done with such skill. I would like to do something like this when work and family pressures begin to take less of my time. Just for myself really. I have built several 'custom' guitars but always been 'partscaster from a variety of bits' type projects, so nothing as major or personal as this. Most I have done on the woodwork side is using a complete body blank (strat) to add a hardtail tele bridge and pickup cavities, and that was scary enough!

Fantastic job.

I hear you. One day I'd love to go on one of those guitar-building courses where you put it together over a couple of long weekends, building from scratch with expert tuition and guidance....  We should one day have a GuitarChat get together at one of these....


This is a fantastic project, really impressive to see it coming together. I always wanted a guitar that is somewhere between a Firebird, an RD Artist and a Squier Supersonic. Fender 68 Strat style maple net with the CBG headstock, blue sparkle body. I did always say I wanted a bolt on, but seeing this I could imagine myself wanting to go for a through neck, that's something I've never had.... 

On 20/05/2023 at 08:50, ezbass said:

Only access to the 19th fret? That’s way high enough IMO. Plenty of notes lower down to make a statement, without annoying the local dog population.

Quite so. Never had much use for anything above the 15th fret myself. But then my guitar heroes are Steve and Mick Jones, Johnny Ramone, Link Wray.... not yer Satriani / Vai types(talented as they undeniably are!) 

Yes, good price for this. Looks very much like the older Epiphone LP Special, which also had a bolt on neck. I vaguely recall them being considered a good modding platform. A friend had one years ago (back around 2005ish), which I remember being impressive for the money. If memory serves, those Specials had one master tone and mater volume. 

I see Epiphone also now do a Studio that follows the spec of the Gibson LP Studio model - at about £500 new(!). Epiphones have significantly risen in price in recent years it seems to me - thought I still reckon Gibson should have bitten the bullet long ago and created a mid-tier Gibson line a la the Fender Player series.... 

My money would be on it being something of Japanese origin, predating the boom in Japan becoming a source of sought-after, high quality copies of Western guitars in the mid-late 70s / early eighties. My guess would also be late 60s, and quite probably a legit Ibanez. Market value is probably very low irrespective of its qualities as an instrument (at least until the next Jack White comes along and plays one...), but always nice to have something fun and different around. Could be interesting to try recording with. 

On 16/04/2023 at 00:21, Crusoe said:

I'm just a bedroom player, so I'll just have to wear shades. 

"My guitar's so bright, I gotta wear shades..." Well, it scans... 

Those do look fun. I'm very tempted by the Recording King Dirty 30s over at Thomann. There's something about a cheapo acoustic as long as it plays well.... won't appeal to the people who buy Lowdens and what have you, but somehow those cheapies feel a lot closer to what Robert Johnson and the likes were playing back in the day. Reminiscent of that philosophy Jack White espoused in his White Stripes days, about buying cheap guitars because they tended to be quirkier and have "character". 

Be interested to hear how you get on with it if you do pick one up. Of course you will also be obligated to play some of your teenage Slayer faves on it for the craic... 

40 minutes ago, Crusoe said:

That looks great. I'd forgotten that you are a lefty and it took me a second to work out why the photo didn't look quite right 

Hah! ON some guitars that are particularly rare to see left handed, they look odd to me too at first glance! 

I think this is the first Mosritealike I can recall seeing that was actually available left handed - apart from Eastwood, I think they did one? 

Definitely makes me consider buying more HBs, though - including the 51-style P-Bass. Wanted oneof those for years but neither Fender nor Squier versions were ever done as lefties... 

21 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I really don’t know how HB do it at the money, if it really is nasty sweat shops in the Far East, why is the fret work so good (the overall finish on my recently acquired HB bass is very good)? Thomann really know how to pack an instrument, mine came in a similar 2 box arrangement. Quality score there, congrats.

I think that's the thing, yes - I honestly cannot believe a hellish sweatshop would be able to produce this quality. I suspect it's a case of Thomann having a big enough market to do economies of scale, they're dealing direct with the factory rather than going through a brand, so fewer links on the chain needing to make a profit..... No physical shop, so none of the overheads of running a traditional retail operation. Likely also they're still in the early years of building a brand, and are in the strategy of making a smaller profit on each guitar, so people come back for more. And if they buy a case or two, and maybe an amp, a few leads and the other bits once drawn in to Thomann..... I wonder too if part of the idea is to get people into the notion of buying a new guitar online. I've always stuck to buying in person when I can, guitars being a thing that can vary, but at this price it was low risk.... 

So it's here! Made a trip into the office this morning. 

I took some unboxing photos, like the kids on Youtube: 

Big Box. Tag on the inner box carries the all-important LH designation. I had a nightmare the day after ordering that they'd send me a right hander by mistake... 

Inner Box, opened: 

Note they included a hex key for truss adjusments (one assumes) - a nice touch. 

And here we are.... a real beauty! 

I know I was put off for a long time by the burst being the only colour option for a left hander. In person, though, it really is lovely. I think  - if all finishes were available - I'd put this in order of preference ahead of the black, probably just about equal with the white (unless they did the white in proper Johnny Ramone spec....), and behind the red and blue. So that's a pleasant surprise. 

Quality of fit and finish is high - shockingly so for £156, and no shipping charge. The guitar has a nice heft to it. Not 70s LP heavy, but enough to feel solid, not something you have to baby. The finish is a little 'plasticky', which to my mind is very much in keeping with the style of the original Mosrites. Too high end a classic nitro finish, for example, wouldn't feel right somehow. Hardware is nice. The machineheads seem good, nice and firm but not sticky. Pots feel good, smooth but again not "loose" or rattly like they can be on some cheap guitars. Very positive, classy feeling switch. Tuned up easily (it was only a step or so out of tune to begin with, and all strings were in tune with each other relatively speaking, which seems positive. The bridge (which I know is a commonly replaced part on the hobbyist market) is the one bit of the hardware that feels/looks a little cheap, but I'm going to leave it on there for now and let the guitar bed in a bit in a bid to let it develop its own mojo and avoid rushing to replace bits because receive wisdom says they need replaced.

Once tuned up, I gave it the go-over with a few bars of purple haze and - of course - Blitzkrieg Bop and Suzy is a Headbanger. This guitar LIVES for those big, e-shape barchords. (Root sixths? Root fifths? I've lost my theory...). Acoustically, it sounds good, and I think will bed in nicely. There was a bit of rattle at first - but then I took the plastic off the neck pickup, and that disappeared. I'll have to get an amp into the office and plug it up in coming weeks, but so far signs are all good. 

This is the first Harley Benton I've actually handled. I've been wary of getting caught up in the hype - across a lot of hobbies and interests over the years I've seen affordable / budget stuff get hyped up only to disappoint. This is of course only one guitar, but if it is indeed typical of HBs output, then I'm ridiculously impressed. Subject to the caveat I've not yet plugged it in, like for like I'd say overall this is on a par with the very best Squiers I've ever played - and a good one of those is great. Discount the cheaper-feeling body finish (which, as I've noted, I see as part of this style of guitar's vibe anyhow, so not in any way a negative). The really big surprise - pleasantly so - is the quality of the neck. Beautifully finished, feels lovely in the hand, not a single sharp fret that I've detected. That was my real worry there. I once bought a £90 Stratalike on eBay (mainly to get a feel for a certain neck profile and style - I sold the bits on a year or two later for more than the guitar cost me, funny old market...) that had so many sharp frets, playing that neck was like playing a hacksaw blade... The closest of all the guitars I have or have owned to how nicely finished this one is is my old American Standard Fender Stratocaster, which I paid £539 for in 1994.... 

According to the online inflation calculator, the USD50 that Johnny Ramone spent on his first, used Mosrite in 1974 would now be about USD300, or £240 in today's money, and this really is quite the bargain. 

I could at this sort of price be very persuaded  to pick up a second one if HB expanded the colour range in their lefties, though actually what I'd rather they do is, using this as a base, create a Johnny Ramone model based on his customised Ventures II. 

I've for a long time also been looking at the HB DC Junior in dirty mustard. I see the lefty of the Fat version in red is gone now, replaced by a dirty mustard finish. I'm sort of torn between the two: I hear good things about the fat neck, but the pup in that one being a tapped HB is a real negative for me - the whole point of a Junior is the single p90. It's like putting HBs in a Strat... Maybe into the Summer when I've cleared out more space at home and played a bit more there I'll look at the standard version.... My next purchase really should be a new amp (I'm planning to sell my Vox AD120VT as I just don't use more than a tiny fraction of what it does). I'll probably start with the HB tube5.... I think that'll be all the amp I'll need for the foreseeable. 

TL/DR - really pleased with this guitar, especially at this price. It's got me excited about playing again, which is good as I've really neglected my guitar for quite a while now, with life getting in the way... 

On 29/05/2023 at 11:32, Dad3353 said:

All of the above is assuming the use of IEM, or having a decent-enough foldback monitor system on stage. Small groups/pub bands don't always have this luxury; not all PA systems will accept much more than voice. Just sayin'.

Yes, his is very true - and the reason why I don't think we'll see the end of the traditional amp in the immediate future - though I suspect for Big Names an awful lot more of them will gravitate to playing in front of a wall of empty cabs that are just there for show... Smaller bands (and bands made up of the usual guitarluddites, of course!) will still need an amp... though if the pedals are good enough, maybe that amp might be a much lighter and simpler ss or similar than the tube monster it might once have been (luddism allowing). 

Be interested to hear how you get on with that. I'm currently in Beijing for a week with work and by this point 99% of websites I normally use have been banned out here, so I'm doing a lot of online window shopping filling downtime.... Been thinking of a little, pocket-size amp that could be used with a guitar on the go, or as a speaker for my mp3 player (the latter being the more likely use out here, though as the project here flies me business class and thus I can have two hand luggage bags, I'm now having lunatic thoughts about buying a Harley Benton banjolele.....). I spotted one of these amps mentioned in an article on Guitar.com - https://guitar.com/guides/essential-guide/how-to-build-ultimate-portable-vanlife-guitar-rig/ They seem well impressed with it. 

Another contender for me - as I'm a sucker for its looks - is the Fender 57 Mini Twin: 

This little Fender has it all looks wise and would do what I want for guitar, but might not be so clever for an MP3 speaker. I'm not fussed on blutooth (I prefer a cable connection to save battery life), but I don't know how successful a 3.5mm to 6.3mm jack cable for my mp3 player into this would be.... 

On 21/04/2023 at 21:17, The Pinky said:

Well my dilemma has been resolved!  I went into the office today and when I spoke about my purchase a colleague said he had an amp that he no longer uses and I could have it - no charge!  All I had to do was give it a dust and buy a lead.  What a result!  In the interest of not commuting the same sin as I did in my other post here is a picture, apologies for the mess but the tonics are for gin.  Double celebration today, me with a new amp and my beautiful wife's retirement.  All I need to do is learn to play the guitar properly now!

Score on the amp! I had a "Park Son of Marshall" G10R many years ago when they were first out (I think they dropped the Park band some years ago now). Those Marshall solid staters were pretty good for a solid, rock sound. Very generous of your colleague, and a great amp to start on. Should pair very well with the LP Special. 

(FWIW, I think a pedal amp that can go into the PA is also a good idea for a back-up when gigging. A decent one with which you are familiar will always be useful in case of an amp letting you down. Either plug into the PA, or a borrowed amp (on which you can just swt it up flat and let your familiar pedal do the work...).