Harley Benton ST 62 + Fender CS FAT 50's pre-wired

[FrankAtari]

[FrankAtari]

 

Ok... it's soft porn for many of you.. but it's home made...

[ezbass]

It's already nice looking, but when you've got that p/g and pickups in, it's going to look ace.

[FrankAtari]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

It's already nice looking, but when you've got that p/g and pickups in, it's going to look ace.

 

The pictures don't do it justice. The guitar looks impressive out of the box.

 

The fender pre-wired pickguard looks amazing I have to say, it's creamy, not white, which will match everything better with a more pronounced vintage vibe. Colour scheme apart, the guitar is actually very good, above my expectations. The only real problem is that the pocket won't fit the neck like a glove. The neck was out of alignment by a couple of mms and I had to fix that, relying on my eyes and the distance of the strings from the edge of the neck.

 

Question: is the loose pocket a big critical issue? However, half of the Strat pocket is not even there by design hence the pocket will never hold the neck very tight and always have to rely on the bolts.

 

Also I went mad today and I took the guitar apart to the smallest screw to rebuild it tomorrow. It's an ugly duck in need of love but all in all it's a very solid purchase, with lots and potential and most importantly I love it very much. Anyway I will go through all of this when I write my review. The tremolo is set from factory not to work (so they can save time in balancing it with the strings etc) and the electronics were very noisy. More to come on HB... stay tuned.

 

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by FrankAtari

[ezbass]

I too that there’s a lot of fuss over tight neck pockets. Yes they’re good for stability and alignment, but once set up, as you’ve done, I think it doesn’t effect tone, YMMV. I had a 1963 P Bass that had gaps around the neck heel you could drive a bus around (excuse the hyperbole) and it sounded magnificent.

[FrankAtari]

19 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I too that there’s a lot of fuss over tight neck pockets. Yes they’re good for stability and alignment, but once set up, as you’ve done, I think it doesn’t effect tone, YMMV. I had a 1963 P Bass that had gaps around the neck heel you could drive a bus around (excuse the hyperbole) and it sounded magnificent.

 

Oh yeah a lot of fuss about nothing. The gap is 1/4 of a mm and apart from the look of it has no effect on the guitar that I can say. I have filed a new TUSQ nut (highly recommended) and installed it this morning. When the guitar is back together I will take some new pics. 

 

 

[murphybridget]

On 21/10/2022 at 22:02, FrankAtari said:

 

Ok... it's soft porn for many of you.. but it's home made...

I'm a sucker for that.

[Musical Mystery Tour]

On 21/10/2022 at 17:53, FrankAtari said:

Question: is the loose pocket a big critical issue? However, half of the Strat pocket is not even there by design hence the pocket will never hold the neck very tight and always have to rely on the bolts

 

Nope, it doesn't matter as much as people seem to think it does, unless the aesthetics are a big concern, in fact, a very slightly loose neck pocket is actually a good thing, and here's why that is so:

 

Whenever you first screw a neck on a guitar, you obviously do so while the strings are not on the guitar, but what happens when you do that, is the guitar neck is then held down against the body as the screws tighten, rather than back against the body as it should be, in order to make more a more solid resonating contact (like a set neck has), and that lack of body contact from the rear of the neck kills the tone. So, here's what you do to solve that problem:

 

Put the neck on as you normally would, string the guitar up and tune it - now here's the part most people don't do, and should - keep it tuned up with string tension then undo each screw a little bit to allow the string tension to pull the neck back against the body, now tighten the screws up. This will give your guitar more sustain and definitely improve the tone. You may have to correct the intonation a very tiny bit when you do this, but it is the reason why people find a lot of bolt-on neck guitars not as good as they can be.

 

That HB guitar looks great by the way and the cream coloured hardware definitely sets it off nicely. Here's one of my Strats with a better, more vintage-coloured scratchplate than it came with, and some cream coloured bits which I added:

 

Edited March 12, 2024 by Musical Mystery Tour

[murphybridget]

On 13/03/2024 at 02:30, Musical Mystery Tour said:

 

Nope, it doesn't matter as much as people seem to think it does, unless the aesthetics are a big concern, in fact, a very slightly loose neck pocket is actually a good thing, and here's why that is so:

 

Whenever you first screw a neck on a guitar, you obviously do so while the strings are not on the guitar, but what happens when you do that, is the guitar neck is then held down against the body as the screws tighten, rather than back against the body as it should be, in order to make more a more solid resonating contact (like a set neck has), and that lack of body contact from the rear of the neck kills the tone. So, here's what you do to solve that problem:

 

Put the neck on as you normally would, string the guitar up and tune it - now here's the part most people don't do, and should - keep it tuned up with string tension then undo each screw a little bit to allow the string tension to pull the neck back against the body, now tighten the screws up. This will give your guitar more sustain and definitely improve the tone. You may have to correct the intonation a very tiny bit when you do this, but it is the reason why people find a lot of bolt-on neck guitars not as good as they can be.

 

That HB guitar looks great by the way and the cream coloured hardware definitely sets it off nicely. Here's one of my Strats with a better, more vintage-coloured scratchplate than it came with, and some cream coloured bits which I added:

 

Wouldn't it cause the guitar to go out of tune from time to time?

[Musical Mystery Tour]

Nah/ Try it, you will hear the difference.

[murphybridget]

On 16/03/2024 at 20:37, Musical Mystery Tour said:

Nah/ Try it, you will hear the difference.

I'll do when I have the chance.

[EdwardMarlowe]

On 21/10/2022 at 17:53, FrankAtari said:

 

The pictures don't do it justice. The guitar looks impressive out of the box.

 

 

It looks really nice. The simplicity of a classic, solid colour finish on a Strat type is underrated, imo. Iconic. 

 

 

 

On 21/10/2022 at 17:53, FrankAtari said:

 

The fender pre-wired pickguard looks amazing I have to say, it's creamy, not white, which will match everything better with a more pronounced vintage vibe. Colour scheme apart, the guitar is actually very good, above my expectations. The only real problem is that the pocket won't fit the neck like a glove. The neck was out of alignment by a couple of mms and I had to fix that, relying on my eyes and the distance of the strings from the edge of the neck.

 

Question: is the loose pocket a big critical issue? However, half of the Strat pocket is not even there by design hence the pocket will never hold the neck very tight and always have to rely on the bolts.

 

I like a tight neck pocket on an F type if I can get it, but honestly it's purely a cosmetic thing IMO. Long as in the end there's a good, tight bolting to the body and it doesn't wiggle around, it's functionally good imo. 

 

 

 

 

On 21/10/2022 at 17:53, FrankAtari said:

 

Also I went mad today and I took the guitar apart to the smallest screw to rebuild it tomorrow. It's an ugly duck in need of love but all in all it's a very solid purchase, with lots and potential and most importantly I love it very much. Anyway I will go through all of this when I write my review. The tremolo is set from factory not to work (so they can save time in balancing it with the strings etc) and the electronics were very noisy. More to come on HB... stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

What do you mean by 'set from the factory so as not to work'? You mean at all? Or do they do that thing a lot of players used to do with the six screw Fender trem of setting it flat to the body which means it only works in one direction (instead of floating), the trade off being it's a little more stable in tuning? 

Interested in this project. In the past I might have shied away from the idea of a project like this being a money pit. These days, though, the average ST type sells for more parted out, and a full Fender-branded player will always be saleable... I think it's a good choice. Be interested to know how you get on with siting the Fender guard, given the inevitable slight variances between brands with screwhole positioning and such. 

I've been eyeing the HB ST types for a while. For now I'm holding off in he hope we eventually see an upgraded model in the vein of the ST Modern Pro, but with a vintage spec... As a baseline, an equivalent to the spec of the ST25th, but with SSS, a maple board, 21 frets, and a rounder radius (ideally 7.25, I'd settle for 9.5). Something like that I'd love to pick up as a project like this. The ST62s are great, though. For upgrading, they're a great idea IMO. Price of a used Squier, and you couldn't buy a decent body and neck as new parts for what they sell the entire guitar for before you buy the upgrade bits.