Harley Benton Beatbass VS Vintage Series

I've bought a few HB's over the years and this was the biggest surprise. It's not perfect, I'll explain below, but what you get for the price doesn't make sense, it's that good.

It's beautiful, it looks amazing. Let's face it, you're probably buying this for the image, it's not top of the list for 95% of Bass players. The finish is great, the binding is spot on, it's what you hope it will be.

The tuners are ok (that's good in Harley Benton language). The pots aren't scratchy, the switches are good (a little confusing at first), I had no fret sprout and the strings it arrived with were ok but will get changed in a week or two.

I knew it would need a setup and it got one. What did I have to do?

The fretboard was dry, unbelievably dry. It took me a bit of time to lemon oil it three times. Once it was done, it looks good. The end of the fretboard is roughly cut and finished and will need tidying, but it looks ok. The frets were a little rough and needed a good polish but there was no sprout so that only took 30 minutes. The intonation was ok so I marked it up, allowed for a little adjustment, and removed the bridge for a body polish. The neck was flat, way too flat, so I added a little relief which also lowered the action as it came really, really high. I tightened up the tuners although I will replace them soon although I really don't need to, they're fine. Finally, I lubed the nut (not like that) as it's plastic so a little lead is a good idea.

Once done, I tuned it up and left it for a few hours to settle. Now I can't stop playing it. There's a lot of neck dive, all violin basses do this, you'll need a strap, remember this is a hollow body bass and it's unavoidable.

I've always thought Harley Bentons were underpriced, this one doesn't make sense. It's that good.

If you can do the basics I listed above, get one. It's not even worth sparing a thought, just buy one. I promise you won't be disappointed.

I am a hobby guitarist who likes to do my own work on the guitars that I purchase, I currently own 11 electrics, 1 bass (this one), 3 acoustics and a ukulele.

This is a beautiful looking instrument and at approximately $186AUD ($142USD) is unbelievable value for money.

Pros:
1. Of the 3 guitars I ordered, this appears to have the best finish, I can't find a single thing wrong with it, no blemishes whatsoever.

2. The tuners work well and seem to hold tune fine, even after sitting around the house for a few weeks now.

3. All controls and pick ups are working.

4.The tail piece is a little more ornate than the original and going by images on the net, appears somewhat shorter as well.

5.The lovely burst finish is continued on both the back and the neck, a nice touch, especially at this price point. If the good people at Thomann don't remove this, you can search You Tube for "650Thunderbird" or ". Harley Benton Beat Bass Unboxing/1st Impressions" to see for yourself.

6. Flamed maple top is very well done, the join is barely visible, unless you look very hard.

7. Being a "short scale" bass, it will be easier for a guitarist to make the transition to bass with one of these, rather than with a "standard scale" bass.

8. Even with postage costs, it is cheaper to buy from Thomann, than to buy from my own country (AU). This is one of three guitars I have purchased (all in one order) and their quality control, in my case, is second to none.

Cons:

1. Being a hollow body, it suffers badly from the dreaded "neck dive" so even when seated, a strap is a must.

2. The shape does not make for comfortable lap placement.

In summary: I am completely satisfied with this bass guitar and would recommend it to anyone, anywhere in the world.

Cheers
650Thunderbird

Arrived in Australia after just 4 days, and in perfect condition, and that's truly amazing! Out of the box it was fairly obvious that a setup was necessary, but overall I was very pleased with the way it's put together, and couldn't find a blemish on it. The sunburst gloss finish was first rate. The only real gripe I have is that it has to be the most head heavy bass I've ever played. I've owned a Hofner Contemporary violin bass, and it didn't suffer from this problem at all. Mind you it was six times the price! Why HB decided to go with a hefty neck that would better suit a Precision Bass is a bit weird, and even if I were to change to lightweight tuners, I don't see it making a great deal of difference. I've settled on using a strap that McCartney started out with that loops behind the nut. Works really well. I can see a pickup change coming though; most probably the Artec set that are the exact same dimensions, and getting used to the reversed wiring on the switch plate takes a bit of getting used to after owning a Hofner. No real problem as I'll rewire it. I think this little bass is great value for money if you live in Europe. Shipping is the killer in Australia, as it adds around another 30% to the price. I think it's a great little mod platform as the body and to a lesser extent, the neck are extremely well made. A few runs with the fret files fixed up a few stray fret ends, but the nut was really well cut. Overall, I'm pleased with my purchase.

I make no claims to be a virtuoso bas player, but I need a bass for home recordings, and this one is fine for me. Just a couple of points:-

1. I would have expected to find a small piece of polystyrene under the bridge to protect the instrument in transit. I usually find I can loosen the string pressure just enough to slide the polystyrene out without completely dislodging the bridge. But instead with this bass there was a small piece of frayed cotton material which didn't slide out easily from under the bridge, but instead disintegrated into many threads, some of which stuck to the bottom of the bridge, and I had to remove the bridge completely to get rid of them all. Given my rubbish eyesight, it is difficult for me to see well enough to do the measuring to get the bridge back in the correct place.

2. I may be a simple soul, but I would have expected the volume switches on the instrument to be nearest to the thing to which they refer - in other words, volume 1 is right next to treble, and so I would have expected it to apply to treble, and volume 2 is nearest to bass, and so I would have expected it to apply to bass. But no, they are the other way round! I worked it out eventually, but have since found a review of this instrument on Youtube where the guy comments on this and says he thinks it's a mistake. If anyone from Thomann reads this review, could you please check this out? Is this a mistake, or a design feature? In any case, a bit of paper with this information on it would save the customer time in working it out, although, once you know, it's easy to remember.

Apart from these points, I like the sound of this bass, and am happy with it!