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youcancallmebetty

Except parcelfarce won't deliver on a Saturday. Meh !

It's a classy Harley Benton mustangish, a lefty, just like me, and it's currently resting at the local delivery depot until Monday. I bought it as a "cheer up, it's only an apocalypse" present to myself.

As I can't yet play it, I reckon I should explore how to set up the trem. It's my first short scale.

Any recommendations for strings ? I play loud, sloppily and with a fair amount of gain.

Nick · Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 9:04 pm Post subject:

Welcome, congrats, start with 11's and go heavier/lighter from there, and this thread should be in the short scales section.

serfx · Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 7:35 am Post subject:

ditto on all the above.

enjoy the new guitar, something to make monday worth showing up for.

euan · Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 7:49 am Post subject:

Didn't realise Harley Benton did left Mustangy guitars...
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euan

NickS · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 12:12 pm Post subject:

This.

George · . Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 20016 Location: UK

fender super bullet 10s, imo

youcancallmebetty · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 1:16 pm Post subject:

Thank you all for your kindnesses !!

Still bloody waiting though. It left the depot at about 7.30 this morning, seemingly on an extended (and prolly extra bumpy) tour of Suffolk. The suspense is killing . . .

youcancallmebetty · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 4:27 pm Post subject: It's here !!!

.... and, it's a bit crap really.

Set-up is on a par with other left handed guitars I've bought/handled. Neck, action and intonation are all way out. Pickups are miles away from sounding good, and in the case of the neck pickup, a short bus ride away from the strings ..

I think one of the pickups is in upside down too, as they have identical staggered pole pieces, although the lowest bridge pole is under the A string, and the shortest neck pole piece is under the b ?? (Comments most welcome).

The neck is really poorly finished, the satin finish is lumpy and grabby, with small splatters of no finish between the octave and the heel, and it 'sitars' on the open a string. Bastard. The rosewood is thirsty, but that's about the least of my woes. The People who made the Tom bridge decided to err on the side of caution whilst adding a little manufacturing tolerance.

The body is poorly edge-routed, which shows through the finish, as does the lack of detail sanding, along with a few under surface dings.

The d'addario strings are lifeless and dead sounding. The low e has been bashed in transit, and is kinked where it (used to) pass over the saddle.

The colour's nice though ! And the pickguard is also way better than I've learned to expect from Thomman (I bought their 335 copy; it"s pickguard was (as any fule kno) some sort of 'jobs for the blind' social enterprise. I like the trem too, although I haven't really had much of a chance to put it through it's paces, as I've so far spent most of he last hour attempting to wrestle it into playable condition.

Ooh, the strap buttons seem ok so far, and the knobs haven't broken or fallen off yet. Although I will most certainly remove them at some point and throw them into the woods at the bottom of our garden. The tuners are all stiff and hurty on my fingers when I attempt to use them.

I made the last bit up. Sorry Thomman.

I have a pair of chrome pickup covers in stock. This affords me the will to continue. I'm going to have a nice cup of tea, then I'm off to my workshop with a set of fender nickel tens (heaviest I have in) a couple of tuners, some knobs, lemon oil, and sonic youth/pixies cd's.

Wish me luck Homies. Homo's ..lol. X

paul_ · . Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 8879

youcancallmebetty · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 5:22 pm Post subject:

Thank you.

youcancallmebetty · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:28 pm Post subject:

Meh. Three hours later, decision made; it's going back. Every time. Look at it, I see another blem, it plays in an unacceptable fashion, and sounds crap imho. Guess I'll have to parts-cast one instead. I have requested a refund.

Bacchus · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:47 pm Post subject:

Surprising. I got a Harley Benton Tele a few weeks back and I'm a bit stunned at how good it is.
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youcancallmebetty · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 8:16 pm Post subject:

I'm gutted too. I too bought their tele, it was ace, as was their 335 once upgraded.

dezb1 · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 8:27 pm Post subject:

I too am surprised, I have a HB JB-75 bass that is frankly phenomenal, and a ST-6? Strat copy that after I swapped out the tinfoil tremolo is all the strat I need, nice chunky neck Wilkinson pickups well finished.

You might have just go a bad one.
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Extreme distortion used discreetly...

George · . Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 20016 Location: UK

yeah cut your losses and send it back. i've dumped too much money into guitars that i never play and never recoup money on. fuck it.

Bacchus · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 10:03 pm Post subject:

benecol · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 10:11 pm Post subject:

singlepup · . Joined: 10 Dec 2010 Posts: 4014 Location: San Diego