New neck for my Harley Benton Cabronita style tele
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2024 1:33 am
Bought my Harley Benton Cabronita before they started putting roasted necks on everything, never really liked the reverse headstock and I have a set of "F" tuners that need a home.
No clue on the origin of these necks, but coming out of a place in Utah via eBay. Not a bad deal for the money if it plays as nice as it looks. About on par with a really nice Mighty Mite, but the roasted neck and stainless frets are not matched at this price point unless it is coming out of China or on a Harlery Benton from the factory.
The not so great:
- The neck is roasted maple, not perfect application of finish, but it will clean up easily enough. Couple of drips/runs in the finish. At least they did a good job masking or wiping clean if they had any on the fretboard.
- Side dots are a little haphazardly installed, zigging and zagging a bit within the bounds of the rosewood fret board.
- Nut has decently cut slots, but it was installed a bit off center and it a bit too wide, so I am going to have to knock it out, file it to size and reinstall.
The details:
- Nice looking, tightly grained rosewood fretboard, fretboard inlays are mother of toilet seat. They are aligned ok.
- Vintage style heel truss rod
- Stainless frets. Dressed decently, could use a little attention with a file to get rid of a little dragginess I feel on my skin moving thumb up and down neck along edge of frets, or could just need some humidity. Not sharp, just feels like the beginnings of fret sprout.
To Dos:
- Ream out holes for tuners (don't have any decent vintage style in my collection of spares), install the tuners and a string tree. Finally get to use a Stew Mac tool I bought years ago.
- Drill mounting neck holes.
No clue on the origin of these necks, but coming out of a place in Utah via eBay. Not a bad deal for the money if it plays as nice as it looks. About on par with a really nice Mighty Mite, but the roasted neck and stainless frets are not matched at this price point unless it is coming out of China or on a Harlery Benton from the factory.
The not so great:
- The neck is roasted maple, not perfect application of finish, but it will clean up easily enough. Couple of drips/runs in the finish. At least they did a good job masking or wiping clean if they had any on the fretboard.
- Side dots are a little haphazardly installed, zigging and zagging a bit within the bounds of the rosewood fret board.
- Nut has decently cut slots, but it was installed a bit off center and it a bit too wide, so I am going to have to knock it out, file it to size and reinstall.
The details:
- Nice looking, tightly grained rosewood fretboard, fretboard inlays are mother of toilet seat. They are aligned ok.
- Vintage style heel truss rod
- Stainless frets. Dressed decently, could use a little attention with a file to get rid of a little dragginess I feel on my skin moving thumb up and down neck along edge of frets, or could just need some humidity. Not sharp, just feels like the beginnings of fret sprout.
To Dos:
- Ream out holes for tuners (don't have any decent vintage style in my collection of spares), install the tuners and a string tree. Finally get to use a Stew Mac tool I bought years ago.
- Drill mounting neck holes.