A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

So if you know me you know I have a deep love for headless guitars...I have several Kiesel Vaders and lately I've been wanting to grab a bolt-on headless for a little variety since the Vaders are neck-thru. I've been wanting a Kiesel Osiris but was curious to see if I could scratch that itch for less $.

Having tried some of the cheaper headless guitars out there from companies like Grote and NK and not really liking any of them enough to keep (mainly due to the glaring QC flaws and the stupidly designed bridges that need to be tuned with a magnetic tool), I decided to keep an eye out for a used Harley Benton Dullahan which has a heavy Kiesel Osiris vibe (some might say too heavy, I think Kiesel even sent them a C&D over this one ) and seems to be much better built if HB's reputation is to be believed. These are something like $450 shipped new, managed to score this one for just a hair over $200.

Mahogany body with a flame maple veneer, maple neck with a super comfy "Modern C" profile, and an ebony fretboard with stainless frets. Really remarkable specs for so little cash!

I will say that in terms of quality this guitar gets about 85% of the way to a Kiesel, which is really impressive given that it's about 1/3rd the price. The Hipshot hardware on the Kiesels is definitely nicer than the hardware on the HB, but given that the Hipshot headless bridge costs practically what this entire guitar costs I find it hard to complain. I really don't have any gripes about the Dullahan whatsoever...the fretwork is perfect, there are absolutely no QC issues of any sort, fit and finish are fantastic, tuning stability is solid, and it plays great. Also really love that this tunes easily with the bridge pegs and doesn't involve any kind of wonky tool or additional headaches.

Some folks complained about the pickups, playing it through my rig I would say they're nothing to write home about but certainly serviceable and sound decent. I'll probably swap 'em for something nicer down the line because the guitar deserves it.

Here are some pics and I'll post some clips later!

And a little lead clip complete with one bum note b/c I'm outta practice

That's the thing about ordering a Harley Benton, they're a great deal, but the major downside is the worry about shipping damage. My EX-76 Explorer copy arrived with a cracked headstock, but it least it was attached. Your's got taken clean off! Oh wait . . . it's supposed to be like that? Ooops.

But seriously, I'm glad you've finally got a Harley Benton. For me the draw to the brand several years back was their copyright infringing Gibson copies, though I know they have other interesting offerings. In fact, don't they have a poor man's Guthrie Govan type model?

And about the sound demo, "What bum note?" I don't hear no bum notes.

toomanycats wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 6:21 pm That's the thing about ordering a Harley Benton, they're a great deal, but the major downside is the worry about shipping damage. My EX-76 Explorer copy arrived with a cracked headstock, but it least it was attached. Your's got taken clean off! Oh wait . . . its supposed to be like that? Ooops.

But seriously, I'm glad you've finally got a Harley Benton. For me the draw to the brand several years back was their copyright infringing Gibson copies, though I know they have other interesting offerings. In fact, don't they have a poor man's Guthrie Govan type model?

And about the sound demo, "What bum note?" I don't hear no bum notes.

Thanks TMC! They do have a version of the Guthrie Govan Charvel, the Fusion II model: https://harleybenton.com/product/fusion ... t-roasted/

In fact, another version of that same guitar is at GC, price isn't amazing but to not have to worry about international shipping:

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/In-St ... -Guitar.gc

I wasn't even necessarily looking at buying one of these but at $200 I couldn't turn it down. I think I love this thing enough to where I may not bother with the Osiris I wanted which saves me a ton of $.

As for the bum note, I guess some might call it "jazzy" but I'm referring to 0:33...didn't quite get the first note of that lick to be what I meant for it to be.

slowhand84 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 6:38 pm

toomanycats wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 6:21 pm ...And about the sound demo, "What bum note?" I don't hear no bum notes.

...As for the bum note, I guess some might call it "jazzy" but I'm referring to 0:33...didn't quite get the first note of that lick to be what I meant for it to be.

Maybe I've got bad ears from listening to the Loudness clips in @toomanycats 's earlier thread cranked too high but I didn't hear any bum note either...

tobijohn wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:54 pm

slowhand84 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 6:38 pm

toomanycats wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 6:21 pm ...And about the sound demo, "What bum note?" I don't hear no bum notes.

...As for the bum note, I guess some might call it "jazzy" but I'm referring to 0:33...didn't quite get the first note of that lick to be what I meant for it to be.

Maybe I've got bad ears from listening to the Loudness clips in @toomanycats 's earlier thread cranked too high but I didn't hear any bum note either...

Haha, appreciate it sir. It's not so much a bum note I guess as a note I didn't quite reach but I guess it still sorta works in the context of the clip.

If they ever make a lefty, I may finally try a headless, those look great and H-Bs higher end stuff I would put up against the big name imports without reservation

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honyock wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 8:18 pm If they ever make a lefty, I may finally try a headless, those look great and H-Bs higher end stuff I would put up against the big name imports without reservation

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There's been some talk of lefties on their FB page...so guessing it may be a thing soon!

slowhand84 wrote:

honyock wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 8:18 pm If they ever make a lefty, I may finally try a headless, those look great and H-Bs higher end stuff I would put up against the big name imports without reservation

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There's been some talk of lefties on their FB page...so guessing it may be a thing soon!

I'll be watching, though not as intently as I did for the lefty Explorer

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Adding two more clips here, just a little clean tone with my trusty Super Spring Theory Reverb and Grand Canyon Delay:



And me just going through the positions on the 5 way switch with the same little progression:

Congrats, that is impressive; both the guitar quality at that price point and nice playing too!!

Nicely played and Vocaroo? You use a USB mic and directly record to the vocaroo cloud?

jtcnj wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 10:31 am Congrats, that is impressive; both the guitar quality at that price point and nice playing too!!

Thank you! Really is an incredible guitar even at the $450ish new price, at $200 it's ridiculous!

OMB wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 11:34 am Nicely played and Vocaroo? You use a USB mic and directly record to the vocaroo cloud?

Thanks! Nope, I just uploaded the WAV file there...all my mics are XLR. Besides being an online voice recorder Vocaroo is also a hosting platform and you can upload files.

I record my rig with my Sennheiser E906 & my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 into Audacity, export the file, and then upload it to Vocaroo where it creates a link to be easily shared. I'm sure there are probably better/smarter ways of doing things but I'm a recording noob and this works for me