NGD - Benton Headless Pt 2

[slowhand84]

I guess I'm addicted to the insanely awesome guitars Harley Benton's putting out these days...can't resist grabbing one when it comes up for a good price. Snagged once again from good ole GC Used, I've picked up a 2nd Harley Benton Dullahan headless. I already have one of these in what they call "shell pink" (really more off-white with a tiny bit of a pink hue in the right lighting) - this one is a little different in that it has a gloss finish instead of satin, but otherwise it is essentially the same guitar. Alder body, roasted maple neck and board with stainless frets.

I had planned to keep this one tuned a step down since my first one is in standard, and interestingly when it arrived today it came perfectly in tune...and already tuned a step down. Must be fate .

My shell pink one has some really cool birdseye in the neck, this one has a light flame but some of that really pretty figuring you sometimes see in regular maple and is nice and dark. Freaking insane instrument for just over $300.

No issues on the QC side to report at all, plays and sounds great. Instead of the cheap and flimsy gig bag that usually comes with these Bentons, I lucked out with a super nice Legator case that looks to be pretty much exactly the same as the Kiesel gig bags. Sweet!

On to the pics, then I gotta restring and oil the board to get it a little nicer lookin'. Included one at the end with the really nice case too, and that board will darken up a bit once I hit with the lemon oil too.

[slowhand84]

And here's a pic of it with it's sibling .

[slowhand84]

And a few final pics now that I oiled the board...highly recommend a bit of lemon oil (for unfinished roasted maple only!) if your board is a little bit dry or a little lighter than you'd like.

[PsychoCid]

They're gorg.

It is amazing what you can get for cheap these days, despite the drawbacks.

I was big on lemon oil early on and if it's too dry that makes sense...but otherwise I prefer hand oil!

[slowhand84]

They're gorg.

It is amazing what you can get for cheap these days, despite the drawbacks.

I was big on lemon oil early on and if it's too dry that makes sense...but otherwise I prefer hand oil!

Yeah I tend to lemon oil all my fretboards about once or twice a year and it seems to do a great job at keeping things very nicely maintained (and smellin' good too).

The thing with the "cheaper" stuff these days (especially in my experience with Harley Benton) is there can sometimes be no "drawbacks" at all. I guess you could say the pickups are just "good" and not "great", but you won't find many guitars at this price point with anything better pickup wise and that's always an easy swap if you feel you wanna do it. Other than that, I'd say every single thing on the Bentons I have stands toe to toe with stuff that's 3-4X the cost. The fretwork, hardware, playability, and build quality is super impressive.

[Rollin Hand]

I guess I'm addicted to the insanely awesome guitars Harley Benton's putting out these days...can't resist grabbing one when it comes up for a good price. Snagged once again from good ole GC Used, I've picked up a 2nd Harley Benton Dullahan headless. I already have one of these in what they call "shell pink" (really more off-white with a tiny bit of a pink hue in the right lighting) - this one is a little different in that it has a gloss finish instead of satin, but otherwise it is essentially the same guitar. Alder body, roasted maple neck and board with stainless frets.

I had planned to keep this one tuned a step down since my first one is in standard, and interestingly when it arrived today it came perfectly in tune...and already tuned a step down. Must be fate .

My shell pink one has some really cool birdseye in the neck, this one has a light flame but some of that really pretty figuring you sometimes see in regular maple and is nice and dark. Freaking insane instrument for just over $300.

No issues on the QC side to report at all, plays and sounds great. Instead of the cheap and flimsy gig bag that usually comes with these Bentons, I lucked out with a super nice Legator case that looks to be pretty much exactly the same as the Kiesel gig bags. Sweet!

On to the pics, then I gotta restring and oil the board to get it a little nicer lookin'. Included one at the end with the really nice case too, and that board will darken up a bit once I hit with the lemon oil too.

Dude...cut it out. I am getting jealous.

BTW, watched a McRocklin video last night...he REALLY likes the headless Keisels.

[slowhand84]

I guess I'm addicted to the insanely awesome guitars Harley Benton's putting out these days...can't resist grabbing one when it comes up for a good price. Snagged once again from good ole GC Used, I've picked up a 2nd Harley Benton Dullahan headless. I already have one of these in what they call "shell pink" (really more off-white with a tiny bit of a pink hue in the right lighting) - this one is a little different in that it has a gloss finish instead of satin, but otherwise it is essentially the same guitar. Alder body, roasted maple neck and board with stainless frets.

I had planned to keep this one tuned a step down since my first one is in standard, and interestingly when it arrived today it came perfectly in tune...and already tuned a step down. Must be fate .

My shell pink one has some really cool birdseye in the neck, this one has a light flame but some of that really pretty figuring you sometimes see in regular maple and is nice and dark. Freaking insane instrument for just over $300.

No issues on the QC side to report at all, plays and sounds great. Instead of the cheap and flimsy gig bag that usually comes with these Bentons, I lucked out with a super nice Legator case that looks to be pretty much exactly the same as the Kiesel gig bags. Sweet!

On to the pics, then I gotta restring and oil the board to get it a little nicer lookin'. Included one at the end with the really nice case too, and that board will darken up a bit once I hit with the lemon oil too.

Dude...cut it out. I am getting jealous.

BTW, watched a McRocklin video last night...he REALLY likes the headless Keisels.

Yeah I just posted a video of his in another thread where @PsychoCid and I were discussing trems...he was showing off the fantastic Hipshot headless trem Kiesel uses.

My Kiesel is hands down my favorite guitar, by a mile. I even have a couple higher end ones (at least price-wise), but none of them bring me the kind of joy my Vader does and I reach for it more than anything else in my collection combined. It's a killer guitar with amazing build quality, but a lot of it comes down to the headless thing...it's just SO comfortable and easy to play, I flat out sound and play better on it than my others.

That said, I am very glad Harley Benton came out with these models because they saved me from spending $1800+ on an Osiris. I was about ready to order one until I discovered these Dullahans and while they don't measure up 100% to my Vader, they are incredible instruments and I don't think I can justify an Osiris's cost compared to how cheap (and great) these HBs are.

[PsychoCid]

They're gorg.

It is amazing what you can get for cheap these days, despite the drawbacks.

I was big on lemon oil early on and if it's too dry that makes sense...but otherwise I prefer hand oil!

Yeah I tend to lemon oil all my fretboards about once or twice a year and it seems to do a great job at keeping things very nicely maintained (and smellin' good too).

The thing with the "cheaper" stuff these days (especially in my experience with Harley Benton) is there can sometimes be no "drawbacks" at all. I guess you could say the pickups are just "good" and not "great", but you won't find many guitars at this price point with anything better pickup wise and that's always an easy swap if you feel you wanna do it. Other than that, I'd say every single thing on the Bentons I have stands toe to toe with stuff that's 3-4X the cost. The fretwork, hardware, playability, and build quality is super impressive.

Oh the guitars have no drawbacks, I just meant I'd rather buy American. I want to make you wealthier before other people.

That's hard these days because our currency has been deflated. I was fortunate to get Musikraft and BPD stuff when I did. But maybe we'll come back around in the future.

[slowhand84]

They're gorg.

It is amazing what you can get for cheap these days, despite the drawbacks.

I was big on lemon oil early on and if it's too dry that makes sense...but otherwise I prefer hand oil!

Yeah I tend to lemon oil all my fretboards about once or twice a year and it seems to do a great job at keeping things very nicely maintained (and smellin' good too).

The thing with the "cheaper" stuff these days (especially in my experience with Harley Benton) is there can sometimes be no "drawbacks" at all. I guess you could say the pickups are just "good" and not "great", but you won't find many guitars at this price point with anything better pickup wise and that's always an easy swap if you feel you wanna do it. Other than that, I'd say every single thing on the Bentons I have stands toe to toe with stuff that's 3-4X the cost. The fretwork, hardware, playability, and build quality is super impressive.

Oh the guitars have no drawbacks, I just meant I'd rather buy American. I want to make you wealthier before other people.

That's hard these days because our currency has been deflated. I was fortunate to get Musikraft and BPD stuff when I did. But maybe we'll come back around in the future.

Well the good news is all my purchases regardless of where the guitars were built do end up technically supporting an American business, since it's pretty much always either GC or Sam Ash .

[PsychoCid]

Yeah I tend to lemon oil all my fretboards about once or twice a year and it seems to do a great job at keeping things very nicely maintained (and smellin' good too).

The thing with the "cheaper" stuff these days (especially in my experience with Harley Benton) is there can sometimes be no "drawbacks" at all. I guess you could say the pickups are just "good" and not "great", but you won't find many guitars at this price point with anything better pickup wise and that's always an easy swap if you feel you wanna do it. Other than that, I'd say every single thing on the Bentons I have stands toe to toe with stuff that's 3-4X the cost. The fretwork, hardware, playability, and build quality is super impressive.

Oh the guitars have no drawbacks, I just meant I'd rather buy American. I want to make you wealthier before other people.

That's hard these days because our currency has been deflated. I was fortunate to get Musikraft and BPD stuff when I did. But maybe we'll come back around in the future.

Well the good news is all my purchases regardless of where the guitars were built do end up technically supporting an American business, since it's pretty much always either GC or Sam Ash .

Lol!

[slowhand84]

I guess I'm addicted to the insanely awesome guitars Harley Benton's putting out these days...can't resist grabbing one when it comes up for a good price. Snagged once again from good ole GC Used, I've picked up a 2nd Harley Benton Dullahan headless. I already have one of these in what they call "shell pink" (really more off-white with a tiny bit of a pink hue in the right lighting) - this one is a little different in that it has a gloss finish instead of satin, but otherwise it is essentially the same guitar. Alder body, roasted maple neck and board with stainless frets.

I had planned to keep this one tuned a step down since my first one is in standard, and interestingly when it arrived today it came perfectly in tune...and already tuned a step down. Must be fate .

My shell pink one has some really cool birdseye in the neck, this one has a light flame but some of that really pretty figuring you sometimes see in regular maple and is nice and dark. Freaking insane instrument for just over $300.

No issues on the QC side to report at all, plays and sounds great. Instead of the cheap and flimsy gig bag that usually comes with these Bentons, I lucked out with a super nice Legator case that looks to be pretty much exactly the same as the Kiesel gig bags. Sweet!

On to the pics, then I gotta restring and oil the board to get it a little nicer lookin'. Included one at the end with the really nice case too, and that board will darken up a bit once I hit with the lemon oil too.

Dude...cut it out. I am getting jealous.

BTW, watched a McRocklin video last night...he REALLY likes the headless Keisels.

Just got this one back from my tech, finally had a chance to get the pickups swapped...so now its rocking a Bareknuckle Holy Diver set I was able to grab for $150. Incredible pickups and a perfect match for the guitar.

[Narsh]

I’m intrigued here. While I don’t miss my Vader or strandberg I would t mind having at least 1 headless. Hmmmmm