NGD: Harvey Benson stang

[BatUtilityBelt]

Look, the MOT PG matches the bubble wrap.

Despite my better judgement, I went and bought another Harvey Benson. I know a lot of people never thought I would, and in fact I still won't give Thomann any money after the way they jerked me around. But this one was used in "great condition", so I thought I'd take a second look. There's no reason to hate on the people making these guitars just because the parent company employs jackweasels.

It arrived today, but lacking its trem arm. Ugh, that should have been noted, GC... It also had a rattle, coming from the trem collet. I wiggled it just using my thumb and forefinger, uh-oh. I gave the collet a turn to see if it just came unscrewed, and it immediately fell into the cavity, so yeah, it (at least) came unscrewed. I'm dealing with a return policy deadline now, so I'm not going to open it up to see what's going on, but I know most of these Jag/JM tremolo arm collets are usually welded in place after being screwed on, so this could be very bad news for this trem (and GC).

Still, since it is here, I decided to check it out further. I plugged in and tuned up. The tuners are not the best. The action is a bit high, whatever. The electronics were a bit noisy, and the tone was rolled all the way down. I found out why when I rolled it up - the 60 cycle noise got a lot worse. This poor thing has a grounding issue. It's just as loud even when both pickups are turned off. So there's something I'd have to fix if I was keeping it, but certainly addressable.

I lowered the action to pretty reasonable, and there is a little neck relief, but now there is a fret buzz above 13 on the 2 low strings, so probably a high fret or 2 to be resolved (by someone else, not me since this is going back). Despite that, it played ok and I'm not going to adjust the pickup heights because I can tell enough anyway.

It has some fret sprout I'm not going to take care of because I'll be returning it.

Bottom line: If the trem arm was there and the trem worked as designed, I probably would have fixed the other issues and kept it for the $149 budget platform it is. The paint is fine and it's not junk, just not worth addressing its issues as is.

[Spike]

Too bad it had all the issues. It's a good looking guitar.

[BatUtilityBelt]

Too bad it had all the issues. It's a good looking guitar.

I agree. The paint was perfect and the neck was very good. Now it's back at GC. They relisted it without repairing or mentioning its issues, for 99 cents over what Thomann sells it new. Sigh.

[honyock]

Too bad about the issues. HB seems to still be a bit hit and miss.














I wired mine with 3 way switches, replaced the bridge with the roller bridge that came off my Valkyrie C stock and it is a heck of a player. I let my 8 year old use it until I had picked up a mini guitar for her.

I had actually used the HB neck on my Kurt Cobain Jag body for a while before my Musikraft neck arrived because it was so much nicer than the alternative I had tried.

Just recently installed a Fender Player Jag neck I had picked up for a great price. Probably will go back to the original since the headstock looks a bit large on the Mustang sized body.




Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[slowhand84]

Look, the MOT PG matches the bubble wrap.
0111231639_resized.jpg
Despite my better judgement, I went and bought another Harvey Benson. I know a lot of people never thought I would, and in fact I still won't give Thomann any money after the way they jerked me around. But this one was used in "great condition", so I thought I'd take a second look. There's no reason to hate on the people making these guitars just because the parent company employs jackweasels.

It arrived today, but lacking its trem arm. Ugh, that should have been noted, GC... It also had a rattle, coming from the trem collet. I wiggled it just using my thumb and forefinger, uh-oh. I gave the collet a turn to see if it just came unscrewed, and it immediately fell into the cavity, so yeah, it (at least) came unscrewed. I'm dealing with a return policy deadline now, so I'm not going to open it up to see what's going on, but I know most of these Jag/JM tremolo arm collets are usually welded in place after being screwed on, so this could be very bad news for this trem (and GC).

Still, since it is here, I decided to check it out further. I plugged in and tuned up. The tuners are not the best. The action is a bit high, whatever. The electronics were a bit noisy, and the tone was rolled all the way down. I found out why when I rolled it up - the 60 cycle noise got a lot worse. This poor thing has a grounding issue. It's just as loud even when both pickups are turned off. So there's something I'd have to fix if I was keeping it, but certainly addressable.

I lowered the action to pretty reasonable, and there is a little neck relief, but now there is a fret buzz above 13 on the 2 low strings, so probably a high fret or 2 to be resolved (by someone else, not me since this is going back). Despite that, it played ok and I'm not going to adjust the pickup heights because I can tell enough anyway.

It has some fret sprout I'm not going to take care of because I'll be returning it.

Bottom line: If the trem arm was there and the trem worked as designed, I probably would have fixed the other issues and kept it for the $149 budget platform it is. The paint is fine and it's not junk, just not worth addressing its issues as is.

It's Harley Benton, not Benson . You have 45 days to return it to GC, so no rush or anything to worry about. The stuff to buy from HB is really the "higher end" stuff like the Fusion models. With their cheapies you basically get what you pay for, a decent mod platform that can be made better if you're willing to sink the money in (not unlike Squier or any other competitors in that price range).

[BatUtilityBelt]

It's Harley Benton, not Benson .

Nope, it's Harvey Benson because I said so. There was never an innovative founder named Harley Benton, or a pair of founders named Harley and Benton, or any cherished luthier history. It's a made up Thomann store brand just like Mitchell is to GC, selling cheaply made imports. I see no reason to revere it, because their complete lack of QC is 0 for 2 with me.

You have 45 days to return it to GC, so no rush or anything to worry about. The stuff to buy from HB is really the "higher end" stuff like the Fusion models. With their cheapies you basically get what you pay for, a decent mod platform that can be made better if you're willing to sink the money in (not unlike Squier or any other competitors in that price range).

I agree, but the guitar is already back in GC's hands. If it was functional out of the gate, I truly would have liked it as a mod platform. That was what I was hoping. But I wasn't about to pay GC 99 cents more than Thomann sells it for brand new when it has these issues. GC gave me the benefit of an easy return, which puts them miles ahead of the return nightmare Thomann put me through on a CST-24.

[slowhand84]

It's Harley Benton, not Benson .

Nope, it's Harvey Benson because I said so. There was never an innovative founder named Harley Benton, or a pair of founders named Harley and Benton, or any cherished luthier history. It's a made up Thomann store brand just like Mitchell is to GC, selling cheaply made imports. I see no reason to revere it, because their complete lack of QC is 0 for 2 with me.

You have 45 days to return it to GC, so no rush or anything to worry about. The stuff to buy from HB is really the "higher end" stuff like the Fusion models. With their cheapies you basically get what you pay for, a decent mod platform that can be made better if you're willing to sink the money in (not unlike Squier or any other competitors in that price range).

I agree, but the guitar is already back in GC's hands. If it was functional out of the gate, I truly would have liked it as a mod platform. That was what I was hoping. But I wasn't about to pay GC 99 cents more than Thomann sells it for brand new when it has these issues. GC gave me the benefit of an easy return, which puts them miles ahead of the return nightmare Thomann put me through on a CST-24.

I mean, calling a company by it's correct name has nothing to do with revering it so that's a strange take...but alrighty. And yep, I certainly wasn't suggesting you keep it, you just mentioned being under a return deadline and I was saying you weren't under any real time crunch if you wanted to take more time with it since they have a very long return policy.

I have 6 Harley Bentons and they are all flawless instruments that punch WAY above their price tag, but none of them are these lower end ones so I can't speak to those at all. I agree on buying them from GC though, I have never bought one new because I don't want to deal with international returns in case of any issue. The ones I buy have the roasted flame necks and by buying used I can see exactly what I'm getting, the figure varies from so-so to HOLY COW. I buy everything from GC used though, that place is a goldmine.

[BatUtilityBelt]

Harley Benton is no more a company name than Harvey Benson, so settle down. It's a sticker on a house brand guitar. The company name is Musikhaus Thomann.

I get that you're happy with the ones you've bought, and that's great. I'm happy any time any of us gets a guitar we like. But I also appreciate when people who get problem guitars share those experiences because it makes us all better informed. And if they've had particularly bad experiences because of that company's habits, that's well worth hearing too. And venting? Yup, all good.

But if you want nobody to say anything unhappy about Harvey Bensons because you like yours, I think you should take that issue to a Harvey Benson forum. I'm not on a Harvey Benson forum because I returned both of the defective Harvey Bensons I bought.

[slowhand84]

Harley Benton is no more a company name than Harvey Benson, so settle down. It's a sticker on a house brand guitar. The company name is Musikhaus Thomann.

I get that you're happy with the ones you've bought, and that's great. I'm happy any time any of us gets a guitar we like. But I also appreciate when people who get problem guitars share those experiences because it makes us all better informed. And if they've had particularly bad experiences because of that company's habits, that's well worth hearing too. And venting? Yup, all good.

But if you want nobody to say anything unhappy about Harvey Bensons because you like yours, I think you should take that issue to a Harvey Benson forum. I'm not on a Harvey Benson forum because I returned both of the defective Harvey Bensons I bought.

Oh I'm not at all offended or riled up by you sharing a bad experience, I've heard more than a few about their lower end models so none of this is surprising. I thought your "Benson" was just a typo and not an indication of some deep seated distaste for the company, that's the only reason why I bothered to correct it in the first place

[Buddha Pickups]

If you're set on a cheap mustang there's a black Glarry on ebay for 80 and a white Iyv for 110 (or best offer so they'd probably take 95ish)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/195480873495?m ... media=COPY

https://www.ebay.com/itm/404049402546?m ... media=COPY

[BatUtilityBelt]

If you're set on a cheap mustang there's a black Glarry on ebay for 80 and a white Iyv for 110 (or best offer so they'd probably take 95ish)

Thanks, but those are waaay too right-handed for me, lol.

[Buddha Pickups]

If you're set on a cheap mustang there's a black Glarry on ebay for 80 and a white Iyv for 110 (or best offer so they'd probably take 95ish)

Thanks, but those are waaay too right-handed for me, lol.

Yikes, sorry bout that!