Another cool Harley Benton

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Rollin Hand
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It's a little pricey to get one of these to Canada, but those in the States and "on the Continent" should do quite well. Very impressive feature set, though I think not having jumbo frets is a miss.



Now if one were to pop up used in my area...
Elbows up.
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slowhand84
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Rollin Hand wrote: Thu Jun 26, 2025 4:06 pm It's a little pricey to get one of these to Canada, but those in the States and "on the Continent" should do quite well. Very impressive feature set, though I think not having jumbo frets is a miss.



Now if one were to pop up used in my area...
Check GC Used in the coming months, that's how I bought every single one of my HBs (all were significantly cheaper that way, and I could see the necks so I could get the most insanely figured ones).
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toomanycats
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Being an 80s guy in my heart and soul, this guitar visually grabs me. I love the red color, traditional Strat body shape, maple neck, single direct mount zebra humbucker, and single Fender style knob.

But I have two specific issues . . . and they're deal breakers.

First, they should have decked the Floyd against the body. Historically, it's more correct to the 80s. Visually, it just looks better, cleaner. Functionally, that guitar will be useless if you break a string during a performance. Yeah, I know about the trem block thing you can install in the back, but please refer back to my points about historicity and the visuals. They just got this part wrong in my opinion.

Second, after shipping this Harley Benton is pushing $400. Call me a complaining old geezer, but there was a time when I could get three Harley Bentons shipped to my door for the cost of just this one guitar. This kinda takes away what was previously so appealing about the brand. It was awesome to be able to spend only $400 and have the delivery man have to take two trips from the truck to the house. I remember opening up box one containing a rosewood Tele, then box two with a Les Paul, and box three with an ash body Jazz bass. Yep, those were the days, back when the Benton bucks went a long way.

And to piggyback off @slowhand84's point about buying used . . . at the price point of this Benton you also have wide options available in the superstrat category from Kramer, Charvel, Jackson, Ibanez, ESP, etc.
“There are only two means of refuge from the miseries of life: Music and Cats!” Albert Schweitzer
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Rollin Hand
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slowhand84 wrote: Thu Jun 26, 2025 7:13 pm
Rollin Hand wrote: Thu Jun 26, 2025 4:06 pm It's a little pricey to get one of these to Canada, but those in the States and "on the Continent" should do quite well. Very impressive feature set, though I think not having jumbo frets is a miss.



Now if one were to pop up used in my area...
Check GC Used in the coming months, that's how I bought every single one of my HBs (all were significantly cheaper that way, and I could see the necks so I could get the most insanely figured ones).
GC used doesn't ship to Canada, unfortunately.
Elbows up.
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Rollin Hand
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toomanycats wrote: Fri Jun 27, 2025 4:58 am Being an 80s guy in my heart and soul, this guitar visually grabs me. I love the red color, traditional Strat body shape, maple neck, single direct mount zebra humbucker, and single Fender style knob.

But I have two specific issues . . . and they're deal breakers.

First, they should have decked the Floyd against the body. Historically, it's more correct to the 80s. Visually, it just looks better, cleaner. Functionally, that guitar will be useless if you break a string during a performance. Yeah, I know about the trem block thing you can install in the back, but please refer back to my points about historicity and the visuals. They just got this part wrong in my opinion.

Second, after shipping this Harley Benton is pushing $400. Call me a complaining old geezer, but there was a time when I could get three Harley Bentons shipped to my door for the cost of just this one guitar. This kinda takes away what was previously so appealing about the brand. It was awesome to be able to spend only $400 and have the delivery man have to take two trips from the truck to the house. I remember opening up box one containing a rosewood Tele, then box two with a Les Paul, and box three with an ash body Jazz bass. Yep, those were the days, back when the Benton bucks went a long way.

And to piggyback of @slowhand84's point about buying used . . . at the price point of this Benton you also have wide options available in the superstrat category from Kramer, Charvel, Jackson, Ibanez, ESP, etc.
Price gets me here too. While the Floyd 1000 is a great selling point, the 2 humbucker version is roughly $600 Cdn. Plus $112 shipping. That puts it in used Wolfgang Standard territory, and within spitting distance of used Charvels. Heck, I paid considerably less for my old Ibanez RG560, with a case.

Like the Guitarfetish SBS models, the value proposition disappears fast once exchange rates and shipping are added in. I wish somebody in Canada was doing this kind of thing properly.
Elbows up.
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slowhand84
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Rollin Hand wrote: Fri Jun 27, 2025 7:31 am
slowhand84 wrote: Thu Jun 26, 2025 7:13 pm
Rollin Hand wrote: Thu Jun 26, 2025 4:06 pm It's a little pricey to get one of these to Canada, but those in the States and "on the Continent" should do quite well. Very impressive feature set, though I think not having jumbo frets is a miss.



Now if one were to pop up used in my area...
Check GC Used in the coming months, that's how I bought every single one of my HBs (all were significantly cheaper that way, and I could see the necks so I could get the most insanely figured ones).
GC used doesn't ship to Canada, unfortunately.
Ah didn't realize you were up there, gotcha.
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