eBay listing for this guitar: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1231408298... Donate to Guitars For Good Causes: www.gofundme.com/guitarsforgoo... Check out my music at www.johnrobsonmusic.co.uk
Outstanding choice, John. I love the rich sounds and range of variables. Watching the vid it appeared relatively easy to bend notes. You play very well.
i have a st-62 with old trem(six screws) ,the method i used to sort the trem out totally. Replace string "catchers" with string trees, replace nut with Graphtech nut(PQ-5000) cost about£10 i wedged a fret rocker under trem then tune to pitch.screw the spring claw screws inwards until wedge comes out, give it some welly on trem, re_tune and use trem normally.if a note is flat you need more spring tension(tighten screw) if a string is sharp its binding at the nut either lube or file.sorry if thats long winded but this method does work . i hope this helps someone out but it really is a balancing act literally!!!
Hey John, i bought a HB telecaster 6 months ago. It is with no doubt a killer guitar. I own a custom shop Strat and after a bit of setting up on the Tele it definitely holds its own with the Strat. Playability and tone are great.
Nice to hear "Dancing in the moonlight" ( Thin Lizzy ) among other things...Nice-sounding Strat, you've convinced me, I'm going to add one to my collection...
Great channel here. You are doing the masses a great service by reviewing these budget guitars that get the job done! Well done and nice guitar playing! Cheers.
Just subscribed !!!! I'm Loving you channel so far ..... Can't see that changing !!!! I'm a guitarist been playing for over 40 years and I'm 48 years old now and I must say I really like your playing , it's a nice change for someone to play so well without the bullshit of ego on here . Thank you ...... Brilliant . Shane Stevens , Cambridgeshire ....
Very clever repair solution to the loose tremelo problem. I would suggest, however, to cut the plastic bag into strips, 1/2" wide, by 2" long. Cut several of them. Then use them to wrap the threads of the screw threads, going in the direction of screwing in the screw. This is the same as what you would do for putting teflon tape on the threads of a pipe fitting. It takes up the space between the threads of the screw and the threads cut into the internal piece.
Glad you mentioned that the bridge pickup was not great -thought it was just my ears ! The neck pickup sounded great to me though. Love the look of the guitar and in your hands it rocks :) . Someone's going to be lucky.
We all have five senses... but a sixth very important sence that John definetly has.... and some people don’t seem to have is a ...sence of humor.... Rock on John 👍😎🎸
Wow I never thought about it actually, but you are 100% correct IT IS an output jack NOT an input. 30+ years playing and I still learn new things. Thanks : )
Recently traded for an "10 ash body mim strat. Set it up and no issues at all. People put down MIM strats to justify why they spent $1200.00 for a USA. IMHO
I have a 1980 Stratocaster that I bought that was green with a white pickguard. Of course the first thing I did was sanded it down the bare wood and then refinished a shiny coat over top. And I replace the pickguard with tortoise shell, and I soak the pickup covers and volume and tone knobs in very thick coffee for a couple days to turn them a cream color nicotine faded. Looks almost identical to this. And it's taken me since 1983 to make it look that way. I want to buy one of these because I was so happy with the black and gold Paisley tele from these guys. Harley Benton is a great company
My Japanese Fender Strat bridge posts were loose. I used teflon tape to rap the posts. Worked great! I love the natural finish on the guitar. Why don't more manufacturers use it? Probably cheap wood? But I don't like the pick guard. I see that as of March 20, 2020, they are using a darker color pick guard, which looks much better.
I Was Just Going To Say John, I Had This Problem With Loose Bridge Posts, And I Used Plumbers, { Thread Tape } Does A Great Job Of Fixing Them, When You Said You Have Used This Your Self, Great Video And Playing, Cheers
Seb Brosig I wouldn't rule it out, mate. Then there will be those who insist on having the bag all crumpled & torn as the relic'd ones have so much more "mojo." 😂
Nice guitar and great playing too. Don`t forget to listen to the gear bitches and change - the body, the neck, the bridge, tuners, pickups, strap buttons, strings, electrics etc and it will sound like a totally different guitar.
too late, I bought three and have no regret. I got traditional body thickness and head stock. I'm glad you think you got a better guitar. More power to you .
I have that same model, and there was nothing wrong when I got it - it's a very nice guitar, and dirt cheap too - the trem is great! Actually I'm a liiiitle bit in love with it
It is indeed an 'output' jack, as it allows the signal to travel out to the amp. It is also a 'vibrato' unit, or 'vibrato arm' and not a tremolo unit or tremolo arm. 'Vibrato' is a change in pitch, while tremolo is a change in volume. Of course, context is important. When talking guitars, 'trem' means vibrato, 'tuners' mean tuning machines, etc. In that context, 'input' and 'output' mean the same thing.
What you're doing for the kids is a very honorable thing...much respect for all you're doing! Anyway, I think the Harley Benton's are hard to beat for the price! I have rarely ever heard a bad review. People always like them!
I always enjoy your videos but I don't know why you would compare this guitar to a Mexican strat the new player series are really unbelievable! I don't know if you've had the chance too play one yet but if you ever do i think you will see what I mean I know that thay cost 4 times as much but I think you might even be impressed. I know harley benton is the new kid in town but Fender is Fender for a reason. Anyway love your videos and the charity work your doing your a good man
I bought a new MiM Strat from Manny's Music ages ago (this was before the Internet so it was sight unseen over the phone), for a few hundred dollars and it was darn near perfect right out of the box. Low action, easy to play, no fret buzz, no neck adjustment needed, it was great. I thought they were all like that but later started hearing complaints from others. I did jokingly ask the salesman to pick me out a good one. Looks like he came through.
Yeah, too bad they closed up. They had the lowest price on everything. After getting back into music it's disturbing to find that EVERY store has the same exact price on each item, so there's no shopping around for deals. I thought price fixing was illegal.
i resold the guitar i got. 1995 and completely mint. i decided to make some money and get something cheap for free. i had a great Squier and ruined it. sold the parts for $60. made in Indonesia.
He's the first one I've ever heard to say he prefers the six screw tremolo over the two point tremolo system. I personally feel the opposite about that.
Well, its a bit of a shame that I came across this the day after the ebay auction ended but at least it raised some decent money. Nicely done video, John, with what I would say is just the right amount of playing to show how the guitar performs. I think it also confirms just how important getting the guitar properly sorted out and set up is. My G.A.S. has got me wondering if Harley Benton do a nice Telecaster ?
I hope you notice the 350mm (13.7'') fretboard radius vs the usual 9.5'' radius for Strat/Tele clones (or the 7.25'' for vintage Strat/Teles). This is an Ibanez or a Yamaha Pacifica 112 disguised as a Strat.
After spending THOUSANDS almost 100,000 on gear( probably more) I can Honestly say its more about brand than the actual guitar. These are fine instruments and will get the Job done. Save your money on your future and familys. Its in your hands not the guitar
Thanks again for a good video! I'd like to chime in with a few points if that's ok. I got this same Harley Benton swamp ash guitar a couple of weeks ago. It now plays very well and keeps in tune even better than my Fender Tom Delonge. There were however a few things with it to sort out. I had a hairline crack in the wood visible only on the back side, about 5 cm from the backplate and towards the neck. Unscrewed the backplate and saw the crack starting right under the trem springs. Thomann wanted me to rerurn it, but I am taking my chances that it is just an initial drying up crack of the wood and I don't expect it to continue further. Future will tell. I also had already started polishing the frets so I didn't want to return it as the rest of the guitar was perfect in finish and feel. The intonation was absolutely pertfect. I had a couple of fret ends protruding maybe a tad that I finished down. I fixed the trem by tightening the 2 bridge screws and fixing the trem block, since I never use the trem. The neck is nice and straight, truss rod works. The staining/laquer was quite orange in the colour tone as I got it, the first thing I noticed that wasn't quite as in the Thomann picture, or indeed as yours. I have gotten used to it and quite like it, and have polished the whole body and neck with steel wool and it looks much better. The original laquer/varnish was a bit "dead" looking. (I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to wood finish, messing with wooden boats, furniture etc.) One more little thing that was a bit strange was the plastic nut. The spacing of the string pockets are not correctly spaced in my opinion, as the grooves are too narrowly spaced. Will install a new bone nut today. The nut was initially also too high, but that was easily remedied by taking it out and sanding it down about a mm. This may all seem as too much for some buyers, for others not. I like this guitar a LOT in spite of some minor flaws, since the price is fantastic and I have no problem with making these minor adjustments. It still is quite a good quality instrument. Cheers 👍⭐
Chris Franklyn Yes , one could of course get some epoxy glue in there, but I will wait and see what happens. My woodworking experiences tell me it's an initial drying of the wood and that it has stabilized. If the tgin crack had continued past the other side of the routed out trem hole, I'd be worried and had returned it, but thus is not the case. We'll just wait and see 😉😎
I've got one of these guitars on order and thinking of fitting locking tuners. If I bought vintage locking tuners would they swap over easily using the same screw holes etc.?
I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the price of this (in euros) hasn't changed in the best part of 2 years, in fact it's cheaper now due to the exchange rate.
I'm with you on the bridge pup, it sounds shit without tone control. I'd get a Tele bridge pup into it and get your guitar tech to get some tone control in there.
Oh nice. Is this still the case with the biodegradable plastic bags? Ever had one of those explode in your hands into a cloud of particles? :) I suppose even if it goes to dust it's in the grooves doing the job.
Fender Mexican Classic Series 70s Strat with ash body is 800 euros. Hard to say are these really comparable but the sound you got from this is definitely good.
Eloy Suopunki Having played hundreds of MIM strats I don't think it's hard to say this is comparable at all. Quality of timber? Check. Fit & finish? Check. Playability? Check. Quality of hardware? Check. Sound? Check. Once all those things are ticked off the list, you've got a comparable instrument.
Just after posting I went to search those same Fender Strats with rosewood fingerboard, I couldn't hear any significant difference. With maple fingerboards, yes, but then again that's a different wood choice.
it is so great to the guitars for good causes project growing. kind of reminds me of the original blues brothers movie, they were doing it for the kids too :) cheers how is the neck on this guitar btw? is it more fat classic or more like an ibanez?
Malcolm Hardwick I disagree. Putting a mini humbucker (like a hot rails) in the bridge position makes the bridge/middle setting darker sounding. Using a 5 way "super switch" as a replacement for the standard 5 way switch means that you can automatically coil tap the humbucker when you flip to the "in between" position if retaining the single coil sound is important to you. I've never experienced a humbucker sounding "brighter" than a single coil it replaces.
I have a hotrails in the bridge on one of my strats and it sounds pretty good. Nice to split the coils ( not tap thats different ! ) to keep the regular strat sound that can be boosted when the need arises. Another strat I put a hotter ( about 1k hotter ) bridge pickup and it sounds far better than the old pickup. But when I go to bridge/middle it sounded way too bright so i put the old pickup back in and it gave a warmer sounding quack type sound. So i guess I need another strat to use this hotter bridge pickup in !
Excellent review as ever. One other thing, thanks for the clarification about output and input - one of my pet hates as well. My othe pet hate is that it isn't a socket - it's a jack. That is why the plug is called a jack plug.
Hi John,Hows it going ? Hope your getting the sunshine. This looks an ok guitar,like the swamp ash...do they do a tele in swamp ash ? I am torn between a G&L BLUESBOY TELE OR THE HARLEY BENTON 70 PAISLEY TELE ? What do ya think ? Any advice greatly appreciated...g&l or paisley ? Great channel John,cheers.
Cheers John ,good to know . Thing is i can now get modern fender,humbucker bridge/strat middle/tele neck for £415 ????? I have to make a choice or i will go mad he he he. Think i might have a look at the T52 before i make up my mind. Thanks again John,I will let you know,cheers.
A wonderful review! Your positive attitude makes the video interesting. Anyone can bitch and complain but you see problems as things to fix, not to whine about. If ever you get bored, i could use an explanation of what makes a good tuning peg and how best to change them. If ever you find yourself in Montreal you will have a beer or two waiting for you.
Nicholas Pogue Thanks mate. As for tuners, personally, I'm not that fussy. The higher gear ratio the better. 18:1 is pretty normal on higher end tuners. Many people like locking pegs, but if you tie the strings off (as I've done for years) you get the same stability out of regular tuners. Wilkinson are pretty reliable & pretty good on price, too 😀
Grr Argh Glad you noticed that, mate! The guitar intimates perfectly, but it does give an odd shaped pattern on the saddles. Maybe the bridge posts are a mm out? But that's why the saddles are adjustable, right? 😀👍
I'm not sure it's possible to buy a bad new guitar, these days? I just picked up a secondhand Dano DC59. Apparently, been on ebay for week, with no interest, and since it was only ten minutes from me, all the 'problems' were fixable, and it was dirt cheap, I took a punt. This thing is nigh on pristine! Small dent in the neck, which I couldn't even find, initially, basically just a chip in the lacquer. 'Chip' in the scratchplate - the scratchplate is a piece of hardboard with a white textured sheet glued on, which is peeling off and has a small (2x1mm) piece missing. Glue it down or paint it... Best/mos amuzing thing, which I didn't spot 'til I got home. 'Tuning issues'. Dumbass strung it up with ZERO wraps around the posts on the wound strings and just two wraps on the plain, PLUS the plain strings wound on this three-a-side head as if it was a six-a-side, Fender style, ie. the wrong direction.
Worry not..I do believe you are partly correct about the "output socket".. But the whole truth is..nothing comes out without something going in..kind of like an old girlfriend of mine! Lol! Great vid.
Now this was a much better content John much appreciated. I'm still on the fence with a Harley Benton so mixec views and opinions. I my as well stick with either a Mexican or an epiphone would be better quality. Thank you John. Gary from Grindelwald Tasmania
John Robson Guitarist I think I remember your cover band... Did it myself with a cover band called Uncle Waldo in late 70's/80's... Was fortunate to have met the late great Phil Lynott twice.. Absolute legend.. Will be at the Rory gallagher festival in ballyshannon, Co. Donegal in a couple of weeks, Brian Downey is there playing the main stage with his very own lizzy cover band..
Ryan Brian Downey is one of Rock's most under rated drummers, IMHO. Love his fill on the Chinatown intro. He's the perfect combo of flash & solid groove 😀
Thanks for the reply. I heard someone say they were much flatter...lol..Not this particular guitar but the HB's as a whole. If I didn't have too many guitars I would give one a try. That one sounds great, looks great. Great review.. output jack. HA. That's true, never heard it called that. But it is.
my nephew just got into guitar. i told his mom to get a used guitar for the same price as a piece of crap new Squier. i know they aren't horrible for the price and some are better than others. i got one off ebay, made in INdonesia that sounded nice. she didn't listen and now i get to hear the kid jamming on a really cheap setup. i guess many of us have started that way. she also got him a few pedals. so overall it was like $4-500. then she complains they need to save money SMH. i would have said to get something like this and a Roland mini amp. he is a natural musician i have to say. started drumming first and isn't bad. horrible drumset tho OMG. then he picks up guitar and took some lessons and faster learner than i ever was. little whippersnapper!
It really is sad when your family has someone with some degree of "expertise" at their disposal, and willing to help non the less and they don't take advantage of it, I started on a squier, switched out the pickups and sounds great now.
i took apart a Squire and can't put it back together. soldering isn't difficult. i am confused by some wire with a sleeve. i'm not giving up. now its personal lol. it was a nice Indo Squire strat that i thought i could strip and poly. not a good idea.
Did the same thing my dude, took me years to finally put it back together, but you can do it, get yourself a couple of old pots and switches, or cheap ones and practice the wiring first, I'd recommend getting something along the lines of 26 gauge wire seems to be a good size for wiring instruments I usually just buy 26 gauge balanced microphone wire and strip the leads, start from scratch and its much easier to follow than whatever someone else did. plenty of good diagrams out there.
Hey John. Do you recall if this guitar was routed to accommodate SSS, HSS, HSH, HH, or just a bathtub? (pickguard not withstanding) Thanks for all that you do.
Look to the list on the right side it sais Blackwood fretbaord! Which is pine wood! I have that Blackwood on my Traveler HB guitar and the frets are MOVING! Stay away from that Blackwood. Lets hope Thomann changes that for Ovangkol instead.
Che Guebuddha Yeah, they've changed that since I did that part of the video earlier this week. You're right, it DOES now say Blackwood. It's not pine though, as you can see here... www.woodsolutions.com.au/wood-species/blackwood
Trust me, its Pine. Ask Thomann guitar department! Its very soft, I can go straight into it with my nail! No wonder my frets move in it! I wish they change that crap wood and get Ovangkol or even that baked maple (Roseacer). Im sure yours is the one with Rosewood freboard. I had that old one too with Wilkinson pickups. Fantastic guitar (it was)
Sorry, but how do you KNOW it's pine? If they say it's Blackwood, and it's not, that would be false advertising. And as you incorrectly identified Blackwood as Pine, i can;t help but be suspicious of your statement.
Blackwood is New Zealand PINE! You go ahead and get yourself a HB with Blackwood, be my guest, and report later ;) Im for sure staying away from it after having such wood on my Harley Benton Traveler guitar (acoustic). Never before have I had frets moving out of the fretboard with any other wood I had (Rosewood, Maple). BTW, did you ever have a guiatr with Blackwood fretboard? But lets say its not Pine! What ever it is, it IS Crap in my book as fretboard material should be stable and hard!
Tim, I have been buying Harley Bentons since 2014! Thomann falsely advertise often, not because they want to but because it happens (human factor). They have no problem getting such guitar back and give you back the money. They have a very good customer service, hence me still being their customer!
I have no idea, I'm afraid. The guitar was only passing through my hands as it had been donated to a charity I was fundraising for. It went to it's new owner not long after this video was published.
