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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2016 17:12:37 GMT
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Post by Abel on Jun 2, 2016 18:03:28 GMT
Nice! Looks a lot nicer than the pictures on Thomann's website for sure. It's a very pretty guitar, but I'm not sure if I like the reverse headstock or not. And why is there a hole underneath the pickguard?
I'm curious about your final verdict. I wonder how the pickups sound.
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Post by DerAlex on Jun 2, 2016 18:11:56 GMT
Looks really cool, though it is a 3-piece body. Or doesn´t that matter at all? I am also curious about how the PUs sound. I think the hole under the pickguard is for reducing the weight. How much is the guitar?
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3,968 posts
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Post by salteedog on Jun 2, 2016 18:17:09 GMT
Cavity under pg is to reduce weight presumably. Looks a bit nicer than what I first thought. How heavy is it and how thick is the neck?
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Post by john on Jun 2, 2016 18:34:11 GMT
Nice. I was hoping for a darker neck but that can be sorted. The finish on the body looks better than I was expecting. How does it sound? I'm curious about the Roswells.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2016 18:47:52 GMT
Nice! Looks a lot nicer than the pictures on Thomann's website for sure. It's a very pretty guitar, but I'm not sure if I like the reverse headstock or not. And why is there a hole underneath the pickguard? I'm curious about your final verdict. I wonder how the pickups sound. Looks really cool, though it is a 3-piece body. Or doesn´t that matter at all? I am also curious about how the PUs sound. I think the hole under the pickguard is for reducing the weight. How much is the guitar? Cavity under pg is to reduce weight presumably. Looks a bit nicer than what I first thought. How heavy is it and how thick is the neck? First to answer your questions with facts, our opinions follow below: - the hole under the pickguard is what Thomann calls 'Chambered Weight Relief'. It is quite cool, it harks back to the Smugglers Telecaster, now available as a 1967 Custom Shop version (for 3500+euro); - we checked and double checked: looking at the sides of the guitar, we can only find 1 line in the grain, so it looks like it is a 2-piece body; - we just weighed the guitar and she is heavier than we would have guessed: 4,1kg (on a kitchen scale). For you imperials out there: 9 pounds; - the neck is a strange one, because of the reverse headstock (our first one): it feels somewhat thinner, but more wide. The nut is 42mm wide, so quite narrow. The fact that the neck feels quite wide should give you an impression about depth and shape. Feels definitely different from a TE-20. TE-30, TE-52 or TE-80 (yes, we are Harley Benton fans). We had some more playing time, as this is our opinion at the moment: - quality is as always with Harley Benton, really decent, but there are some things that could be a bit tidier (comparable to the other TE guitars); - the matching on the grain between the two pieces of the body is not as nice as on some other Harley Bentons, but not as bad as on others; - the feel of the neck is different, but makes it quite fast; - and maybe most important: she sounds terrific, at least full throttle. Really clear and with a nice bite. Compared to a Gretsch Electromatic, the Gretsch sounds muddy and wobbly, even with Alnico 5 magnets. When rolling back the volume, the sound isn't that great, but that could be a personal preference and/or remedied by a decent setup. She needs a setup for our playing style and for the the genres of rockabilly and the like a set of heavier strings, but so far she does what it says on the tin. The two things we really have to sleep on are the reversed headstock (kinda cool, but we have to get used to the view from a playing perspective) and the belly cut, which we both strongly dislike on T-type guitars.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2016 18:52:23 GMT
Nice. I was hoping for a darker neck but that can be sorted. The finish on the body looks better than I was expecting. How does it sound? I'm curious about the Roswells. Haha, we really prefer the lighter neck of the TE-30 to the darker ones on for example the TE-52. If you are planning on staining the neck, note that the front of the headstock is glossy! Compared to a set of Gretsch Blacktop Filter'trons, the Roswells sound at least as good for that great slapback rockabilly sound (my wife likes them even better).
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Post by john on Jun 2, 2016 19:24:03 GMT
Thanks for taking the time to answer @bloozyfloozy, now I'm over-excited again. I was hoping for a kind of cross over Psychobilly / Punk sound from this and it seems like it might be there.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2016 20:09:02 GMT
Thats a lovely looking guitar! Cant wait to hear those pickups maybe John can play a bit once he gets his BTW, what a great review friend, thanks a lot! And welcome to the HB Club!
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Post by john on Jun 2, 2016 20:17:37 GMT
Thats a lovely looking guitar! Cant wait to hear those pickups maybe John can play a bit once he gets his BTW, what a great review friend, thanks a lot! And welcome to the HB Club! Why? Does a wind up music box fit in the smuggler cavity? Yea, forgot the welcome. A bit rude. Glad to have you here @bloozyfloozy. Welcome to the Club.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2016 21:13:18 GMT
Dear john and papache, thanks for the kind welcome! We are big fans of Harley Benton guitars (and we shouldn't forget EytschPi42's youtube channel) and it was time we could do something in return after all the info we have gotten out of this forum. Just played a little bit more (we have great neighbours , it's 23:00 here in the Netherlands) and I hope John's guitar will sound as good as this one. You are spot on regarding the Punkish sound, it pushes my amps nicely, so there is a nice White Stripes sound in there as well. It looks like we are going to keep her, but it isn't as clearcut as with other guitars, so we will sleep on it. We have a basic recording setup, but I would like to give the guitar a proper setup first. In contrast to other Harley Benton guitars in the higher pricerange (yeah, a joke ) she does not have a bone nut. It is a very grey looking plastic, so that needs to go! Luckily my wife is a superb nut maker. If you really cannot wait, we can do a simple recording this weekend? john, we would also love to see pictures when yours has arrived!
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Post by reling on Jun 2, 2016 21:18:18 GMT
Thanks for the pictures and the interesting review.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2016 21:54:45 GMT
If you really cannot wait, we can do a simple recording this weekend? I can wait! Please do record something clean and dirty if possible Thank you, you rock
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Post by guydio on Jun 2, 2016 22:03:38 GMT
Hi there and welcome. Thanks for this review, we've all been waiting for better pics from Thomman. In addition to weight saving, how much effect do you think the hollow chambers have on the balance of the guitar and the resonance from the body? With regards to the sound quality when rolling off the volume or tone control, that might improve with a swap of potentiometers and capacitor, the stock ones are a little small and might be choking the output a little? I guess you have to consider the warranty before swapping to much stuff. Thanks again.
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3,968 posts
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Post by salteedog on Jun 3, 2016 8:56:06 GMT
Yes indeed - a great first post! Welcome to the board Mr. and Mrs. Boozyfllozy. Like you I'm not a fan of the belly cut or the reversed headstock. I'll go out on a limb here and say that as a Lefty I almost find reverse headstocks to be kind of insulting. Us Lefties had to put up with them for years, not by choice but by the necessity of having to reverse right handed guitars. If the right handed guitar community wants to experience the lefty experience (even the Jimi Hendrix Experience .. forgive the pun ) then lobby the guitar manufacturers to make more left handed models for all the right handed players who want to feel what it's like to slum it with us lefties! Luckily I've moved on from having to reverse righty strats and indeed if Jimi had the same choice in the 50s and 60s as we have today today I'm sure he wouldn't have had to either...and the legacy of the 'sexy' reverse head stock would never had happened.
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