8 posts
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Post by riffwizard on Sept 19, 2016 9:33:17 GMT
Hi Guys and gals I am new to this forum so want to introduce myself. I am an old timer coming back to guitar after many years of not playing. I have three Harley Benton guitar and just purchased my fourth being the Harley Benton TE-40 TBK Deluxe Series. I was very disappointed when unboxing to find this guitar did not have an ASH top as advertised. Its the look of this guitar which attracted my attention to it. Has anyone also had this experience and how was it remedied or has this happened in a different model. What was the outcome after contacting Thomann Thanks and look forward your replies .. tHANKS FOR A GREAT FORUM
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2016 12:17:55 GMT
Hi and welcome! I dont have that TE-40 but I never heard of wrong woods being advertised on Thomann. No matter what Thomann will take that guitar back if you arent happy with it. No questions asked. Make sure to return it within 14 days so they pay for the return.
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8 posts
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Post by riffwizard on Sept 19, 2016 12:25:21 GMT
I am happy with the guitar and its the first, good out of the box it`s just the top says see through and the pic on the web shows a clearly see through greyish [/i]black and my one is Black. All I really wanted I know, is this black the true see through .And has other see through got the same.The wood grain is not visible.
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178 posts
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Post by mototech on Sept 19, 2016 15:17:39 GMT
My first Harley Benton was a TE-40, but I'm certain that at the time I ordered mine, it was just described as Basswood, not with a maple top.
Brian.
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8 posts
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Post by riffwizard on Sept 19, 2016 15:55:04 GMT
My first Harley Benton was a TE-40, but I'm certain that at the time I ordered mine, it was just described as Basswood, not with a maple top. Brian. I am sure they all have bass wood bodies but the advert on THomann Web site currently says an ASK top
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178 posts
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Post by mototech on Sept 19, 2016 16:10:16 GMT
I see that, but as I said, it definately didn't when I bought mine. What response have you had from them?
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Post by iqvistus on Sept 19, 2016 18:12:27 GMT
Does yours have a non transparent top finish? Then something is wrong. Mine has a translucent black top, although it looks mostly black unless you have a light shining on it.
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8 posts
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Post by riffwizard on Sept 21, 2016 22:29:36 GMT
My one has a very faint wood under the black but nothing like what you have and only in small patches. I e mailed Thomann but still no reply. From prevouis experance the don`t deal with problems very quickly. I don`t really want to send back this guitar as it is perfect intonation, frett are level and played out of the box the only flaw was that the strings we rusty which I will replace ASAP.And a tuning peg is skewly fitted. I own 3 black guitars so would have liked a different one. I am not realy impressed with Thomann`s service.My last guitar from them was an Ovation style accoustic and three fretts on GBE strings were buzzing znd they took to long to come back to me that just reintonated the bridge by add a second piece to extend the bridge backward.Thank God I can do these things myself.I would be a money job to reintonate a bridge that is too far forward.
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178 posts
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Post by mototech on Sept 22, 2016 13:01:02 GMT
My one has a very faint wood under the black but nothing like what you have and only in small patches. I e mailed Thomann but still no reply. From prevouis experance the don`t deal with problems very quickly. I don`t really want to send back this guitar as it is perfect intonation, frett are level and played out of the box the only flaw was that the strings we rusty which I will replace ASAP.And a tuning peg is skewly fitted. I own 3 black guitars so would have liked a different one. I am not realy impressed with Thomann`s service.My last guitar from them was an Ovation style accoustic and three fretts on GBE strings were buzzing znd they took to long to come back to me that just reintonated the bridge by add a second piece to extend the bridge backward.Thank God I can do these things myself.I would be a money job to reintonate a bridge that is too far forward. Oddly enough, the strings on mine wererusty too, after a bit of messing about, they sent me a new set.
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8 posts
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Post by riffwizard on Oct 27, 2016 10:43:54 GMT
A good tip with rusty strings is to use a small piece of aluminium foil ( kitchen foil) and a dab of Coke a cola polish this up and down the stings and the rush will go Its works very well..
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15 posts
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Post by toomanyhobbies on Oct 27, 2016 12:37:28 GMT
Regarding emailing Thomman, when I went that rout it was very slow. Over a week for each reply. Finally I just called them and got much faster service. I would send an email, and give them a call. I told them about the email so they could link the call and the email, but calling was key. From the US that can be expensive unless you add international calling on your cell phone, which for me was $5 and I only kept it for a month. Google phone and other voice over IP services are cheap as well. It is disappointing to be here in the US, wait for a box, open it and not be happy with it. It's just a pain to send things back but they may cover shipping. They say they will cover $40, but if you work with them they may cover the actual cost which in my case from NY was $90. Once you have more than one guitar kicking around, it's worth the hassle to get what you want and not settle, in my opinion. As long as you have something to play while waiting.
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Post by marit on Oct 27, 2016 13:34:03 GMT
A good tip with rusty strings is to use a small piece of aluminium foil ( kitchen foil) and a dab of Coke a cola polish this up and down the stings and the rush will go Its works very well.. Nice one, thanks! Our dear coca cola keeps us nice and shiny inside!
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178 posts
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Post by mototech on Oct 27, 2016 13:44:39 GMT
Why do you want to send it back? If that is a photo of the top of your guitar, it looks great, mine looked the same. If it was advertised as ash & you are absoloutley certain it isn't, get them to issue a part refund, the guitar will still look & sound great. & for the money, you will certainly not by another guitar as good.
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Post by KiwiNeil on Feb 7, 2020 2:00:25 GMT
I see that this thread is a bit old, I hope it's ok to post here? My TE-40 TBK Deluxe Series doesn't have that translucent appearance to the top either, although if Thomann says it is an Ash top on a Basswood body, I have no reason to doubt that. The fact that it isn't translucent doesn't make a difference to me personally. I can't see the top, translucent or not, when I'm playing it so it doesn't matter to me. Others may be disappointed by the top, but I'm just fine with it as the quality of the finish is otherwise superb. The tuners were another story though. For sure they 'did the job' but they weren't very nice to adjust. A set of (gold) locking tuners from Guyker (19:1) dropped straight in and the tuning stability is very, very good. I was going to change the string trees to roller trees, but tbh, I can't really be bothered as the stock items work just fine. The plastic nut was changed for a bone nut (about $5 for a blank) and at that time I polished the frets, and that's about it!! What a nice instrument.
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3,457 posts
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Post by LeoThunder on Feb 7, 2020 3:16:40 GMT
The tuners were another story though. For sure they 'did the job' but they weren't very nice to adjust. A set of (gold) locking tuners from Guyker (19:1) dropped straight in and the tuning stability is very, very good. HB's usually come with a 15:1 ratio. Not great but workable. I won't change any of them. Tuning stability is never an issue with tuners, unless maybe on toys. Stretching strings, catching nut, string trees, vibrato system are the more likely causes.
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