rtm
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by rtm on May 22, 2018 13:20:47 GMT
I think everyone can agree that the pickguards on these basses are... Violently repugnant.
"No problem" I hear you say, "you can just change it later!" W R O N G
These pickguards have the Fender Deluxe layout on the pickup cutouts, and the Fender Standard layout on the screw holes.
Total number of available pickguards to swap : 0.
Better get the can of paint...
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Post by JAC on May 22, 2018 19:30:24 GMT
You can buy pickguard blanks and cut your own. There are also many companies that will cut and drill whatever template you want.
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rtm
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by rtm on May 23, 2018 0:02:50 GMT
There are also many companies that will cut and drill whatever template you want. For $75-$100, nobody's going to spend 80% of an instrument's value on a cosmetics buff up.
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rtm
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by rtm on May 23, 2018 0:06:41 GMT
I'm surprised it's got either. I'd expect it to line up with nothing, have too tight pickup holes and a misaligned neck pocket cutout with a lower horn that over projects. I'm surprised it doesn't line up correctly with any market pickguards. Because HB has shown they are capable of living up to a standard, that's why we buy them and not Jay Turser, Cort, Morgan or any other dime a dozen copist brand. The moment HB loses sight of the details is when they lose the goodwill they've built on exactly the details, which all other brands like it fumble every time.
They know full well that pickguard looks horrible, the act of not lining up the holes is akin to saying "we want this to end up in a landfill". The bass, that is, not just the pickguard. Because proportional to the $100 the instrument costs, no amount of extra effort or expense beyond what is expected can be tolerated.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2018 6:04:34 GMT
These ugly PGs can look very good if sanded so they look used/old. It's that new sheen that makes them very ugly. But agreed, I'm sure by now they know folks generally dislike those. Also agree that HB might go down as Gibson is, if they don't fix their QC Get your shoit together Harley!
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Post by JAC on May 23, 2018 10:24:11 GMT
There are also many companies that will cut and drill whatever template you want. For $75-$100, nobody's going to spend 80% of an instrument's value on a cosmetics buff up.
I suppose that depends on how important those cosmetics are to each person. You can find pickguard blanks starting from 20€ online. Also, it is not just HB, I can tell you from experience that pickguards made by Fender very rarely line up perfectly from one version to the next (Squier, MIM, MIA, MIJ etc.). The same goes for many brands.
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rtm
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by rtm on May 23, 2018 11:58:52 GMT
I don't think I've ever bought an after market pickguard that exactly fits anything. Some filling, filing and redrilling has always been required. The D'Andrea pickguards for Jazz Bass on Thomann's very own site line up perfect on the HB Jazz basses. I haven't tried the Teles and Strats but I bet they are just as precisely matched.
The problem isn't just that the 5-string Precision basses don't line up with available pickguards. It's that the screw holes line up perfectly with one Fender type, but not the pickup holes and vice versa.
The 'standard' fenders have the long coil of the P-pickup on the top near the neck, while the 'deluxe' and 'signature' fenders have the long coil on the bottom towards the bridge. The PJ-5 and PJ-75 have the latter P-pickup configuration (which lines up perfect) but the screw holes from the prior configuration (which also lines up perfect)
It's like two different people were drawing this thing, and they both did their job perfectly, but what they fused together was a Frankenstein and it's incredibly frustrating that it also happens to be the very ugliest pickguard type HB does (yes, I know about the HB35)
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1,481 posts
Disclosures: Everything I don't like I can modify.
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Post by blablas on May 23, 2018 12:55:04 GMT
Even though it doesn't fit at least you can buy a pickguard. Ever tried finding a replacement one for a lefty instrument?
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rtm
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by rtm on May 23, 2018 13:04:01 GMT
Out of interest, rtm , are you looking at replacing with a tort d'andrea? If so, have you seen them and do they look loads better? 'Real' even? No idea! I'm strictly a red sparkle kind of guy
I might try the icy blue pearloid, but I'm not really into tort...
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3,968 posts
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Post by salteedog on May 23, 2018 14:41:31 GMT
It's a weird situation with Thomann. They have to be careful not to tread on the toes of the manufacturers that they are selling so make tiny tweaks to their own brand versions so that they don't fall out. Nobody is fooled into not knowing what this ST-57DG is pretending to be, but everyone plays the game that they believe it to be a unique design and have no idea who DG might be. I guess the little tweaks that they have to make mean that no lawyer can lay one on top of another and say, "There you go: stolen patent." I don't think I've ever bought an after market pickguard that exactly fits anything. Some filling, filing and redrilling has always been required. I know that Thomann sell a Harley Benton scratchplate described as fitting 'ST style guitars' and, as we know, no two of those are identical. Wonder what they mean by 'ST style guitars' anyway. I was always curious as to why they made a Danny Gatton strat when he's known primarily as a Tele man
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3,968 posts
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Post by salteedog on May 23, 2018 14:43:01 GMT
P.S. The lefty stat pickgurds Thomann sell do not match up with the ones on the ST-20. Screw-holes again.
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DefJef
THBC Moderator
Due to musical differences I've decided I can't work with myself any more.
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Post by DefJef on May 23, 2018 19:30:00 GMT
It's a weird situation with Thomann. They have to be careful not to tread on the toes of the manufacturers that they are selling so make tiny tweaks to their own brand versions so that they don't fall out. Nobody is fooled into not knowing what this ST-57DG is pretending to be, but everyone plays the game that they believe it to be a unique design and have no idea who DG might be. I guess the little tweaks that they have to make mean that no lawyer can lay one on top of another and say, "There you go: stolen patent." I don't think I've ever bought an after market pickguard that exactly fits anything. Some filling, filing and redrilling has always been required. I know that Thomann sell a Harley Benton scratchplate described as fitting 'ST style guitars' and, as we know, no two of those are identical. Wonder what they mean by 'ST style guitars' anyway. I was always curious as to why they made a Danny Gatton strat when he's known primarily as a Tele man Silly man. It's David Gray's...isn't it?
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