k31scout
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by k31scout on Aug 7, 2018 16:30:45 GMT
Hi all. This is my first post here, first Harley Benton and first Les Paul style guitar.
When I ordered there was a 6 week wait which took all of that to come in. Then 9 days after the ship date it arrived. The top of the box was caved in but there was no damage to the guitar; the inner box was perfect. So on to how I like it...
Pro's
The looks are stunning. The flame top is AAA and it looks very good and is centered. Wish I could post pics but trust me, it is nice. No scratches, blems or dust under the finish on the body. I'm happy. The binding is perfect as is the neck joint. The back is a 3 piece and looks good.
The strings are nice and clean, shipped with protective brown paper surrounding them. A little stretching and they stay in tune. I like the tuners, no grinding and no excessive turning to get it in tune.
Roswell pups sound good thru my Fender Mustang and I like the coil taps!
The neck and frets are superb. The nut is centered and seems fine with the 10's they have on. I like the neck contour and 43mm nut width for my large fingers.
Weighs in at 8.49 lbs. I can handle that.
Cons,
Fret board is the Blackwood and needs dressing. We shall see how it reacts to my very dry wood stove heat home environment this winter. My Fender maple board gets some sharp fret ends about mid January but none of them lift or buzz.
Finish near the head stock has checking cracks in the poly/lacquer finish next to the binding probably from clamping pressure when doing the binding.?? Not sure. At first I thought it was the wood but upon closer inspection it's just the thick poly thats cracked. Not too much of a blemish for me to to ship it from Michigan to Germany via USPS and DHL. I can live with it.
The cable socket needed to be pulled out to put a bend in the metal flange that holds the plug in as it was loose and took maybe 3 minutes to do.
So in conclusion, I'm very happy so far!
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3,968 posts
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Post by salteedog on Aug 7, 2018 16:37:40 GMT
Welcome! Thanks for sharing your review and happy NGD!
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Aug 7, 2018 19:55:24 GMT
Fingers crossed the fretboard holds up for you. That blackwood has had some bad reviews, too soon to make a call on it only time will tell. Welcome to the club.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2018 21:28:06 GMT
My Blackwood fretboard dried out after about 2 months leaving sharp fret ends and even some raised frets! Originally the fretboard was perfectly playable! I am staying away from pine fretboards!
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k31scout
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by k31scout on Aug 7, 2018 22:57:47 GMT
My Blackwood fretboard dried out after about 2 months leaving sharp fret ends and even some raised frets! Originally the fretboard was perfectly playable! I am staying away from pine fretboards! Papa, I've read of your dislike of the "blackwood" but unfortunately it was well after I ordered the guitar. All I saw were Utubes praising the 450+. Probably would have went with a Custom or one of the TE's with humbuckers. If it fails I'll be wailing at HB.
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3,457 posts
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Post by LeoThunder on Aug 8, 2018 5:35:08 GMT
My Blackwood fretboard dried out after about 2 months leaving sharp fret ends and even some raised frets! Originally the fretboard was perfectly playable! I am staying away from pine fretboards! Papa, I've read of your dislike of the "blackwood" but unfortunately it was well after I ordered the guitar. All I saw were Utubes praising the 450+. Probably would have went with a Custom or one of the TE's with humbuckers. If it fails I'll be wailing at HB. " Blackwood Tek is suitable for immediate use, with a stable moisture content of 5%, and is resistant to changes in humidity and temperature with minimal fluctuation." It shouldn't dry out in 2 months unless played on Mars. You can't take Harley Bentons there unless you buy that roasted maple thing
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2018 6:22:22 GMT
My Blackwood fretboard dried out after about 2 months leaving sharp fret ends and even some raised frets! Originally the fretboard was perfectly playable! I am staying away from pine fretboards! Papa, I've read of your dislike of the "blackwood" but unfortunately it was well after I ordered the guitar. All I saw were Utubes praising the 450+. Probably would have went with a Custom or one of the TE's with humbuckers. If it fails I'll be wailing at HB. I'm also praising the Old 450+ which I had and was with Rosewood board. HB is a fine brand but need to realize that maybe Ovangkol, or this Indian Laurel is a better option for a fretboard. Hell, if they want something sustainable yet very hard use Acacia! It's as stable as Oak but grows 10x faster (probably 20x). Out of all the possible woods they chose one that's as soft as toilet paper!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2018 6:29:26 GMT
Papa, I've read of your dislike of the "blackwood" but unfortunately it was well after I ordered the guitar. All I saw were Utubes praising the 450+. Probably would have went with a Custom or one of the TE's with humbuckers. If it fails I'll be wailing at HB. " Blackwood Tek is suitable for immediate use, with a stable moisture content of 5%, and is resistant to changes in humidity and temperature with minimal fluctuation." It shouldn't dry out in 2 months unless played on Mars. You can't take Harley Bentons there unless you buy that roasted maple thing You keep linking to this site. Are you saying my own experience is to be ignored and instead blindly believe in this company making money by selling this wood? Leo do you have a guitar with Blackwood Tek ? I would much trust personal experience not affiliated with manufacturers.
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3,457 posts
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Post by LeoThunder on Aug 8, 2018 8:06:56 GMT
It's the first site I found when looking for the thing. Of course your experience cannot be ignored but I know from personal experience that products ripen and that there are exceptions, bad batches of products.
The point is that no manufacturer wants to sell a faulty product. It kills their business. So if Blackwood is still on offer, it's either because early problems with the treatment were fixed or even more likely because yours was a bad one, for some arcane reason (treatment badly done, wood outside of some required characteristics, maybe not dry enough when processed…). The other explanation is that your guitar was subjected to extreme conditions, but I doubt this should be the case without you knowing about it.
Now, if more people were to report similar issues we could generalise but until this happens, I believe it is too early to do so.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2018 8:29:44 GMT
My Blackwood guitar was hanging on the same wall with my Rosewood, Maple, Ovangkol guitars which had no such issues. Pine might be good for a guitar body but not for a neck or god forbid fretboard! You can wait for more reviews but Im more than confident with my experience! BTW, my old farmhouse is heated evenly by radiators set to the same temp (20'C). There are no large fluctuations and we live in Denmark very humid country. By all standards, this fretboard should not shrink but rather expand
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k31scout
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by k31scout on Aug 8, 2018 12:27:15 GMT
My indoor winter season air normally is 20-25% humidity; very dry. I have a Godin acoustic with a rosewood fret board that survives very well. My Fender Strat with maple board does shrink a little but not badly. I'll report back on how the Blackwood handles the dry heat this winter.
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Post by intenselycalm on Aug 9, 2018 17:56:22 GMT
Out of curiosity.
What species of "Blackwood" is being used on the HB guitars? Is it the African Blackwood, or Blackwood Tek, or some other material simply called Blackwood?
Thomann listings just say "Blackwood". This is overly vague, possibly on purpose, which makes me think it may be nearly anything that is available.
So, does anyone know what "blackwood" is being used on HB's?
Just curious.
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k31scout
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by k31scout on Aug 9, 2018 18:47:42 GMT
African Blackwood is supposed to be closely related to Rosewood and is very desirable for fret boards and costly. Doubt HB is using that or else they would brag that fact up. Blackwood Tec is from New Zealand pine that is processed to harden and darken it and stabilize it. A Google search shows several guitar makers using it.
There could be a cheaper Chinese version of some kind of blackwood. HB does not say it's Blackwood Tec so I'm a little nervous. In the mean time, I'm enjoying it!
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k31scout
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by k31scout on Aug 9, 2018 20:04:48 GMT
Alright, I figured out how to post pictures here. The neck shot shows the cracks in the poly/lacquer. I can feel it but just barely. Again, not enough for me to hassle with a return being from the USA. It looks far worse than it is.
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Post by blindwilly3fingers on Aug 9, 2018 20:23:22 GMT
Nice looking guitar 👍
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