3,457 posts
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Post by LeoThunder on Jan 14, 2020 10:54:18 GMT
What are the advantages of the Schecter? With the same hardware, the HB wouldn't feel the same. The painting is more fragile, when you look inside the cavities you don't notice the same attention to details. You can still make the HB an very good guitar and have tons of fun with it, but it's not the same overall high quality feel. Attention to detail is often price more than objective quality. It makes an impression. "Look how long I spent on this, it must be better, right?" No, it must not. Sometimes, it's only more expensive. I know the feeling. When I open my Squier Jazz Bass or any of my Ibanez, it looks better, tidier. Wires are nicely tied together with a plastic ring but it doesn't make solder joints conduct better or last longer. Real attention to detail, the one I miss in HB (I'm still p…ed off about it), would be to have pots of the proper value so the f…ing tone controls would work from 10 to 1 instead of between 4 and 1 on the SC-450 Plus. That I miss and it's not just impression, it's function. It doesn't happen on my Ibanez, Schecter, Aria… I like the feel of a well made thing. It's nice. But I know it's a feeling. It creates an impression. Better fret work is function, no question there. Better action, smoother bends. I don't squeeze the neck so I don't care much for fret ends but I understand how others would. I don't feel the fingerboard either. Only hardened calluses get to it, so it doesn't matter. I never felt a difference. The HB blackwood feels soft and smooth, though (I just went to look). Very nice. Sometimes cheap can be just fine.
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572 posts
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Post by Djangle on Jan 14, 2020 11:30:00 GMT
Both guitars just played themselves … What does that really mean? Lower action? Different neck profile? The body shape cannot be the reason, can it? Was balance involved? I can't play my SC-450 Plus sitting on a chair because I have to keep the neck down in addition to fret strings. That fat bottomed thing is a pain so I play it on the couch. But that's not special to Harley Benton, it seems everyone has to contort themselves to play the silly things: What I mean is it felt smooth, effortless and very comfortable when moving around the fretboard. The Strat was one of those satin neck American Professional series and the neck profile felt different to the ones on my F type copy guitars and it just felt good. I've always found the Gibson scale length easier to play but I like lightweight guitars and prefer the brightness and twang of single coils. im kind of gassing for some mini humbuckers on a hollowbody now though.
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3,457 posts
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Post by LeoThunder on Jan 14, 2020 11:48:24 GMT
I've always found the Gibson scale length easier to play but I like lightweight guitars and prefer the brightness and twang of single coils. im kind of gassing for some mini humbuckers on a hollowbody now though. I just spotted a Firebird but I'm not sure I like it in black:
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572 posts
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Post by Djangle on Jan 14, 2020 11:58:16 GMT
I've always found the Gibson scale length easier to play but I like lightweight guitars and prefer the brightness and twang of single coils. im kind of gassing for some mini humbuckers on a hollowbody now though. I just spotted a Firebird but I'm not sure I like it in black: very Johnny Winterish......if only I could play like him.
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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 Jan 14, 2020 12:43:06 GMT
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Post by hallon on Jan 14, 2020 14:25:10 GMT
What guitar is that? Looks really cool!
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1,110 posts
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Post by dodger on Jan 14, 2020 16:07:02 GMT
I only have one electric HB - the original HB35 that resembles an Epiphone Casino or Dot. I got mine for £100 and played through a nice amp it sounds great. My HB acoustics sound great and were great value for money too. I rank them as good as the low end Martins with solid tops and the high pressure laminate (formica?) backs and sides; in fact they seem really similar. I got a Faith all-solid acoustic for a great price this time last year and it is my main gigging guitar now but the HBs come out now and again and are great backup guitars - I had been gigging with them for 3 years and they never let me down and I got some really nice compliments about them as well.
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3,457 posts
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Post by LeoThunder on Jan 14, 2020 16:21:09 GMT
I only have one electric HB - the original HB35 that resembles an Epiphone Casino or Dot. I got mine for £100 and played through a nice amp it sounds great. My HB acoustics sound great and were great value for money too. I rank them as good as the low end Martins with solid tops and the high pressure laminate (formica?) backs and sides; in fact they seem really similar. I got a Faith all-solid acoustic for a great price this time last year and it is my main gigging guitar now but the HBs come out now and again and are great backup guitars - I had been gigging with them for 3 years and they never let me down and I got some really nice compliments about them as well. Good to know. I understand any CNC machine can make a good solid body electric nowadays but acoustics may be another matter.
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572 posts
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Post by Djangle on Jan 15, 2020 9:53:16 GMT
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Post by hallon on Jan 15, 2020 10:45:31 GMT
I know hallon . It's a homebuilt custom job that got posted yesterday on a Partscaster Facebook group. Not sure it really qualifies as a 'partscaster' as most of it seems to be self manufactured, even down to the bridge and saddles...and a very odd no screws bolted neck joint! This a similar though different tilt adjust one he'd done on an acoustic. Ok,cool, yeah the neck joint looks very unusual indeed. It looks like it would be weaker/less stable. But who knows?
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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 Jan 15, 2020 11:01:02 GMT
I must admit I'd never heard about the Johnny Smith one Djangle. It does seem tricky to spot in a crowd. Of course the more standard mini and the Firebird one are a frequent source of confusion. One which isn't helped by Gibson themselves who, over four years ago, were admitting to me that their website was incorrect in stating that a mini humbucker went in a Firebird. At the time I was told that they didn't sell after market Firebird pickups and that, to get some, you had to buy a Firebird! Yet every time I've looked at their website since, they state that their mini humbucker is the one for a Firebird. I wonder if they still do...? Yep, there it is: "The mini humbucker was first made available in several Gibson-made Epiphone models of the late 1960s, and the Les Paul Deluxe in 1969. Today, it is best known as the pickup in the Gibson Firebird, and is a vintage replica of the original mini humbucker with bar Alnico II magnets". LINKIf they can't get their own house in order what chance the rest of us? They don't care about their products. Why should we?
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kappa123
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by kappa123 on Jan 15, 2020 15:32:07 GMT
Firebird humbuckers and Mini-Humbuckers ARE NOT THE SAME. They have roughly the same dimensions and outside look but construction is different.
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