Guess who! (Yeah, its MDPhillips again)

Hertz32

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electro-acoustic-for-big-hands-by-me-and-Harley-Benton-/191343886103?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2c8cfbff17

And this time he's made a wide necked acoustic! With a distinct lack of 7 string acoustics, he had to get inventive with this one. 

Gassage

it's set up as light and fast as a telecaster.

So I'm buying it.

Octahedron

Gassage said:

it's set up as light and fast as a telecaster.

So I'm buying it.

No need to move so fast. Apparently it's going to be a regular conversion by him!  

Harley Benton. Tsk tsk. He's really cutting corners, going for mass production here. Eep! Do you think all of them will have the holes in the headstock plugged as well? 

I'm just glad it's only a Harley Benton. If he got his hands on a Martin... *shudders* 

Actually I'm kind of curious to know if the man can actually play! I would love to hear him play! 

The description is killer. Play it like an electric? Nooooooo.  

stickyfiddle

At least his nuts are getting better.

WezV

the nut is neater, and the holes are plugged.   these are signs of growth!

Deadman

Gah, and I was after an acoustic that plays like a Stratocaster. The quest continues.

WezV

he does need to brush up on Pythagoras a bit

he greater space between strings makes it easier to hold down the string you want and not be lying across or touching the adjacent string as well, though the stretch between one fret and the next is no more than a standard guitar. 

This would only be true if playing on a single string, in all other situations the stretch is slightly furtehr due to the extra width

xmrchi

"The electro aspect of the guitar means you can play lead solos and phrases like an electric solid guitar... but with the joy of Hendrix style feedback"
I don't think in have ever heard Hendrix style feedback from a piezo let alone and acoustic. It's certainly something that I wouldn't class as a feature!
Least he has had a haircut☺

thumpingrug

Ive just looked on Thoman's site and a 12 string HB can be bought for about £85.  I could take 6 strings off myself.  

Difficult to see the justification for a price of £159.  That some mark up.

Gassage

WezV;385623" said:

he does need to brush up on Pythagoras a bit

he greater space between strings makes it easier to hold down the string you want and not be lying across or touching the adjacent string as well, though the stretch between one fret and the next is no more than a standard guitar. 

This would only be true if playing on a single string, in all other situations the stretch is slightly furtehr due to the extra width

ThePrettyDamned

stickyfiddle;385602" said:

At least his nuts are getting better.

Better than my recent nut.

Not joking, sadly.

p90fool

thumpingrug said:

Ive just looked on Thoman's site and a 12 string HB can be bought for about £85.  I could take 6 strings off myself.  

Difficult to see the justification for a price of £159.  That some mark up.

You'd still need a new nut and bridge saddle with a spacing which could take advantage of the neck width.

This obsession with this guy (a member here in fact) is a bit too pitchfork-y for me. I love the inclusive piss taking on the Fretboard, but the playground bullying not so much.

FWIW there are plenty of others builders on here churning out stuff I don't like. Admittedly the quality is usually higher, but some are also twenty times the price.

Megii

thumpingrug said:

Ive just looked on Thoman's site and a 12 string HB can be bought for about £85.  I could take 6 strings off myself.  

Difficult to see the justification for a price of £159.  That some mark up.

It is indeed some mark up, although I can see how his business model would require it. He has to find a suitably cheap starting guitar (or parts to put together), then spend time doing things to it that will produce something not available in the shops e.g. guitars for the "sausage fingered", and then sell on at a high enough price to justify his time and advertising costs. I would have thought as a business proposition it was a non-starter (certainly given his skill level) - the amazing thing is it seems to work for him.

Hertz32

@p90fool Yeah, he is a member. However we have tried to help him out in the past by offering some collective forum wisdom, and he got quite defensive as I recall. He doesn't help himself! 

littlethoughts

As far as his conversions go I'd say that one is the most neat looking.

Gagaryn

I really don't think this place needs another one of these threads.

frankus

Hertz32 said:

@p90fool Yeah, he is a member. However we have tried to help him out in the past by offering some collective forum wisdom, and he got quite defensive as I recall. He doesn't help himself! 

I recall it somewhat differently - he was invited here, and then given unsolicited advice and mockery in not too equal doses and as I recall I came out of the thread thinking better of him than I did several long term guys who's behaviour was surprising and disappointing, to me at least.

mike_l

Although Frank, he did refuse to take onboard the advice he was freely given by several respectable luthiers and repair techs.

Hertz32

In fairness, The wide necked guitar criminal thread is about 17 pages long. Thinking about it now, @Gagaryn is probably right. I'm not sure we need to do this again either. 
I'm all for letting this thread sink if noone else objects.

Antique_Guitars

Don't give publicity to terrorists!

ICBM

Hardly inventive. People have been playing 12-strings as 6-strings since at least the 1960s.

I'd agree that this is the neatest-looking job he's done so far, but really all he's done is take off half the tuners and fit a new nut, so there's not a huge amount to mess up. You don't need to change the bridge saddle. The covers for the spare tuner holes at least make it look reasonable.

But it seems like a lot of a mark-up for fitting a nut and six plastic covers…

Especially considering there are six machineheads left to sell as well.