A 2015 mod a Harley Benton guitar challenge?

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  • JookyChapJookyChap Frets: 4234
    @GrahamM said:
    The body is made of basswood (strips?) with a 3mm-ish veneer of mdf.
    Shit Graham - what you need is a superlative paint sprayer and relicification expert type of guy. 

    I might know one in your neck o' the woods, I'll have a dig and see if I can find you some contact details :)

    Cool to see you on here btw

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  • enteeentee Frets: 93
    In addition to my challenge guitar I also bought a 'decoration' Harley Benton B-30 BK electro-acoustic bass just to see what it would be like if I am honest (I don't play bass), and if it was ok, I would give to my dad as a b'day present (he does).
    When it arrived there was a significant fret buzz on the 5th fret.  I thought I would give a go at levelling it so bought a diamond file and fingerboard protector

    image
    This image has been resized to fit in the page. Click to enlarge.

    I followed the instructions and 10 minutes later, a £30 decoration piece is now a fully playable bass!  Think dad will be rather happy this b'day  :)  The deco pieces are definitely worth considering...
    Vox 24, Variax 700, Epiphone Dot Studio (Cats Whiskers pups, custom inlay, custom pickguard), Gretsch 5238T (P90s/B3), Gibson Les Paul Zoot (rainbow), Gretsch 5135 PS, 'Graick' G2312TVR, BarileleBo (electric baritone ukulele G6199).
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  • JookyChapJookyChap Frets: 4234
    @entee where are they, can never seem to find them on the thomann site

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  • enteeentee Frets: 93
    @JookyChap this is all I could find when I just searched (there were more when I ordered)  Maybe there'll be more added again soon as they do change their site quite quickly
    Vox 24, Variax 700, Epiphone Dot Studio (Cats Whiskers pups, custom inlay, custom pickguard), Gretsch 5238T (P90s/B3), Gibson Les Paul Zoot (rainbow), Gretsch 5135 PS, 'Graick' G2312TVR, BarileleBo (electric baritone ukulele G6199).
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  • NomadNomad Frets: 549

    They can be found in the Thomann web site menu thus...

    More -> Accessories -> Decorative Instruments -> Decorative Guitars and Basses

    Nomad
    Nobody loves me but my mother... and she could be jivin' too...

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  • JookyChapJookyChap Frets: 4234
    Cheers @entee and @Nomad - I'll keep an eye open :)

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  • ChalkyChalky Frets: 6807
    Couldn't see the breadcrumb on my phone so found them by putting 'decoration guitar' in the search. 2 basses and a banjo there at the mo.
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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    entee said:
    @JookyChap this is all I could find when I just searched (there were more when I ordered)  Maybe there'll be more added again soon as they do change their site quite quickly
    "

    words got around and I think they get snapped up pretty much as soon as they appear. Some folk on one of the other forums even have auto alarms to tell them when more have gone on...
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  • DaleftyDalefty Frets: 508
    I would be interested in taking part in this, but due to work commitments, there is no way I could have it finish by the end of summer, I know that's still a long way off, but I work lots of hours and get very few hours off.

    DaLefty.
    Both dog and owner available for stud, please contact DaLefty if interested
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  • Dalefty said:
    I would be interested in taking part in this, but due to work commitments, there is no way I could have it finish by the end of summer, I know that's still a long way off, but I work lots of hours and get very few hours off.

    DaLefty.

    There's been very little talk of a prize for the challenge recently. I'd say pull the trigger & join in!" I'll be lucky to complete my modding before the end of summer too, but there's no harm in that- I'm doing it for my own pleasure & the guys on here are VERY helpful and generous with their advice.
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  • NomadNomad Frets: 549
    edited March 2015

    Been dithering about this for a little while. I considered getting one of the cheap lap steels, but wasn't sure what I'd do with it other than strip the black paint off and oil the wood - but then I found out that they're made of plywood. I've decided that it would be more interesting to build a lap steel from scratch. I had also considered a fretless bass ukulele, but that was a bit more pricey, and about the only thing I could think of was refinishing it, which I didn't fancy.

    Then, when I worked out what it was going to cost me to get trained and equipped as a motorcyclist, I decided to knock the whole thing on the head and just concentrate on the home-brew lap steel, which, by now, was going to be an 8-string rather than a 6. Which meant that pickups could be a touch problematic (or expensive), which led me to consider making my own (aided by @mrchi's thread about winding pickups).

    At this point, I realised that I know very little about winding pickups, and that 8-pole flatwork is expensive to ship from the US (cheap to buy, shipping is a joke), and probably a bugger to make from scratch. I needed to learn a bit, and that would be easier and cheaper if I use 6-pole flatwork which is available in the UK. This raised the issue of not having a dogbreath guitar to use for testing my winds.

    So, I went to Thomann and ordered one of these...

    http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbt30be_egitarre.htm

    ...and realised that, by a somewhat circuitous route, I had entered the HB challenge anyway. :)

    To tell the truth, I like the look of the TE52 better - love the butterscotch Tele with black pickguard, but I didn't feel like spending another 30 quid, especially since that comes with better pickups. No particular plans as yet, other than making new pickups for it, but there is certainly scope for a bit of tinkering with other bits if the mood takes me.

    Should arrive early next week, so I'll start a Project Dogbreath thread then and post my initial thoughts of it as delivered. Meanwhile, I'll be back in the workshop to work out the next bit of the lathe pickup winder and start shopping for pickup bits.

    Nomad
    Nobody loves me but my mother... and she could be jivin' too...

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  • xmrchixmrchi Frets: 2810
    You're a wise man @Nomad putting cash into motorcycling has to be done I see to many people buying cheap crap gear, what will do bugger all in a crash, people always say to me "you spent over 400 quid on your helmet!" and I always say "I think my head is worth 400 quid"
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  • DaleftyDalefty Frets: 508
    I've ben thinking more about this lately and am interested in doing it, I honestly don't care if there is a prize or not to be honest, I'm more interested in doing it for the sake of doing it plus I have a rather substantial Thomann voucher that needs to be used in the next one or two months.

    Just so I'm cler on the rules

    - There are no budget limitations
    - You have to use any one of the Thomann Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kits

    Am I right or am I missing something rule wise?


    DaLefty
    Both dog and owner available for stud, please contact DaLefty if interested
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  • cacophonycacophony Frets: 385
    i believe it doesn`t have to be a kit, just a guitar from the harley benton range. i may be wrong but that`s how i read it.
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  • NomadNomad Frets: 549
    The original idea was to modify a ready-made Harley Benton guitar, with a max purchase price for the guitar of £150. No limit on how much you spend on the mods. The idea is to turn it into a guitar that you'd be happy to gig, or hand to another guitarist to try out in the belief that they'd be suitably impressed. The Harley Benton kit thing kinda slipped in, but most are doing mods on ready-made guitars.

    Nomad
    Nobody loves me but my mother... and she could be jivin' too...

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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    edited March 2015
    As far as I know I'm the only who has used the kit this year.  It was the closest of the Harley Benton models to the specification I wanted.  When I added up the cost of all the parts I intended to swap it was also the cheapest route.  Thirdly, I really wanted to take part in last year's kit build challenge, but life got it the way, so using the kit this year was the next best thing.
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • DaleftyDalefty Frets: 508
    I think I'll do it, but I'll go the kit route like Roland did with his HB Tele kit, I'll order a kit tonight, and hopefully start on the project sometime in the next week or two.

    DaLefty.
    Both dog and owner available for stud, please contact DaLefty if interested
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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    What modifications are you planning?
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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