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This was on their youtube vid though.
Not familiar with Marlin sorry but I do think Harley Benton seem fairly popular, their prices are pretty crazy low.
They also seem to be the only brand that sell one of the old style single coil Precision basses below the Custom Shop level. I just find it too hard to believe they could be good quality at that price so am scared off but I may well be the fool on that one.
IMO, anybody buying a H-B brand new should budget for a professional set-up. Frets and the nut are likely to require fettling. In the longer term, if the instrument is likely to be kept, a pickup(s) and controls upgrade might be worthwhile.
Laminate body construction is less common than it used to be. Instead, we are offered spreads of Pacific Rim wood species.
Some of the quirky pickup designs that used to horrify us are now hailed as things of wonder.
A LONG way.
My first guitar 30years ago was an Encore Strat clone- it cost just under £100. It wouldn't hold tune, sounded REALLY muddy and had horrible fret buzz. I suppose with work from someone more qualified than I was it COULD have been made playable, but this was pre youtube "how to" videos & my only source of info was Guitarist magazine.
Since then I've had a variety of guitars... I even bought a HB for a modding challenge a few years ago. Like the Encore the TE52 cost me less than £100 & what arrived was a perfectly playable telecaster-
Solid wood body (albeit under a THICK layer of poly), Wilkinson hardware & a reasonable setup.
I played it as it was for a week or two at jams etc & it was perfectly serviceable.
I subsequently modified the heck out of it, but the sanded neck and refinished body remain as the only bits I didn't replace.
I play the HB more than any of my guitars. I might have just been lucky, but I got my favourite guitar for under £200 (if you include the mods).
I started playing in 1984. I had quite a few cheap copies and am pretty confident in saying that HB are generally better than what I started playing on. Here's a few blasts from the past, that were mostly totally crap
Columbus
Marlin
Hondo
Kay
Encore
All pretty bad, woeful action, absent sustain. Not good.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
I wonder if that's a general trend for well made cheap instruments that they can be heavy?
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message