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Thomann selling Harley Benton basses as 'Decoration only'


Annoying Twit

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My thin bodied Electro classical thing has arrived. Struggling to find anything wrong with it.

Just for reference, my 5 string acoustic bass had a body the size of a small planet and the neck was placed in a way which meant the nut was pretty far away.

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Thanks Owen. What do you think of the acoustic sound of the classical? Both in terms of loudness and sound quality.

I must admit that I'm tempted by the Santos series acoustics that are going up now, including the one that's up as I type. But, I've just bought one deko. Maybe a few months before the next one.

This review says some interesting things about the finish on a non-deko example. However, the review states that it sounds good. http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_santos_series_c_40sce_nt.htm

Edited by Annoying Twit
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I have finally noticed what's wrong with my b30. I only noticed as I had to quickly remind myself of the intensely exciting I will survive by oor Gloria after packing my gear into the car for tomorrow. I dropped an unlit fag into the sound hole. The label says "Harley Benton five string fretless acoustic bass guitar" on the inside. It's a four string fretted. Two months I took to notice!

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[quote name='RickyV' timestamp='1427642966' post='2732608']
Well, the silent jazz bass is no longer silent! New wiring harness and a set of Entwistle pups and it sounds great. Such a nice guitar to play as well and all, eventually, for about £80 including the original purchase price of £27. Really can't grumble at that :)
[/quote]

Is that a KiOgon wiring harness and Entwistle JBXN pickups? If so that's the same setup that I've got in my Squier VM jazz and it sounds awesome.

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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1427739348' post='2733719']
Thanks Owen. What do you think of the acoustic sound of the classical? Both in terms of loudness and sound quality.
[/quote]

Acoustically it is similar to a standard electric being played acoustically. Not very beefy. But it is an exceptionally nice instrument. Did I actually need it? No.

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[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1427750190' post='2733938']
Is that a KiOgon wiring harness and Entwistle JBXN pickups? If so that's the same setup that I've got in my Squier VM jazz and it sounds awesome.
[/quote]

Yes to the KiOgon harness (great, and so easy to fit) but I only went for the standard JBX's rather than the neodymiums as I wanted to keep it really cheap. Still sounds great though. For the total price, I think it is amazing.

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Sorry, I am late. Just found this thread. Honestly, I've been thinking about getting a J&D (Music Store) or Harley Benton (Thomann) Jazz Bass in a nice mint green/surf green (whatever) just for hanging it up on the wall. I know so many people who have art on their wall that is 10 times more expensive and does not look that tasty ;-)

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Loads of dekos including a p-bass.

P-Bass: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_pb_20_bk_standard_seri_deko.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...d_seri_deko.htm[/url]

Loads of acoustic guitars including quite a few that I've never seen as a Deko before, and a 'traveller steel'.

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/decorative_guitars_and_basses.html"]http://www.thomann.d...and_basses.html[/url]

First deko that I've seen under £10. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/startone_cg_851_4_4_deko.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...51_4_4_deko.htm[/url]

EDIT: P-bass still there. And ... still there ....

EDIT2: P-bass and most others have just gone, about 16 minutes after being listed.

There are still some black and natural slightly upmarket (for HB) fully acoustic classical guitars. (No pickups). E.g. http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_santos_series_c_40s_nt_deko.htm

Edited by Annoying Twit
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They always had a situations vacant link but it was on the company info page.By my count at least 50 more folk
have been employed in the last 6 months.

And that's with the failing euro ! A friend in the States told me last night it's £4 cheaper to buy my HB-60 and get it delivered
to the US it's even worse when he lived in Greece, same bass was 279 euro compered to the 240 euro he'll pay now.

Sorry for going off topic.

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[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1427844908' post='2735090']
[sub]I see they are advertising jobs at Thomann, they are looking for a Head of Deco Sales....(OK, the last bit was a lie)[/sub]
[/quote]
[size=1][size=2]I saw the advertisement for a zero hours contract person to punch Ds onto the Decos.... (OK, a lie also)[/size][/size]

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[quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1427896733' post='2735583']
PJ5 turned up today, plays nice, no big visible problems that I can see, and sounds good! I found 1 very small scuff. Mental...
[/quote]

[size=4]Congratulations, and happy NBD. I'm jealous, as I'm still at work and mine is at home.[/size]

[quote]
What sort of things should I be looking for?
[/quote]

A family of mice living in the body cavities?

Seriously though, my biggest worry is the truss rod.

EDIT: I am home and have spent the last half hour trying to work out what is wrong with my PJ5 HTR. The pickup output is low, but the bass equaliser pedal I bought in the same order solves that and then some. It arrived poorly adjusted, with a very high action. I've lowered the action, and it's not super low but there is some buzzing. It's at a quite comfortable height for me, but I prefer a higher action than some. The nut isn't cut too badly, but could probably come down a bit across all the strings. It's plausible that further fettling by someone who knows more than me could bring the action down further.

The truss rod turns smoother and more easily than any I've ever experienced. (Not that many, but some).

The noise being produced suggests that this bass needs better shielding. I've got some sticky copper tape around somewhere.

IMHO this bass sounds better with both the P and J pickups up full. With the additional boost of the Bass EQ, the B string sounds quite solid, IMHO. It does sound a bit inconsistent compared to the other strings however.







The little dot you can see on the back of the body is a 'D' stamp. There is another stamp on the back of the neck. What look like weird shapes on the body are reflections of our lampshade, and my hands holding a camera.

Edited by Annoying Twit
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[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1427927741' post='2736087']
Well at least the left-handers are catered for!
[/quote]

I received a Deko in the post today, so I can't complain. I was actually playing it into Logic when the speech synthesiser told me of the new dekos and I put it down mid-take in order to post on here.

My next Deco purchase will be one of the Santos series electro-acoustic classicals. If one turns up at an appropriate time.

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Really happy with mine for £40 or thereabouts depending on the exchange rate at the time! Madness!

Edit: I notice as well as in mine, yours has a QC pass tag, so does that mean that these were perfectly fine, then they think something happened to them? Thomann baffle me...

Edited by Wooks79
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I wonder if they could be returns. Mine had a very high action out of the box. If it had been purchased by someone who didn't want to or couldn't do a basic setup, then I could easily imagine them returning it. Similar for my fretless acoustic deko which was pretty much unplayable out of the box due to a maladjusted (but fully working) truss rod. Though, that also has minor finish blemishes. My fretless lacked tools, making me think that it was a return.

It still leaves the question of what the difference is between 'Deko' and 'b-stock'.

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