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Thomann selling Harley Benton basses as 'Decoration only'


Annoying Twit

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My left handed jazz arrived too. Identical to the above except with a tiny chip on the back and one wonkey machine head. Easy fix. I thought it was right handed when I brought it! Oh well. May restring it a la jimi Hendrix and use it as a travel bass. Silly good for the money. If anyone has a right hand they would like to swap however...

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LH Strat Deko. I suppose I'll post it as I know that there are some southpaws in the thread, although a standard strat isn't very exciting.

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_st_20lh_bk_standard_se_deko.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...ard_se_deko.htm[/url] EDIT: Gone

@Coldflows - my PJ5-HTR has a small flaw in the finish around the neck pocket. While these small imperfections can be found in the dekos, given the original price level of these instruments, I'm not sure that justifies the 'deko' status.

Personally I think that for my PJ5, the reason that it is a deko is the terrible setup it had. And given that it passed QC at some time, I wonder if someone bought it, fiddled with it and cocked it up, and Thomann decided to sell it as a deko rather than fix the setup.

In your case, the tiny chip may be par for the course for a cheap instruments. And how wonky was the machine head?

If you've accidentally bought a lefty, then it might be interesting to bung it on ebay for 99p and see where it gets to. (If/when I do this, I'll be saying that it's a deko).

Edited by Annoying Twit
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[quote name='Andytre' timestamp='1434017512' post='2795916']
and a picture as proof haha
[/quote]

my jazz bass with blocks arrived today in work , its looks ok , have not played it or plugged it in yet . full report tomorrow

Edited by Fitzy73
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[url=http://postimg.org/image/puks0aqnt/full/][/url]
[url=http://postimage.org/]online photo sharing[/url]

And

[url=http://postimg.org/image/4rkfr85sr/full/][/url]
[url=http://postimage.org/app.php]screen shot on windows[/url]

Aside from that its incredible for £30. Action is good. Sounds good. If it was right handed I'd keep it and throw in a kaoss pad.

Tempting to just break it up for spares and eBay it. The pickups have got to be worth a tenner, body and so on.

Edited by Coldflows
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I don't know if this has been posted already, I searched this topic and didn't find anything for "rss" or "RSS", so apologies if everyone already knows this:

If you've got an RSS extension in your browser (or a standalone RSS reader) there are 2 different RSS feeds you can subscribe to from the Thomann "Decorative Guitars and Basses" page, one for new products and one for price drops. I don't think things stay there long enough for a price drop by the look of it, but the new product feed might be useful.

Edited by adamg67
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After playing it a bit more it Turns out my deko had quite a bad dead spot on the D string on the 11th fret :( luckily Iv had a revelation bass neck in my Wardrobe for about 2 years and it's a perfect fit! Looks pretty good together and now I have a pretty sweet jazz that only cost like £55 quid! (Apologies for the aweful pics I only have an iPhone)

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Dead spots are fairly common on lots of basses and not just cheap ones.

Plenty reading here

[url="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=g%26l+tribute+legacy&oq=G%26L+tr&aqs=chrome.2.0j69i57j0l4.7481j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=0&ie=UTF-8#q=fender+jazz+bass+dead+spots"]https://www.google.c...bass+dead+spots[/url]

Normally on the G though. Moot point anyway as you say the Revelation neck solved it.

I'd say you won a watch. £55 all in that's a result.

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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1434470467' post='2799949'] Some eight strings (as above) have turned up as dekos before. [/quote]

Yeah, it's more the me actually looking at the site at the crucial time, that's the issue.

On a different note.
I stripped the LH Jazz bass down completely looking for issues.
What I found was:

Small scratch (20mm or so long) on the back of the upper horn
Couple of small (3-4mm diameter) round dents under the finish on the back of the body
A few of the screw hole for the pickguard and control plate were a few mill out, causing the screws to go in at a slight angle.
Same with some of the screw holes for the machine heads.
The G string was cut close to the mark, it only had 1 wrap around the tuner.
The routing for the neck pocket and control cavity were a touch on the rough side.

On the whole for £37 you can't complain.
The screw holes made no real visual difference, you had to get right up close to see.
The routing is all hidden, so you wouldn't know
and the strings held their tuning well.

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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1434474006' post='2799981']
IMHO, those are the kinds of things that you'd normally find on a £100 instrument.
[/quote]

That's what I was thinking.

[quote name='blablas' timestamp='1434474772' post='2799989']
The hump my 4 string acoustic bass had between fret 10 and 17, a lot of sharp fret-ends and a too low cut bridge were fairly sure the reason mine was sold as a 'deko'.
[/quote]

Yeah, I'd say that would qualify properly.

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[quote name='blablas' timestamp='1434474772' post='2799989']
The hump my 4 string acoustic bass had between fret 10 and 17, a lot of sharp fret-ends and a too low cut bridge were fairly sure the reason mine was sold as a 'deko'.
[/quote]

I've just taken delivery of one of the LH Progressive 5-string basses, and whilst it's just about playable with a light touch, it really needs a fret dress. Still, for £39 I'm not complaining.

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I'm not complaining either, the hump and sharp fret-ends were fixed with a fret level and a crowning & polish session. The hump was less than half a millimeter at the the highest point, it's still in the fingerboard but the frets are level. The low bridge saddle was also no problem, I put a half a millimeter thick spacer underneath it and the string height was okay
After all the things I've done to it it's a very good dirt cheap acoustic bass. :)

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