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Thomann selling Harley Benton basses as 'Decoration only'


Annoying Twit

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I have have retrieved mine from a very confused elderly Greek lady down the street and I can honestly say I have absolutely no idea what made this a deko...









The D stamps are it's only visible flaw... Sounds pretty good with everything set flat, the controls don;t appear to do a lot though so maybe that's what made it a deko... I'll also see how long the battery lasts.

all in all... £18 well spent :blink:

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[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1438106939' post='2831729']
Bloody hell!
That's rather nice!
[/quote]

It looks pretty good and feels very solid, not cheap at all. The pics don't really show it but the black finish is translucent and shows through a red hue maple top beneath.

I've bought it to give to one of Mrs C's friends so I'm glad its a goodun :)

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The 12 string I bought for someone else isn't as bad as I thought. Peering at the putative G string through my glasses, I decided it was slightly thinner than the B and E strings, so I tuned it up. Carefully. It got to G without breaking, and doesn't feel too tight. I replaced the other string that looks like a D with an actual G string, and that's tuned up as well. It sounds very rich when played acoustically.

BTW: I thought that my four string fretless acoustic had the dots in the correct places for a fretless, except way up at the dusty end where they were a bit off. I'll use the tuner to check ... yes, my dots up to the 12th fret are in the right place for a fretless. I don't know why Tauzero's dots aren't.

Camden Rob: Happy New Guitar Day, even if it's for someone else. Yours is the first quilted progressive bass that I've seen someone buy. It looks better in your photo that shows it off than the photos on the Thomann site.

Edited by Annoying Twit
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Similar to my standard Precision deko that I got the other week in that I can find nothing wrong with it at all apart from the D stamps. My P was even set up perfectly out of the box - I havent touched the truss rod, bridge saddles or anything. Just a tweek of the tuners and she was ready to go.

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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1438110951' post='2831781']
Camden Rob: Happy New Guitar Day, even if it's for someone else. Yours is the first quilted progressive bass that I've seen someone buy. It looks better in your photo that shows it off than the photos on the Thomann site.
[/quote]

I only bought it because your programme flagged it up! It's a lovely finish... As with the pj4 I got a couple of weeks back its a bass I would have been happy with for twice the full price let alone the deko cost.

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[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1438107350' post='2831731']
It looks pretty good and feels very solid, not cheap at all. The pics don't really show it but the black finish is translucent and shows through a red hue maple top beneath.

I've bought it to give to one of Mrs C's friends so I'm glad its a goodun :)
[/quote]

If it's a quilted finish shouldn't it be soft and fluffy? Mine was the same, no damage really apart from Bloody big "D" on the heel of the neck and body

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[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1438120081' post='2831922']


If it's a quilted finish shouldn't it be soft and fluffy? Mine was the same, no damage really apart from Bloody big "D" on the heel of the neck and body
[/quote]

They do feel solid don't they... Mine is in need of a setup but that's about it :)

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[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1438121393' post='2831944']
is it just me or is the Bass control 3rd along and the Treble furthest away? Do we know if it will run in passive mode without battery power?
[/quote]

I was struggling a bit to work out which control did what... I'll investigate further tonight.

I think it was (if you are looking at the bass)
L to R
Treble
Bass
Blend
Volume

Although the treble didn't appear to do a whole lot,but then again the strings are pretty dead.

Edited by CamdenRob
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I must get around to rewriting my program. I'm sure I'm missing loads of stuff that is coming and going before it gets up on the main decorative guitars and basses page.

BTW: The 12 string that I got with my recent batch has reached it's final destination, my friend's father, and he loves it.

I wonder if one of these will ever turn up as a deko. http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hb_custom_line_cld_10sce_12bks.htm

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Came really close yesterday to buying the acoustic fretless yesterday... luckily I came to my senses just in time for someone else to buy it :) ..... and before yesterday evening I never even contemplated acoustic fretless instruments!!! Deko seems to be an effective way to generate GAS when you thought you had none....

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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1438176069' post='2832281']

I wonder if one of these will ever turn up as a deko. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hb_custom_line_cld_10sce_12bks.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...10sce_12bks.htm[/url]
[/quote]

It is interesting that it is normally the same 4-5 instruments that come up as dekos.

You would have thought that QC would identify occasional faults with all HB instruments at about the same frequency. Its not like the B30 or the shorty P are much different to the other HB models...

The other option is that they only sell some of the deko models on there and other ones get recycled/rebuilt/scrapped or just disposed of some other way.

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[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1438121393' post='2831944']
is it just me or is the Bass control 3rd along and the Treble furthest away? Do we know if it will run in passive mode without battery power?
[/quote]

To answer my own question....yes, it works in passive mode with the battery removed!

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[quote name='Jonnyboy Rotten' timestamp='1438177567' post='2832299']


It is interesting that it is normally the same 4-5 instruments that come up as dekos.

You would have thought that QC would identify occasional faults with all HB instruments at about the same frequency. Its not like the B30 or the shorty P are much different to the other HB models...

The other option is that they only sell some of the deko models on there and other ones get recycled/rebuilt/scrapped or just disposed of some other way.
[/quote]

Possibly the most common dekos are rejects of the best selling instruments, if larger numbers of these instruments are being shifted it stands to reason that there will be more found with faults.

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Deko alert!

5 String Acoustic Fretless: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_b_35fl_nt_acoustic_bas_deko.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...ic_bas_deko.htm[/url]

Jazz Bass: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jb_20_sb_standard_seri_deko.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...d_seri_deko.htm[/url]

edit: Jazz sold out as I was posting this.

Edited by Myke
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[quote name='Myke' timestamp='1438287605' post='2833349']
Deko alert!

5 String Acoustic Fretless: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_b_35fl_nt_acoustic_bas_deko.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...ic_bas_deko.htm[/url]

Jazz Bass: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jb_20_sb_standard_seri_deko.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...d_seri_deko.htm[/url]

edit: Jazz sold out as I was posting this.
[/quote]

Nice looking Jazz there... good job it's sold out :blink:

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