Stag Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 (edited) Hey guys Anyone got any experience of these small and very cheap basses? Im thinking about getting one for a family member for Christmas... she's expressed a wish to give bass guitar a go for the first time. Now, obviously I dont want to get her a Fodera ( ) but has anyone got one of these Harley Benton things? These seem to fit the bill for a starter, and the short scale part of it is important given shes has pretty small hands (has complained about my Ricks being far too big in the past). There is zero chance of her actually gigging one and probably not much chance of ever amplifying it to be honest so I was thinking we might have a cost-effective idea here. Cheers - Stag Edited November 21, 2017 by Stag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark D Phillips Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Hello Stag, I fix and sell guitars and have had lots of Harley Bentons; in all my experience they have been excelent, and not just in twang for your buck, but that once set up they are as good as anything... even straight from the factory the frets rarely need any leveling work, but of course the truss rod, nut, and bridge will need attention. I mostly get their Telecasters, and they are superb but so is all their stuff. Cheers, Mark................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bay Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 I had a play with one in my local music shop, I was very impressed with it and compared VERY favourably with my MiM Fender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Bought my lad a lefty P, then had it done up in his teams football colours... its a perfectly serviceable little bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Thomann aren't stupid, the basic models like the PB-20 & JB-20 are perfectly acceptable basses. If they were crap there's the risk folk would just give up,that means no further business. By offering a nice bass for peanuts chances are the learner will stick with it and maybe buy their upgrade from Thomann. I much preferred the full scale PB-20 to the Squier Affinity P-bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jezzaboy Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 I had the short scale P bass. It was a decent enough, the frets seemed ok, the tuners look crap but held their tunning. The bridge was pretty crap quality and the strings didn`t line up near the pole pieces but I swapped it out for a bridge with threaded saddles and that solved my ocd. The strings went right in the bin and I stuck on a set of D`addario short scale at £20. For £70 delivered it was worth it. It is 3/4 size P bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfretrock Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 2 hours ago, jezzaboy said: I had the short scale P bass. It was a decent enough, the frets seemed ok, the tuners look crap but held their tunning. The bridge was pretty crap quality and the strings didn`t line up near the pole pieces but I swapped it out for a bridge with threaded saddles and that solved my ocd. The strings went right in the bin and I stuck on a set of D`addario short scale at £20 The bridge on mine was thicker than the average BBOT. Do P bass poles ever line up? Don't think it matters much. Well worth the price to try out a short scale. Not too keen on the white pickguard, black would look better. I fitted Status flatwounds. (a bit thumpy sounding, since they are very tightly wound). Curiously the G string was rather loud, but Ps can be adjusted for height on each string. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naxos10 Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 I purchased a modified short scale P bass from this site (the pickups and bridge had been changed) and can't really fault it. The guitarist in our bad loves the sound coming out of it at rehearsals, so not gigged with it yet but would not be afraid to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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