Harley Benton Stingray Clone

[tegs07]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114728058996
 

I know there are a few fans on here. Not the neatest job fitting the battery compartment but the Retrovibe stinger and Sub pickup would cost nearly the price of the bass and should sound pretty good for £135 delivered.

Edited March 17, 2021 by tegs07
Update

[tegs07]

Now £125. This is my only problem with cheap basses... the law of diminishing returns means the pickups/electrics etc can never be swapped out without losing cash. A Stinger is around £80 delivered and a SUB pickup must have been at least £20

[prowla]

I was thinking it was a clone of a HB Stingray...

[lemmywinks]

On 20/03/2021 at 15:35, tegs07 said:

Now £125. This is my only problem with cheap basses... the law of diminishing returns means the pickups/electrics etc can never be swapped out without losing cash. A Stinger is around £80 delivered and a SUB pickup must have been at least £20

 

That's why you put the original bits back when you sell it! Price is understandable on this one as the seller has devalued the bass with that battery cavity. Also when did those Stinger preamps get so expensive, they were cheap a few years ago weren't they?

[tegs07]

1 hour ago, lemmywinks said:

 

That's why you put the original bits back when you sell it! Price is understandable on this one as the seller has devalued the bass with that battery cavity. Also when did those Stinger preamps get so expensive, they were cheap a few years ago weren't they?

You need some soldering skills and a modicum of understanding though.. not everyone has the time or confidence. I paid £70 odd for a Stinger 18 months ago. Reasonable price IMO for what it does and happy to support UK based companies/individuals and pay them a reasonable price for the work they do.

[lemmywinks]

7 hours ago, tegs07 said:

You need some soldering skills and a modicum of understanding though.. not everyone has the time or confidence. I paid £70 odd for a Stinger 18 months ago. Reasonable price IMO for what it does and happy to support UK based companies/individuals and pay them a reasonable price for the work they do.

 

Most people can learn to solder guitar stuff in 15 minutes with a cheap USB iron I reckon, swapping the original wiring back in would be a very small job. I put a fair bit of money into my main bass but kept hold of the original parts in case I ever need to sell it, would take a massive hit otherwise. 

[tegs07]

28 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

 

Most people can learn to solder guitar stuff in 15 minutes with a cheap USB iron I reckon, swapping the original wiring back in would be a very small job. I put a fair bit of money into my main bass but kept hold of the original parts in case I ever need to sell it, would take a massive hit otherwise. 

All true. Most people could also do basic plumbing, electrics, PC support, painting and decorating, car service etc etc but they don’t!

[prowla]

1 hour ago, tegs07 said:

All true. Most people could also do basic plumbing, electrics, PC support, painting and decorating, car service etc etc but they don’t!

It's a question of how long it takes you to do something and how good the result is, compared to a professional.

[tegs07]

7 minutes ago, prowla said:

It's a question of how long it takes you to do something and how good the result is, compared to a professional.

Indeed. I can solder. It’s functional but not pretty.

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, tegs07 said:

All true. Most people could also do basic plumbing, electrics, PC support, painting and decorating, car service etc etc but they don’t!

I do - have to with our disaster zone of a house. First owner did not maintenance for the first 20 years after it was built 

[tegs07]

1 minute ago, Geek99 said:

I do - have to with our disaster zone of a house. First owner did not maintenance for the first 20 years after it was built 

Necessity is the mother of invention and all that. Basic point is cheap basses often save costs by having cheap pickups and electrics among other things as this eBay listing shows unless you are willing and able to learn some skills they can end up costing in the long run unless they are kept stock. Personally although I think Harley Bentons are fairly decent particularly for the cost I would always opt for used Squire CV. 

[lemmywinks]

1 hour ago, prowla said:

It's a question of how long it takes you to do something and how good the result is, compared to a professional.

 

Going off the battery compartment rout I don't think any mods done to the bass in the OP will be classed as professional! Guitar wiring is incredibly basic, you can easily get results better than what you'd find in most cheap basses. Not sure if they still teach electronics etc at high schools but we were doing more intricate soldering work pre GCSE, honestly I'd consider it a pretty essential part of guitar ownership, not to mention massively beneficial if you ever need to make cables for your PA.

[Gray]

I ended up buying this bass, in my ongoing efforts to find a (very cheap) Stingray-esque thing that I actually enjoy playing. 

 The work is much neater than it looked on the advert to be fair. Active circuit is very sweet, with some very useable tones. 

As a bass (given that it was something like 90 quid from Thomann) - nice playable neck. Frets needed a bit of a tidy, but was the work of 10 minutes with a file. Finish is neat, will be interesting to see how it stands up. Touch neck heavy - and tuners (and bridge) are clearly on budget, but doing the job currently. 

 

 

 

 

[tegs07]

44 minutes ago, Gray said:

I ended up buying this bass, in my ongoing efforts to find a (very cheap) Stingray-esque thing that I actually enjoy playing. 

 

 

 

 

For that money you can’t really go wrong- the Stinger certainly does a passable imitation of the original and would think the SUB pickup would be reasonable..