solo4652 Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 (edited) https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_mv_4msb_gotoh_bm.htm Interesting spec on paper; Alder body, Maple neck, Gotoh hardware, brass sadles, graphite nut. I was considering a Squier FSR Mustang - just wondering if anybody has played the HB and could offer useful comparison/review to the cheaper Mustangs? I've seen the earlier threads about these basses, and I'm asking if anybody's got their hands on one yet. Edited December 16, 2022 by solo4652 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted December 17, 2022 Share Posted December 17, 2022 Interested in these, but I'd rather have a proper mustang pickup than a PJ. Never played one so no further comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solo4652 Posted December 22, 2022 Author Share Posted December 22, 2022 Ordered the Daphne Blue one. Currently somewhere between Thomann and UK customs. Might just get it in time for Christmas 2023.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theyellowcar Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 These look nice. My daughter (3) has been at me to get her a pink guitar…👀 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonesy Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 Lobster just posted a review..... https://youtu.be/xMVKI0aC31A The electronics are a bit of a weird choice, but they still look like a lot of bass for the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 (edited) Replace the volume control with a blend pot and you're laughing IMO. Edited December 27, 2022 by ezbass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 About half the price of a used Fender - which would you choose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lw. Posted December 28, 2022 Share Posted December 28, 2022 Hmm the body shape looks decent and may be good for people that struggle with the non-contoured Mustang body but some of the other design choices are absolutely goping. 1 - I get that thoman must have done a bulk discount deal with gotoh for machine heads but that design doesn't work on traditional style basses (same with the jazz they did), it just looks wrong. 2 - similarly the bridge, one of the Mustangs key style points is the extended base plate on the bridge. Fender messed this up on a few models too. Having a basic rectangular one throws the visual balance. 3 - another one fender have messed up too but standard pick-up covers with the straight edges, they just look too big. It's like when you see teenagers wearing their dad's shirt. Still, for £200 it's hard to complain and I'm sure it plays fine & many people probably don't mind the style choices! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solo4652 Posted December 28, 2022 Author Share Posted December 28, 2022 (edited) NBD, but CBA. DPD are due to deliver my Daphne Blue one today, but I'm brimful of heavy cold/manflu/covid-type thing/sarcoptic mange mite, or something. Struggling to get out of bed. Maybe a new bass will fire up some enthusiasm for life.... Edited December 28, 2022 by solo4652 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted December 28, 2022 Share Posted December 28, 2022 1 hour ago, Lw. said: 3 - another one fender have messed up too but standard pick-up covers with the straight edges, they just look too big. It's like when you see teenagers wearing their dad's shirt. Still, for £200 it's hard to complain and I'm sure it plays fine & many people probably don't mind the style choices! I think it's the player series that has the usual Mustang pickup but also a humungous Jazz pickup (relative to the other pickup) as well. A Musicmaster / Bronco sized pickup would have worked much better than the Jazz to keep things in proportion I'v seen the CV Mustang for £320 which isn't a lot of money either. I think that the HB, given the pickups used, would be a better bass for modding but the Squier would be better if you wanted to keep it as is as it looks more like the real thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan63 Posted December 28, 2022 Share Posted December 28, 2022 CV mustang can be quite heavy as dense nato used for body, at least in my case Shame the HB isn't 41mm nut width I don't find the CV slab body at all problematic, but I always use a strap and am personally well rounded, ymmv nice colours from HB I wish the mustang control plate was easier to obtain and available in other finishes, but I guess it shows there isn't much demand for self builds of this type of instrument, easier for most people to use one of the tele guitar or bass control plates for a self build and rout accordingly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rasher80 Posted December 28, 2022 Share Posted December 28, 2022 If they made one left handed it'd be all over it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solo4652 Posted December 29, 2022 Author Share Posted December 29, 2022 (edited) Finally dragged myself out of bed. First impressions of the HB MV-4M in Daphne blue: Build quality seems excellent. Tight neck pocket with no gaps. Lovely satin-feel dark maple neck with skunk stripe. Feels fairly flat front-to-back compared to my G&L Fallout. Headstock is a little smaller than my G&L and my Lakland HB30. Gotoh tuners feel surprisingly small in the hand. String hole in middle may possibly restrict string gauge choice. That said, I fitted 45-65-85-105 halfwounds without problems. Body finish is almost flawless - no odd colour patches or orange-peel finish anywhere. Daphne blue is pretty bright, and I think I would have preferred not to have a matching headstock. The overall look is a bit, errrm, "pretty". Not sure why a tug-bar is fitted as stock - does anybody actually need such a thing? For me, it doesn't get in the way, so I'll leave it where it is. No discernible neck-dive on a wide, rough-finish leather strap. Hands off, and bass stays still - just what I was after. Factory set-up didn't suit me or my favourite strings, but 30 mins of saddle-adjusting, intonation-setting, half-turn on truss-rod sorted that out. All adjustments working smoothly. Very clear that string choice is critical. 45-65-85-105 Status black nylons just didn't work well at all. Too floppy, with intonation issues, especially on E string. Same gauge Status halfwounds are much, much better - higher string tension, lower saddles, straighter neck, clearer/less muddy tone. Big difference here. Through my 50w practice combo, overall volume seems a little low compared to my other basses, but absolutely fine through 500W rehearsal rig. Lack of pickup selection was initially a bit perplexing, but I found I quickly got used to a mid-point position on tone knob, making small final adjustments on the amp. Once set, I just got on with playing. I only play finger-style. Tone sounds more towards J than P, but pushing the bass on the amp quickly thickened things up. This was at home - of course, it will be different again with a full band in a rehearsal room, so I'll wait and see. So, initial bedroom impressions are of a well-made, nicely tuned-out bass that I found easy to pick up and play after the ususal personal set-up adjustments. I'm not immediately feeling like I need to replace pickups, or add a pickup selector. Certainly a good back-up for my No.1 bass, the Lakland HB30. Very pleased with the purchase, after dithering about it for a week. Amazing value. Edited December 29, 2022 by solo4652 10 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted December 29, 2022 Share Posted December 29, 2022 Lobster just modded his with chrome covered Dimarzios, worth doing just for the improved aesthetics IMO but also sounds great. Thought the P/J format on such a small body was a little cluttered but this looks great. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnt Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 I've been looking for a short scale, and one of these might do the trick. I have a blend pot going spare after my MP-4EB mod a couple of years ago, the type where centre position means both pickups on full. It's an odd omission, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knicknack Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 Mine plus a push-pull pot arriving next week... looking forward to seeing if these are as good as reported! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWalker Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 I have also one of these underway from Thomann. It's intended for my granddaughter at 6, but I am also interested in testing out for my own pleasure (of course). The color of Burgundy Mist should be perfect for a young girl, but it doesn't really look out of place for adults, either?! In case she doesn't pick up bass eventually, I will probably more than likely keep it myself *hehe* I bet you didn't see that coming.....?! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 Black one ordered today, together with a blend pot. To think I bought this, the pot, a stand, a gigbag and an eq pedal for less than half the cost of a Fender Player Mustang, including delivery. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 £200 when you can get a Fender one for around £400… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) On 27/12/2022 at 17:23, prowla said: About half the price of a used Fender - which would you choose? And much, much better upper fret access, and in my personal opinion looks better too. Proper contoured body as well. The Harley Benton, hands down! And that even if they had been similar priced. Likely similar, in fact even more likely better quality than the double priced Fender too (have you seen their many times more expensive quality control joke of a gold fool bass?). I am not going to pay for a "name" on the headstock (which is very likely all you actually pay more for in this case), and definitely not "Fender". Edited February 26, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 14 hours ago, prowla said: £200 when you can get a Fender one for around £400… A £400 Fender is not going to be a lot better made than that Harley Benton just because of the logo they lsapped on the headstock. If you were talking a higher end Fender, sure, but not this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 2 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said: And much, much better upper fret access, and in my personal opinion looks better too. Proper contoured body as well. The Harley Benton, hands down! And that even if they had been similar priced. Likely similar, in fact even more likely better quality than the double priced Fender too (have you seen their many times more expensive quality control joke of a gold fool bass?). I am not going to pay for a "name" on the headstock (which is very likely all you actually pay more for in this case), and definitely not "Fender". 21 minutes ago, mcnach said: A £400 Fender is not going to be a lot better made than that Harley Benton just because of the logo they lsapped on the headstock. If you were talking a higher end Fender, sure, but not this. Each to their own... My Fender Mustang MIM cost less than that double figure and it is a very good bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) Yeah, I couldn't live with effectively only having 17 frets available, because of the poor upper fret access of the Fender, plus I would prefer the flatter 12" radius fretboard of the Harley Benton too. Also tuners, pickups and bridge looks good, just because it doesn't look like an original Fender Mustang doesn't mean it looks bad or wrong aesthetically, cause it really doesn't, and it doesn't have to look identical either, just some people who can't handle that it doesn't look like they are used to (and I bet some people would complain if it looked too much like an original Mustang too). As far as I am concerned the Harley Benton is an improvement of the classic Fender Mustang design in almost every possible aspect. Edited February 26, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 I’m sensing Fender negativity… 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) 10 minutes ago, prowla said: I’m sensing Fender negativity… If Fender favoritism met with objectivity to you equals Fender negativity then I guess you would be right... Edited February 26, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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