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harley benton pb50, can it really be as good as the reviews?


ribbetingfrog
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[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1456956893' post='2994103']
Aye it was like that on arrival. There's a year or so between the two, maybe the other one will catch up :)

I've seen some lovely bits of wood on HB's.
[/quote]

Well, I'll be stoked if I get a neck like that. Guess I'll just have to see what the random bass generator throws up.

Still trying to decide whether to amber stain the neck as well or just let it darken naturally over time. Will probably just do some test spots first and see how it looks with just tru oil.

Not sure if I'm going to do anything with the body, bare wood would look pretty good, but being basswood it might not come up so well. Will probably just leave it.

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[quote name='MarkG3' timestamp='1457089818' post='2995166']
All I had was a chisel, hammer and some sandpaper, so took a long time, 3 hours. I had to widen it both vertically and horizontally as you look at it. Luckily the scratch plate covers pretty much all what I did as it isn't very clean job. But I have used it as a relic project. IMO it looks really good
[/quote]

Got a picture?

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[URL=http://s1308.photobucket.com/user/mlbull87/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0057_zpsb36dsha0.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s604/mlbull87/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0057_zpsb36dsha0.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s1308.photobucket.com/user/mlbull87/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0059_zpsi4hcqsyp.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s604/mlbull87/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0059_zpsi4hcqsyp.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

You can't really make out the small dents in the picture, I also aged the hardware too and reshaped the headstock. The aging round the pickup was also there before the scpb3 went in. The little red/black bit next to the pickup is my DIY thumb rest, made out of small piece of yoga matt screwed in :)

The first picture isn't directly straight on, otherwise my mug would have made it into the picture!

Edited by MarkG3
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  • 3 weeks later...

Despite sending my PB 50 back for a refund, Thomann have just sent me a dispatch note indicating they are sending another one out. I even put a note on the bass asking for a refund.

Well never mind, maybe this is fate (or Thomann's accountant), and this PB 50 will be a picture of bargain basement perfection.

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PB 50 number 2 turned up today.

Night and Day improvement over the one I sent back - maybe they checked this one prior to dispatch?

For a start, all the screws are present which helps! The neck is a lovely piece of maple with very slight flaming and birdseye which just gives it a little character its also a pleasing shade too. The fingerboard is plain vanilla however and like a lot of these looks entirely different from the neck wood.

I can get the action down to a very playable height before string buzz sets in, might go lower with flatwounds, although I'm almost hitting the saddles on the bridge plate, so a different bridge may be needed or a neck shim to go much lower. The nut seems a tad high so that might get filed or replaced - possibly with a brass nut. Body, pots etc all good - sounds pretty clean but possibly a slight shielding or grounding issue going on, easy to fix. Tuners are nice too.

So I'm going to play this for a while and then do a small amount of customising, possibly including:

Reprofile the headstock to tele
strip neck poly and refinish in gunstock oil and wax.
Light fret dress
replace/file nut - maybe get a brass nut.
New bridge and/or ashtray
Fit SD SCPB2 (obviously A/B with the wilkinson)

So, I'm quite glad Thomann sent a replacement rather than refunded.

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote name='MarkG3' timestamp='1457108114' post='2995468']
[URL=http://s1308.photobucket.com/user/mlbull87/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0057_zpsb36dsha0.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s604/mlbull87/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0057_zpsb36dsha0.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s1308.photobucket.com/user/mlbull87/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0059_zpsi4hcqsyp.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s604/mlbull87/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0059_zpsi4hcqsyp.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

You can't really make out the small dents in the picture, I also aged the hardware too and reshaped the headstock. The aging round the pickup was also there before the scpb3 went in. The little red/black bit next to the pickup is my DIY thumb rest, made out of small piece of yoga matt screwed in :)

The first picture isn't directly straight on, otherwise my mug would have made it into the picture!
[/quote]

I've decided that I'm going to strip the finish and use purple wood stain on it. I've seen the hand stained Fenders and think they look good so that's my inspiration!

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  • 10 months later...

I'm in the middle of fettling one of these as a gift. Out of the box the tuners felt awful, there were high frets all over the place and they felt rough when playing, the strings were binding on the string tree and the neck finish was so thin as to feel raw. Weight isn't bad, probably about 9.5-10lbs at a guess. Nut (although slightly too narrow for the width of the fretboard) is cut to the correct depth. Action is a little high, probably to compensate for the level of fretwork. A bit of a beast to play as a result, especially given the neck in the first position is fairly hefty!

A set of Wilkinson tuners went on (after significant filing - still need a bit of lubrication), hipshot-esque string tree, a light level and crowning of the frets (my first attempt at this! Also got all Roger Sadowsky on it's ass and took progressively more off the frets after the 12th - seemed to work well), rolled the fingerboard edges a little with the shank of a screwdriver, polished up the neck with Kiwi mid tan shoe polish in an attempt to darken it down a bit (not sure it worked but it's taken the raw feel out of the equation), and a proper set up and you know what? Now it feels and plays brilliantly! Nice low action easily achievable. I may still replace the bridge with a Wilkinson as the current one looks and feels pretty cheap under adjustment. Probably needs shielding but I'm on a clock so that might have to wait.

Would definitely recommend these if you have the time and inclination to do this level of work.

As a confidence builder this wee project has been great. I've a couple of basses that need frets leveling so I'll not be frightened to tackle that sort of thing any more.

Edited by Bigwan
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Sounds very similar to what I did to mine. I did a DIY fret dress, although my 20th fret is still a little high, so I'll revisit that sometime. I like your idea of progressively lowering the upper frets. My tuners have been fine, might be luck of the draw where these get sourced from.

Not sure if I've posted this before but here's mine:

Mods:
Headstock reshape
Neck stripped bare, vintage tint and Tru-oil finish.
Customised Brass nut
DIY fret dress
SD Pickup (not necessary but had it lying around)
Wilkinson brass saddle bridge
Sean Hurley Sig style Jag bridge mute
White pickguard (spray painted original)

I've probably forgotten some stuff too. I'm planning on a refinish in seafoam green nitro at some point but too much on to be doing projects just now.

Edited by No. 8 Wire
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The bravado required to do the upper neck fretwork was definitely a product of one too many ciders, but worked a treat. Just 3 layers of masking tape on the 12th fret, marker the remaining frets and level until the top of the 13th fret is marker free. Since the frets were already leveled it only took a minute with the little leveling beam.

Only issue I had with the whole fretwork process is my crowning file was brand new and a little vicious (and wasn't designed for wide jumbo frets like these) so I'm left with a few unsightly scratches near the base of the frets, but you'd only really notice if you went looking and it doesn't have any effect on the playing surface. A decent crowning file is on the shopping list for sure.

I'd consider getting one of these just to stick a pair of chinese thunderbird replica pickups in.

Edited by Bigwan
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[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1486725631' post='3234097']
A bit of a beast to play as a result, especially given the neck in the first position is fairly hefty!
[/quote]

I'm in general a fan of a good fat neck, although I'd rather it followed the 50's P bass shape - i.e. about 2-3mm wider and a more third of a baseball bat rather than half like it is now. Its more like a modern P bass neck with extra depth than anything like a 50s one. Its suits me fine but could be better (but not for the price!)

Mine's the same on the first fret position, there's something wrong with the transition there - gets fatter to early before the headstock.

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I've just got one. It wasn't advertised as a HB but that's what it is. It's had the headstock reshaped (very well), new Wilkinson bridge and bridge and pickup covers and an unused set of flats. I've not really had the chance to have a good go but so far I'm very impressed.I've got a Seymour Duncan PB 3?in my drawer that I might put in and also a set of Wilkinson big tuners. I'd quite like the colour of the neck to be less white but that's no big deal

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[quote name='Donnyboy' timestamp='1487504614' post='3240227']
I've just got one. It wasn't advertised as a HB but that's what it is. It's had the headstock reshaped (very well), new Wilkinson bridge and bridge and pickup covers and an unused set of flats. I've not really had the chance to have a good go but so far I'm very impressed.I've got a Seymour Duncan PB 3?in my drawer that I might put in and also a set of Wilkinson big tuners. I'd quite like the colour of the neck to be less white but that's no big deal
[/quote]

Any pics?

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In 1983 I bought my first bass, from a music shop in Cardiff. It was a Precision 'copy'- and I use the term in it's loosest possible sense- which some enterprising previous owner had lovingly painted a fairly passable 'Fender ' logo on the headstock. Possibly the same enterprising former owner had added a second pickup near the bridge. The pickup looked remarkably like a six inch nail with some copper wire wrapped around it. It was £95. There was nothing else within £120 of this, and I had £100, which had taken me AGES to save.
Thirty four years later, this is £85 and actually looks like quite a nice bass.
Globalisation can't be all bad, eh?

Edited by W1_Pro
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