thegummy

Thanks a lot guys. Had no idea it was such a complicated bass. Just been listening to Marillion a lot lately, loved the bass tone so much and looked up what it was. Thought it might be the pickup type/placement that was giving it, hadn't counted on there being unique gadgetry. Appreciate the help.

Anyone know of a bass that can get a similar sound to an Aria SB1000 but in the price and quality range of Squier Classic Vibe or Sterling Sub? Doesn't have to look similar. Cheers.

In case you didn't already know about it, the Maruszczyk custom designer is the best thing like that I've found by far. https://www.public-peace-customshop.de/

Thank you Reggaebass! That's close enough for jazz. Looks as good as I hoped.

Oof that is lovely. I was looking more for the Pueblo Pink which is kind of like Fender's Shell Pink. If anyone has it?

Anyone got a pic of a Pueblo Pink Stingray with a tortoiseshell pickguard? Even if it's just a pic you've got online. Cheers (fingers crossed)

Sweet, do a wee video

Surprised your Limunlay faded like that - mine stay bright for at least an hour's gig. That's why I assumed it was totally different to the powder they use on toys (which do fade in a few minutes). How long did you charge them for before the gig?

I remember the shipping costs being quite bad but even just taking £16 - that's a lot of money for a very small part of a mass produced bass that's selling to the end customer for 200 quid. It's like we might think "why use cheapo pots and switches when the higher quality ones are only a few quid" but at the level of mass production to make basses as cheap as that, every penny makes a big difference so I'd be shocked if Harley Benton were using Luminlay brand product. I expect they're either using a worse version or have somehow found an equal alternative that's much cheaper.

I was under the impression that Luminlay is a different material to the stuff they use in toys, stickers etc. Maybe it's not but then it would be strange that people would go to the expense of importing it specifically from that Japanese company. Don't know if it's the case for Luminlay but usually when one company has a product that others don't it's because they have patents for it rather than no one else understanding how it's done. Would be interested to see a comparison in brightness and longevity between these Harley Bentons and an instrument with the Luminlay brand dots. Won't hold my breath that I'll see one though lol.

Was expensive when I bought it but that was years ago. The fact I've only really seen it stock on reasonably expensive instruments made me think it still is. Wonder why more instruments don't come with it stock if it's cheap now. Maybe it's not deemed to be that desirable and Harley Benton are taking a chance that maybe it will be a selling point.

Fair enough. I suppose if we're getting in to all the other things I'm considering apart from potential resale, I do strongly prefer the sound of P basses over Js so that likely comes in to my possible willingness to do this.

Yeah the stuff they use for toys and kids stickers etc. must be cheap cause the products themselves cost less than Luminlay material. But those things don't glow in the dark as brightly or for as long Luminlay. That's what I'm wondering, have they used the cheapo stuff (so it's a bit of a gimmick) or have they found a way to make the dots as good as (or close to) Luminlay for much less money?

Either one on its own covers everything, it's just about having sound options. Obviously if both have roundwounds then neither will get the flatwound sound

Do you have any pics of the cavity you enlarged by any chance?

There's no real rush but at the moment I can't even afford all the normal things I need to live, never mind put any money aside. It's either a one-off 25 quid purchase of a pickup or wait a long long time til I'm likely to be able to afford another bass. Sadly I don't have any available credit either or it would be a moot point cause I'd have already blown it on a limited edition Japanese blue precision I fell in love with but has now stopped being made

For sound I'm 100% in the "only the pickup and strings matter" camp so I'm not concerned about the sound of a very low priced instrument, it's the feel, how much it stays in tune etc. There's definitely a markup for some brand names like Fender but I don't think the other extreme - i.e. a 1 grand Fender is the same quality as a 150 quid bass except the logo - is that realistic. The more expensive the instrument, the more extra you're paying for smaller and smaller differences and I believe there's many basses in the 400-500 that are really great quality but the bottom of the range Harley Bentons are really pushing the price low. Even other HB P clones are nearly 3 times the price. This reminds me a time I was in GuitarGuitar and wanted to play an American Fender and Mexican Fender at the same time to compare and the girl in the shop reacted like I was trying to compare a push bike to a BMW when in reality they're virtually identical other than some subtle differences (incidentally, at that time I decided it was worth paying a lot extra for a small improvement and went for the American). But it was funny the way she acted like it was crazy to even compare the two. Always wondered if she was genuinely buying in to the marketing herself and innocently passing on the naivety or if she knew they were far closer than the price suggests and was just trying to con me.

Appreciate you taking the time to list all those links. At the moment I literally can't even afford to buy a 100 quid bass (still talking more than 5 times the price of a pickup for even the most bottom of the range bass). Have to admit I'm very sceptical that a bass that's £111 brand new could be at all decent. I'm open to the idea that I'm completely wrong but with even budget basses costing 4 times that, it seems strange one with such a low price would be any good. Given that a £111 Harley Benton and £2000+ Fender are essentially identical in the grand scheme of things, if the quality differences between the two are so small that the incredibly cheap one would still be decent then that's one hell of a markup for what would have to be a small difference. But maybe that's the case, I'm definitely intrigued. Would be interested in getting one in the future purely to find out just how close it is to my Fender.

Something that stands out to me from the specs is the glow in the dark side dots since Luminlay itself is expensive and I've only really seen it come stock on quite expensive instruments. I wonder if they've found a cheap alternative that works as well as Luminlay or if it's a really poor substitute like they might use on a child's toy or something.

If you've only got it recently I'd recommend giving it a bit of time first. It does feel different to a J but I found it to be fine once I was used to it.

For new prices, the P pickup I fancy is 24 quid - I'd find it hard to believe even a bass costing 10 times that would be any good given that Yamaha's cheapest is nearly double that now (£450).

Well that's why I would have to chisel it out, hence this thread The non-bridge pickup on a J is actually in the same position as one of the coils of a P pickup though, I'd just have to chisel it a bit wider then chisel out a bit for the other coil.

I've always went back and forth between flats and rounds so I already have a few different sets of flats (from when I wasn't so skint lol). When it comes to feel there's no contest - I love the feel of flats so much and, in comparison, rounds don't come close to as nice for feel. But for sound I'm undecided - they do both sound good but I really want to spend time going directly between the two over plenty of different songs to see if I want to settle on either or if I really feel the need for both in the long term. As you say, it big time depends on the genre - some genres like the blues you mention sound perfect with flats but I find that the fuller the rhythm guitars get, the more difference the sound is between rounds and flats. Definitely undecided about the mod at the moment thanks to this thread allowing me to gauge the resale effect. Might hold off a while and maybe I'll be in a financial position to get a second P. Saying that, the last time I was browsing for basses to buy was only a couple of years ago and the price of them has gone up an insane amount! Was quite interested in the Yamaha BB but the models are all now pretty much the price the model up was just 2 years ago. Pretty much doubled in price!

I've actually done that before and it's pretty cool - thanks for the tip. It's really because I want to do a bit of comparison between flats and rounds using a P. I find that I can only get a true feel of comparing 2 instruments by going between them over a decent amount of time; always given me more realistic comparisons than comparing recordings or just comparing in a shop and if I just switch strings on the same bass I need to do a setup which takes a bit of time, especially since my P has the old school truss rod adjustment at the bottom of the neck. If I had the money I'd buy like a Squier or something to do it but I don't have the money for even that at the moment so thinking about modding the J. Just need to think whether it's worth losing potential sell on value now.

lol I didn't say I "have no skill", I said I'm not a wood worker. Not interested in your buying advice; funnily enough not everyone has the money sitting around to buy a new bass... Thanks again to everyone who just answered my question without any snark.