Quilly

Literally all I had done to it, a fret polish and dress, €40 in all. So final tally is €150 and it plays like a dream, the neck is Fantastic on this thing. I’ve had several fender USA class Basses and seriously this HB bass Really is amazing value for money. Probably on a par with MiM standard fenders. I suspect the tone and vol pots might give trouble but so far there’s no sign of this happening.

The only further mod I think i'll do is install a thumb-rest, maybe one of those zero mod perspex ones, and I ditched the pickguard, the finish under was perfect. I suspect its a sunburst is a transfer or something but it looks great.

Thanks for the HB tip btw. I'm still looking for reasons why this bass is only €109 🤔 Apart from a fret finishing (which only cost me €40) its a fantastic bass given its cost. The neck feels fantastic. A really beefy maple neck with a lovely satin finish.

Well , after paying a local luthier an additional €40 to dress the frets ends and set it up it now plays amazingly and sounds great . Really hot pickup on this thing !

Anyone out there ever use an Ashdown CTM-300?

Cheers for the ideals I need some sort of shared calendar

Me and the lead guitarist generally do the gig booking and it seems like we need the planets to align to get all members and gig available on the same night and then there are last minute cancellations that are an annoyance I’m sure to pub landlords. We’ve missed so many gigs it’s not funny. Is this normal ?

A gig a month would suit me but even if we had them (and we could get them) a band member would bail at the 11th hours forcing me to embarrassingly cancel the gig.

I was seriously out of practice but these guys asked me to join after an acoustic session . I didn’t have much gear at the time so it suited me. It was intricate music so it kept me on my toes. Kinda American folky type music. When their band got more serious I bowed out .

After a long hiatus playing bass I eventually got involved with a great bunch of musicians playing original music. It was a great experience and I eventually got involved in other bands . The only reason why I left is because I wasn’t into the genre at all. I knew it, they knew it. They found a replacement bassist who is actually a better fit as he’s a fretless player. So all very cordial. Probably a rare occurrence

Some people should never be in bands . Bands are a team sport

About to pull the trigger myself. Joined up because my old band just fell apart . Just not feeling it with this new band . We’re on our 4th singer . Each one left because of personality clashes with BL, founder. I find when 2 alpha males are in a band it’s doomed .

Cheers - Paul has sorted me for one of these 😀 Although I appreciate the bare bobbin look, its not very ergonomic and makes me nervous.

Hi , I’ve been looking for one of these for my Harley Benton 51 bass. Do you think I might acquire one ?

Just instinctively resting my thump on the edge of that bobbin. I might just reposition the pull bar over it

Can you get a plastic casing for 51 type pickups ?

They’re a great “project” bass . Being so cheap but decent enough to lend itself well to modification ,

Cheers , that worked 👍

Yes it’s a great bass for the price but the neck feels a bit ‘raw’ like it needs a polish with some really fine sand paper or something. The ends of the frets just need to be filed a bit also . That’s all I’ll do I reckon

Cheers, single ply, fairly cheap and cheerful

Bruno , you were unlucky. my bass arrived today! first impressions , a lovely sounding bass to start with and all components seem solid and solidly put together. I took off the scratch plate expecting a horror show and was pleasantly surprised to find no blemishes and continuous sunburst , so I’m leaving it off. The controls give a good gradual roll on roll off for both tone and vol. Action a little high but that’s to be expected. My only ‘faults’ I could see were that the fret ends felt a little sharp and I’m not convinced the pots will hold up (the knobs don’t have a grub screw to take them off and I can’t remove the plastic...annoying) the neck feels like it could do with a bit of a polish also. The only job that needs doing really is a fret job and set up. I may place the thumb rest over the pickup, 70s style. The pick guard wasn’t bad at all well smoothed off to be fair . Overall very happy ....just needs a bit of a finishing off.

Would have liked to have used a 3 ply pick guard but I might just leave it and sand down the edges, per Bruno Bass photos I thing removing it altogether might not be an option. It arrives today

Will the fender /squire pick guard work on the Harley Benton? The stock HB one looks rubbish

A lot of folks like putting on flats on their ‘51 Basses , tbh I love the twang from them with rounds

Not surprised at all by that hole, I’ve seen scars hidden under scratch plates in MIM fenders .