Annoying Twit

[quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1421680531' post='2663871'] Nice looking Westone Thunder II bass. I think this is the V3 which was the medium scale one. It looks very nice indeed and a good price if you are close to Yeovil. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-Thunder-2-Bass-Guitar-with-case-/261740444845?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cf0f23cad"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item3cf0f23cad[/url] [/quote] That is nice. With the hard case, I'd think the buy it now price is reasonable. I didn't remember seeing Thunder 2 basses with two jazz pickups. A quick google shows there to be quite a few pickup variations for Thunder II basses.

Left Handed Explorer Guitar is back.

There are lots of opinions on the forum. E.g. this thread: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/234487-harley-benton-and-thomann/page__hl__harley+benton+pb+50__fromsearch__1

Nothing really newsworthy here. I just really like the look of this bass. It looks like it's hard a few dents and scratches, but even so.... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Overwater-7-String-Progress-Bass-/221665930190?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item339c51abce

Nice fretted Thunder III. Surely it will sell for that starting price. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BASS-GUITAR-WESTONE-THUNDER-111-WITH-HARD-CASE-/321645379613?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4ae38f001d

Cool!

I must admit that I think that my B30FL is about regular size for an acoustic bass. It's bigger than a solid body, sure. But I don't think it's that big. It's all relative though, and depends what you're comparing it to. As for the £40 saved on the Deko Explorer (which has now gone), £22 of that could quite reasonably be spent on one of those. (IMHO, from listening to online demos). [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_california_truetone.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...ia_truetone.htm[/url] That's a rebranded Joyo, I believe. Though, perhaps people buying an explorer would go for something with more blistering gain. I put Fender flats on mine, cos they were cheap and I have had good experience with Fender strings of different types. Online comparisons seem to suggest that Fender flats sound less distinctively 'flat-ish' than other brands such as LaBella. The Overwater flats sound a good deal, on the assumption that Overwater wouldn't brand anything that was substandard.

A couple of what I guess to be guitars up now. I just woke up, so they could have been up for a while and other things may have come and gone. EDIT: Nylon string black acoustic guitar, and explorer shaped electric guitar. The explorer disappeared pretty quickly last time they went up. NB: When I see new instruments, I post here first to give the quickest possible heads up, then investigate. The explorer only costs £73 something brand new. So, £33 for a Deko isn't as much of a bargain as other Dekos. It's left handed. The reviews seem surprisingly good for a £73 instrument. The nylon acoustic has no reviews.

I've never heard of anyone doing that before. Can we hear some clips?

I thought about these. As it has an acoustic style neck, it would be a matter of sanding it to the correct radius but a different angle. And, the neck is now glued. on. I could probably hack the bridge off, sand the top down, and move the bridge, but that might be problematic. Also, I don't think that the high action is due to the neck angle, I think that filing the bridge and nut might fix it. Also, I don't think that the intonation problems are due to the bridge position, but are more likely to be due to the action itself.

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1421531565' post='2662479'] AT I know about 4 people who have bought P-bass kits so far this year.Most with heavy mods in mind. Have you similar thoughts.? It's only basses for me deko or not and 4 strings at that. [/quote] I'm p'd off at myself that my ukulele kit build didn't work out. I may be able to fix the intonation issues if I find my nut files and buy a file to file the bridge down further. My main aim for the p-bass kit would be to put it together and have it turn out OK, plus do finishing for the first time. The reason for choosing a p-bass over a j-bass is that I don't have a p-bass at all. Well, I don't have a j bass either, but I feel it's the p-bass sound that I\m least able to get close to with what I have. If I did upgrade it, it'd probably be a pickup. Replacing the single pickup on a p-bass with (say) a quarter pounder is a lot cheaper than replacing j-bass pickups. BTW: For me, the boundary between guitars and basses has blurred a bit since I started tuning my guitars in all fourths like a bass. With the shorter scale, the low E string of an eight string guitar won't sound as good as a bass, I believe, but a cheap 8 string would be an interesting item to have lying around for use with a looper.

I saw some of these today in a music shop in Banbury, probably Oxfordshire. I didn't get the chance to try one as I was in a hurry. TBH, close up they looked as you'd expect for the price. They looked competently made, but I wouldn't describe them as looking beautiful or looking higher quality than you would expect for the price. The shop, One Man Band, doesn't seem to list Revelation basses on their [url="http://www.ombmusic.co.uk/bass-guitars-47-c.asp"]webpage[/url]. In store, they had one Fender, one Aria STB, one Yamaha, and two Revelation basses. Not exactly a massive range. They had more Revelation guitars, which are [url=http://www.ombmusic.co.uk/revelation-guitars-239-c.asp]on their website.[/url] The shop had two prices on each instrument. One was the 'shop' price, which claimed to include four services worth £100. The other was the 'internet' price, which was a noticeable amount lower.

@Maude - instruments from other brands seem to be sold through Thomann's ebay. Thanks for the feedback on posting links. I'm not going to catch all of them as I have to be within earshot of the computer, which has to be on. My previous postings in this thread today were from my phone, courtesy Chiltern Trains free wifi. If any deko basses go up while I'm not online, I miss them completely. Anything go up today? @Beer of the Bass. On the German music forum, they interviewed the 'brains behind Harley Benton'. He explicitly said that they do their own QC. @Kev - price wise they may be low end instruments, but my experience of them is that in terms of quality they match moderately more expensive basses. I own low end (and some older mid-range) instruments. But, I've played expensive basses so that I can compare. IMHO I'm not missing out that much. I wondered who would want to buy a bolt-on SB200 SG copy, even if it was about £20 or so. But, after listening to the sample audio clips, and reading some reviews, it's plausible that someone would want one and find that a good deal. For me, I have been wanting a fretless for some time, and my Deko is my first fretless. I'm enjoying playing it. How much would I have had to pay to get something better? Probably £200-300 I would guess. I'd be interested in hearing what people here would be interested in buying as Deko. I would be tempted by a good ukulele. I might jump on a fretless Jazz, though I don't need a second fretless just yet. Previously I said that I'd buy an 8 string guitar if one came up, but when one did, I didn't. Maybe I will next time. The semi-acoustic HB-60. Hmmm.... Do I really need another four string bass? Resonator bass? Hmmm..... No. Bass Ukulele. Again, maybe, but when one came up I didn't hit the button. I guess that my next Harley Benton purchase will be a p-bass kit. However, I'm not sure I'd buy a Deko one of those.... Do I want a fretted acoustic? Hmm......

@Maude - Was my posting of the link to the bass useful, or did you find it independently? I'm wondering whether it's useful for me to post here once I see something, or if that's a bit spammy.

PS That's addressed to unit, not KB

Personally I feel that my two Harley Bentons very much better than the description 'cheap planks would suggest. They are both decent instruments. Hence I think that your description is unfair, and the conclusion you draw from it is unfounded.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1421451208' post='2661594'] I suspect here it's reasonable (for me) to assume that "replaceable" is in fact Japlish for "detachable". [/quote] I briefly wondered if it was yet another case of a neck and a body from basses of different scale lengths put together. But I zoomed in on the picture of the neck and it looked like the original.

Maude, did you buy one? At least the custom line bass was up long enough that there was a good chance of getting one. Unlike some of the other instruments that have gone up and sold out within seconds.

[quote name='Vixivi' timestamp='1421443802' post='2661449'] The custom line deko does have fishman electronics which i assume are better quality than the standard series? [/quote] I listened to the sound samples of the custom line, and must admit that it didn't immediately strike me as being a step above what I have. I put flat wound strings on mine, so perhaps its not a like for like comparison. IMHO the pickup on my B30FL sounds great. Fishman electronics should be a big bonus however, and with the solid spruce top means that this is a higher specification than the B30. It is, percentage-wise, more expensive. But, at their price point, the absolute price difference isn't too huge.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1421443634' post='2661447'] I think the solid spruce top is the major advantage over the B30 models, which have a laminated top. As much as we bicker over tonewoods in solidbodies on here, it's a big deal with acoustics. If I didn't already have the B35 on the way, I would have been tempted by this one. [/quote] Ah, OK. I didn't notice the solid spruce top. It seems a deal then, anyone going to go for it?

'Custom Series' Acoustic 4-string bass. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_clb_10sce_ns_deko.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...sce_ns_deko.htm[/url] The non-deko version claims to have a much shorter scale length????? [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_clb_10sce_ns.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...lb_10sce_ns.htm[/url] One review claims that the bridge pins limit the gauge of string that can be used. I'm not sure about that. But, I don't really see what the advantage of this bass is over the B-30 models that some of us have. Unless someone really likes abalone shell. It seems to be the guitars that go quickest. One of these 'Vintage' strats went up and disappeared before I even noticed it was there. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_st_62_bk_vintage_series.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...tage_series.htm[/url] One of these vanished extremely quickly yesterday. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbs200bk.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...on_hbs200bk.htm[/url] I don't know about other people, but I don't find that bolt-on SG guitar copy particularly appealing.

Thanks Jon. That's a good example of a tale of two Japanese brands. [quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1421429664' post='2661179'] Aria Pro II CSB 380 £100 BIN collection only Newcastle. Should make someone happy. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Blue-Aria-Pro-II-Cardinal-Series-CSB-380-Bass-Guitar-/171644660812?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item27f6d1ac4c"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item27f6d1ac4c[/url] [/quote] What does it mean by 'maple replacement neck'?

Here's a "best fretless bass guitarists of all time" list that doesn't even include Pino. I'd add Percy Jones to the list as well. http://fretlessbassguitarsite.com/2012/01/best-fretless-bass-guitarists-all-time/

Loads more dekos up NOW! EDIT: Mostly gone. There is a JB20 Jazz bass still there as of a few seconds ago. EDIT: Jazz bass and some not very attractive (IMHO) resonator guitar still there. EDIT: Looks better in full sized photos and is an interesting instrument. Black resonator guitar with mini hum[size=4]bucker. [/size][url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbn150cebk.htm"]http://www.thomann.d..._hbn150cebk.htm[/url]The[size=4] resonator guitar has good reviews, if anyone's interested. Surprised to see the Jazz bass is still there. [/size] [size=4]EDIT: All gone now. Anyone get anything?[/size]

I thought that some years ago when I watched them more carefully, that a Thunder 1A could be obtained for about £130, with an exceptionally cheap one just getting under £100 if it's pickup only in some obscure location, and up to about £160 as a good price, up to £200 exceptionally. Right now they're matching this and more. The £295 for the Thunder 2A guitar seems exceptionally high to me. The Thunders seem to be considerably outperforming the Bass Collections price wise. A Bass Collection SB320 went for £80 (or was it £80?) recently. Maybe an apples and oranges comparison as they're from different eras. But I wonder how they compare as basses.