Harley Benton PB-20 SBK

[Thump]

Hey!  Hope this is in the right place , the luthier section seemed a little off for what is essentially a few mods.

 

So, for my birthday the Mrs treated me to a bass i had my eye on and i was happy. Then it arrived and i could not for the life of me find the arrows for the 4 sting bow i had been sent. Neck angle was waaaaaay off and even with the bridge saddles absolutley slammed the action at the 12th was about 6mm...  Unfortunately i have no pictures of just how bad it was, i'm not one of those who photos everything and shows the world what i had for dinner last tuesday. The finished pic i had to take for this post, its been finished for 2 weeks now.

 

I had my eye on this bass as a project, a cheapo wonder to be improved upon with as little as possible spent but all new parts. 

Wanting to do things properly, or as properly as i know how i opted to copper shield the bloody lot. Turns out it was possibly the best £7 mod i have ever made and every instrument i own will be treated to the same eventually.

The bass was £105. The parts (pickup , knobs , bridge , tuners ) inc. delivery were £74. Neck shims and p bass wiring kit delivered from Stewmac was £45. The time was my own , and it turns out it was well spent. This bass is incredible, Incredible to play, incredible sounding. I have never owned a P bass before and have been looking for this sound, Wow. Action is really nice too , the 1 degree shim was perfect.

 

I honestly did not expect results like this and am kind of blown away. I still have a couple of high frets to deal with and they all need a good polish but that'll be sorted at next string change cos i can live with it as is until then.

£30 quid a bloody pop for strings damn sure i can wait.

 

Parts used were Wilkinson bridge , pickup. Northwest guitars gold tuners and knobs, Stewmac wiring kit with cts pots. Strings are DR fat beams. Sound is heavenly. A friend who had a go today commented it's so quiet its like playing with a noise gate. For a first go i think i did alright.

[Reggaebass]

Looks great, nice dark fingerboard 

[stewblack]

This is in my top 5 favourite basses. I think you were extremely unlucky as mine played beautifully out of the box.

I love how it looks so haven't felt like changing anything, but man, that gold looks amazing.

[stewblack]

Might have to buy another one and do something similar 😂

[Thump]

Just now, stewblack said:

This is in my top 5 favourite basses. I think you were extremely unlucky as mine played beautifully out of the box.

I love how it looks so haven't felt like changing anything, but man, that gold looks amazing.

The best thing , besides from how it sounds , is the silence. The almost complete lack of any unwanted noise. It is a free noise gate 

[theyellowcar]

The gold hardware is a nice upgrade, great work.