NBD : Harley Benton GuitarBass VS Vintage Series [Bass VI] - with review!

[Bassfinger]

I love the Fender with a hint of Burns and Gibson looks.

 

Trying to think of a way to sneak one past Mrs Bassfinger.

[MacDaddy]

On 10/05/2022 at 09:44, BigRedX said:

With regard to comparing the sound of a Bass VI to more "conventional" instruments I couldn't really comment since I've never spent any serious time with the ones mentioned in @Joe Nation's post.

 

Standard tuning of a Bass VI is E-E a octave below that of a standard guitar. Baritone Guitars tend to be B-B for 28" scale or A-A for 30" scale, although just like any guitar you can actually tune them any way you want. My Bass VIs are tuned EADGCB because the open C string is more useful to me than B for for drone parts in our songs in C and Am.

 

Most Bass VIs have three single-coil pickups in roughly Stratocaster positions, but the tuning will mean that you don't automatically get Stratocaster-like sounds out of them. Baritone Guitars tend to have two pickups in the typical guitar bridge and neck configuration (either humbuckers or P90 type), and from my experience with a 28" scale baritone tuned B-B it was pretty much like a typical guitar but lower in pitch. Bass VIs are very different beast. You can get guitar-like tones out of them, but they are also a "proper" short-scale bass guitar albeit one with two extra high string and closer string spacing.

 

Have a listen to this live clip of my band Hurtsfall where I'm using the Eastwood Hooky Bass VI and get both guitar and bass type sounds out of it. The Hooky is a bit of an oddity in the Bass VI world as it is based on the Shergold Marathon Six-String Bass and appears to be aimed more at bassists rather than guitarists. It also has a single humbucking pickup mounted somewhere between where the bridge and middle pickups would be on a typical three-pickup Bass VI. Having said that the majority of the tone is courtesy of the Line6 Helix I play through, and my "back-up" instrument a Burns Baracuda with three single coil pickups (normally using the middle one) sounds much the same through this set up.

 

 

 

looks weird you not playing a Gus

[BigRedX]

6 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

 

looks weird you not playing a Gus

 

Believe me, If I could afford right now for Simon Farmer to make me a Gus G3 to the Eastwood scale length and string spacing I would. I discussed the possibility with him a couple of years ago and with the extras that I wanted regarding pickup switching and a piezo bridge to drive a Roland V system, we were looking at approximately £6.5k...

[Baloney Balderdash]

Update regarding the question of which wood types actually is used for the Harley Benton GuitarBass:

 

So I wrote to Thomann to get a confirmation on the wood used for this instrument, but they replied that after having one of their guitar technicians expect their demo model he confirmed that the spec list on Thomann's own homepage was indeed correct, that is a Roseacer (heat treated maple) fretboard and a Basswood body, despite not matching the description on Harley Benton's homepage. 

 

However I am not exactly entirely convinced about this guitar technician also being a wood expert, and how he could possibly even make a proper accession through the finish of this instrument, even if he really in fact actually should happen to also be an expert in wood. 

 

And in any case it still leaves the question why Harley Benton would claim the body being made of Nato wood and the freboard Makassar Ebony in the description of this instrument on their homepage, though the spec list on the same page does indeed match that on Thomann's.

 

Also still it doesn't quite explain how a piece of basswood this size could possibly be so abnormally heavy as is the case, despite the fact that it is supposed to be a really light wood type, even when accounting for natural variations from individual tree to tree and even specific cut to cut out of the same tree.

 

I guess it must remain one of life's great mysteries, and I guess I'll just have to learn to accept that I'd most likely never will come to learn which of the official claims match the actual truth, or even if either of them even does, and if the reality of which wood types used for this instrument could possibly be an entirely different 3rd mystery combination.

 

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[crazycloud]

If you knew what you were looking at, dropping the neck off and looking at the (usually) unfinished wood in the pocket would let you identify it. At this price point, it's not Mac Ebony. Go price some and you'll know why.

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 12/05/2022 at 17:05, crazycloud said:

If you knew what you were looking at, dropping the neck off and looking at the (usually) unfinished wood in the pocket would let you identify it. At this price point, it's not Mac Ebony. Go price some and you'll know why.

Well, Harley Benton does use it on a lot of their sort of higher priced instruments, which really is more like lower/mid mid priced instruments compared to most other brands, and this GuitarBass being one of their mid priced instruments, which compared to most other brands would be more like mid budget price level.

 

So don't know if it really is all that inconceivable, though I do think you probably are right, even if it is what it says in the description of the instrument on Harley Benton's own page, but I guess I just took that piece of information and ran with it because it would explain why my specific unit is so damn heavy, while Thomann's spec list claims it's body is Basswood, which is generally considered to be a really light wood type.

 

I suppose though that the Nato wood body part of the Harley Benton instrument description still could be true, even if the Ebony fretboard part isn't.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

And artistic rendition of the photo I shot of my Harley Benton GuitarBass:

Edited July 23, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[simisker]

I received mine yesterday. It's insane, the quality that £180 gets you. Other than needing a setup [and decent strings], all the fundamentals are pretty solid. Nice straight satin neck, no sharp frets

 

Which is quite handy, as I bought it to see if it's a good platform for serious modification. And yeah, I'd say it definitely is.

 

It's not light - certainly not basswood, if my memories of a Precision Lyte in the 90s are anything to go by - but other than that, I couldn't be happier.

 

Let the modding begin! 😁