NBD - The Harley Benton that I did not sell (HB60)

[Paolo85]

To be honest, I am quite late for the New Bass Day. It's not new. I bought it weeks ago. But I did not know what to think until last week. Unlike many here, I am not necessarily a fan of Harley Benton. The ones I had, I sold, as their quirks (eg ridiculous weigh) more than offset the positives. And looking at comments on other basses, I am uninterested in most of their offering.

But when this semihollow short scale came for sale here on Basschat, I could not resist the temptation to give it a go.

At first, I thought it was another quirky bass, good "for the money" but not to be used in practice. The strings do not align with the pole pieces, and the output from the E was weak.

In desperation, after trying three different sets of strings, I tried to align the E exactly with the pole piece, even though this leaves the G quite far away from it.

Oddly this solved the problem completely. The E is nice and clear. And the G... is also nice and clear for some reason! I am confused, but happy.

I am left with a bass that sounds good, has a good neck, good fretwork, and oddly stays in tune more than most cheap basses I have had. I was quite worried because the floating bridge but it is nothing to worry about. Losen the strings, move it, tune. Done. All doable, if my tuner is to be trusted.

Despite the problem with the E,  I have mostly been playing this bass since I bough it. I have discovered the magic of a semihollow. Getting enough volume to play over tracks even when I cannot be bothered to plug in to the amp. The strong initial attack and limited sustain. The short-scale string tension and thumpy sound, but in a long-scale body that does not make me feel cramped. The low weigh. And there is something to be said for a neck pickup in that position, though I am not sure it beats the P/Mustang position

Just great!