Harley Benton Bass Guitar Kit J-Style

pros
cheap, decent looking and feeling bass, fun project, not too difficult as introduction to bass/guitar building

cons
most of the pre-drilled holes were slightly out of place, had to redo a couple
the provided bridge pickup didn't fit in the hole for it so I has to file the hole
it doesn't match the pictures
the bridge earth wire wasn't long enough to use the pre-drilled hole so I had to extend it. almost feel like this is less of kit bass and more the spare parts that mostly make a bass so you may not get quite what is pictured
the protective plastic wrapping goes under the jack port and knobs so is near impossible to completely remove
I could forgive all the above but the kit didn't have the bridge in it which should have been included so I can't even play it yet

Thomman eventually managed to send the bridge and can now say that it sounds quite decent for the price

Fun project overall. It has potential to become a great one, but has silly flaws which caused too much headache for me, which kinda ruined the experience.

Pros:
- Fretboard is great quality wood
- No bits were missing from the package
- Everything worked when put together

Cons:
- Body had several dents and scratches on arrival
- No single screw was matching the pre-drilled wholes. I had to re-drill literally everything.
- Needed significant amount of fretwork below the 15th fret, otherwise would buzz like crazy unless action was too high to be playable
- Ground cable may slip and loose contact with the bridge unless you solder it
- (Not the kit's fault) There's some chance that you'll damage something during the build process

Suggestions:
- Don't buy upgrade stuff until you've built and set the whole thing up correctly and you determine that you're satisfied enough with the result to throw more money at it
- I fit it with a Fender HiMass bridge and Di Marzio DP123. Don't do this combination bridge spacing an magnets do not align correctly, as a result G string passes over one magnet only.

I bought this as a fun project to assemble together with my son. While instructions are straightforward, you will probably need some experience in assembling or restoring guitars/basses to turn this into a playable instrument. The quality of the wood and the way it was prepared is below par. You will need to sand, resand and fill spots and dents before you can actually paint or apply lacquer since traces of the CNC milling machine are visible all over. Second, the applied primer/pore filler is low quality and should be totally sanded down and replaced with a decent primer. What's worse is the holes weren't drilled vertically and therefor the pickguard did not fit (had to fill and re-drill some holes). Installing electronics was a breeze (no soldering!) and soundwise it's quite good. Quality of the parts is OK-ish, but don't expect A-brand performance. Instruction manual is nice and complete, but make sure to check out some Youtube video's as well, especially about setup, fret leveling and intonation. In short: a fun project bass with a reasonable sounding result, depending on the amount of time and effort you are willing to invest in it.