Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit JA

I already own a HB 335 model that blew me away with its quality, so when I was next ordering a guitar, I figured I'd try one of these kits for a fun project. I do not regret it one bit, and the result is a very serious guitar.

The body was good and even, with holes all more-or-less aligning. The neck was impressive - neat binding, no rough fret ends, and a comfortable and smooth C profile. The frets just needed a little polish. I set this up with a low action and there is no hint of fret buzz anywhere.

Cutting the headstock to shape is a simple enough job with a coping saw and file, and represents the only real "craftsmanship" required in putting the kit together. I applied a two-tone burst with nitrocellulose lacquer, but this is very much an optional extra. The rengas wood comes filled and sealed and the grain looks nice enough that you could just spray it with a clear topcoat lacquer for a shiny and more durable finish. The electronics bar the pickups all come attached to the pickguard; you just plug the pickups in and there is no soldering to do. The soapbar pickups rather strangely have no brackets to attach them; instead there are holes right through the pickups to screw them down into the wood of the cavity. This isn't a problem, just an unusual design choice.

We all of course know which guitar this is emulating. Aside from the pickup design, the key difference from that guitar is the tune-o-matic bridge here and no trem, but I see that as a strength for its simplicity and tuning stability. The pickups are a little muddy but can be cleaned up with the right amp settings to give very nice clean and blues tones. A clear, singing sustain is evident before even plugging in. I have a couple of Fenders and a Gibson LP and this feels and sounds more like the Gibson. The greatest weakness in the hardware is found in the tuning pegs, which was also true of my other HB guitar - worth the £20 upgrade to some Vansons. The great thing about a kit is of course that you can mod and upgrade it to your heart's desire, so long as the body and neck are good, and they really are in this case.

Overall, I'm impressed and very chuffed. An enjoyable project and a credible, beautiful guitar at the end of it that I would happily gig with. Well done Harley Benton.

First one I got: the wholes were misaligned for the pick-guard and saddle/bridge, and foam for pickup cavities was missing. Thomann replaced the kit immediately, no fees, in fact it had become cheaper by that time and Thomann gave me back the €20 difference. Excellent service!
I built the replacement kit, alignment much better but not perfect.
Fretboard looks like a different material.
Had to replace the tone pot which didn't work.

Plastic nut
Bridge p-up: 9.6
Neck p-up: 9.5
Pole spacing at neck p-up: 50mm
Pole spacing at bridge p-up: 52mm
String spacing at neck p-up: 48mm
String spacing at bridge p-up: 50mm

Pros:
Cheap
Excellent neck. Straight, no fret-sprout (frets rough, need a polishing)
Nut cut ok, action height acceptable
Tuners good (was expecting cheap and flimsy)
Body nicely carved
Neck sits correctly/snugly/tightly into body
Proper alignment of strings over fretboard
Solderless kit
Easy to connect electronics
Truss-rod key included (which I haven't tested)
Good P90 pickups

Cons:
Screw holes are mostly not drilled straight
This is specially annoying when installing the pickups as they don't sit parallel to the body (will have to re-drill)
Low-quality electronics
Low-quality strings
A little neck-heavy
Instructions manual needs to be more detailed

Conclusions:
I got this kit because I wanted to know how to put together a guitar, and have a cheap one to tweak and mod. Got exactly what I wanted. I also wanted P90s, so a win/win.
If you want a cheap guitar without having to buy tools or pay for a setup, you should get equivalent priced ones from Thomann that are already painted/built and might have better quality electronics. This kit is definitely for modders and builders.

I bought 4 kits at the same time since the shipping to the US was the same: This JA, a Tele kit and 2 of the concert ukuleles. Bought in Sept and finished in December in time for Christmas gifts although the JA was for me. This project turned out great. I didn't have a guitar with P90's and wanted them in the offset format. Really cool, unique guitar that sounds good, is comfortable and very lightweight.

Cons
The selector switch arrived broken and took Thomann a couple of attempts to correct but they did. The fit of the neck to the body was a little loose but was just fine when I screwed it on. The body and neck both had a sealer applied which prohibited application of a stain without serious sanding. I tried but was unable to sand it down adequately so I went with a solid color on the body and just finished the neck with a satin poly after applying boiled linseed oil. Turned out fine but I would have preferred a slightly darker neck.

The pots are not great - taper seems a little off but I usually just play with it on 10. Plastic nut was pretty high and glued in. Cracked the outer end of the fretboard getting it off but was easy to repair and doesn't impact anything. Tuner and bridge components are serviceable. String trees are a bit too wide in my opinion. The no solder connections are only good if you intend to keep the original pickups which I didn't.

Things I Replaced
Put in a bone nut. Smaller string trees. Replaced the ceramic P90's with Alnico V P90's. Replacing the bridge with one with rollers since I'm having some weird buzzing on the B and high E strings. Might replace the pots to improve the response of adjustments.

Pros
The neck really is lovely. Great shape for me ( a bit less chunky compared to my TE-52), binding is nice, inlays are nice, frets seem good. I need to file the fret ends now that it has been put together for a while but not big deal. The final guitar is really light which I was wanting and doesn't have bad neck dive. Very comfortable.

Despite replacing a few things, the hardware is functional and you will have a playable instrument with the included gear as long as you can set up a guitar. The nut was the only thing I think you may have had trouble with but I never actually gave it a chance.

The quality of the body wood, the routing, the hole alignments, pickguard, etc. was all really good.

Overall, a great project. I made a purple body with the red tortoiseshell pickguard and it looks super cool. Very much enjoying playing it. I think if you were to buy one of the production Harley Benton JA guitars available, they would likely be better and cheaper in the end so you really should do this is you want a fun project with your own unique outcome.

During the lockdown I had carried out a few projects including , changing pickups in a T style guitar, building a fuzz pedal putting up a new fence. I nearly ordered the T style guitar kit but decided against as I already had that style of guitar. I then spotted the JA guitar kit. This was a style I really wanted and at the price I decided I would give it a go. The kit arrived and appeared to have everything I needed to complete it. It took a few days but that was because I wanted to paint it. The sanding seemed to take forever. The flat parts were already very smooth but the carved parts were hard work.
Next came the head stock shaping. Thoman could have help by including the standard Harley Benton shape in the instructions as a template, but I managed.
Next came the assembly. This went smoothly. The only slight gripe would be there was no difference in the wires from the switch and no labelling of the bridge and neck pickups.
The guitar is now complete and I love it. Part of this is because I feel like a luthier and get a kick out of having built my own guitar.
I would definitely recommend this kit. This is my first Harley Benton. It wont be my last.

SO... I'd been considering building a guitar for years, but the whole idea of sourcing all the parts (especially from the US) had always put me off. Likewise, the low quality kits I had seen elsewhere seemed like a waste of money for anyone used to half-decent guitars.
Then Guitarist magazine (UK) mentioned this kit in an article they were doing about pickups (they used the JA kit as a test bed to swop pickups in and out of easily - no scratch plate, terminal blocks, you get the idea) and I ended up at Thomann. (Again!)

I'm going to break this review down to mirror my experience.

1. PRICE
I paid £79 I think, which felt very cheap. I got free shipping as I was buying other items. Safe to say I wasn't expecting much, other than an 'Oh well, I tried it' experience.

2. DELIVERY
This kit, and my other bits and bobs, arrived within 5 days, which is more than acceptable. If you suddenly asked ME to go to Germany at 10pm on a Tuesday I reckon I wouldn't get there until the following week.

3. FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
I'd already decided to paint this guitar (more on this later) but upon opening the box I almost changed my mind. I've read reviews that mention differing wood tones across the body sections, but mine was perfect. It could have been a single peice. I should have oil-finished it! Hardware was also better than expected. The neck seemed superb straight away (Plot spoiler - It was)

4. BUILD.
As I said, I'd decided to add 'Guitar painter' to my new 'Guitar builder' status, so off I went to the shed. I (like you, probably) spent hours on YouTube researching how to, and almost perfected it (TIP- BE PATIENT, LET THE STAGES DRY! it will take WEEKS to do it right!).
It says a lot about the value of the kit when you consider I spent more on paint! (Primer, base layer, glitter coat, glitter seal and three cans of lacquer).
Turned out well. Wish I could post pictures!
A friend cut the headstock to resemble a Jaguars (thanks Russ!), and that got the glittery treatment too. An evening of wet sanding later, it was assembly time.
Assembly took an hour. Everything was easy, everything fitted, everything worked. I was amazed! Gave it a good set up and it sings!

VERDICT.
This was my first HB kit. I'm about to order my second.
I can't believe this thing cost less than £80! I was ready to accept all sorts of playability issues, shoddy pickups etc.. but... It's amazing!
Plugged in, the pickups are articulate with gain, clear as a bell without, just the right amount of 'GRRR' you need from a P90. They're almost worth the money alone! Tuners are fine for the price, but also the first thing I will be upgrading (and I WILL be upgrading - this is a great platform) Pots and selector switch work perfectly, all other hardware is great. Every pre drilled hole matched up perfectly. The neck is superb- chunky, wide-flat, NO fret-sprout. It will need a LOT of lemon oil though!
Honestly, if you picked this guitar up you'd assume it was a £300 model. The neck alone is worth the price. I'm stunned. Maybe it's the P90's, but I have a couple of Gibsons and EVH's gathering dust while I play this thing!

Strat kit next, then the SG.... :)

I bought this kit last year as a lockdown project and I'm really happy with the results. The assembly was easy and instructions were clear (except that the bridge and neck pickups were not marked as such and there was no way to tell them apart -- not sure it mattered ;-O). The neck is great, worth the price of the guitar imho. I polished the frets. The fret ends could probably use a file but I don't have one so I'm living with them. The guitar worked well with included parts but was greatly improved with new Kluson MK6LN Tuners and a new Graph Tech TUSQ XL F-Style Slotted Nut, both of which fit easily. So far I'm keeping the pickups as they actually sound ok. I actually love the finished product and play it all the time. Thinking about getting another one!

My first kit. Pleasantly surprised by the body wood. Very well-matched three pieces. There were a few slight scuff marks around the cut outs so I decided that meant it was reliced. I bought a 9 euro, 125 ml bottle of clear matte, water-based varnish (through Amazon.fr. made by le Mauler. Le Suprême). 3 coats (without sanding off their sealer) . Looks exactly like it did before varnishing. Not plasticky like polyurethane can look. Easy to sand off if I want to do something else later.

Being a fundamentally lazy bastard I secretly dreaded cutting out the headstock, but I got inspired by patterns in the wood grain and cut two 'horn' shapes out of the top and also profiled the side with a coping saw. After the fact it now looks like a gaping fish mouth. Maybe needs lipstick, you think. No. It's fine, really. It's got personality.

Pros:
- super light. 2,9 kgs /6,4 pds.
in comparison my TE-20: 3,7 kgs; HB 35+: 4,1 kgs
- natural wood look and feel
- pick ups warm yet bright (effectively somewhere between my TE-20 and the HB 35+
-straightforward assembly.
- neck and frets are impeccable. Also I didn't touch the satin finish they have on the neck. It's super smooth.
- body really well contoured (appreciated when playing in sofa position).
- High up the neck easily accessible
- no neck dive
- warm resonant sound unplugged (Being a geezer I'm up before dawn and like to play then
-No tuning issues
- intonation good out of the box.

Cons:
- B and E string slightly sitaring. (Hear mostly unplugged). Great for playing Norwegian Wood. Looks like I'll have to use my budget fret files for the first time. Or maybe it's the bridge? Same budget TOM as on my HB 35+

-the tuners feel like they got arthritis and it's a cold morning. They work but you have to apply yourself. I'll put in the same vintage style Klusons that I put on the TE-20.

Future mods:

-Put in a parellel/series /out of -phase switch (liked it on my TE-20)
-swap different kinds of alnico magnets for the original ceramics . They cost less than 8 euros a set
-move the pick up switch to the top left. It's really in the middle of the landing strip now.

Like the title says it's a decent wee kit. The neck has a lovely hand feel with no major fret end issues. Needed a little bit of minor fretwork, but was perfectly playable straight out of the box.

The pickup and control cavities were routed a bit roughly with lots of cut marks and jagged edges left behind. I had to spend a bit of time sanding them to an acceptable level of smoothness, but Thomann generously gave me money back on for the inconvenience. They did offer to send a new kit, but I had the tools to sort it, so I did.

The hardware is a bit of a mixed bag I'm afraid. It's all ok, perfectly fine for a sub-£100 kit. However, the bridge was a very tight fit, as though the posts had been drilled a fraction to close together. I had to use a mallet to get it to fit on the posts.

The pick ups are average quality, ceramic p90s and nothing to write home about. They sound fine for a jam, but not something I would record or gig with.

The electrics are your typical cheap small pots and cheap switch, that work fine.

The tuners are actually quite good, they hold tune well and are neither too stiff or too loose.

With a few upgrades and some elbow grease this becomes a fantastically playable guitar. I levelled the frets, dressed the ends properly and polished them smooth. I also changed the pickups to a set of Alnico V p90s (nothing fancy, I just don't like ceramic pickups) which instantly brought more life to the overall tone of the guitar. Finally I changed the pots and switch to higher quality ones and used better wiring which helped reduce hum and clean up the sound.

Overall this is a decent Kit, but with a little work becomes a great kit. Very playable and versatile for most styles.

Loses marks for the lack of trem, which is criminal on an off-set j-type guitar!