Harley Benton Bass Guitar Kit P-Style

As soon as I received my P-Bass kit I began to re-shape the neck top. I used a jig saw and after grinding it, it looked cool already. At first I assembled the complete guitar, so that I was able to make alterations if needed. And it was needed. Many pre drilled holes did not correspond. I didn't see this as a problem as I dare to say that I am rather handy working with wood. Especially the holes at the neck, where the tuning knobs are to be placed, didn't all match. So I used cocktail sticks with wood glue. After drying, I grinded it with the machine using graduation 400. This went smoothly and I drilled new holes of 2mm. As the tuning knobs would cover the old holes there was no further problem. Than I had to drill another hole when mounting the pick ups. I found that the black earth lead was too short, so I connected a longer lead with the initial one. It is a personal choice to spray the body or to use oil or varnish. In both cases it needs a very good grinding starting with 240 than 400 and 600. I decided to spray the body glossy black. I started to spray 3 layers of primer (Motip 1 spray can) and when it was dry I grinded it again with 600. Than I was able to spray the body black. I used a (1) Motip spray can. I am not a regular sprayer, so I would advice to take your time and using a flat piece of carton on the ground and make sure the body is placed on 2 or three little objects (like egg cups). This makes spraying easier when starting with the side of the body. When the front was done, (it dries quite quickly) after an hour I could turn the body to do the rear side. Don't spray to fat! Better is to spray several times smoothly. If you would get a drip no problem; DON'T try to wipe it away or using a paint brush - just let it dry and with 600 sandpaper grind it away and spray that part again. After three times spraying the body looked fine to me. Although it might be so that not every part is as glossy as other part of the body. Don't be let down! After drying for three or more days you use some car polish and smoothly rub this in. It will be shining all over. Now it is time to assemble the bass. Make sure not to damage the body when using screws etc. This is why I advice to assemble the guitar at first, so screws go easier.... After tuning the bass I am very pleased with it and it is great fun making your own P-bass. Of course keep in mind that a guitar of this price should not be compared with a real Fender P-Bass. But it sure is a good instrument and also the sound is okay!

Neck is pretty decent, the fretboard is effectively black, like ebony with more grain, does not look like rosewood at all. I think it looks really distinctive. Benefits from oiling. I didn't lacquer the back of the neck, it comes with a satin/matt finish that is very nice.

Would build confidence if they had a guide to which screw goes where, especially as there are enough scratchplate and tuning head screws that you could swap them over. For those unsure:

The larger headed countersunk screws are for the scratchplate.

The four very long screws are for the pickups, beware of screwing them right down as they could pop out the back of the body... put them in a few turns and adjust when the strings are on.
The same screws for the bridge and strap buttons. Personally I think they are a bit short for strap buttons.
String guide uses a scratchplate screw; I reckon if you used a spare bridge screw it could come out the back of the headstock.

The tuning head screw drillings weren't very well positioned. I had to take great care tightening the screws and the heads are all at a very slight angle.

Body wood isn't super hard, but much better than the eBay strat body blank I bought a year ago. If I was redoing the build I would put on a light layer of primer then sand down until it was just left in any depressions, then skim the body with fine filler then sand with fine wet and dry.

Videos that show people putting on 3 very thin layers of lacquer are over optimistic. Do more than that. Yes it is worth waiting a week to finally sand and polish, but give yourself enough paint thickness to work at with confidence. Sanding needs to be really light t-cut will take out light marks so you don't need to sand aggressively.

Double acting truss rod needed to be tightend up, probably by 2-3 turns so not a huge amount. I expect it to need revisiting a few times as the bass settles down.

Setting up meant adjusting everything, including the nut (except the A-string intonation was spot on...) Nut was cut very high, this does need care and courage as it's the one adjustment that isn't reversible.

Pickup screw holes weren't ideally positioned, tilting the two halves forward. When I reassemble I'll move them so they are level.

Controls work fine, no buzzes. When I reassemble I will strip a longer section of the bridge earth wire to make the contact more definite, am worried it could slip out but don't want to strip it yet to make threading it back through easier. Would be nice if it was about an inch longer too...

Tuning heads very stiff until oiled with a drop of 3 in 1, get better with use. Not the best ever but I don't think they need replacing.

A neck wedge may be a good idea as the E-saddle is almost at the bottom and I reckon I could drop it buy up to half a mm or more.

Some of the scratchplate screwholes were way off, one or two not even visible. I put all the good ones in first, then fitted the other screws direct into the wood without a hole.

I fitted Fender flatwounds because I can't find the supplied strings - I'm not convinced they were in the box, but as I opened it a couple fo weeks ago...

The sound is nice, rich and rounded, perhaps not as much growl as a Fender Precision.

TL:DR- Good kit all around, however you may get unlucky with quality control. At this price, it is expected. Buy new pickups ASAP. If you put time (and some more money) into this bass, you will find it to be genuinely fantastic to play.

This kit is an amazing buy, especially for someone who loves putting things together. I recommend you to buy it, especially if you are in Europe (and don't have to pay almost as much as the instrument for shipping). I, however, must list some gripes I have, which I will proceed with below.

To start, I understand that this kit is $85, so I am not mad, just a little disappointed. My main and most significant gripe is to do with the bridge. A single saddle height adjusting screw was extremely tight, leading to it being stripped, removing my ability to adjust it. I have managed to do fine using only half however seeing the saddle all tilted is irksome. My other issue was with one of the tuners being rough however honestly it isn't a big deal as it doesn't effect tuning.

Now, to some smaller gripes. The volume pot is very cheap, and really is more of an on-off switch than a smooth curve. The neck is very wide and thick which makes it heavy, causing significant neck-dive. I find this very annoying but didn't put it in the above section due to the understanding that this is expected on a cheap instrument. I also found the pickups to be extremely underwhelming. Expected at this price point.

Now, to what I have changed to make this bass truly fantastic. I am fortunate enough to have changed pickups on my other p-bass so I had some genuine fender pickups ready for a swap. I am a novice with soldering, however I managed to get everything hooked up. Small note, I soldered the ground wire to the bridge instead of it being loose like the instructions have it. Since the stock pickups don't require a backing to stay together, I had to find some foam laying around to hold my fender ones properly. Other than the pickups, I also added strap locks, and a new bridge from Hipshot to avoid worrying about the botched screw. Lastly, I put in a neck ship to help with getting the action I wanted.

In terms of physical work I have done, I have leveled the frets which also included polishing, along with shaping the headstock. I recommend anyone who does it, gets some nice small files (I managed to mess up my fretboard's edge using a large one). That's why we buy these instruments, though, right?

Another thing, is setup. I nearly completely compressed the spring on the E string with how far I had to adjust for intonation, however the whole instrument was properly intonated within the reach of the stock bridge. Now with my relief and action set right, along with good intonation, my bass feels and sounds amazing to play.

I genuinely love my bass, which I lovingly named rattle-can for how much it buzzed before I did the fretwork. I recommend that anyone with the means to do so, pick one of these up. It is a great time and super rewarding to see it when you are done.

NECK AND BODY:
The first thing I noticed was how well the neck was fretted. Incredible job, zero complaints. Perfect fret ends and perfectly level across the board.
Next, the body - you'll always need to do a bit of sanding whenever you get a DIY kit and this is no exception. It's not the prettiest wood, but I wasn't expecting a beautifully grained swamp ash body - and if you are expecting that, do yourself a favor and be realistic.
All the pieces fit perfectly - there's no need to adjust even any of the holes on the pickguard.

HARDWARE:
Very solid hardware. Everything works, the tuners tune, the bridge saddles move forwards and back, up and down... Nothing to complain about whatsoever.

ELECTRONICS:
The kit comes with a prewired split-coil P-bass pickup that sounds incredibly decent and plugs right into the wiring.
I'm not thrilled about the pots used, but that's my personal preference - the stock pots work perfectly fine.

PROS:
Price, build and very decent quality components.

CONS:
Not a fan of the potentiometers that come stock. The shielding on the pickguard could cover a larger area - but really isn't necessary.

GENERAL:
All in all - a fantastic DIY kit I highly recommend and will be buying more of for myself. The pros outweigh the negligible cons, and the value is incredible. 5 stars.

Hello again,

so I bought this set just for bass-building-practice and for fun. But: The quality is really good, and if you can do a nice finish on the bass, it can be a really nice instrument!
Okay, the mechanics aren’t top notch. I think, the Pickups also could do better.
But for that price, the quality is way better, than I ever expected.

I built the bass out of the box, just to test if everything was okay, BEFORE I start to invest my time and money.

The neck is straight and has a really nice finish. The bass has really no flaws at all. The playability is nice, though I personally would recommend to exchange the strings at first.
The small flaws are totally okay (not the straightest pickguard).

What really could be a problem for some people: The manual doesn’t really fit to that explicit instrument. I think it’s an earlier version or something. At least you would have to improvise!


I would buy it again and think about getting the J-Style-Set as well.


Note: What was a problem at my set: I checked the body wood and it wasn’t basswood! It was an Asian wood, I didn’t know until then. Thomann promised to check that and change their provider!

Im a full time bass player for 14 years. i have more thand 15 bass guitars ( Fender, Epiphone, hibson, custom mades).
if you can setup your guitar this is for you. For me the most important two things on bass is neck and pickup. Neck is after a little touch becomes perfect (even after unpacking it was really really good). I cant say pick up was amazing but it was as good as squier. I replace the pickup with EMG Geezer Butler PJHZ. There is not much differance between my 97 Usa Fender P bass.
After some adjusting, some sanding and painting and little upgrades it can be really serious bass.

I've just completed my one of these.
Much fun shaping the headstock, I took the body right back to give it a tru oil finish and gave the headstock a decal.
A small amount of fret dressing (a couple of high ones)
it's a really nice bass, sounds great, plays very well.
it's a bit neck heavy, i think a fender high mass bridge would balance it out lovely.
The body unfinished in the video is a bit red / orange. Having finished mine it's a lot lighter / more blonde / strawberry blonde in colour, looks very nice. But in photo's it's still quite dark.
A lot of fun for not s lot of cash, looking forward to gigging it...I've been playing for 32 years and I'm confident to use this bass live.