I've just completed the build of a Harley Benton Les Paul style kit. Overall, I'm very happy with the result which represents fantastic value for money.
However, there is one minor problem. The bolt on neck is raised compared to a real Les Paul, and is at a different angle. The edge of the neck binding should be level with the top of the body, but is between 0.5 and 0.8 cm higher than this. Has anyone built this kit and experienced similar issues with the neck? Is it worth trimming the underside of the neck so that the fit is similar to the original Les Paul?
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I built this (and a Tele before it) to learn a bit about building guitars before trying something more complex. So, for the experience, I probably will trim the angle at the bottom.
I just wondered if anyone else had done this before and had some words of wisdom for me (like "don't do it"!).
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FWIW the "after" pic looks a lot neater
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
I used push-push rather than push-pull pots as an hour into a band practice my fingers are too sweaty to get a good grip on a pull pot. There are various pictures on the internet of very neat wiring for the Jimmy Page setup. My wiring, however, looks a bit like a sheep's entrails - but, much to my surprise, it worked first time. The variation in sound options that this setup gives you, combined with the Iron Gear pick-ups, is impressive. I love the tone of both pick-ups with split coil, in series and reverse phase (i.e. all pot switches in out position).
The black covers I bought annoyingly didn't quite fit. Having adjusted the neck pocket (see earlier post) so that the neck angle is similar to a real Les Paul, I can't quite get the intonation absolutely perfect. But that's a big job for a small gain, so can wait.