Is Harley Benton the new Marlin?

NelsonP

Some recent discussion of Marlin here. The best selling guitar in the late 80s and an entry level instrument.

Fast forward 30 years and harley benton in thomanns top 5 guitars for sales in 2017 and also an entry level instrument.

So is harley benton the new marlin?
And how far have entry level guitars come in 30 years?

thegummy

Does anyone else suspect that websites lie when you sort by most popular and they actually change the order of the list based on what they want to sell at that time rather than genuinely by units sold and nothing else?

NelsonP

Yes. 

This was on their youtube vid though.

thegummy

NelsonP said:

Yes. 

This was on their youtube vid though.

It's just been on my mind for a while and your post reminded me of it.

Not familiar with Marlin sorry but I do think Harley Benton seem fairly popular, their prices are pretty crazy low.

They also seem to be the only brand that sell one of the old style single coil Precision basses below the Custom Shop level. I just find it too hard to believe they could be good quality at that price so am scared off but I may well be the fool on that one.

Henrytwang

Harley Benton guitars are very good value for money and usually come with a reasonable set up. But although they make a great starter guitar it should be remembered that they are copying famous makes and are not and never will be the real thing. In terms of build quality and playability they are way better than those old Marlin instruments which is a good thing for players on a budget.

thegummy

Henrytwang said:

But although they make a great starter guitar it should be remembered that they are copying famous makes and are not and never will be the real thing.

Could say the same for Suhr etc.

prowla

thegummy said:

Henrytwang said:

But although they make a great starter guitar it should be remembered that they are copying famous makes and are not and never will be the real thing.

Could say the same for Suhr etc.

Putting back the missing parts of the quoted post...

Henrytwang said:

Harley Benton guitars are very good value for money and usually come with a reasonable set up.

In terms of build quality and playability they are way better than those old Marlin instruments which is a good thing for players on a budget.

jonnyburgo

Marlin were usually terrible with egg slicer actions as I recall, hardly Benton ate probably more comparable to Squires quality wise.

Bridgehouse

thegummy said:

NelsonP said:

Yes. 

This was on their youtube vid though.

It's just been on my mind for a while and your post reminded me of it.

Not familiar with Marlin sorry but I do think Harley Benton seem fairly popular, their prices are pretty crazy low.

They also seem to be the only brand that sell one of the old style single coil Precision basses below the Custom Shop level. I just find it too hard to believe they could be good quality at that price so am scared off but I may well be the fool on that one.

The 51 P bass they do is very good for the money - there is a whole set of threads over on Basschat showing mods, upgrades and so forth and they are pretty well respected for their price

Funkfingers

My only long term experience with a H-B instrument to date has been the forum bicycle baritone Mosrite-alike. (Last seen in the custody of JamesOliver1234.) The instrument was cheap but fun. It had been subjected to modifications by successive owners. It left me with two Kent Armstrong / SKY P90s. These produced sounds worthy of recording.

IMO, anybody buying a H-B brand new should budget for a professional set-up. Frets and the nut are likely to require fettling. In the longer term, if the instrument is likely to be kept, a pickup(s) and controls upgrade might be worthwhile.

NelsonP said:

how far have entry level guitars come in 30 years?

Laminate body construction is less common than it used to be. Instead, we are offered spreads of Pacific Rim wood species. 

Some of the quirky pickup designs that used to horrify us are now hailed as things of wonder.

stimpsonslostson

How far have entry level guitars come in 30 years? 

A LONG way.
 My first guitar 30years ago was an Encore Strat clone- it cost just under £100. It wouldn't hold tune, sounded REALLY muddy and had horrible fret buzz. I suppose with work from someone more qualified than I was it COULD have been made playable, but this was pre youtube "how to" videos & my only source of info was Guitarist magazine. 

Since then I've had a variety of guitars... I even bought a HB for a modding challenge a few years ago. Like the Encore the TE52 cost me less than £100 & what arrived was a perfectly playable telecaster- 
Solid wood body (albeit under a THICK layer of poly), Wilkinson hardware & a reasonable setup. 

I played it as it was for a week or two at jams etc & it was perfectly serviceable. 
I subsequently modified the heck out of it, but the sanded neck and refinished body remain as the only bits I didn't replace. 
I play the HB more than any of my guitars. I might have just been lucky, but I got my favourite guitar for under £200 (if you include the mods). 

Adamski

I have often thought of getting the Fiesta Red HB Strat as a cheapy mod project - I just have no idea if I can replace everything with all Fender Parts, which is what I’d probably want to do. 

Funkfingers

Er, would it not be simpler to purchase the Fender parts, all pre-assembled, by Fender?

Adamski

Funkfingers said:

Er, would it not be simpler to purchase the Fender parts, all pre-assembled, by Fender?

Nah. I have a Custom Shop Strat so it’s not a financial thing, more that I wanna get something cheap and mod it for the learning experience - I only have basic set up knowledge and have never changed pickups/bridges on anything and I’d like to know how

Snap

I started playing in 1984. I had quite a few cheap copies and am pretty confident in saying that HB are generally better than what I started playing on. Here's a few blasts from the past, that were mostly totally crap

Columbus

Marlin

Hondo

Kay

Encore

All pretty bad, woeful action, absent sustain. Not good.

OilCityPickups

thegummy said:

NelsonP said:

Yes. 

This was on their youtube vid though.

It's just been on my mind for a while and your post reminded me of it.

Not familiar with Marlin sorry but I do think Harley Benton seem fairly popular, their prices are pretty crazy low.

They also seem to be the only brand that sell one of the old style single coil Precision basses below the Custom Shop level. I just find it too hard to believe they could be good quality at that price so am scared off but I may well be the fool on that one.

I have the  HB Jazz Bass version ... and aside from crap strings ... and pickups that were easily improved upon it's a cracking bass. It was well under £100 when I bought it ... nice wood, okay action (very good when properly set up) and a nice finish.

THR1LLHAU5

My bass player has a HB jazz bass copy and it sounds great. I'm not a bass player myself but it felt pretty good when I had a blast on it... damn heavy though! 

OilCityPickups

THR1LLHAU5 said:

My bass player has a HB jazz bass copy and it sounds great. I'm not a bass player myself but it felt pretty good when I had a blast on it... damn heavy though! 

They do an alder and an ash one ... mine is alder and not too bad ... I played an ash one and it was a bit of a boat anchor. 

thegummy

TheGuitarWeasel said:

THR1LLHAU5 said:

My bass player has a HB jazz bass copy and it sounds great. I'm not a bass player myself but it felt pretty good when I had a blast on it... damn heavy though! 

They do an alder and an ash one ... mine is alder and not too bad ... I played an ash one and it was a bit of a boat anchor. 

I have a relatively cheap Korean jazz bass and the only real down side is that it is very heavy.

I wonder if that's a general trend for well made cheap instruments that they can be heavy?

OilCityPickups

thegummy said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

THR1LLHAU5 said:

My bass player has a HB jazz bass copy and it sounds great. I'm not a bass player myself but it felt pretty good when I had a blast on it... damn heavy though! 

They do an alder and an ash one ... mine is alder and not too bad ... I played an ash one and it was a bit of a boat anchor. 

I have a relatively cheap Korean jazz bass and the only real down side is that it is very heavy.

I wonder if that's a general trend for well made cheap instruments that they can be heavy?

Mine's actually no heavier than a Squier or an actual Jazz bass

Bridgehouse

thegummy said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

THR1LLHAU5 said:

My bass player has a HB jazz bass copy and it sounds great. I'm not a bass player myself but it felt pretty good when I had a blast on it... damn heavy though! 

They do an alder and an ash one ... mine is alder and not too bad ... I played an ash one and it was a bit of a boat anchor. 

I have a relatively cheap Korean jazz bass and the only real down side is that it is very heavy.

I wonder if that's a general trend for well made cheap instruments that they can be heavy?

It's cheap cos they hide lead in there - it's cheaper than paying for it to be disposed of.