This is not a piss take. Honest.
So over the other side of the pub someone suggested that a Gibson R8 isn’t much ‘better’ (better being subjective of course) than a Harley Benton LP style with a pickup upgrade.
Now, there must be SOME truth in that. It’s certainly well known that if you pay more for a guitar doesn’t necessarily mean you get more. But this comparison interests me.
A Gibson R8 is anywhere between £2500 and £4500 depending on where and when you bought it. A Harley Benton is £250-350. That’s quite an ocean between them.
A really good set of pickups must be £150-200 (just guessing, I don’t actually know) so let’s call the HB £500ish upgraded if you pay a bloke to do the work for you.
So what next? What do you do to the HB to get it closer to the R8?
A good set up surely but maybe the R8 would need that too?
Fret dress? New tuners? New nut? Bridge? Would any of these actually be worth bothering?
At what point does it just become the name on the headstock and everything else is 99% equivalent?
Comments
Some say the sound is all that’s important. I’m pretty confident a HB can sound every bit as good/the same as an R8 with a pickup change and a set up.
Some say the look is important. I suppose this covers headstock names and shapes so you do ultimately end up paying something to have Gibson on the guitar.
Some people say Mojo is important. I literally don’t know what that is but considering both an R8 and an HB we built in guitar factories very recently, albeit on other sides of the world, I wonder how much Mojo there can be?
It sounds great, I've played a 60's 335 which was better but not light years better by any stretch. The binding has a couple of small errors in but it feels nice and stays in tune.
In the hands of some guitar owners, any qualitative difference between brands G and HB might not show.
Through a cruddy amplifier, both brands would be reduced to the same level.
Detailed hand work such as fret finishing and fingerboard edge tumbling is part of what makes an expensive guitar more pleasurable to play. It is possible to perform these tasks on a budget guitar.
Pickups are no guarantee of obtaining a specific tonal outcome. They may suit one guitar and not the next. (Case in point, I have a pair of Korean-made PRS S2 #7 humbuckers that sound glorious in a cheap Tokai SG.)
I have an old Korean Maison LP copy that since it was upgraded plays nicely and sounds as close to my R8 as required. You could say it’s just a different slant on the classic LP tone that’s valid and good/rocking in its own right and it’s not as if all Gibson’s sound the same anyway.
But the R8 is a finer instrument across every element without doubt - as well as being orthentik... - which is worth that 90% premium to many and not worth it to many others.
If you can't tell the difference, or don't care, then revel in the saved money and be happy.
but...
Anything Gibson have made since the 60’s will also not feel like a proper vintage les Paul... r8’s r9’s, true historics etc etc etc
and here’s why!
on the left, the fret scale used by gibson since the early 60’s on the right the original vintage fret scale they used on all their guitars prior to the change!... a bit of a difference no?
I have no interest in buying either an R8 or a Harley Benton. I don’t like Les Pauls.
However, there’s clearly many people who
have differing opinions on this and it’s interesting to read them.
Maybe it would be different if it was a PRS SE vs whatever their expensive USA model is called? Or a top of the range Epiphone and a Gibson Custom Shop.
I wouldnt do it to an expensive guitar but looked better than its original plasticky shine.