Upgrading the Harley Benton ST-62
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- An overview of the modifications that I made to the Harley Benton ST62 that I recently reviewed ( • Harley Benton ST62 VW ... )
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D'Addario Fret Polishing System: amzn.to/2wNmvib
Fretboard Protector: amzn.to/2wPY2Zo
Sandpaper: amzn.to/2wLedYc
Copper Tape: amzn.to/2CoewOD
Fender 5 Way Switch: amzn.to/2M3Ew1o
Orange Drop Capacitor (0.47uf): amzn.to/2wPbv3A
Behringer UMC202HD guitar interface: amzn.to/2Oo0JIU
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I just ordered a ST62 today. My wife freaks out when I start tearing a guitar apart as soon as I get it but I like the mods you made. Love the video!
Hah, yeah they just don't get it 🤣
I bought the same guitar a couple of months back and it already had a very barewood neck and perfectly smooth frets.
I've put lace sensors in it. I need to do the 25 caps mod.
Now I'm looking at swapping out the lamentable trem.
Tuning pegs are on the menu too.
Gotta say damn fine guitar for the money.
Luv and Peace.
Yeah, it's a great place to start!
Thank you for the video ! the actual vintage white ST-62 seems more creamy than yellowish... i love the color on your video !
That's a good thing IMO. Lite yellow color looks like oxidized plastic that they used to put on computers in 1990. Gross look. Not sure why ppl like this color. It's literally "rottening" white over time. lol
I love the split shaft tuners. They are the simplest, cheapest locking tuners and just as fast to string up as the expensive ones. I just clip the string leaving about 2cm of extra length to it, stick it into the shaft and turn.
Yeah loads love them. I suppose I'm just stuck in my ways after 25 years of the other type!
As a bassist split posts are may fave too. ;)
As long as the gears are good quality any tuning issues are nut related.
Oh yes, they're absolutely great on bass. This and a sideway top loading slot in the bridge make removing strings and putting them back a matter of seconds. All you have to do is loosen the coil and pull it off all in shape.
@@NiskRanThawll yeah my bass has them as well. Getting used to.them, but still not my top type lol
Thanks for the video, even thought its a few years old it's still useful information. There are many "paid to review" people on you tube or it's starting to seem that way, it's good to hear the review from just a regular customer.
It was a good guitar. I ended up giving it to a music school as I wasn't playing it much (I really don't get in with strays it turns out). I've had a few of their guitars and always found them decent!
@@yaguitar that's good to know. I've got one on order. What I've been reading since placing the order has made me worry about neck thickness. Still it might be fine for me I'm planning to mod it a tad bit, not too much though, and I look for cheap ways around problems. E.g I was wondering if a way of beefing up the trem would be to super glue the brass posts from a mains plug to the block, the earth post in the UK seems almost made for the task.
hah thanks. I'm not paid, but I do sometimes get free stuff or discounts. I can't remember if I bought this outright or not to be honest. It was a good guitar and got donated to a rock school nearby. turns out no matter what, I can't get on with a strat!
I have the HB "Strat" (ST- 62) on order that will get similar mods. A few months ago I received an HB "PRS" (CST-24 Deluxe) that underwent a bit of TLC. If, like me, one enjoys a bit of fiddling about and experimenting, I believe HBs are an excellent platform. They are not bad straight out of the box but can be coaxed into near Ferrari condition if one takes the time. Cheers, mate!
The strat has now gone to a guitar school near by. It was a great guitar, the mods were cool, but I just wasn't playing it lol. I wish I kept the cst24 p90! Thanks for stopping by 😀
Wow, i love the colour of that guitar!
All super cheap HBs suffer a little bit from their ceramic pickups.
All the better ones (Vintage, Deluxe etc) have pickups from "Roswell".
Hence I would always replace them with some kind of "Roswell" AlNiCo types.
They have all types Humbuckers, Flitertrons, Single-coils, P90s, P90s in Humbuckershape and so on.
They are still pretty cheap, around 30 EUR each pickup.
So whatever guitar you have with cheap ceramics swap them for those, you will enjoy.
Nice affordable guitar, love the colour with a maple neck, goes well together!
Great video, especially the capacitor mod. Beware though that the total cost of changing all the hardware might eventually add up to the same price as a 'real' Fender...:-)
Yeah you can get carried away. I spent about £20 on it though lol
I know this was posted a long time ago but, if you get this guitar (or even better, the deluxe version), and spend enough money on it so that it adds up to the price of a real Fender, then you will have on your hands a guitar that is better than a Fender, for the same price
@@TheMrClaus definitely!
For the back of the neck I always use steel wool 000 and this is a fantastic satin finish I get. Just to let you know
Will a Fender or Warmoth replacement neck fit your ST?
yeah that's what i might do in the future. swap the neck for a more strat radius style. i don't like fat necks and i don't like flat necks.
@@derred723 Chris from Thomann made a video mentioning swapping Harley necks can be a Massive bitch! Im probably takin my ST in for a fret level. Its a great neck w BAD frets! (Almost as bad as a Fender MIM ) 😂👎🏻
I have the same guitar; however, mine looks much more yellow than yours. It's a 2018 model as well. The mods I have done to it include: added locking tuners, Tusq string trees, sanded the back of the neck, used steel wool on the fretboard to make the fretboard feel less sticky as well, changed out the trem to an aftermarket trem with a thicker block to improve tuning stability. I bought some Winkinson pickups, but after making this other modifications, the Roswell alnico V pickups have started to grow on me, so I left them in. I'm at the point where I'm happy with the guitar now. Tuning stability isn't perfect yet, but it's much improved. The sound and playability of this Strat is almost where I'd like it. Almost. But I guess that's why they call it 'chasing tone'.
Amazing, it's such a good starting point!
Does a standard fender pick guard match the stock hole pattern?
probably not as with most copies.
Do you think that a fender replacement neck will fit?
Excellent video. Many thanks.
Thank you!!
I like it mate, definitely better with a smoother neck 👍
Yeah. Still not convinced by the bridge pickup lol. See if I can convince a small pickup maker to let me test a few lol
@@yaguitar you should look at buying a set of montys or bare knuckle mate very nice pickups, I feel like I should polish my frets now 😂
what are the ratings of the capacitors in the original harley benton wiring
.47 I think
some good tips on this video! I have a question ,is the string spacing measurement modern 52mm or vintage 54-55 mm. im trying to find out before I order from Thomann.
Seems to be 52mm at the bridge.
I've got the Sunburst -62,and I love that guitar,but I'm gonna mod it to.
Better tremblock
Change tuners,didn't get the split end tuners on mine
Might change neck to
Thanx for the upload
Nice! The trem is ok, but I may swap for a Wilkinson. As for the neck, try sanding first, makes an amazing difference!
@@yaguitar thanks mate,yeah I sanded down my LP,also a HB,feels much better.
My ST -62 was my main guitar until I bought a Japanese fender copy called Fernandez revival from 79,and those copies were preferred by strat players back then,exact copies of old 50s fenders,hardware/build everything.
And I can't really play anything else.
If you stumble across any,buy!,I really mean it,best guitar I've owned,better than my MIA strat that I sold a while back.
I think I'll still buy a bigger trem block though.
Nice guitars these.
I bought the T-52 Tele,great guitar.
Thanx for input pal
@@ettnollbajen9945 I loved the te52 I reviewed, but had just got given a fender Tele by my wife, so it went back lol
Hi Andrzej.Would you recommend changing the tremolo over to a Wilkinson?
Hi Ray. It isn't essential, but it is something I am considering. I know it I as common modification and people like the result. I was going to go with the modern Wilkinson as I know it fits really well.
Witam! Jaki to kolor? VW Vintage Series?
Vintage White
Hey dude, I have a Fender American Pro II and it's a great guitar but I would like to get a Harley Benton ST-62 and maybe put a set of SSL-1 Californias in it but the ST-62 models are always out of stock.
Hah, could be fun!
Dude you NAILED all of my frustrations w my new St 62. The body is Great neck is a very nice shape but WOW bad frets and crap pickups! Yuck. Im curious if this can be saved
Pickups, well that's a replacement job potentially. Frets, if they are scratchy I use the D'adario fret polishing kit. If it is sharp fret ends, I use fine grain sandpaper on a small block to sand them down
@@yaguitar im thinkin the old HS3 Yngwies or the Heavy Blues 2’s! Cheers. Great vid
Is it worth upgrading my ST- 20 to ST-62?
I liked thr st62, but never tried the 20. The 62 is almost certainly better though.
You mention sticking a stacked humbucker. Are you aware that Harley Benton's ST-20 HSS has a humbucker in the bridge position?
Yeah, was more about upgrading what I had. As it is, I've not done anything else to it, really happy with it.
It's pretty cool. I have an ST-20 but I'm also looking to buy an ST-62VW as soon as they're available again.
Better to lightly go over it with a scouring sponge then it dosent remove any lacquer. After few weeks the glossiness comes back from your hands anyway.
At this point I am almost down to the wood. Plan is to oil and wax it soon.
Andrzej Marczewski good luck to you then. Probably can make a video about it ☺
Very good video and I listen to a lot of them. I liked all your mods and have only one con - please speak up and speak clearly - they always told us in public speaking class - speak to the deaf lady in the back row - otherwise top shelf !!! Very helpful !! Rock on dude !!
And use a better mic! Thanks man, will keep upping my skills 😀
The Tone didnt give much better in my opinion, maybe because of the digital sound on RUclips!?
The orange drop? Yeah, it is hard to tell really. Almost a superstition!
I have one of these and would like to add the tone control to the bridge pick-up but without changing the switch.
Would you know which of its pins to connect on it? I made a picture: i.imgur.com/P5QaVcw.png
Not sure as I did it with a fender switch, but possibly 2 and 4. Definitely 2 attached to one of the other ones, may just need a little trial and error!
I'll have to play around. 2 is a good start. Thanks for the reply :-)
And if you want to throw away your tuners, I'll buy them. Mine has the older un-split version.
@@Leo_ofRedKeep let me know how you get on!
I was successful in connecting B to N on this picture: i.imgur.com/wh1Sk6o.png
The bridge now shares the Neck tone control.
Connecting to M would have shared the control with the middle pick-up, which is more intuitive, but I intend to replace the neck tone pot with a push-pull to add a Neck+Bridge (Telecaster like) and an "all three PUs" position, so bridge and neck had to share the same in anticipation.
It will be done this way: i.imgur.com/yxKO6oH.jpg
@@Leo_ofRedKeep awesome. Happy with the extra control?
O siema
So you fucked up a very nice glossy harley benton st62 stock condition and it didnt get any better you just ruined it. re sell value? Well "congrats"
Not what I said. Playability is far better for my preferences.
man, you're going to so many details, but really, in the video, it's hard to hear what those upgrades do and if it's worth the time spent.
Man you RUINED that glossy lovely neck face it the guitar is now FUCKED UP!
Plays and sounds great, so I would disagree. But that's the cool thing, we all like different stuff.
@@yaguitar Hmm, at the risk of commenting on an old post...... different strokes for different folks. I'd still buy a guitar with a sanded neck.
Szkoda ze nie po polsku
Do they not deliver to Poland?
Friend the string trees do not in any way affect the tuning stability sorry to disappoint.
They can catch strings when you bend (or use the trem), just like the nut or bridge/saddles can. Anything that introduces extra friction can have an effect.