Congratulations, you've really done a fantastic job improving this guitar, plus you've shown absolute honesty, I read the comments and everyone raved about it and that's really nice!!! I look forward to the continuation of this series!!! 👏👏👏👏
You will never get the right tone without the pickups in series, looks like great guitar for the money, also, the scale length is 1" longer and no zero fret
The spring noise as far as my {40+ years) of experience is caused by the rout not being deep enough.. Meaning that as you depress the arm on the front, the block pivots rearwards, and also upwards... Causing the springs to actually catch on the rear of the trem cavity. I usually rout a little away from the rear of the cavity or, better yet fit a slightly longer and heavier brass black.
For me I would get the BM since even at double the money it can be a life time keeper. Most life time keepers are 3 or 4 times the money of the BM. It is not like a Fender with hundreds made of the same woods so a change of PU,s and it is not possible to tell it isn't.
Great vid! As a noob who just re-learned soldering during the pandemic, that wiring seems like rocket science. Hope you'll get to upgrade the pickups in the future
@@TheToneLounge for some reason I'm not too informed of brian may's pickups/gears despite loving his tone. Looking forward to the brian may series of vids
Rustins Platic Coating would bring your fretboard up to spec, and there's a wonderful chap in Yorkshire making brilliant trisonic-style pickups: Yonderbosk Creations.
What's the scale length? Is it hollow on the sides, as the original, with a center block? I imagine the middle and neck as well as middle and bridge pickup combinations are noise cancelling, correct? What about the neck bridge combination? I don't think the guitar sounds like Brian May's sound, even with the new wiring, although I appreciate a flexible guitar. I would have looked into making it toggle between series and parallel as an added feature and for maximum flexibility. Thank you for your review.
As far as the specs are concerned, I don't really know. You can most likely find that info on Thomann's website. Yeah, those classic Strat positions are indeed noise canceling. As far as the tone is concerned, I agree with you. These sound nothing like the Burns pickups found in the Red Special. Yet, they are pretty good as-is. For the wiring options that I went with, the person who modded it for me went with the mind set that we were not going to drill any holes into the guitar, so that setup worked well without routing anything new into the guitar.
Bravo!!! I admire the way you review things. Simple, eloquent and to the point. Two points: the guitar sounds waaay closer to the May sound (mind you for some unexplainable reason i have not dug deep into Queen so i'm not the best at judging that) and secondly it's a bit odd that Thomann send you a guitar like that. Usually (my experience too) they're playable right out of the box. Anyways the mods on the guitar were well worth both money and time. Looking forward to the new Queen series. Have you planned it yet? Give us a clue...
Thanks for the kind words! The Brian May series has been researched, scripted and just needs to be filmed, which is coming up very soon. This is the first video in that series, :)
I completely agree. I bought a B grade sc-dlx (it took me ten minutes to find the flaw) and it was superbly finished and I hardly had to alter anything during set up. In fact, it's playability is equal to and (dare I say it) better than my Gibson Les Paul Tribute. And the fret ends are the best on any guitar I have seen.
I was fortunate enough to visit Thomann and the floor model I played that made me fell in love had Grovers. I bought the guitar and when I got back to my hotel room and opened it up it had those Harley Benton tuners. I reached out to Thomann via chat as I wasn't going to be able to go back to the store at that point and they shipped out the grover tuners to America. I was truly impressed. I love the guitar but the neck did bow after I changed to 10s but that wasn't a big issue. I still don't understand the pickup selectors as there's no documentation that comes with the guitar but I did reach out to Thomann. Still waiting to see if they can help out or maybe you know exactly what each order does. Also I wanted to ask if you'd be so kind to provide a link for the silver knobs.
I'm not sure about the stock wiring, but I am fairly certain that you could find this information on one of the FB Harley Benton Guitars groups. As for the knobs, I just looked up metal knobs on Amazon. I found them pretty easily.
Thank you for your honest review. We thought that chinese 'replica' is not even close ... It must be the pickup, that his father home-made wired, anyways ...
Picked one up from Thomann while visiting Germany. The one I played in the store had Grover tuning machines but when I picked mine up it had stock Harley Bentons. I chatted with customer service about an hour later when I got the hotel room and Thomann will be shipping me a brand new set of Grover tuning machines to my home in Florida at no cost to me (as they should). Guitar is currently on the plane storage (inside the cabin) but somewhat lose so I hope it’s not broken.
@@TheToneLounge I got lucky! No damage on the flight from Germany to JFK and for the flight from NYC to Orlando I was able to put it in an overhead bin comfortably by itself. Once I get my tax refund from Thomann I’ll end up with the guitar for $270!!! Woot woot
It isn't expected at all to get a guitar shipped that is unplayable. I've never had setup issues with harley benton. Some minor QC stuff happens, but getting a guitar shipped that is unplayable is absolute not to be expected.
I think you are supposed to lie and be a cheerleader. And then companies will send you free gear. I guess this pickup is like a P90 with a bar magnet? So it would make sense to have a 500k pot.
When the companies send stuff, it's not free. Free would mean that you are not obliged to make a video in exchange for said gear. When you buy the gear, you make the video if you feel like it. When companies send me stuff, I give my opinion in the comment section of the video, when questions are asked. When I buy the gear, I give my opinions in the video. As for the pickups, I really don't know. They are dark and muddy. The 500k pots definitely brightens them up a bit. I recommend changing the pots for more clarity.
Is there space in pickup p. when you remove scratch plate for let say a humbacker to fit in? BTW those pickups are basically the same as trisonic only made in Korea or China by BH, we can argue about materials about magnets but imho they know how to make a good pickups. I think those goes on a cheaper BM that has Wilkinson tremolo.
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I always appreciate your dedication to your craft. Excellent info as usual, thanks a lot
Thanks dude! I grew to love doing videos. Now that I do, I always want to put out the best that I can. :)
Congratulations, you've really done a fantastic job improving this guitar, plus you've shown absolute honesty, I read the comments and everyone raved about it and that's really nice!!!
I look forward to the continuation of this series!!! 👏👏👏👏
Thank you very much! I have a few demos to do first, but I am getting into this Brian May series very soon. Cheers
You will never get the right tone without the pickups in series, looks like great guitar for the money, also, the scale length is 1" longer and no zero fret
All great points. Thanks for sharing. Cheers
Absolutely lovely! Thank you for that great description!
Awesome i have one to changed to brass nut and changed all wiring so its like a fender and gibson in one rock on
The spring noise as far as my {40+ years) of experience is caused by the rout not being deep enough.. Meaning that as you depress the arm on the front, the block pivots rearwards, and also upwards... Causing the springs to actually catch on the rear of the trem cavity. I usually rout a little away from the rear of the cavity or, better yet fit a slightly longer and heavier brass black.
That's awesome advice. Thanks for sharing.
Quite some good mods on it, but to be honest, I like the sounds with parallel wiring on this guitar much more than with the series wiring.
The fact that we can mod it so easily means that there is something for everyone with this axe. :)
For me I would get the BM since even at double the money it can be a life time keeper. Most life time keepers are 3 or 4 times the money of the BM. It is not like a Fender with hundreds made of the same woods so a change of PU,s and it is not possible to tell it isn't.
Great vid! As a noob who just re-learned soldering during the pandemic, that wiring seems like rocket science. Hope you'll get to upgrade the pickups in the future
I am seriously considering doing that! They are quite expensive though, so it might take a while before I do so.
@@TheToneLounge for some reason I'm not too informed of brian may's pickups/gears despite loving his tone. Looking forward to the brian may series of vids
He uses custom wound Bruns Tri-Sonic pickups.
Rustins Platic Coating would bring your fretboard up to spec, and there's a wonderful chap in Yorkshire making brilliant trisonic-style pickups: Yonderbosk Creations.
Looking forward your new series. Cool
Thanks for this video
My pleasure!
It’s like a totally different guitar!
Right? It made a huge difference.
WELL PUT TOGETHER VIDEO! THANKS!
Great vid.,went to school on this one.
I'm doing my best to make some interesting content, and not just demos. :)
What's the scale length? Is it hollow on the sides, as the original, with a center block?
I imagine the middle and neck as well as middle and bridge pickup combinations are noise cancelling, correct? What about the neck bridge combination?
I don't think the guitar sounds like Brian May's sound, even with the new wiring, although I appreciate a flexible guitar.
I would have looked into making it toggle between series and parallel as an added feature and for maximum flexibility.
Thank you for your review.
As far as the specs are concerned, I don't really know. You can most likely find that info on Thomann's website.
Yeah, those classic Strat positions are indeed noise canceling.
As far as the tone is concerned, I agree with you. These sound nothing like the Burns pickups found in the Red Special. Yet, they are pretty good as-is.
For the wiring options that I went with, the person who modded it for me went with the mind set that we were not going to drill any holes into the guitar, so that setup worked well without routing anything new into the guitar.
Bravo!!! I admire the way you review things. Simple, eloquent and to the point. Two points: the guitar sounds waaay closer to the May sound (mind you for some unexplainable reason i have not dug deep into Queen so i'm not the best at judging that) and secondly it's a bit odd that Thomann send you a guitar like that. Usually (my experience too) they're playable right out of the box. Anyways the mods on the guitar were well worth both money and time. Looking forward to the new Queen series. Have you planned it yet? Give us a clue...
Thanks for the kind words! The Brian May series has been researched, scripted and just needs to be filmed, which is coming up very soon. This is the first video in that series, :)
@@TheToneLoungethanks. Is this a by song analysis or by sound in general? either way it's going to take quite a few episodes
It's a deep dive into his gear and tone.
@@TheToneLounge yummy
I completely agree. I bought a B grade sc-dlx (it took me ten minutes to find the flaw) and it was superbly finished and I hardly had to alter anything during set up. In fact, it's playability is equal to and (dare I say it) better than my Gibson Les Paul Tribute. And the fret ends are the best on any guitar I have seen.
KILLER VIDEO! Super informative! Could u drop a link for the specific nut you used?
I have no clue what it is. My tech did the install.
Thank you for this video… I’m not really a Queen fan but I’m drawn to the Red Special. You have provided useful info and I enjoyed the video. Cheers!
Thanks Dan! re you considering picking one of these up?
@@TheToneLounge Maybe so! I have a Tele from HB that has a fantastic neck.
I was fortunate enough to visit Thomann and the floor model I played that made me fell in love had Grovers. I bought the guitar and when I got back to my hotel room and opened it up it had those Harley Benton tuners. I reached out to Thomann via chat as I wasn't going to be able to go back to the store at that point and they shipped out the grover tuners to America. I was truly impressed. I love the guitar but the neck did bow after I changed to 10s but that wasn't a big issue. I still don't understand the pickup selectors as there's no documentation that comes with the guitar but I did reach out to Thomann. Still waiting to see if they can help out or maybe you know exactly what each order does. Also I wanted to ask if you'd be so kind to provide a link for the silver knobs.
I'm not sure about the stock wiring, but I am fairly certain that you could find this information on one of the FB Harley Benton Guitars groups. As for the knobs, I just looked up metal knobs on Amazon. I found them pretty easily.
Thank you for your honest review. We thought that chinese 'replica' is not even close ... It must be the pickup, that his father home-made wired, anyways ...
It's the entire guitar that is special. It's very hard to copy that guitar, especially in the price point of the BM-75.
I feel like the Parallel version could be a killer Surf/Funk guitar
Absolutely!
Its the same as the red special?
Not exactly. It's a smaller size, and does not come with the same type of wiring for the pickups.
Picked one up from Thomann while visiting Germany. The one I played in the store had Grover tuning machines but when I picked mine up it had stock Harley Bentons. I chatted with customer service about an hour later when I got the hotel room and Thomann will be shipping me a brand new set of Grover tuning machines to my home in Florida at no cost to me (as they should). Guitar is currently on the plane storage (inside the cabin) but somewhat lose so I hope it’s not broken.
Fingers crossed!
@@TheToneLounge I got lucky! No damage on the flight from Germany to JFK and for the flight from NYC to Orlando I was able to put it in an overhead bin comfortably by itself. Once I get my tax refund from Thomann I’ll end up with the guitar for $270!!! Woot woot
Hello, thank you for the video ! Is it possible you provide a more detail schema of the wiring mode and with photos ?
What I had is in the video. I did not come up with the schematic, so I don't have any other references for you. Sorry.
@@TheToneLounge Ok thank you for your answer :). I'm racking my brains to try to understand how to put the 5 position selector out of phase... :)
If you reach my on my FB page, I'll give you the diagram that my tech made for mine.
Interesting that the pickups were good enough.
yeah, with 500k pots, they sound much better.
Sounds like you might as well get a proper Brian May version.
In due time.
Went to Elmo' Channel and there is NOTHING there regarding any Mods he made. Got a link? :)
What I said is that i his review, he said his came with Grover tuners. Mine did not.
It isn't expected at all to get a guitar shipped that is unplayable. I've never had setup issues with harley benton. Some minor QC stuff happens, but getting a guitar shipped that is unplayable is absolute not to be expected.
It sucks, but it happens more often than you think.
ive got one its has problems
Which problems are you having?
@@TheToneLounge when I used the 5 way selecta switch it doesn't work and I've got a give it a little nudge
@@adieblackmore54Have you tried spraying some contact cleaner?
will do@@mikkywhalan
I think you are supposed to lie and be a cheerleader. And then companies will send you free gear.
I guess this pickup is like a P90 with a bar magnet? So it would make sense to have a 500k pot.
When the companies send stuff, it's not free. Free would mean that you are not obliged to make a video in exchange for said gear. When you buy the gear, you make the video if you feel like it. When companies send me stuff, I give my opinion in the comment section of the video, when questions are asked. When I buy the gear, I give my opinions in the video.
As for the pickups, I really don't know. They are dark and muddy. The 500k pots definitely brightens them up a bit. I recommend changing the pots for more clarity.
Is there space in pickup p. when you remove scratch plate for let say a humbacker to fit in? BTW those pickups are basically the same as trisonic only made in Korea or China by BH, we can argue about materials about magnets but imho they know how to make a good pickups. I think those goes on a cheaper BM that has Wilkinson tremolo.
The cavity is a "pool" type routing, but it is rather shallow. I'm not certain that a standard type humbucker would fit in that enclosure.
A Lace Alumitone low boy will fit
@@TheToneLounge thx a lot