Solving The Problems With Harley Benton Guitars
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- Опубликовано: 28 июл 2024
- Following on from my last video, I decided to make an instructional video on how to fix your Harley Benton (or any guitar really) earth buzz and hum. I've also included how to do a full guitar set up
These guitars are great, the cheaper ones do suffer a few little problems, but going through these steps will cure it.
We cover how to use a soldering iron and how to take apart your guitar to fix guitar electronics. How to sue a multimeter to diagnose guitar electrical problems. Shielding your electric guitar. How to set your action, how to adjust your truss rod and how to set your intonation!
Remember to let me know about any other problems or techniques you'd like me to cover in another video!
Tools Needed:
Screwdriver
String winder/cutter
Soldering Iron and Solder
Multimeter
Shielding tape
Strings
String action gauge
hex or allen keys
Feeler gauges
radius gauges
A tuner or DAW tuner
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:27 Tools needed
0:58 Taking the bridge off
1:48 Fixing the Bridge for earth buzz
2:04 Shielding
3:30 Soldering cold solder joints
5:03 Set up
5:15 truss rod adjustment
6:20 Setting Guitar Action
8:10 Intonation
9:05 General guitar problem solving
#harleybenton #electricguitar #guitar 
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The tip about scratching the underside of the bridge has worked brilliantly and has reduced the buzz level by over 90%, great idea thanks.
Ah super, glad to be of help!
I've found the buzz can be removed completely by using a wireless connection between guitar and amp.
Aw wow, must have some noise suppression going on in the wireless system. How do you find wireless? I've never used one because I'm so set in my ways
These are good tips which make inexpensive guitars playable and also apply to expensive guitars as well. Thanks for sharing!
Not a problem, thanks for the comment too - really appreciate it!
I bought an entry level HB guitar with active pickups. The noise level was ridiculous. Took me a few days of tinkering to realize that the paint on the bottom of the bridge was preventing the bridge ground from the jack to connect. The people at HB told me that I can’t use too much gain with this guitar because of the active pickups?! They advertise the guitar as a hard rock and metal style guitar. Secondly their “head designer” told me that because the guitar has a tive pickups there is no need for a ground from the bridge to the jack?!? Then why did they wire one in? Anyway, I scratched some paint off of the bottom of the bridge and the grounding issue and noise was gone. So basically Thomann is mass producing guitars that all have a grounding issue creating tons of noise and have no idea that the bridge paint is causing the issue. The guitar is awesome now and the HB active pickups sound killer. Im debating on whether I should inform them of this embarrassing
gaff they have made or let them figure it out for themselves…
I've heard about trouble of screaming feedback with those active pickups and you say it's directly marketed for high gain music!
Sometimes I think they skim over these problems so people will try the higher priced ones. Where the big brands you get one you've always wanted, but with these you buy 3 or 4 different types!
@@Rosborough vous pouvez utiliser de la peinture au graphite a mettre dans les cages des micros guitare avec un pinceau c'est mieux que une bombe de peinture ou utiliser du ruban adhésif en cuivre pour blindé toutes les cages de faraday moi je préfère la peinture au graphite c'est aussi plus simple à appliquer au niveau des trous pour passer les câbles vous pouvez utiliser un contontige ou faire couler de la peinture au graphite a très petite dose pour ne pas en mettre partout toutes mes guitares électriques sont blindé avec de la peinture au graphite même le couvercle de protection et aussi pein a la peinture au graphite et honnêtement ça fonctionne très bien plus de bruit de grésillement pour la guitare et l'ampli
Hello. Tell the issue. I think the listen to their customers. It was bad that they sad to you that the ground was “overkill” on your guitar. Ground is always good to have. Hope you enjoy your new guitar…is it a CST-24?
You should… you will prevent many future customers from pain
I have been using radius gauges wrong... this is some eye opening advice right here, cheers sir.
Ah glad you got something out of it!
I just got this guitar and your video really came in handy. thanks!
Glad to be of help, thom!
Just got this guitar and it's great. No problems at all. Adjusted the action, new strings, good to go.
Amazing! I hope that's the story for the rest of em. Happy playing, Ian!
Well its a hit and miss with HB guitars, good thing Thomann has a good return policy so there's no problem with getting a replacement.
The lower price points are especially a gamble
Thanks bro… That was very informative! Rock on!
Thanks Jess!
You explained everything you need for guitar setup quickly but concisely, you don't see many do that in under 10 minutes!
I own the same model as you have here, did the exactly the same trick with earthing on the bridge and shielding tape and did a pickup replacement. Other than some sharp fret ends, had no fret issues and just a little intonation on one string was required. It sounds good and feels fun to play. It's a little microphonic, but I think that's because of the lack of cushioning under the pickups. Other than that fine little instrument for the price.
Thanks loads. I tried not to waffle on haha!
Yeah super guitars and I have found it and another microphonics but I'm thinking the same as yourself in terms of cushioning
Thanks for the comment, I hope the guitar is treating you well!
Excellent video learned a lot here. Good presentation and delivery, got a 'cheap' Harley Benton on the way at the moment, (SC400) so hopefully not to many issues.
I've the sc dlx and it's one of my favourite guitars, I hope it serves you well! Thanks another for your comment too!
THIS IS A GREAT ONE!
Thanks tons my dude!!
Nice little video man - scratching the back of the bridge is a great call as I had never thought about it being an issue with grounding issues before (especially with cheap black hardware).
While you are definitely right on unlevel frets needing their own video, I want to mention that it is worth watching out for nut-heights and any problem with the neck pocket route (I've experienced both on Harley Bentons before and other brands in the same ballpark) as they can render much undone.
Its all a minefield, but im glad videos like this exist ;)
Thanks Gabriel and thanks for offering the extra info! I'm sure it'll help other people on here too!
@@Rosborough Cheers man! :)
I've had two HBs. Both were fault-free out of the box (unlike my first Fender). After a thorough set up they were much more playable.
Yeah, setting up is usually the most the other models need. And I also agree on the fender thing - I had 2 American pros and they were awful out of the box!
Thanks for the great content.
Ah thank you loads dude!
This is an excellent video. Very informative and helpful. Thank you. I'm torn between a HB Tele and an HB JA. I want to get the guitar and set it up for A Standard tuning.
Have to say, I'm a ducker for the JA, they look great! Haven't tried it but I have hovered over the buy button a couple of times
Thank you.
I understand your point about intonating the Harmonic . It is a Double check to make sure you have accounted for the slight String Stretch of Fretting .
There is , BTW , no such thing as a Perfectly Intonated Guitar . Nor ANY stringed instrument for that matter . All the other Tips were great . Thank you .
I completely get what you're saying John, and I actually used to do the harmonic. I've seen so many debates online between luthiers and techs far more experienced than myself - it's hard to make headway! I've found with this my intonation is pretty bang on throughout but maybe I'll try a mixture of the two and see how it sits. Thanks for your comment!
Good advice 👍👍👍
Thanks Tim, hope it's helpful for people!!
Great video
Thank you!
Been playing for around 60 years. I use the harmonics. Nevertheless, I appreciate this video and I learned something. Thank you! Even an old guy learns things every day. I am going to buy my first electric in decades. I could never afford to buy back my old gear! Going to get a TV yellow copy--turning Chinese--and need MUSIC THERAPY!
Thanks for your comment and I hope your new guitar will serve you well!
Hey really nice video with a lot of informations to set the guitar.
Do you have the fret which was not smooth at all bending the chords?
I ve got this matter on my HB
Thanks a lot!
Hi Aubry. I did. You can use a fret eraser to make them smooth again or 000 grade wire steel wool. If you use steel wool on any guitar, always tape up the pickups before using it and wife down really well after
@@Rosborough thanks a lot for your advise and your time! 👍 Really appreciate
Any time!
Do the un-jumbo frets interfere with the shredding friendlyness and/or the abbility to handle thick strings for low tunnings, of the guitar?
I'm not 100% alredo, but I think they are a little on the thin side. It's do-able but not the perfect guitar for shredding
Would have been nice to hear the guitar to see if the noise issue had been solved.
There's a follow up video where theres new pickups put in, but your right, I should have put a little snippet at the end! Too much rushing about on my part
thank you for the video, a question: if i was to lower the tension on the original strings as much as possible to remove the bridge without cutting them so i can reuse them, should i expect some tragedy to happen? 😅
Aha, adit before! Best approach is to put a capo on the first fret before starting
@@Rosborough i suppose to not risk twisting strings in the nut? thank you!
@@PhilipRikoZen both that and to stop them coming from the tuning pegs as it'd be a nightmare to get them back on
nice
Thanks Mark
I have an st62 and an R446 from them. The st62 was supposed to be vintage white but came in super ugly mustard yellow which really upsets me and the bridge had paint all over it that I had to scrape off. The R446 as much as I like it, comes out of tune pretty easily, and both pickups and the bridge are all misaligned from one another so it looks kind of crooked instead of even which is annoying... But for under 200 bucks it's not a deal breaker, the pickups are spectacular on the R446.
Ah that's so disappointing, especially the misalignment. I really want one of the fusions but the finishes just don't do it for me. Finding a few of em a bit ugly, but at the price point they're still viable. Now if they were REALLY ugly, I'd own all of em haha
@@Rosborough haha. Yea I wrote to them telling them about the issues but no reply from them yet. I'm seeing if they could replace them instead of just getting my money back.
I've heard they're usually quite good on some forums but ya never know. Fingers crossed you get it all sorted out
@@Rosborough that's what I've heard as well haha. But yea thanks, and thanks for the good informative video
Has anyone bought a left hand model and if so is it setup properly or does it just depend? I just bought one and I'm anxiously waiting and hoping it will come pre setup well enough to play out of the box without the earth buzz. I'll let y'all know on my YT channel how it goes. I had to pay extra for it since I'm a lefty so I hope that means it was made with higher standards then the rest of the right handed models seem to be.
I think they changed the bridge since the time when I bought this one. Hope everything goes well!
Hello, did You solved the grounding issues? You don't show the after 😊 Thanks for your video
I did! Also went and changed the pickups in a later video too!
@@Rosborough Yes I have seen the video but I'd like to know if the grounding noise etc was solved with the bridge ground tip (and the soldering refresh) or with the pickups change 😆 I want to buy one of this guitar, I like the matt black and the idea of a Tele metal but...not bad the sound of the original pick's
Oh sorry! Yeah scratching the bridge for better contact was the actual solve, everything else was a precaution. I wanted to cover as much as possible in the video so people could use it for other earthing problems
I also think they may have updated the bridges to not be painted underneath but I'm not 100% sure
@@Rosborough It's clear now many many thanks! I like very much the song of the first video about the TE-20HH 👍🏻👏👏
where do you shield the strat version if this guitar? I think I have the buzz as well haha
I would say it will be the same solution. Under the straps bridge plate you should find the earth wire. Give a good sanding and it should take that coating off
If it still doesn't solve it, it means the strings are being blocked by the saddles. I would just buy another bridge, otherwise you'll be scratching everything!
@@Rosborough I think there is an earth wire in my tremolo cavity, can that work? It's a black wire. Maybe if I remove the cavity altogether to test? Hmm
Yeah that's it! Sorry I was writing while doing something else.
If it is giving buzz (and the buzz disappears when you touch the strings) the coating is still a problem. I would recommend replacing the whole tremolo bridge
Because of the paint coating - the strings have no connection to the earth wire. The coating on the saddles won't go to the bridge plate which then won't go to the trem springs and then finally to the wire
If the buzz is there when you are touching the strings, it could be a few things. First I would look at shieling the electronics cavity
Phew, my replies are better when I stop to type haha
@@Rosborough yes, it completely disappears when I touch them. Btw I meant to ask if I can just scrape the bottom tremolo cover, not the bridge, or that won't work because I still need to scrape the bridge?
The problem is the strings haven't got connection from the saddles. I would recommend a wilkinson chrome strat bridge. They're still affordable and won't bring the earth buzz problems.
I'm not sure about any black bridges that are affordable which won't bring the same problem I'm afraid
If I do hear anything I'll defs share about it
I would say don't resolder anything unless you have to. It's actually done pretty well from the factory most of the time.
You also don't need the strings to be off to do this, so do the other things first.
Thanks for your comment, tushar! I'd agree and go so far to say don't do anything unless you have to!
I found the stock strings on this not to my liking, and I always find a set up a good excuse for fresh strings - unless it's elixirs, I'm not a millionaire 😂
Disagree, just saw my HB inside and wondered if all of them are soldered that badly even with cold soldering, and after seeing this video I see my guitar isn't alone
I've had a few more through my door recently to fix and set up for people. A few of them had loose/cold solders. Now in fairness it was only a couple and they were the cheaper ones. A few of the more expensive range were just standard set ups
I don't if that's just coincidence on the price or if these really cheap ones have a running theme
Earth balls!
😂 haha
I wonder if after all this time they're still selling this model with the same issues!
Not sure but I've seen a lot of this over the years with cheap sprayed bridges!
I kept hearing "Earth Balls".
😂😂 I'm gonna have to get that on a T shirt!
@@Rosborough lol, you should. I have never heard the term "Earth Buzz" and learned something new today that over in the UK that is what you all call "Ground Buzz".
Great video too by way.
Ah thanks loads Gregory!
earth balls?
Shouldn't that shielding have been earthed?
The shielding touches the bridge which in turn is touching the earth wire
@@Rosborough Ahh! clever, I never thought of that and I have shielded 3 Tele's and run an earth to it, 2 of them were shielding paint though although running the paint to where the bridge earth comes out might have worked
How does the paint compare to the stick on shielding? I've never tried the paint
@@Rosborough They both work just fine although I do prefer applying the paint.
#120_BetterAnalyticsThisVideo_GladTwoToToo_SeeSeaSi🇺🇸
What kind of accent is that? Northern Irish?
It is! I'm from Derry
Strangely I haven't run into these problems with my Harleys, so maybe it was just bad luck with your guitar
Or good luck with mine, who knows lol
I have a Sc dlx that is one of my fave guitars. Slight action issue and a tiny bit of fret levelling.
I will say for clarity, I like quite low action and I can't leave anything alone!
I'm glad you've lucked out!
@@Rosborough tbh, the only problems I've ever had was restringing my S-620
Floyd Rose guitars are a bitch to maintain
I just got late 80s shadow s120 with a FR bridge, I feel your pain haha!
@@Rosborough luckily I'm on different strings now which should be easier to install (Ernie Ball M-steel)
Cheep crap.
What? What did you say? What are you mumbling? Way to difficult to make out.
There's subtitles for the slower folk
By the time you buy all the tools, why not get a decent guitar.
Do you mean my accent as I don't have an impediment 😂
It's fine, I don't mind. My accent isn't heard everywhere so I expect some comments on it!