Harley Benton vs. Chibson - A Luthier's Review
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- Опубліковано 13 чер 2024
- #chibson #harleybenton #shootout
I did a chibson review a few weeks back and everyone commented that I need to compare a harley benton to it. Well I found one for cheap and decided to buy it. I am rather impressed with the Benton. I would like a tad thicker neck but for the price the quality is very good. Its not a custom shop guitar but I like it. You have to make some tweaks to it, like new tuners and finesse the nut but thats not too bad.
The HARLEY BENTON is for SALE email me: Derek@bigdguitars.com
you can purchase the guitars here: www.thomannmusic.com/lp_model...
Don't buy the chibsons. they really are poorly built they will fall apart after a while. The play in the bridge and crappy tuners will make this a poor playing experience. - Навчання та стиль
Coil split.
Not coil tap.
The former is when the coils in a humbucker are "split" into two single coils, one of which would essentially be disabled.
The latter is when a coil is wired so as to allow the player to select a different number of turns, thus influencing the output of said coil.
I realise that you know this, but it's confusing for beginners.
tap a coil is another way of saying.
@@bigdguitars I realise that people use the two terms interchangeably, but it's wrong. A tapped pickup is wired in such a way as to allow the player to use less or more of the number of winds in a given coil.
For example, a tapped single coil with 6000 winds could be tapped at 4000 winds. That would allow the player to select whether he wanted the lower output of 4000 winds, or the higher output of 6000 winds.
A humbucker could, with the right wiring, have both splitting and tapping because you could disable one of the coils, and in the functioning coil you could tap off a few thousand winds to reduce output.
On the other hand, a single-coil pickup can be tapped, but not split.
@@bigdguitars Wow, your a luthier?????? Yeah people use them interchangeably but that doesn't mean it's right. Tap is when you tap into the coil at a certain point in the winding shortening the coil. An a coil split is when you use a 4 conductor wiring to "bypass" a coil in the humbucker. Whether it's north or south that stays active can be selected depending on how you wire it. But on all my guitars I use an on off on dpdt toggle switch to select between inner coil, humbucker, outer coil for each pup. You should really know better. Smh, you really really should know better. Don't tell people it's an interchangeable term it's not at all. Don't spread misinformation on your platform. You were corrected and didn't say thanks for the info you stuck to your misinformed guns. You shouldn't touch anyone's guitars if you don't have the humility to learn from your mistakes.
@micchaelinglis I pinned this thread dude. I have 1000s of comments to moderate daily. Relax.
Great comment. Thanks!
The average Chibson's gonna run you almost $300, where as the Harley Benton shown here is only roughly $160 which is a much better price point compared to the chibson as far as quality.
But the chibson does include a fancy guitar case lol, honestly, the case is worth almost as much as the guitar itself
depends on how its made the HB are made from plywood.
I live in Shanghai, pro Musician, I made the necessary upgrades in my Chibson, it is simply an amazing guitar. There are good and bad Chinese guitars, and there are absolute pieces of Art made here. They do guitars by computerized system, perfectly measured. If the woods are good, it is not a crime to change the wiring, the “cheap plastic nut” by “the cheap bone nut” (that costs less than U$0,70; it is just a myth created to justify the overpriced branded guitars), the pickups... China learned how to make guitars. What I want to say is, we are in 2020 and, unless you want a piece of Art made by a Luthier, the Western world, sooner or later, will admit that the time of the super expensive branded guitars has gone
Word up
Nah. Gibson is gibson. They're not going anywhere.
@@fredriksvard2603 Gibson is made in China, it seems they have already went xD
@Tom Vitti Some Chibsons are great and some are absolutely garbage. That's one of the big problems. You never know what you're going to get. When you buy from the real companies you get better consistency.
Tom vitti could you tell me some good Chinese brands or builders I could buy from for piece of art also what is your opinion of yui guitars?
Thomas Mann = The Magic Mountain, Death in Venice et al. Thomann is a german music gear retailer set on world domination.
@@RazvanCosti They are definitely a *retailer* . I buy retail from them all the time as do thousands of other retail customers of their's. Sales to private individuals include tax. When being a pedant one must strive to be accurate else one is just a fool.
@@RazvanCosti Wholesale is how retailers generally buy. Thomann save by cutting out the distributor and buying straight from the manufacturer. Point away, but I don't see what my grandma has to do with this.
Did you honestly expect any cultural education from an US American? These folks are much to busy with their guns and killing each other.
@@drumstudiomonchengladbach8131 girls guitars and guns
@@chrisscott6961 girls and guitars are Great, guns are for stupid *diots. I hope, everybody who owns a gun will die from a gun!!!
I have an HB guitar, it's a very nice guitar. In my model, they put Grover tuners so tuning stability is great. Great guitar for that price.
I have four HB's. A LP (149 EUR, 2013) which was instantly great (I switched the pups because they were too hot for my taste), a Tele (129 EUR, 2013) with bad fret ends, didn't like the pups, bad setup, the switch stopped working (got a new one with one phone call), a Tele Cabronita (164 EUR, 2019) which was great right out of the box just a minor intonation adjustment and two years ago I bought a Suhr inspired superstrat with a genuine FR, Grovers and ss frets for 200 EUR which is a very nice guitar. I also bought a Chibson which came with Gibson on the headstock although I specifically asked them not to do so. The pups were horrible so I put in a SD SH-2n SH-4 JB set. One tuner stopped working so I put in a very nice set of Guyker tuners (16 EUR). The pups I used on the LP and Tele are great and from Donlis.
Oh and they sound great, I gig with them.
The newer Chibsons are way better now than 4 years ago. I have 3 and the quality has improved tremendously
where does one get these? Is there a website to order it or something?
@@mishea13 They're all over ebay. new one's On par or better than Epis
no, they are not made OR checked over by guitar players. it is so simple, but they just dont care
@@godsinboxfalse most are made in the old Epiphone shop and if you talk to them and ask questions you find real luthiers!
My Chinese luthiers I’ve used, care much more than the Gibson ones, and my fender ones. Eventually I hope to be able to have a line of guitars cut there and assembled here
I can't speak for all Chibson's but the one I have is great. Once I changed the hardware out to Gibson stuff and changed the pickups and electronics. Took it to a buddies music store and set it up beside the real thing almost no one knew the difference. As for Harley Benton bought one sent it back.
Harley Bentons are much better now and outclassing anything else in that price segment now.
Yeah I have a Chibson and it's an absolute monster of a guitar. Did the usual fretwork and hardware swap and you can't put it down. I'll take it up against any Gibson any day.
Thanks for the video.
If i may 2 questions :D - Can you tell us if the string spacing on HB is wider (Gibson) or narrower (Epiphone)? Is the neck width narrower or same (say nut and last fret) as on Gibson?
Excellent overview!! I’ve been following HB guitars for over a year... Got a 7string fan fret (because why not) at 160$ shipped. It’s definitely not a bad guitar.. at least with mine I did a very basic setup with new strings and it’s great to play around on.. I do own a really nice 87 Gibson LP custom lite that I love so I do have a good comparison... HB would be a much better choice in my opinion!! Again great overview/review!!
Great Video. Clear, concise and to the point.
God Bless You and Your Family!!
Jimmy in NC....
Thanks for review. Does HB pickups Roswell have note "bite" and "meat" only trebles?
One thing that some people seem to overlook.
"Chibson" is not a brand, and not all Chibsons are made by same people/factories.
They vary.
My brother has a Chibson and has owned it for years.
He replaced the pickups and most of the hardware like you would expect, but the guitar is a really good quality.
So much that he actually prefers it to his Gibson LPJ.
On the other hand, I'm sure there are a lot of trash Chibsons.
So, you can't judge all Chibsons by examining one of them.
Send me ten I will review them all!!! This is the 3rd I have worked on.
You will have to take a chance to get a good one though. You can't demo the guitar at a store, you have to pay them the money and hope it is good but harley benton has some quality control.
@@banditkeithkingofduelmonsters
Absolutely.
Chibsons have a big risk factor. Which might be fun for some people and a bad thing for others.
And like you said, Thomann has a great quality control, so you know what you're getting.
Honestly, Harley Bentons, Fireflys and other similar brands in this range are all kinda "branded chibsons" with some QC.
@@bigdguitars hmmm... that sounds like a valid crowdfunding cause... :)
@@buckyTheSerb Agreed, their basically the same. Just the HB's are more consistent cause there's a brand to hold accountable when things go wrong. I sold my acoustic ibanez cause it was the cheapest guitar I had and even thpugh I'm very experienced at setting up instruments well it just didn't sound good even after a lot of work dialing it in. So to fill the acoustic void until I can get my dteam Martin (im done buying acoustics that are "cheaper" ($300-$400), the next i buy will be my Martin ive always wanted) i bought a Harley Benton acoustic for $60 plus shipping which I think was $50. It's got tons of finish flaws, TONS! But with that said at first it sounded just like youd expect which was pretty shit and lamanite dull. So I changed out the tuners with some good open backs from guitar fetish that I put on all the cheap acoustic guitars I fix up. And replaced the nut and bridge and took the time to get the nut slot heights just right on each string which too many people skip and it makes a MASSIVE difference especially on 7, 8, 9 string guitars. You gotta follow the radius on the nut so your outer strings are low enough but the middle aren't too low. Also I put my go to string joy strings on it, spot leveled a few frets (wasn't worth a whole fret level but the last fret was FUCKED, it was all sorts off rough with burrs an sharp spots on the top of the fret on the treble side). So after all that, it's acceptable. Not great but I'm actually surprised how good it can sound with a little eqing and some reverb in my daw. It's is perfectly playable and I can use it to write my chord professions for song ideas and it's good enough that I'm ok using it for acoustic parts in my recordings. I'd certainly not want to use it forever but it works. My biggest complaint is that I have to adjust the relief of the neck almost every time I play it. It's constantly getting too much forebow but it's a $60 guitar. If your a decent guitar player whos owned decent guitars youll never be satisfied with it in the long run. But for me right now it's just what I needed. I've been building lots of pedals lately and just rolled the tubes on my Marshall and tryed lots of differnt ones so the little money I have left over has gone to that stuff so it's been good to have an acoustic to play in the meantime.
Hey man, just wanted to say I discovered you channel thru the Brad Angove challenge, been loving your content. Keep it up.
Not a guitarist can play a few chords C, D, E etc, but thought the Harley Benton sounded much better.
I love that he's got this "just-rolled-out-of-bed...don't-give-two-f's...time-to-record" vibe going. 😄
#playauthentic
He probably showered and prepared for hours on what to say haha
Excellent review, great advice for new players, thank you for posting.
Thank you!!
@@bigdguitars So if the Harley Benton gets a good setup, graphite in the nut, and new tuners, it is a good option?
Hi Derek, I’d still probably choose the HB over Chibson any day. Years back, I bought a Chibson on ebay which was listed as a Gibson LP. Can’t possibly re-sell it due to ebay rules but you can with a HB. All in all you can still do some future upgrading, IMO, and have a guitar that’s not to shabby. I guess the Chibson I bought would be good to experiment on, but thats it. Can’t get rid of it.
I have a chibson Les Pal, Fander Streetocater, Charvol Supastart, a Epiphanfone EE5 hollowbody&Lender Telacosta. All Chinese made& good fun.
Hi love the videos can you show how too dull down a poly finish my epiphone les paul is so shiny it looks like a toy guitar take care
I recently purchaded a HB-60 Semi Acoustic Bass from them and it plays and sounds amazing. I did have to replace the tuners , not because they didnt work but because Im a klutz and knocked it off the stand and it hit at a funky angle and snapped the ear off the E string tuner. Ordered a set of Grover 144 micro bass tuners and they were a perfect fit. I was pretty damned impressed with the tone but will admit the picups are a tad microphonic. Not sure about what pickup would be a decent replacement if I decide to do that.
@Net Rngr
"... because Im a klutz and knocked it off the stand..."
Well, you're a bassist, so it goes without saying that you're a klutz.
I'm just kidding. I wouldn't have the dexterity to play the bass if my life depended on it.
Until you decide on replacement pickups, why don't you try wax-potting your existing pups? It will cost only a few bucks and shouldn't take more than an hour.
However, the process will involve molten wax and a soldering iron. So, if you really are a klutz, please disregard my advice.
3:12 .. What does the top carve have to do with playability?
i have i tangelwood, and one cold whiteangel they look good and suands goog. what duo think...and ther koppis of gibson les paul
Not all Chibsons are created equal, the quality varies widely from vendor to vendor.
The $200 dollar Chibsons, for the money are phenomenal but , definitely poor quality.
The $350-$500 dollar Chibsons from good luthiers who use quality woods and electronics are excellent guitars that punch way above their weight for the price paid.
Yea I would like to review one of those but I am not importing one of them
I like scarf joints. They allow you to have a head stock with the grain in the right direction so that it's less likely to break (vs. even a real Gibson Les Paul, where the head stock is too easy to break).
I picked up an HB SC-450 P90 gold top this year. Played right out of the box, but I gotta do a little setup to make it a bit more pleasurable. At the time I believe it was like $151 or some close. Not bad for the money for sure. 2 guitars & 2 cases for like $405 and I've got some pieces to get my setup chops back & gonna prolly do some inexpensive upgrades, tuners for sure!
Don't forget there's also a 3 year warranty with Thomann
And yes it is "toe-man"
Ger Murphy it is „tawmann“
I have recently bought the HB, best guitar ever i bought, cost 179 euros, took it out the box and played, played and played, sounds wonderful, not have to change a thing, after 4weeks I’ve not even had to tune it in anyway although I’d don’t play 24/7, I can honestly recommend this guitar especially for someone with a price budget or a Newbie
Thanks for the review, will be watching you again
Sold my Parker, Jericho, Godin, Variax and bought 7...yes SEVEN HBs! A neck through 5 string bass, LP with authorized Floyd Rose 1000 Series bridge, SG copy, PRS copy, nylon string solid body, tele copy, super strat copy.......why? Simple, these guitars are amazing (playing for 40 years and had them all LP standards, US made strats, Rickenbacker bass..etc. The action on the LP is about the 1.5 thickness of an E string and no buzz. Action the same on all of them except of course the nylon..... Crazy. Plus 3 year warranty. No brainer IMHO.
How's the scaling? I find a lot of the Chinese guitars have wider spacing between frets.
Great job on this & agreed on your points/comments. I was glad MANY years ago I dumped $520 canadian into a Agile AL-3010 that I kept for 4 years vs getting a "chibson".
what about elite guitars from you2cansave ? or agile 3100mcc ? the early 1950s gibsons were short tenons and crappy inlays
Is the Harley Benton the S.C. 450 or S.C. 550? The reason I ask is that I've heard that the hardware and finish on the 550 is much better than the 450. BTW I just subscribed. I think I can learn a lot from you about working on guitars.
It looks like the SC 550
I think it is the cheaper 450 which has the push/pull knob, the 550 is better appointed in the finish. I would like the 550!
I bought a H-B for a friend as a starter guitar. I have t be honest, it was a very well made guitar for the money, it played well, stayed in tune (I don't why this example has issues) and the actioned could be set up quite low (around 1.75mm 22 fret). I would recommend it as a starter to anyone.
Roswell Pickups are an OEM manufacturer of pickups, From what i understand they have done manufacturing runs for Seymour Duncan. I have Roswell P90s in a harley benton PRS type guitar and im overall very impressed with both the pickups and the guitar. The guitar is clearly made with a million peices of wood but its still done very well. My only complaint was out the box it had a very high 3rd fret making open chords rattle, but after a fretjob it was a dream.
I am a luthier in Hong Kong and I have 5 Chibsons for testing, I ordered them via Ali Tao for less than US$100 each and ship to chaotic Hong Kong for another US$15, my conclusion is you should not have any expectation on any Chibson, they have the look from a distance and that is end of it, playability is terrible and sound wise, Chibson have a set of MIC bulk pack pickups that you could get for about US$6 each, and loaded with a even cheaper electronic circuitry, they work and that is it, get one only if you need them for wall deco.
Will you sell the chibsons?
@@remley8877 exactly, no better description than sub-standard for a Chibson to player
If they install the bridge in the right place and use a decent tune-a-matic bridge (that's dreaming) most of the other stuff you can deal with....if you can glue in and level frets. Have you used the Chinese Les paul roller bridges with any luck? It allows for bad intonation from incorrect bridge installation which is a common thing on the chibsons. This one on the link below...
www.aliexpress.com/item/4000313794027.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.628d6271wpOQ2j&algo_pvid=b6bb172b-dfd9-4c3b-99da-22bf4c6a0a77&algo_expid=b6bb172b-dfd9-4c3b-99da-22bf4c6a0a77-9&btsid=4a016237-865b-4929-8362-38e939e9ee2c&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_8,searchweb201603_53
@@cugir321 decent bridge could help but you never know the quality of the neck, which is critical to maintain a stable neck relief.
@@alextai6638 So you've never used the roller saddle? You never know how good the neck is until you get a good bridge (or one working okay) and a perfectly cut nut. I have a very cheap LP copy which was a nightmare to get set up....had to compensate the nut because the bridge was placed so far off and is at max adjustment. The tune-a-matic was a mess. Buzzed everywhere. I knew it was the bridge because the frets leveled perfectly yet a string would buzz from 1 to 14 on certain saddles. Had to turn the saddles and turn the bridge opposite direction....now its fine. Don't trust it but it's been working for a while. I can tell the nut is cut properly because when it sits over night it is still in tune.. If it does drift a very little (1/8 hertz)....all the strings drift the same and it stays in tune. Very few guitars will stay dead on overnight with temperture and humidity differences.
have a HB black paisley Tele. The pickups on mine were super microphonic, but I had planned on replacing them anyway and installing a 4 way switch. Now its a workhorse guitar.
Hello, I have a question? What is H.Benton's high-end model and how much does it cost? I´m talking about LesPauls only
The 550. But now they've come out with even more alternatives.
Have a similar guitar to the chibson, very poorly made, but it's what i have for now, the tuners were trash, replaced them for some grovers, but it still doesn't hold tune, and is completely out of wack, there's fret buzz, there are frets almost grounded down, when i play with the capo the tunning goes completely off, probably best to just get a new guitar right?
The best thing about the Harley Benton? It's not trying to be something else. It's own brand, it's own unique shape and design. That I applaud.
Unique? Hardly, just an LP copy with a few subtle changes for legal reasons.
@@TheGusK Singlecut does not mean Gibson copy.
I got a HB a few months ago, Tele semi-hollow with P90s, and it’s a wonderful guitar! The only negative Ive found is the tuners, like you stated in your video. Otherwise I’ve found the neck way better than my Tele Affinity that was slightly cheaper than the HB. Great video, I really respect your opinion!
I'm a beginner and looking at the Harley Benton SC550 vs. Agile 3010. It'd be nice to hear your thoughts on the Rondo Agile line of LP's.
Agile much better. not even close
Great review. Thanks!
I bought an HB 500 WH last winter and it plays great. I swapped out the tuners, the pickups, and re-did the wiring with all new pots and toggle switch and it's a outright decent guitar. I would gig with it in a heart beat.
You should do some of the better kits out there if you’re that proficient with the electronics, you’d end up saving some money on the body, and staining to your “dream” look is the best feeling. Best part is that it’s all up to you to really fine tune all the aesthetic areas
The HB knocked the Chibson out cold in the early rounds, quality and sound. I heard the Chibson going out of tune as you played and you weren't even bending. HB pickups also easily won this showdown. Appearancewise the only place you could find comparative fault with the HB was thinner binding. Big deal. Fair, entertaining and informative comparison, thanks!
Going out of tune as you play?
That's a Gibson trademark, they'll sue over it.
Play authentic ©, go out of tune authentic.
Lmao! GIBSON has dropped the ball lately.I prefer my Ec 1000 over my Led Paul.
Les oops
Thanks for the detailed analysis.
thank you!
Very nice video(s)! Your content is great! I would love to see a repainting of the Harley Benton. This would be awesome. I own one by myself and always have in mind to remake the painting but I'm not an professional like you. Btw I think the Harley Bentons quality is better then from the chipson because they have quality control with German standards.
Keep up the nice work, you got a new subscriber in me. Greetings from Germany :)
German standards 🤔
@@Averyssimo Thomann which sell these guitars are located in Germany.
Ive had a couple Epiphones ... still have one and its quite nice... hell, so was the other one! Why stoop below an Epi??? Why..why..why...?
I bought a Harley Benton single cut with P90s. I'm really happy with it. I upgraded the tuners with some hipshot locking tuners and had a tusq nut put in. It's a great guitar for the money. The P90s are pretty good for what I paid. I'm keeping them in. I've got pots I'm planning on swapping for the small import pots that came in it. Although the pots that came in it are still pretty good.
I keep looking all over the Thomann website because I'd really love a les Paul Jr single cut style guitar but with 2 p90s. But it seems like all the ones on Thomann right now anyway have only one pickup, one p90. Even the Gibson and epiphone ones it's hard to find one with more than one p90. I just want that basic slab look, a big slab of mahogany, with 2 p90s, because they're the best type of pickup, they sound amazing and so heavy and so biting, a big mahogany slab with 2 of them on it would become my main weapon for rock and blues.
Hmmm. OK on Thomann they have a les Paul style one with 2 p90s for only £167. But it's styled like a les Paul custom. It looks nice but that's not what I want. I want the basic look of the Jr
@@duffman18 Check out the Vintage V132 TV Yellow !, if you don't know the brand it's Trev Wilkinson's brand (all the hardware is wilkinson).
i dont know what i like the most in this video, the seriousness of the gentleman when he presents "chibson" as a regular and legit brand or the professionalism of the comparison ? both i think ... i subscribe
Have you looked at the HB 450 or 550?
So I have a Harley Benton and all I had to do was tune it. Usually guitars in that price range need more set-top. Surisingly I didn't have to touch the truss rod (I live in the high desert) that being said I thing you better off with a used esp ltd or a newer model epiphone
Cool review, great hoodie!
thanks!
How is a thicker neck better? I dont know I dont have a chipson or a real gibson to see. I guess I need to go to the music store and check them out. I have a HB G3 the neck feels thin I dont know if that is bad or not? My G3 action is so nice like a premium guitar for 99 bucks pure awesomeness.
Personal preference.
The Chibsons always look like they are made of faux wood on the inside. Hot dog wood as Dave's World of Fun Stuff calls it.
I would like to see a comparison with the Michael Kelly patriot decree
6 yrs late to the party, but is it just me or are the tailpiece posts off center to the bass side compared to the bridge on the chibson?
Ho there,great show ty,I bought the Harley benton 550 DELUXE andits held up very well,roswell pickups I love them,thanks
interesting. thanks for the video and greeting from germany!
The only reason I still kind of want a Chibson is that I LOVE the finish on the guitar. I've yet to find a cheap alternative that has such a nice look. Of course, that's just my opinion, but man, is it pretty.
I'm looking at getting the sc-550, are these any good?
I've had one. They are definitely not bad at all. I wasn't a fan of the pickups and the electronics, but the base guitar was good. Good mod platform.
I have it.
Use it without problems more then year (a LOT of gigs and studio work).
Change pickups - DiMarzio DP223 neck, DP100 bridge and that's it.
Always in tune, so,my full recommendation.
It's actually much better guitar then most guitars in higher price range.
And I don't care what name is on my headstock :-)
I don't know if I fit into this conversation but I bought used American made big name guitars used yrs ago. In 96 bought a 93 Fender deluxe plus Strat. And in 12 I bought a 97 L P studio. The Strat I left stock except for adding a Hipshot Tremsetter. The L P got a lot of work. Came with 496/500 pups so to help get all the sound I changed to CTS 500K pots and Garrett cloth wire in 50's style, Switchcraft switch and jack. Tonespro locking bridge, Kluson locking tuners, Tusc nut. Just to keep best tuning stability and sound. Running through 60/100 watt tube amps. That's when you really need the best.
Nice video!
If we ignore the hardwares and the electronic parts. And when you are blind folded.
Which one gave you a more quality and solid feels.
Ok...i owe a harley benton te 52 the feels of it is rock solid as compare to a squier tele. But of course the hardwares and frets loose out a little to squier. But i "think" H.B used better quality wood on the neck compared to Squier? I might be wrong.
Was looking at either a HB or a SX tele but ended up with a monoprice Indio tele & couldn’t be happier. Only issue was sharp fret ends which was easily fixed. Smokes any level Squier tele.
I have 5 HB guitars. Two of which are the CST-24 in different colours. One has a scarf joint headstock, a single piece of wood for the neck and a stacked heel block, the other a neck made of three lengthways pieces laminated side by side. So exactly how the individual versions of the same model are made may vary by the availability of timber offcuts from more expensive guitars, or by individual Vietnamese factory (Thomann source from 20 factories). My impression of the CST-24 bodies is that the top of the mahogany body is carved and the maple veneer is moulded over it. Unfortunately the 'book match' centre line is rarely in the middle of the body or even straight. The finger boards seem to be whatever they can find that week. One guitar has a roasted maple board that looks almost like ebony, the other a quite grainy light brown piece of Jatoba or 'stinky toe'. I have found that the cheap plastic moulded nuts they use are always about 1mm narrower than the neck width. They are great guitars though and can be made much better with just a little work.
The Roswell pickups are great.
There is so much heat online about chibsons but what if these chibsons were rebranded in another way and sold as such, would they be hated just as much? I don't think so. If without the gibson logo, these guitars are good enough
Since the Harley Benton has a much rounder carved top, why does the flatter carved top on the Chibson lead to a more unreliable bridge post?
the bridge posts aren't drilled correctly for the chibson.
now that's an interesting comparison !
Which HB??
The 400 is NOT = to the 550 or the 550 II which is closer to the Chibson price
Roswell pickups are fantastic
If you can, get your hands on a 10S GF chinese LP style guitar please! I would really enjoy a luthier talking through one of them. they are chinese made in a somewhat 400 dollar range with nitro finishes and somewhat over the top relicing but people seem to really like them.
I agree regarding coil splitting not totally sounding like a single coil. Ive learned that using a resistor, the value of which is mathematically determined, can make the 500k pot act like a 250k when the pickup is split. I have no idea if u have covered this in one of your vids because you have 500+ videos and I just subscribed to your channel. Lol. Give me a couple years... keep the content coming! 🤘🏼
thanks buddy.
Very interesting video, thanks. I have 3 HBs and they are all consistently decent playable guitars. You wouldn’t notice a difference until you get something a bit dearer like a G&l tribute and even then not a huge difference in playability. The HB 35 plus is still my favourite despite getting more expensive brands. Perhaps you can check it out sometime. The coil tap/split makes a decent neck tone on mine 👍👍
this video stopped me from ordering a chibson. and get a HB instead and upgrade all the metal parts and electronics. i considered buying the chibson and doing that but looking at the difference in the build quality. you can see the chibson is a Free for all builders and the HB has QA and a certain quality they try to keep! really great stuff
I have chibsons that are wayyy better then Harley Benton’s.. this review is BS and I am a luthier also!
please do a review of Harley Benton progressive line up sc 1000
A big plus is Thomann has awesome customer support. If you got a Harley Benton like the Chibson they would fully refund or exchange. They stand behind their cheapest gear. Below $200 expect to do some work on them. At $200 and above they might need small things but not major. You generally need to clean up the nut, polish frets, and replace tuners (except the models with Grover or locking tuners). The Fusion line might not need anything. Keep in mind Thomann is, like Guitar Center here. They have stores and carry many products. Harley Be ton is their House Brand.
Chibson out of tune? I pick HB for sure & very good demo btw. Thanks.
How about reviewing the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plustop Pro? I'm tired of all those "reviews" that are basically nothing but shop presentations.
I need a fund to buy all this gear. I am outta money!
I own a couple of Harley Benton guitars and have videos showing off how good they can be but one thing to keep in mind is that Harley Benton cuts costs by having minimal quality control, sometimes you get a gem that's exactly as advertised or more but other times you get something that's not even playable, that's where Thomann's great return policy comes in very useful. Overall, I think they are definitely worth a shot over other brands at the same price point
@Brendan Burke "...one thing to keep in mind is that Harley Benton cuts costs by having minimal quality control."
Any manufacturer, of any affordable product, will lower quality standards to a degree, but "minimal" is nowhere close to accurate.
You'd probably stand an equal chance of buying a lemon-flavoured Epiphone as you would with a HB.
By the way, Thomann cuts retail costs dramatically by eliminating distributors and retailers from the picture, along with buying in volume.
I bought a chibson LP about 10 years ago and what a POS but I was curious about them they are a real hit or miss on getting one that is better than firewood.
Robert Hoopes 10yrs ago, I’ll bet they are a lot better now.
It’s a beautiful guitar in every way it just plays like crap, it needs some extensive setup work done that would be worth more than it cost.
very nice rewiew Thanx
i bought 2 chibsons, 1 lp 1 Firebird, & i just loooove them
i thought i'd have to change the pu, didint need to
so it looks like there are different types of chibson, & i m sure there are some low level ones
recently i swope an acoustic for an Harley Benton SC500
it's ok, i guess, but i think my chibsons are better
i made some reviews for the chibsons if interested
There are as much Chibsons as there are guitars.
How about a Benton vs a Epiphone vid now please ?
Just watched it. In my opinion the HB was better in almost every way. And $250 HB SC550 up against the $580 Epiphone pro. Epi had a little fatter sound on distortion. But the HB beat it everywhere else I felt. Oh and the HB isn't as mirror finished. But still looks great.
Holy crap my eyes popped out of my head after hearing that Chibson. It is like a replica of something usable. Put it on the wall and leave it there for the status of wolds most phoney human, trophy. That being said i am still a human, and with my faults i have looked at the pic's on eBay and Ali Express and considered the Chibson's. I do have 4 Harley Benton's so i might be biased a bit.
Pics on aliexpress and most likely eBay are probably real Gibsons, not what your going to get
Go ahead. I have Gibson, but I will certainly buy Chibson.
Ordered a HB yesterday. The new ones have Grover tuners. And a bone nut. So I'm guessing folks talked to them about the same issues you had. I'm told they really like feed back so they can build the best product they can for the price. Guess I'll see in a few days!
You obviously got the SC Custom! How do you like it after a few months playing? I bought the SC550 last year.Still love it. Some guys are changing pickups out though. Thomann are now selling alot of their SC guitars with EMG's. ..around €70 extra though
I'm selling it. Fret board is to narrow for my big hands and fat fingers. Took some looking but found a company that makes all different styles but with wide nuts. Big Lou guitars. I got a LP style with 2" nut. Love it!
@@scottblair8625 That sounds brilliant! I am not familiar with many of the US brands but you seem to have more choice over there. Some of the US UA-camrs have been reviewing Xavier LP types. They seem to be amazing..and Wolf guitars as well. Not really worth all the hassle and extra cost of bringing to EU, but they seem to have better spec than any HB type
Almost went with Xavier. Last second found the HB $100 USD cheaper
Lol, the tuning was so off on the chibson during the compare. Either that or there's something wrong with the intonation or really soft strings being played like hard strings.
It's the intonation - the couple I've handled had the bridge in the wrong spot. But...see the Sweetwater/Erlewine video where he encountered, and repaired, the same problem on a 50-year-old Gibson.
Alot of your analysis seems to be personal preference,I really like my Harley's I have 2 I was playing them at all my gigs until virus,I have a 2012 lp gold top standard,and a 96 strat but I leave them at home I changed a few things on my Harley's but not tuners they both have no problem staying in tune,good tone has nothing to do with manufacturers or price I recommend harley Benton great tone great price, call them entry level if you want I've been playing for 40+ yrs and I think you can't go wrong with a harley they go to all my gigs and everyone want's to know how to get one. great video thanks
Thanks bud! You are awesome! Yep, it always
comes down to those pesky details, doesn't it!
Rock on...
All that for an A chord and D chord in 1st position?
Harley Benton + Grover Tuners + EMG pickups = Kick Ass!
Buying a good musical instrument is the priority. If you are starting a journey into playing music speak to professionals and those with valid music accreditation or experience for advice on any instrument you’re planning to play. This is a great video that highlights the fact buying cheap instruments online, sight unseen and not played is very risky and guaranteed to result in a series of issues. No one who is learning to play an instrument has the ability to analyze ALL the faults in an instrument if they are present. The world is full of great people willing to help person to person. So spend your time in real music stores, outlets, factory’s, repair shops etc. Enjoy the real journey of touching, hearing and feeling what you desire in an instrument. The satisfaction of finding what becomes “your’s” will always supersede any deal on Amazon.
Great job thank you for that video
I have an HB Fusion hhfr and TE-70 and both were amazing out of the box. The tele needed a set up and I put hipshot tuners on it. It didn't NEED the tuners but were ripe for swapping. I would never buy a chibson after working with HBs. Beginner or efficient players will all love the HBs.
I love HB instruments. Great mod and upgrade platforms!
I wonder how the HB compares to a Vintage V100….
Fretwork would be what I'd be interested in.
The guitars are playable. They need a pro setup which not a lot of first timers can do.
@@bigdguitars Buy a rocker.....if you can get the guitar at a local store then check it....you'll save yourself a mess of grief. I actually played a Epiphone LP at guitar center today.....it was 399.99... amazed at how they set it up and leveled the frets....the action was probably 3/64-4/64. They usually don't do them well. The pick ups where the classic's....nice sounding....terrible single coil sound with the push pull. Most of the epiphones are not great but can be reworked if you got lots of spare time.
@@bigdguitars Do the frets need leveling?
@@valueofnothing2487 yes they will need leveled crowned and dressed/polished.
The thing about cheap guitars is that even though they may feel and play good enough when new the neck might look like like a candy cane in a year or two. The wood /materials selection can't be good and the drying process is probably not good either. I have been sorely tempted to try some of these but in the end I put something more quality oriented in layaway that I know will last and retain value.
I've had fret sprout issues on "name" brands in the cheaper price category and I've seen reviews of more expensive models having the same issues. I think it seems to be general practice that the wood finishing process with all manufacturers has been accelerated in the last decade or so just to meet demand.
Nice video, thanks👍
0:43 THOMASMANN :D
CLOSE ENOUGH. hahahaha. I make up words!
@@bigdguitars i was expecting this comment. So funny!
Thomas Mann was actually a german author of the begining of the previous century. You should upgrade to a litterature channel ! LOL fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann
Toe-men is the how to pronounce it, or at least that's what I hear when I hear other american youtubers say it
@@makikogi You should watch HP42
@@makikogi Ones that don't speak German, apparently. ;-P
I have a gibson les Paul standard and a SG but I also have the Harley Benton SC Custom in vintage black that I've had for 3 years and it is a fantastic guitar at the price point and I would say its better than the Epiphone of the same standard. Harley Benton are the perfect upgrade guitar and the quality has improved over the last year. I will buy the TE-52 next as what your getting in wood alone is amazing
I have a TE-52 and it’s amazing!
I'm just going to say it because nobody else is going to. The only reason I like to pick up a Chibson is because I'll never see my es 335 again after a messy divorce. Money just doesn't come around like it used to. So to do a little bit of dreaming, who cares. It looks nice and for the price, if it doesn't play well enough to invest a few bucks to fix it up, for a couple hundred bucks it's an excellent wall hanger. People aren't buying these guitars to pretend they have a Gibson that plays like a Gibson. It's as close to having the dream guitar. It buys a little bit of time. That's all it is. We all know it's not a Gibson. But they came dang close for the price. So if the question is whether to get a Harley Benton or a Chibson, that's not even something many people I know even consider. First of all it's not a first guitar for many of us. We're looking for the name on the headstock that's all. Does it look the same, can it be fixed up? Does it have the logo. I'm just telling you with honesty, the logos pretty cool and we don't get robbed by Gibson's prices. What did I pay for my 335, I know it was over 5 grand. For three or 400 bucks I can take a night down memory lane. How can anyone blame a guy for that. And I guess the real sad part that I tend to agree with is the fact that if others sell these guitars and rip people off, that's where the real problem is. They should prosecute those people that do that and let everybody have their own taste on what they want to do with their own money. 99.9% of Chibson buyers want to see how nice the name is on the headstock. And if it plays, that's the icing on the cake right there.
I got lucky with who I ordered my 2 Chibs from. They were very very well built guitars, id seen some people online and people ive met that have had ones that were complete junk. The ones I ordered had great fret jobs, truss rod worked, wax potted pickups, one peice instead of the 3-7 peice you see one some of these Chibs. (Im talking about when ya look at the back of the body, some are made of a lot of different peices.). Even the tuners were good. Only thing i did to mine was put bone nuts on them and change the bridge. I was shocked. Total cost was about $525 after the mods I did, so each guitar was like $262.50 roughly. I ordered ones with the fat 50s necks. I understand all the feelings good or bad toward Chibs, but i just wanted to mention my experience. This was about 3 years ago I purchased these and they still hold up. I own a few actual high end Gibsons (These guitars I bought was just an experiment to see what i got) and its pretty crazy how good these guitars are, they are NOT a $3000 Gibson. But they are good playing and sounding guitars. I think it pays to do research on who you buy the guitar from, some of the sellers are obviously building better guitars than others. To me its scary that for $262.50 I got a guitar that looks and plays pretty damn well and looks almost the part of a Gibson, most people and players (Yes i had friends try them out before I told them they were fake) did NOT know they were not real. I spent less than $600 on two guitars and my avg price for my Gibsons was about $2800... back in the 90s ! Crazy world we live in, but one thing is we live in a new age of guitars and there is so much out there. Why buy a fake Gibson ? Buy a Harley Benton, AIO, Wolf, hell buy a Fire Fly. Those are well built guitars (at least from my experience) and dont cost much more, if any more actually. Also some of these other companies guitars took the Gibson design and fixed some things with it, weather thats the how comfortable the heel is towards the upper register, weight relieved, different choice of woods, pickups, contours etc. Theres just so many options out there, why buy a fake guitar when you can buy what I like to call a "real" guitar that has its own identity and doesnt falsely advertise itself as a Gibson. ;-)
But I like my Chibs, they are good conversation piece with other musicians I know and friends. As I said a lot of people were fooled and that can be a scary thing with these guitars making it onto the used market, but thats not what my post was a bout. I think weve already had that conversation bout that aspect and enough people have already commented on that.
One last thing I do have to say. I have tried out at least 20 different Gibsons in the last 5-7 years. Some were entry level Gibson price wise and others were up to $4500. None of the Gibsons I have tried in the $1200-2000 range have made me want to buy one. In almost no way did I feel the guitars quality, feel etc was that much better than these cheap chibs i bought to reason purchasing one. I did work on one of these Gibsons in the cheaper range (I had this happen with 3 Gibson guitars I almost purchases or did work on), the bridge was put on the guitar wrong and no matter what you couldnt get the guitar intonated and the bridge had to be adjusted to its max just to get it remotely close to intonated. These were obvious flaws on a guitar that had a card that said it had been checked at Gibson yada yada yada. I have 2 other Gibsons in the $2000+ price range that had this same issue but these had twisted necks. You could spend the rest of your life trying to get these brand new Gibson guitars to play, but they were bad from the factory and should NEVER have made it into my hands the way they were. Now i said I tried out in past 5-7 years 20! Yes 20 Gibsons and your telling me 3 of these were this bad ? I also noticed the terrible fret jobs (Plek'd... I swear I dont believe that on certain models I picked up). Bad nuts. Pickup rings not put on straight. I could go on and these guitars were thru a 5-7 year period. Ill put it this way Gibson did not blow me away with most of the guitars I tried, probably 8 were really nice guitars done right. But thats 8 out of 20. For the continued increase in prices on their guitars and this type of quality... why would people not take the chance and spend $200 to get one of these and hope its a decent guitar ?
There is a lot involved here. Also Gibson managed to take 12 months to finally replace one of these guitars. We sent it in to them and were suppose to get a replacement. We waited 6 months and got the same guitar shipped back, we msg'd them and once again sent the guitar in. 6 months later to the day we finally got a replacement guitar. 12 months ! This was about 2 years ago. Dealing with Gibson made me feel like i was taking crazy pills !
I love my Gibsons I bought years ago and will never let them go. But I would NEVER buy another Gibson product unless its an older used model. These newer Gibsons guitars and their business practices give people reason to purchase these Chibs. Just saying
End of rant ! lol