Harley Benton Beatbass VS Vintage Series

AMAZING COPY of a legendary BeatBass at affordable price!
This is a part of legend - CAVERN times of RnR, and - probably - the most light bass on the world! For an endless gigs, long pub nights+old players..
And - moreover - a GREAT JOKE! 4example at a metall or fusion band!
1. It doesnt look COOL - it looks SEXY-JURRASIC ! & - Fantastic done!
2. It knows the only one good sound - the McPaul indeed - of a neck humb. - but this is fantastic at live or (!) 4 direct REC from instrument to PC, etc... Rounded, bassy, slicy, ballanced tone.
3. After some considerable homework about string action, tunning possition, etc.. got a good result but - be carefull about the neck - this is - at this subtle shape long neck - an essential, not only this instrument! No airscrew!
4. Probably you must reinstall the electronic wiring inside as meant other comments here. Some better-eared (and rich) players change electronic completely...
CONS: except above meant none more. Adjusting hours...
THE BEST AT THE END - I COMPARE THIS INSTRUMENT to HOFFNER´S low-end INGNITION+CAVERN: this is almost THE SAME at a half price !!!! There´s some minor differences at a used materials, colour finish and sound, but generally IT-IS-THE-SAME !
(HB´s are cca 2dkg heavier, cca 1cm fatter body and little fatter neck.)
Ev´rywhere I took this odd lizzard appeared a blonde of an evening - a lots of drinks, congratulations as at Fanny Hill´s memories.... DANGEROUS !!! RECOMMENDED !!!

I've bought a few HB's over the years and this was the biggest surprise. It's not perfect, I'll explain below, but what you get for the price doesn't make sense, it's that good.

It's beautiful, it looks amazing. Let's face it, you're probably buying this for the image, it's not top of the list for 95% of Bass players. The finish is great, the binding is spot on, it's what you hope it will be.

The tuners are ok (that's good in Harley Benton language). The pots aren't scratchy, the switches are good (a little confusing at first), I had no fret sprout and the strings it arrived with were ok but will get changed in a week or two.

I knew it would need a setup and it got one. What did I have to do?

The fretboard was dry, unbelievably dry. It took me a bit of time to lemon oil it three times. Once it was done, it looks good. The end of the fretboard is roughly cut and finished and will need tidying, but it looks ok. The frets were a little rough and needed a good polish but there was no sprout so that only took 30 minutes. The intonation was ok so I marked it up, allowed for a little adjustment, and removed the bridge for a body polish. The neck was flat, way too flat, so I added a little relief which also lowered the action as it came really, really high. I tightened up the tuners although I will replace them soon although I really don't need to, they're fine. Finally, I lubed the nut (not like that) as it's plastic so a little lead is a good idea.

Once done, I tuned it up and left it for a few hours to settle. Now I can't stop playing it. There's a lot of neck dive, all violin basses do this, you'll need a strap, remember this is a hollow body bass and it's unavoidable.

I've always thought Harley Bentons were underpriced, this one doesn't make sense. It's that good.

If you can do the basics I listed above, get one. It's not even worth sparing a thought, just buy one. I promise you won't be disappointed.