How to and how not to build a Harley Benton Thomann Electric Guitar Kit

How to and how not to build a Harley Benton Thomann Electric Guitar Kit
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This is the follow up video to this • Take a look inside a H... When I unboxed the Harley Benton Jazzmaster style Kit.
It didn't go perfectly and I made a lot of mistakes, I hope by watching this you wont make the same mistakes.
In the band clips at the end
Russell Sinclair - Guitar
Adam Glanville - Bass Guitar
Ric Byer - Drums
and err um me! Filmed at the Nowhere Inn Plymouth 10th August 2022
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#harleybenton #thomann #jazzmaster

[@stuartwelsh8356]

This is ace. It’s really great to see the process here from the point of view of a experienced DIYer, rather than a luthier, as they tend to skip the bits where manual effort is required. Like the massive amount of work you put into the finish of the body. The finished guitar looks and sounds excellent. I think it not being perfect (as you say) makes it unique. Brilliant work.

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Thanks Stu, this was kind of my idea, that basically anyone can put these together if you put in a bit of time and effort.

[@jerrysoetewey7002]

For colours like these, being Nitro and all, a base coat is good option. I usually do some grain filler first, sand it down, then as a primer (base coat) flatsand it and then go with the colour coat. Saves a lot of paint and gets a nicer result.

[@marcosandron6081]

Those kits comes with primer on and pores are filled.

[@pauln2141]

Love the running commentary. Nice friendly video to watch. Nice result too. Well done.

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Thank you very much. I try to make my videos friendly.

[@Tolbens]

Very good job and wonderful colour!!

[@Cyderpunk]

Looks great. Mine is on order, going to do a teal stain, body n headstock. Can't wait.

[@Ricardo-cl3vs]

I have built tons of model kits in my life and when you didn't clear coat the headstock before and after applying the decal I immediately thought: "Nooo, it's gonna be silvering!" - as it did... 😂 Well, you've learned it the hard way. Thanks for letting us know the mistakes you've made so we can avoid them! Helps a lot. 👍

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

The headstock was pre coated with something it wasn't raw wood

[@Ricardo-cl3vs]

@@MatthewNorthMusic Yeah, but the decal was much more shiny than the headstock so it was clear what would happen. When building military models they need to get a dead flat finish and the only way to achieve that without the decals remaining shiny ("silvering") is to prime the area with gloss varnish, apply the decal, add another layer of glossy varnish, let dry and then add a layer of flat varnish at the end so it all looks flat and the edge of the decal disappears.

[@jordimateubartroli951]

​@@MatthewNorthMusic Yes, HB kits come with a pre-applied primer. It should be allright to put the decal directly onto the headstock, if everything have been done well at factory.

[@jordimateubartroli951]

​@@Ricardo-cl3vsMmm, that could be true, I didn't think about it in my previous answer. The decal can adhere well on the headstock thanks to the primer it has, but its "shinyness" can be visible later, when finish applied. Good point.

[@esquared232]

holy wow!!!…it turned out great…i was covering my eyes there for a moment during the decal incident….but, you've convinced me to build my own axe, thanks mate!!

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

good luck

[@charlesharper7292]

Very nice.

[@TennisOnion]

Thanks so much, looking forward to doing this kit too!

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Good luck you going with the jazz master ?

[@OldBiker]

Good choice in colour and that sounds well OK for stock pickups

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Yes though I replaced with some cheap Wilkinson's as they feedback badly at high gain

[@SeRgU123]

Those Harley Benton diy kits are pretty decent, I've thinking to purchase an LP myself, seems very funny and satisfying. And the sound is also really decent.

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Yes though they pickups are 99.9 % of the sound and the standard HB ones are not so good. I have an HB Tele the bridge pickup was not very good so I replaced it with something better and now it's great

[@Defekcija]

you made a fine looking and sounding guitar. good job sir!

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Thank you

[@indiedavecomix3882]

I was a little disappointed at first to see you were just going to paint it red, but actually the color texture came out really nice looking. 👌

[@charlesharper7292]

I like the color.🤙

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Thank you

[@Dave062YT]

Fantastic job in the end great head stock !

[@omegavisualbranding]

This is the best build HB guitar kit I've seen. I have two of them, one is with copper glitter and put on a bigsby trem on it. Put also other pickups on it from Oripure. Looks very cool. the other i'm working on. Your guitar is very good looking.

[@marioschiavi5371]

Really nice.

[@ovash1]

Thank you, Mathew, for the video. I'm planning on doing a kit some time soon, and your video is going to be a great help. I really like the way your guitar turned out. Your honesty, as to the problems you encountered, will help others avoid some of those pit falls. I have no doubt that with my immense talent for screwing things up, I will manage to make many mistakes along the way. Your guitar looks and sounds great.

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Thank you very much a few months on it's still a great guitar to play

[@davidhession4753]

Well done, decent result 😎

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Thank you. I have played it live about a dozen times now I really do love it

[@JulieHowellPublicSpeakingMojo]

I'd come to terms with the absence of a comma between Tracey and Devon, but now I've seen there's no apostrophe in Matt's and I can't cope. Otherwise 10/10.

[@charlesharper7292]

As far as the dent goes, a lot of the time, unless the dent is substantial, you can get a terry face cloth and a clothes iron to fix it wet the cloth, squeeze some of the water out, place it over the dent and set the hot iron over the dent. What you are doing is steaming the dent out.

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

That's good info thank you

[@gherardomagnini8071]

Building an electric guitar on the sofa, FANTASTIC !!!

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Sofas have many uses!

[@briansteffmagnussen9078]

My tip to shape the headstock, i draw the shape and drill a row of holes, then i cut through the holes to finish it of with the old file. Iike to make it as it comes so i use what ever i have rhat has a round shape to draw the lines up. Spraycans plates bottlecaps, Hell i've even used a bicykle tyre,

[@dxmtb3959]

Hey, i have the same kit and am struggling with getting the proportions right on the headstock just wondering if you’d be happy to do some sort of a template for it?

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

I downloaded one from the net!

[@dxmtb3959]

@@MatthewNorthMusic do you happen to still have the link?

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

No just Google fender headstock template pdf

[@KyleKatarn145]

To make cutting the headstock easier it's probably best to do some registration cuts, like a couple of cuts straight down into the headstock blank until it meets your line, then you can use the saw to cut shorter distances instead of one long, winding one

[@KyleKatarn145]

It turned out pretty nicely though!

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Hence in the title 'What not to do' !!!

[@Dave062YT]

Or buy the guitar made by HB for a tenner more and tell people you built it like I'm gonna do lol

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Just get a few cans of spray paint!

[@delpanos]

hey great colour! did your guitar have a trus rod inside the neck?

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Yep

[@claudevieaul1465]

I've seen a bunch of these videos, and I'm pleasantly surprised that it's not yet another vid from 'Murica 🤣🤣🤣 Honestly, I'm absolutely fed up with Americans whining on about it not being American woods and American hardware, that it's all from "overseas" - in other words: utter crap, because (according to them) how could anything *not* made in the US be even remotely useful, right? 😉👍 Thanks mate - I've had my eye on this kit for a while already, looks good to me! 🙏

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

I'm from England and I see things as I find them !

[@nowherebrain]

how were the machine heads/tuners?? I worry that included tuners would have a very low ratio like 12:1 or something weird...I'm fine if they are a bit loose so long as they have a high ratio...18 or 19:1 etc...any info would be helpful.

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Sadly I don't have a clue sorry

[@nowherebrain]

@@MatthewNorthMusic that's fine, thanks for the response.

[@ernestoortiz8672]

Would I be able to fit a Floyd rose frx on this guitar?

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

probably not! well you could but it would be a lot of hassle!

[@MichaelSmith-rn1qw]

Ha ha. I was wondering what you were talking about until you opened up the envelope. In the US decal is pronounced "dee-cal"😂

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Haha Nice to see you were watching it though! Some over here say Dee-cal too. Though some even say Tubes! I don't do with that Valves all the way haha!

[@pmunkey1]

Great video Matt. I always thought it was dee-cal.

[@jasoncherriman7518]

Nice video Matt, did you do any prep work on the body prior to painting? What sort of paint did you use? Was it nitro?

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

It was I did mention all what I did in the video. Well I think I did !!

[@thorstenreinholt4654]

Hi Matt. Great job. Do you if I can get a decal somewhere in Europe?

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

I got mine off eBay have a look

[@robertopreatoni7911]

I built several HB kits, the woods are excellent but the necks must be refined a lot. The fretboards must be sanded progressively from 600 to 12.000 grit. The frets themselves are never leveled to perfection so you must level first and then recrown them. It needs also to have the frets' edges smoothed out and finally to polish all the frets. After that a good oil should be used to feed the fretboard's wood which is always delivered extra dry. The back of the neck should also be progressively sanded from 600 to 12.000 grit. Finally, HB's nuts are always cut too shallow so you must refile the six cuts otherwise chords played in the first position get always out of tune. And by doing this job you can get an extra low, buzz free action and buttery bendings. All of this job makes a huge difference in playability, action, tuning stability, appearence etc, you have no idea, trust me.

[@chriss2452]

What? No sanding? No cleaning or filling? Man, why waste money on good paint if you're going to do such a hefty job??

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

errr if you watch the video i almost broke my arms with the wet and dry sanding....

[@someonequinof]

yo great job with the guitar! Do you mind to send the link for the decals you got on ebay? it's okay if you don't have it anymore though :)!

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Here www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153138875176