Upgrading My Harley Benton JA Baritone - Fishman Fluence, Locking Tuners, Cliplock, Arcade Button

[@bensvault9149]

Thanks for putting this together. I've wanted a JA Baritone for a while been playing over ten years & I'm embarrassed to admit I've never learned the maintainence myself or upgrading so this really gave me the drive to have a go

[@rickjames5684]

This video is inspiring. I keep looking at new guitars. I keep thinking I "need" a higher end baritone. Then I discovered the surprisingly exciting journey of guitar mods and proper setup. I learned I was doing so many things wrong and have got the JA baritone to sound SO much better. Mixing of course has a big part in how it sounds. Mines completely stock and sounds so damn good now. I can't imagine how great it'll sound in the future. This will definitely be in a reference video i'll have saved in the "Ja-baritone mods" save folder.

[@pedalstacking]

Glad you liked it Tbh the guitar sounded great right outta the box, the tuners were the weakest point but they still worked just fine. Modding your own guitars sure is fun and it's cool to have something kinda "custom" based on what you like

[@AYAiYaiYaiYai]

Nice. I went with a white Tosin Abasi set + Schaller Megaswitch M for my alpine white Rogue VI. Should be getting it in a week or two.

[@pedalstacking]

It's going to look sooooo good with those white pickups 🔥🔥🔥

[@BCThunderthud]

Wow, the underside of that pickguard is really something.

[@pedalstacking]

😂 Total rat's nest

[@stenooo2439]

Pretty sweet demo imo. I know one person on here might have a problem with it but it’s a catchy riff with a very interesting tone. Good stuff man.

[@pedalstacking]

Thanks, man. I appreciate it🙏 And that person can simply close this video and go watch another one. No one is forcing him to stay😂

[@menschlicheswesen84]

I did something similar with my JA baritone... I went with a chrome plated seymour duncan custom 3 p90 in the bridge, chrome knobs and jackplate, graphtech nut and string tree's and locking tuner s but i was not as nearly as acurate as you and don't have all the right tool's... Also i shielded the whole cavity and pickguard with copper tape... It sound's killer with those 2 gaint ceramic magnet's of that custom p90 and the fishman bridge pickup is also ceramic if im not wrong...🤔 You did a great upgrade here maybe some day im as good as you with this...👍🏻

[@sebastianmenoni3753]

Nice job man, how did you find a new pickguard with humbucker size holes? Did you have to route the body too?

[@pedalstacking]

I ordered a pickguard blank from Amazon and there's no need to route the body for humbuckers, those cavities are pretty much humbucker size but wider, a little filing was required just to remove some paint to make it fit properly although a couple of routes were made, one for the arcade button and one for the battery cover on the back but if you're just looking to fit some passive humbuckers you'll be just fine

[@codcade]

@@pedalstacking as in you cut it to shape or there was a premade pickguard?

[@pedalstacking]

​​​@@codcade Cut to shape (That part was done by my local tech) It's literally a big 3 ply rectangle. I don't think there are premade pickguards for these guitars available to the public but I could be wrong

[@codcade]

@@pedalstacking color me impressed, I cut one by hand for my rg8 and it came out let’s say….. Alright lol, the bevel was impossible to make tidy

[@sndg3511]

This is cool but misleading. You make this swap look really simplistic which it is but you left out literally the only hard part because you didn't do it yourself and thus half the comments are asking about that one step. Great video but you should have tossed in a little clip of the new guard and wiring it up.

[@theunexpectedua]

Wow, how did you fit those Fishman Fluence pickups in the place of those small P90 Soapbars? Oh, nevermind, I read the comments. Awesome job!

[@icollided]

I was thinking of doing these exact mods to this exact guitar!

[@RadioZillaFM91]

That's awesome! I Was planning to buy right this one and upgrade as well. Do you think It's possible to install a Tronical Tune on It?

[@leonmallah1248]

Great job man!

[@pedalstacking]

Thanks! 🙌

[@kevinmoore5206]

Will the tuners take an .085?

[@pedalstacking]

Not rely sure but you can always strip the wire if it's too thick and just use the core to start wrapping it around

[@mjc970]

Yo quick question: I also want to swap the stock pickups with the Fishman. What did you do with the pickguard? Bought a new one? Ideally I would like to place the Fluence Modern in the neck, push/pull on the volume pot for mode switch and a little toggle for single coil sounds.

[@pedalstacking]

I bought a pickguard blank on Amazon, took it to my local guitar tech and had him copy the original pickguard shape and make a route for humbuckers and a killswitch instead of the stock p90s And yes, make sure you add all the pickup switching options you like. I have a push-pull pot on the volume pot that goes from humbucker to single coil and a push-pull on the tone pot that goes from classic P.A.F. to high gain active sound volume and tone knobs.

[@mjc970]

@@pedalstacking sweet, I’ll do that. I want this guitar to be a single humbucker / single volume knop riff machine haha. So I’ll ditch the tone-pot (never use it anyway) and replace us with a small toggle. Nu pickup in the neck position.. I think it well look sweet. Thanks for the input, cheers!

[@pedalstacking]

@@mjc970 It's gonna look soooo sick, straight up riff machine 🔥

[@mostlyspace3175]

How did you get a pickguard that matched the Harley Benton and fit the Fishmans? They have a proprietary pickguard don’t they? Is it just the same as a Jazzmaster?

[@pedalstacking]

It's different than a Jazzmaster pickguard. I bought a pickguard blank from Amazon and had my local guitar tech duplicate it to fit humbuckers instead of p90s

[@mostlyspace3175]

@@pedalstacking Wow so Amazon is selling pickguards that fit Harley Bentons?

[@pedalstacking]

No they're not. It's a pickguard blank. It's a big 3 ply rectangle that you need to cut to shape. You can use the original pickguard as template. They have tons of options too, white, tortoise shell, white pearl, mint green, silver, gold, etc.

[@mostlyspace3175]

@@pedalstacking Oh awesome! What did you use to cut it? It came out looking super clean

[@zinhosalaverry8294]

Really nice video man! I was thinking of upgrading that guitar too. Which tuners did you buy? Also, what gauge are you using.. because I want to know if those tuners will handle the gauge.

[@pedalstacking]

Thanks, man! Musiclily tuners on Amazon. Budget brand and their catalog is insane, pretty much anything you can think of. I'm still using the strings that came with the guitar, I think it's 14-60 but I could be wrong. Already have a pack of Ernie Ball baritone strings 13-72 waiting for their turn. Not really sure if the lowest string is going to fit yet, I guess I'll find out when it's time to change strings. Left as it is for now cause strings are perfectly fine but I do want to go lower in the future

[@koolin3613]

​@@pedalstacking did the thicker string fit?

[@pedalstacking]

​@@koolin3613It didn't. I had to unwind de outer windings, this left the core exposed and core fits perfectly, works great and stays in tune.

[@koolin3613]

@@pedalstacking Great thanks for the reply! This is such a great guitar for low tuned metal it seems, without having to invest in an 8 string or even a 9 string! Does the guitar still hold up after this time

[@pedalstacking]

​@@koolin3613Hell yeah it does, it's just different than an 8 or a 9 string. To be able to go that low without an extremely massive fretboard it's just great. I'm never letting this one go, I'm putting some BassVI strings next to see how I like it

[@Film.look.addiction]

Looks cool 😎 man ! But I personally found that's neodymium magnet pick up make bigger impact guitar tone. I have rail pick up with neodymium magnets and not expensive att all . I have bass six guitar it's very odd thing and need some bright and clear sounding set up. It's very muddy sounding at stock condition even more muddy than baritone guitars.

[@rickjames5684]

Do you happen to have any videos I can refer to in regards to the truss rod adjustment? I've looked at the specs list on Thomann 2 dozen times at least and could never figure out what kind of truss rod this damn thing has, and figuring out how to adjust it properly is my biggest challenge so far.

[@pedalstacking]

I started doing things in this particular order a few years ago and it works great kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJuQlYpjh6qNa7ssi=risSimzEmlBj9eSC And I just used the Allen key that came in the box tighten the neck a little after switching to a thicker gauge of strings a few months ago. It is a different size that the ones I have on other guitars so I labeled it to make sure I'm using the right one and don't strip the truss rodd

[@rickjames5684]

@@pedalstacking Thank you!

[@timhayes751]

I have the ja20hh on swapping those pickups out do the unplug then plug into the fisman or do u solder

[@pedalstacking]

Fishman pickups have this quick connect system on the back so no soldering there but you do need to solder the wires going to the pots and output jack

[@Beluugs]

Did you by any chance know how big the holes where before you made them bigger? (for the tuners)

[@pedalstacking]

8mm Went to 10mm

[@Beluugs]

@@pedalstacking Perfect thnx! :D

[@koro707]

Awesome work! how is this guitar holding up? I'm between this one, the g4m 638 or the Squier tele custom baritone (for a maybe better quality instrument?). Any thoughts?

[@pedalstacking]

Thanks! It's still being played a lot and a real bang for your buck and a great quality instrument. Funny enough I just got a Squier Baritone Cabronita Telecaster a couple of weeks ago in a trade and tbh it sounds better in Drop F than the Harley Benton JA. Not that the JA sounds bad or anything, Tele just sounds better and the p90s that come with both of these are great so I guess it depends on how low you want to go Now that I have the Tele in drop F I'm gonna put some bassVI strings on the Harley Benton and see how it goes. Not really familiar with the G4M but the other 2 are definitely great options

[@koro707]

@@pedalstacking Nice guitar! thanks for your detailed answer. I was thinking the classic vibe baritone tbh. I like it more than the cabronita aesthetically, but it has single coils. Less options for pickups upgrades but from what I checked, it sounded good online. I'm just hesitating because of the single coils...

[@pedalstacking]

Oh yes, way better looking than the Cabronita, tbh I just got it because it was a trade and it was to good to let it pass. Single coils have a very special sound when distorted on a baritone instrument. I really like that twang but they're noisy and if your plan is to play some type of metal you probably already have a noise gate so that'll take care of the unwanted noise. If you really don't want those single coils at all you could either route the bridge pickup cavity if you have the tools or you can get a humbucker in a single coil format like Seymour Duncan's Hot rails or several other after market brands. There are a ton of options for you to pick from

[@koro707]

@@pedalstacking thanks for the recommendations! I'm back in the game after 10 years of absence, recently purchased a used prs but I need a baritone as well. There's a tone of options out there it's incredible. I think i'll go for that tele in January. Thanks for your time and advice !

[@pedalstacking]

@@koro707 A ton of options indeed. I still can't believe how Harley Benton makes guitars this good for less than 200€ Glad to hear you're back 🤘🎸

[@jaypeeroe]

Why just one graph tech string tree? Also I'd love to see the Dunlop battery box install.

[@pedalstacking]

Busted! I used the other one on my strat😂 Tuning stability is great so no need to replace the other one I guess. Unfortunately there's no footage for the battery box since it was installed by my local guitar tech cause I don't own a router.

[@lorenzocavaliere4699]

Which model of musiclily tuners?

[@pedalstacking]

All black, 6 in line, 2 pins They were kinda hard to turn on the thicker strings so ended up swapping them for a set of Hipshot open gear locking tuners and these are just perfect

[@6ariton30]

Hi bro, it's solid body?

[@pedalstacking]

Yes. Solid body, bolt-on neck

[@6ariton30]

@@pedalstacking , thanks

[@yuki1304]

Hey u think i Can just Change the Tuners with some gotoh locking tuner?

[@pedalstacking]

Sure, go for it

[@steve5662]

Do you think an emg 81 would fit in the bridge position without routing? or with a little routing

[@pedalstacking]

It totally would, the Fishman pickup almost fit perfectly but it required a little sanding. Just sanding paper, no need to get the router.

[@steve5662]

@@pedalstacking ok thanks, I have an 81 on the way that was meant for another guitar but will see if it goes in the JA. was going to oeder the P81 but if this fits then no need

[@armandosinger]

Bought this guitar and will do many of these mods (but with Fluence p90s). I probably missed it, but what do you have the arcade button set up to do?

[@pedalstacking]

Those Greg Koch's p90s look and sound pretty neat, I almost got them instead of this set but I ended up choosing humbuckers. Arcade button is a killswitch btw

[@armandosinger]

@@pedalstacking nice. Yes can’t wait to try the p90s. I already have 2 guitars with Fluence humbuckers and love them.

[@dhollongstreet4725]

The only two reason I change out tuners is one they do not stay in tune, and two they are just butt ugly. An ugly looking part is often the main reason I change out something. I do often change out pick ups. Lace and Mojotone are my go to for upgrades.

[@pedalstacking]

These were kind of ugly, made out of plastic and really stiff which was the reason why I changed them. I like Hipshot locking tuners and ended up changing the locking tuners from this video to Hipshot after a couple of months

[@real_appEW]

fishman pickups for low tunings lol

[@CenturyMooseCentral]

Ex. Andrew Baena