ayo glenn, looks like there are spammers in this comment section stealing your profile pic and acting like they are you - if that really IS you, apologies, but it smells too fishy :D
Hey Glenn, serious question: has any of the Telegram scammers actually been stupid enough to do that whole “congrats you win” crap on any of your pinned comments? I was genuinely curious if that ever happened. Wouldn’t surprise me if they did but yeah, would be interesting to know.
I've also heard there is quality control issues with people who have ordered solar guitars. Which is unfortunate. Because I love Ola's channel and what he does. Solar guitars look like a great product. However there are customers who have experienced quality control issues with new purchased solar products. Definitely an unfortunate experience for some customers.
@@andrewgarcia3136 Love my Fender along with my Gibsons....my Fender was 300 bucks less than both of my Gibsons conbined...Have you ever played these brands or just looking at the price?
@@andrewgarcia3136 fender is no where near as bad as gibson with pricing and innovation. Fender does innovate it's line up and they are priced world's apart from gibson. a top end fender (non custom) is gonna run you right around $2000 , while some non custom gibsons go for as high as the $4000 price range. The average US made fender goes for $1,500-1,700 , versus gibsons $ 2500 range. low end (costing) fenders are not bad for their price either (mim fender run between 650 on sale to 850 full msrp). It's not fair to lump them in with gibson because these two campanies clearly ahve different mindsets. Fender also owns and produces Jackson and Charvel and jackson's are extremely afordable.
"As a musician/ audio engineer, your most important asset is your hearing." Coming form a man who has been screaming at me several times a week for the last 6 years 😉
Well he at least puts the distressor on - and there's always those Earplugs ;) If Glenn did a Streisand and refused any compression, it would be a REAL Health Hazard
Gibson makes guitars for “Blues Lawyers”: the guys who get just enough time off from their law, accounting, or dentistry job to learn the riff from crossroads and two pentatonic positions. Those cats used to come into the pawn shop I used to work in, look at the guitar wall and mutter “you don’t have any Gibsons?” before walking back out to their BMWs and fucking directly off.
My best friend died and left me his 69 SG. Never played them before. Amazing instrument. So now I've switched over I bought two modern SG's. Not much money and amazing instruments. And I'm a handyman.
As a guitar player, I needed a 5-string bass and I ordered the cheapest one from Thomann. And it was even cheaper than catalogue because it was B-stock. What can I say, a great instrument for my modest needs, without any problems.
A friend at a local music store said "hey do you want this bass? It's got no bridge, nut or strings - I was gonna chuck it in the trash" and it was a Harley Benton kinda jazz bass style. I don't play bass (I have a bass player and he gets upset when I do lol) just guitar, but I also spent the plague years training myself up on guitar fixing - I won't call myself a luthier but I can fix most issues and refret a guitar, etc. Anyway, I said "Yeah I'll take it" - ordered a cheap replacement bridge and nut, cleaned up the neck, levelled a few high frets and polished them and restrung it and gave it to a kid down the street for free as he couldn't afford one and wanted to learn. Before I did, my bass player played it and loved it. I was impressed with the quality of the wood and finish - it was about a year old - and frankly they sell these for around $100. Pickups sound pretty amazing to my ears anyway (and my bass player) so yeah, Harley Benton in my experience anyway, make decent value and quality instruments.
I'll weigh in on the Harley Benton quality. I purchased a Harley Benton Amarok 6 in Emerald Green back in 2020. Aside from the shipping issues everyone was having during the height of COVID, it arrived in perfect condition along with the rest of my order. The guitar itself is fantastic overall. The only problem, the only quality issue, I had was with the output jack. It was somehow deformed internally so that the cable would not connect fully and securely. I had to open it up and manually correct it, which I did. However, in doing so, I clumsily broke off the grounding wire. Let me repeat, _I_ broke the ground wire. It was my fault. I purchased a $20 soldering kit and resoldered the wire back in place. It was my first time soldering too, so I'm super proud of that. Since then, this instrument has been phenomenal. Everything aside from the jack issue has been amazing. I would recommend this instrument to anyone looking to spend under $600 for a guitar with tons of high-end features. I also purchased an HB JB-75 bass from Thomann this year. It showed up with zero issues. It plays perfectly. It sounds great. It's a fucking gorgeous looking instrument. Now, UPS tried to screw me on the shipping saying, after I had already received the product, that I had to pay "brokerage fees" which I had not agreed to. I contact Thomann about it. After I sent them photos of the bill, they refunded the exact amount to my card that UPS was demanding. Thomann treated me fucking right, by going above and beyond (seriously, I never expected them to give me a refund. I just wanted them to yell at UPS), which is why I will always consider them first when looking for an instrument. Harley Benton/Thomann haters are full of shit.
UPS destroyed the very last V30 412 straight cab they had for sale while shipping it to me. Thomann got me a full refund in 5 business days, and it took that long because UPS dragged their feet on taking responsibility. I'm calling BS on the guy that said all that about them, every complaint I have read online are people that either didn't take proper resolution steps or expected a PRS quality guitar for squire money, hahaha.
Agreed. Harley Benton is great for the price point. The only person I can imagine having problems with such quality at that price point would be an entitled child (or adult, looking at you Gibson players)
I just bought a HB 7-string fan fret on sale for just about $160. Hardshell case and shipping (ordered on Monday, arrived the following Friday) put the final price at $318. For the price, it's unbelievable. It needed a setup (action and intonation) and a light fret polish but after that, it's an absolutely stellar guitar. Absolutely no issues with the finish and build quality. Would absolutely recommend
Will your Harley Benton be worth anything in 50 years? Because vintage Gibsons are worth anywhere from 10s of thousands to millions and that phenomenon is not likely to change.
12:05 You know, I already love the channel (even if I don’t agree with all of your takes) but the fact that you publicly accept that you don’t have the true Customer experience (but rather the “TH-camr/Content creator” experience) when buying a HB speaks volumes about your integrity. It’s awesome, man, keep it up, you’re honest, and you truly care about your audience and our money. If only all companies and corporations had as much care for the consumer…
It seems like those HB guitars are definitely hit or miss, some are great others aren't. I was thinking about getting a DC JR but didn't pull the trigger because I didn't want to get a bad one
I went from not touching a guitar in almost a decade, to making an album at home of my high school metal that we had always dreamed of, and now onto writing and recording my own music once again. And learning how to do that has been mainly thanks to Glenn. So, thank you, Glenn!
3:30 this is funny, there is actually a "professional" video about how to mic a guitar amp for a gig. Their sollution was to fiddle the cable through the amp handle and simply let it dangle before the speaker. This was the moment I decided to go and search a different video.
Here’s some advice for open handed pickers who want to learn close handed picking. Take a second pick and hold it with your ring and pinky fingers in your closed hand. Since you’re giving those fingers something to do, you’ll have a much easier time growing accustomed to keeping your hand closed and building the muscle memory you need. Props to Samurai Guitar (I think?? May have been Music is Win) for that one, made learning close handed picking a breeze for me, where I had been struggling with it previously for literally years. It took like 2 days to make the switch using the 2nd pick. It really works, try it if you’re struggling to make the switch to close handed picking like I was.
Just to keep the comments positive - love your videos - and I’m not really big into metal… just a working musician with a home studio. Your videos are informative, honest, and funny. Probably the one TH-camr I watch consistently. Keep it up!
Hey Glenn! I noticed most of your posts have had sponsors for a while now. Just wanted to say congrats on the success from the tons of hard work you put in this channel. :)
I regularly see several social media posts about musicians of all types asking “how do I make it to full time music” and I’ve lost track of how many people comment on their answers. But and the answer is simpler than you think - have multiple streams of revenue! Me personally, I’m a performing arts manager for an opera guild, private drum teacher, recording studio engineer, I rent out my studio for rehearsals and to other private music teachers, I also rent out my drum sets, do drum repairs and I’m a music product manufacturing business owner. There are far too many musicians of every genre that limit themselves to just one track as opposed to broadening the revenue possibilities
I just got a package from thomann the other day and the box had NO packing material what so ever. Gladly it seems like the stuff wasn't damaged but it's not a wonderful thing to hear your box of stuff rattle like a child's toy when you're fetching it from the post office. I did send a note to Thomann and haven't really heard much apart from "we're sorry and we'll figure stuff out maybe". Should've supported local
I was in the process of buying from Thoman for the first time and between problems with emails and wrong batch numbers it got me stressed out. I decided to go local instead,got to try out the guitars I was interested in(and many others for comparison) , got great advice and customer service from people in the real world. . I brought the 2 guitars back a week later for tiny adjustments free of charge. The whole experience was a pleasure and fun...and I saved 55 euro compared to thomann. Shopping for guitars is just so much better and less risky in the real world, especially if you are spending big money.
Feels weird hearing people having problems with Thomann. Been shopping form them for over 15 years. One time i had a package seem lost but after contacting Thomanns customer service about the tracking not updating they contacted DHL and the package got moving again. Ohter time i ordered a guitar pedal that was dead on arrival and after contacting customer support they sent me a prepaid return label so i could return it for a replacement within a week. All in all. i've onnly had positive experiences with Thomann and their customer service.
I 100% agree with you on the "too big to fail argument" (see also Enron and Lehmann). However, and I can't believe it actually happened, one of the automated commercial breaks on this video featured a joint promotion of Philadelphia cheese spread and Kodak (which I didn't know still existed either). Lol.
I can tell you from experience, I worked in a UPS Sorting warehouse. The packages come down conveyor belts and get sorted into trucks before the drivers show up, but the volume of packages is insane, and anything not where it's supposed to be is literally thrown off the belts onto a sorting table below. I've heard glass shatter, I've seen flat screen TVs broken. Also saw a truck with a halfway open back door drop a package IN THE LOT and keep driving off, out onto the highway. Be VERY wary of UPS
Love your channel! Regarding Thomann, I think it is easier to order in Europe, as they are in Germany and shipping within the EU is a lot easier and cheaper. To the US and other international places you have to add customs and I guess this is the part that cannot be refunded. And of course it is more tricky with all the shipping. I order a lot from Thomann, but I am in f*ing Austria, so no problem here. And Harley Benton and their other brands are pretty good at this price point. But I wonder if they won't open a warehouse in overseas if demand is rising. This could be the death blow to Guitar Center...
They definitely should open a chain in the US. I live in Germany and having someone you can return a faulty guitar to will definitely also help their reputation.
I really wanted one of those HB vertical 2x12's and I managed to get my hands on one locally. The guy ordered a bunch of their cabs and didn't have any issues getting them into the states. I am still hesitant, as I can barely get something across state lines in one piece.
The truss rod likely had tension on it when shipped. Changes in humidity cause the neck to move. That’s why unless you are in the same area that your guitar was set up, a set up will be required when you set it up.
Hey Glenn! Can I get your thoughts on fret buzz? Some people claim they have zero buzz, while others say buzz is normal and both camps call each other liars. What’s the actual deal? When you’re recording, what matters and what doesn’t?
I'm not Glenn but to me it depends on what sound I'm trying to get. A little bit of buzz sometimes gives it character and other times it gets in the way. It's your preference. You're never going to make everyone happy. Best of luck!
I'm not Glenn,(obviously) I play a lot late at night without an amp. I've noticed that there are some guitars that have that initial buzz all guitars have, but that you don't notice bc it's dead'ish Not in a bad way, it just doesn't project. Others are very loud and any buzz at all is noticeable. Of course amplified it's a moot point. Anyone that says it has low action and zero fret buzz are incorrect. All guitars buzz What they mean is they just don't notice, or they're lying Take care🙂
My two cents... If the buzz only occurs on low strings in low frets, only during the attack of the note, and disappears when the string is struck very lightly, then it's nothing to worry about and will likely not even get amplified. The important thing is to make sure the buzz is not lasting longer than the attack and choking your notes. All guitars buzz a little if you play them with some energy. Strings vibrate and travel the farthest distance as the pick strikes the string making the string buzz against other frets. The travel dissipates quickly and should stop colliding with other frets when it settles into a sustaining vibration. You can raise the action on the guitar to give strings more room to vibrate, but at the cost of playability. That sweet spot when the action is low and the buzz is almost nowhere to be found is glorious. Good luck getting there.
Been playing for40 years,if playing unpluged on any of my electrics there's fret buzz, not tons, but there's buzz, mainly on the thicker strings , you can't hear it at all during recording. I've found that I have to have the action uncomfortably high to have no buzz at all....
FOR THE GUY LOOKING AT COMFY GUITARS FOR DUDES WITH BELLIES.... here's an alternative answer: Look at guitars with V type shapes, X type shapes, star shape,explorer types.... basically anything with a back edge you can tuck the strap over the rear horn. This will comfortably angle your guitar upwards slightly and takes strain off your picking wrist (people dealing with certain RST's should take note of this as well, might make a difference). This has worked for me for like 20+ years, and I'm both a big and tall dude (6'1" 485lbs). Some people simply aren't bothered by being big, and theirs always other workarounds. It's upto each person themselves to decide whats comfortable for them, and the default "just lose weight" answer is not the only option. Myself? I'm probably not here for a long time, but I'm just here for a good time.
Here is a parable for those who think companies are too big to fail: in 1986-87 Kramer made the world's best-selling guitars. They had it all: they had a monopoly on selling Floyd Roses stock, and they had an incredible roster of rock and metal guitarists that included Eddie van Halen, Ritchie Sambora and Mick Mars (as well as a ton of equally-deserving but not equally-selling guitarits). Come December 1989, and they filed for bankruptcy. They lasted for a little more than a year thereafter, but by January 1991 they were all gone. They are now owned by Gibson, a company that had nearly been bankrupted by the superstrat brands just a few years earlier.
Regarding the Harley Benton horror story. I ordered my first Harley Benton acoustic a few months ago and it came in PERFECT condition straight to Texas. It’s STILL in perfect condition. In fact, it has replaced my 1965 Gibson LG1 for a few reasons but my Harley Benton is so easy to play, sounds so good, and so cheap so I don’t need to worry about damages because I can just order another if needed. I also ordered the Harley Benton 212 cab and again, perfect. Here’s the video to my Harley Benton guitar th-cam.com/video/DHAJkxOTooI/w-d-xo.html
I got a HB SC Goldtop LP with P90s some years ago. I still play it, but I had to do a setup for intonation and so. But the guitar itself was and still is very good. Some minor things like micro faults in the paintjob aside, you can't expect perfect instruments for that price, they are very good but not perfect. The hardware is not great and I always wanted to change the bridge, but haven't had the time and motivation to do so. There might be some guitars with poor quality, but you have those in every company tbh
I have 3 HBs, and all of those where in good to great condition on arrival. Some minor paint stuff, some truss rod adjustment, and some string and pickup height adjustment was needed on two of them. The third was great out of the box. On the other hand, a buddy of mine got a double humbucker telecaster from them, and that developed some BAD fret sprout. I fixed that for him pretty quickly though. Also the Tesla neck pickup was dead on my sc-550 II, but Thomann sent me a new one, with the pickup ring installed, for free.
@@Ari_Calamari I can’t speak for the fret sprout but I feel like truss rod adjustment (unless WAY out of wack), pickup height and a setup could be subjective. But as long as it isn’t broken in some kind of way I think for sub $500 is an absolute steal ESPECIALLY when it plays just as good, if not better, than a $1k guitar. I’m a fan.
That Harley Benton commenter is ridiculous. His problem with the 'sandpaper' frets could've been fixed with a $3 pack of steel wool. All he needed to do was polish the frets. I had to do it on the two HB guitars that I own. I have to polish the frets on my much more expensive guitars too. His problem wasn't Harley Benton. His problem was not knowing simple guitar maintenance.
We use the Blackmagic 4K as one of our main production cameras in college, and as far as I’m concerned they’re great cameras. However, like Glenn said, the camera screen doesn’t move, which is a problem if you’re by yourself and don’t have a crew or a big TV to use a monitor, and if you’re not careful, the camera will film in 120 frames per second without you realizing or being able to fix it (don’t ask how that happened it was super technical, and it was our first time using them). That being said, after that, the cameras worked out just fine, and the quality was awesome. I almost considered buying it but I think it’s overkill for me. To me they’re great cameras, but that’s only my opinion.
If people want to spend more money for less quality, let them. Maybe they can pay extra for a professional to damage their guitars to give it fake use/age... 🤣
@@SilentNightBodomNight I really can't stand it too. It looks so desperate. Look I can pretend to have had a hard live gigging in smokey blues bars too. Look at me!
About a year ago I ordered some stuff from Thomann. I'm in the Illinois Quad-Cities. Got six 6' XLRs (in three different colors; $5 each), two TB75's (SM57 copies; iirc about $40 each), and a drum mic set ($200ish). Everything is great and the price makes me happy. I was gifted a Thomann.de lanyard that I use for my work badge as a cook at a large local arena/venue. If it ever becomes a conversation starter I will recommend this company.
Do people realize that high end epiphones use THE EXACT SAME PICKUPS as gibsons? Wait, how can someone with a sound engineering degree not even use cab sims and just go direct out? Sorry but whatever you expect, it's NOT THAT. 😅😅
High end Epis are using Fishmans now. Gibson hasn't innovated jackshit in like 40 years. It's embarrassing that THEIR "Budget" brand is doing better than they are! Even their artists are only using Epiphone😂
@@karterestill True, Jared J Nichols, Kiss (Yes, fkn KISS), Trivium.... All use Epis. 😂Gibson is just so disconnected from the market even with popcorn it's not funny.
You tighten or loosen a truss rod to get the desired neck relief for the given string gauge (I like a completely flat fretboard, low action, medium gauge strings). Just like you tighten or loosen the tuners to get the string to the desired open note.
My friend and I are building a guitar. No prior guitar making experience. My friend is now planning to sell his Gibson SG, because we, two drunk idiots in a garage, can make a better guitar.
may i ask where you get materials from and where you got the knowledge to build a guitar? youtube? i would love to build my own guitar too. how to get started?
My friend buys nice bits of wood whenever he finds them and yes, we just did a lot of googling and watching TH-cam videos. Also lots of trial and error
@@musictraining5071 we made the fretboard, as it's a 25.5"-28" multiscale 7-string. We also made the pickups. Just in case this is starting to sound too good to be true, don't worry, it's taken us four years so far 😂
*Thanks for some great advice Glenn* 👍 I was looking to treat myself (for my 60th birthday ) to a new 'metal' guitar to complement my EMG-loaded ESP EII MII and had put in many hours of online and in-store research. I know how you often bring out your trusty Schecter as a great example of a rock-solid guitar which doesn't sell for silly money. Anyway, following your recommendation I ended up buying a shiny new *Schecter C-1 FR S SLS Elite* loaded with a Fishman Fluence in the bridge and a Sustaniac in the neck. My god the finish on this thing is gorgeous (and flawless!), plays like a dream, delivers great tones, offers great bang for the buck and is fast becoming my favourite guitar 🎸 Awesome advice Glenn, many thanks from The UK 🤘😎🤘
honestly cant say enough about my HB, had my like baseline, £100 telecaster copy for a couple years now, new pickups, new hardware(done out of an aesthetic choice may i add)new paint job, its been a full on workhorse guitar and ive loved it
I have a Sennheiser e906 and it's totally designed to hang by the cable in front of a speaker cab because it's very light and side address. I also like it better than a 57 because the presence peak isn't quite as pronounced and it has slightly extended response on both low and high frequencies. For me, it's everything great about a 57, but slightly improved in every way. It's pretty well all I use on guitar cabs, though note I don't do metal. Oh, and an additional feature is the 3-way bright switch that can reduce or boost the treble frequencies a bit.
Timing is everything, and Friday comment reviews are perfect! After a hard week at work, it’s awesome to see such great feedback to those who follow you. Butt hurt of the week always brings a smile to my face ! Keep up the great content !
UPS = United Package Smashers Regarding Thomann they do pack really poorly and that in combination with the Package smashers isnt that good. I have had mixed experiences with Thomann when i have had problems, sometimes good and sometimes you had to convince them to do the right thing, i will say though that the shipping companies here in Sweden tend to take no responsibility at all and Thomann has stepped in instead. In my experience if you havent packed it so that the shipping can throw the package a couple of meters then you havent packed it well enough since they cant be bothered handling it in a decent way, i try to have that in mind when packing but no company really does.
Recently bought two very low cost HBs (HBO-850 round-back acoustic and SC-500 BK Vintage Les Paul style), and wasn't expecting (despite many positive reviews, I'm still an old skeptic!) such quality. Both guitars had flawless finishes, needed very little setup to accommodate my beginner style, and sound really great despite the fairly generic pickups. Even with the high shipping cost, it only ran me less than $200 per guitar. I'd buy from them again, no question.
You can tighten the trussrod in both ways, t3hgir. Generally its called loose or backbowing and tight or bowing, lefty loosey, righty tighty. When there is no tension in the trussrod it rattles like crazy.
As a sound guy/drummer/producer, I feel that if you are to get a good sound as an independent band, you need to BE part of the band, be a friend that knows or works with the band. It helps to have friends that want to learn to work in the industry. The Covid era warranted more opportunities for some to learn more about behind-the-scenes for some. Thanks for being an inspiration.
Glenn, your spiel on HR in corporations was absolutely SPOT ON. I work for a major corporation (looking for a way out) and recently went through a situation where I thought using the “open door policy” would benefit me, thinking I had gained respect over the last decade I’d put in for this place. HA. Yeah, my issue was swept under the rug, and the only person who ended up reprimanded was ME. Corporations are a scam, and it’s so easy to get caught up in the bullshit. GET EVIDENCE. WRITE DOWN DATES, TIMES, AND NAMES. TAKE RECORDS. And most importantly, SEEK OUT THIRD PARTY HELP. So important. Keep it up, man. Your videos get me through my days on this fucking assembly line.
Hi Glenn, Guitar Center was suppose to be too big to fail, but they've gone through bankruptcy twice in the past 15 years. I was at a Guitar Center store 4 days ago and randomly selected 5 guitars of different price points that were Fender and Gibson they all had fret spout. I've owned a Harley Benton for 2 years. It's a Single Cut away with a P90. I had it shipped with a hard shell case it was double boxed. The finish was fine and so were the frets. I had no problems with the condition. It was only $350.00 with the case and shipping.
Re: FX3 autofocus Not sure if I agree with your opinion on tracking ability of this unit. When you moved in close the quality of the image distorted enough to make it look like an extreme closeup of Glenn Fricker (shudder).
The issue with solar/harley benton is that the take them directly from the factory and dont go through a dealer which makes them cheaper but you loose out on a bit of quality control. The biggest complain I have heard about Solar are cracking ebony fretboards which they havent officially adressed to my knowledge only indirectly through KDH. I still bought one before I knew that but thankfully I m covered buy EU laws. But then again buying stuff in person with something were you need good quality is aways better then online espacially if you dont have any knowledge about the thing you re buying.
Dude- just wanted to say thank you for calling ppl's attention to hearing loss and hearing issues. I've played my whole life- I'm in my fifties now, and though I've managed to dodge any serious hearing issues I have a lot of friends who weren't so lucky. Many of them have developed tinnitus- and on bad days music just sounds like noise to them now- a hell I can't even begin to imagine. These were ppl who had refined hearing abilities developed through ear training and some even worked in production and had perfect pitch- not any more though. Because they failed to protect their hearing I believe- I'm sure there could be other factors as well but- it had to play a part. Really cool to see someone like yourself thinking about it and reminding others- rock on brother. I'm definitely checking out those ear plugs too- thanks for the heads up.
If you get a Harley Benton and don’t properly set it up yourself when it arrives, that’s on you. It is very cheap to buff and polish the frets. Fret eraser packs from Crimson cost maybe 25 bucks
My Harley Benton 2x12 cab came with a tolex tear on the front. Don't know if it left the factory that way or if it was damaged in shipping. There was no obvious damage on the box, but I wasn't paying close attention. I didn't fight it, I wasn't upset, especially for the price I paid for everything. Cosmetics aren't a big deal to me on music gear, but that's just me. From what I've heard, Thomann would have probably refunded me or replaced the cab for free. CAB SOUNDS GREAT THOUGH!
Hey Glenn, I've purchased 2 of my instruments from Harley Benton/thomann, as well as a vertical 2x12. Both my 5 string bass and 7 string guitar arrived without issue to the instruments; however, the baffle (If I recall the term correctly) on the 2x12 was askew and did not have a secure fit, but I intend on fixing this myself. The packaging on all 3 did have speed travel holes, but I've come to accept this as normal for all packages in general. Furthermore, I've been playing for about 20 years and have played numerous guitars in various price points; that being said Haryley Benton is fucking stellar for the price; no question about it.
I've got three Epiphone guitars, a 339 and two Les Paul guitars. They sound great, not a problem with them. The 339 Inspired by Gibson is amazing! The Les Paul PlusTop Pro also sounds and feels amazing. The LP Custom is a bit "meh", but I think the only problem is that it's in Eb standard, and needs a bit of a setup, while the other two are in standard and feel great! People saying that Epiphone is crap and Gibson is the only way to go have no idea what they're talking about. Gibson are fine, but for that amount of money the QC must be impeccable.
I ordered a HB-TB70 bass, and it came from Germany to the Midwest in 2 days, and arrived...... IN TUNE 👀. The only 2 issues, 1. the right angle cable it came with is what the bass needed to play into my pedalboard (there was silence with the main cable, but the right angle has since become my main cable) 2. One knob was loose on arrival.
As someone who has been buying selling and collecting guitars since I was a teen around 1977 got my first guitar when I was 12 by the age of 17 was pretty much an expert especially when it came to Gibson. I learned by trial and error just because they charge 100s to 1000s more, give guitars to famous musicians for free, spend more on marketing their guitars they are not the always the best! There are some less expensive guitars I have tried like Firefly that are pretty much trash out of the box but with a little work can be great players. Never owned a Harley Benton I look for them used in the states but refuse to order one from over seas new. Any guitar I got that had structural issues was from bad shipping/packaging. I have bought some very inexpensive guitars that blew me away that I would put up against any big over marketed brand. Probably brands most people never heard of. I like your honest reviews and mainly because I am not a fan boy of any brand can't be and be non biased.
I've ordered a few Harley Benton guitars to Mexico some had manufacturing defects, one Chapman was broken in transit (Mexican customs fault) but most of it made it without any issues and are AMAZING guitars, I would recommend to order a hard case to avoid headaches as customs or national post offices tend to be lazy to properly pack the guitars back into it's case and that is when it brakes, unfortunately out of Thomman's control
I can say this, I got a Harley Benton lemon burst 335 copy. It’s awesome and just as good as an Epiphone. Came with no issues and really tight quality control.
i use eargasm plugs for about two years now, as audience member in concerts, and for band rehearsal. they work great, the sound comes through well, and i always have them on me on my keyring. only thing i would not use them for is shooting, cause they don't deal with high impact noise well.
Hey brother ! Fellow ontarian here! On the gibson debate I just got my first and favourite ( a Gibson sg standard) and love it however I play allot of chapman guitars and those boys are neck and neck for me in terms of playability . Fortunately though my sg came right from the store not the factory so it was already set up. That being said I had a cheaper sg years back and the neck broke off it after falling over two feet were as my epiphone sg has gone through worse and is still to this day in one piece. That left a sour taste in my mouth. Cheers brother !!
About the HB's.... I do believe they're going trough secondary QC via Thomann, because, from what i've heard, people usually refer to them as "set up from the box". Mine certainly was, ordered one some 8 months ago, came set up and intonated straight out from the box.Apart from cutting myself on the fret wire sticking from the neck, grat buy. If anything goes wrong, you can always return them to thomann, or so i believe.
I had to pause 3 minutes in to say you're correct playing close fisted actually is a huge benefit. When I use a pick on bass. Because not every song calls for FINGER STYLE. Closed hand helps me control the pick better also and mute the unwanted strings.
My first (real) guitar was Epiphone SG. Loved it and still do for nostalgia. I Dreamed of a real gibson for years, and went to guitar shops to play and drool them. Then I saw a used HB Amarok 6 for sale for pennies. Went to try it out, bought it, and now my problem is whether to get another Amarok 6 or a Solar just to support Ola. Seriously the Amarok 6 just feels better in every way than any gibson I ever managed to let the shops let me try.
I think Mark Knopfler said that part of the reason his tone is how it is on Money For Nothing is because right before the guitar take used in the song was recorded, the mic stand by his amp got bumped and the microphone wound up pointing down to the floor.
Glen; Regarding the viewer that had issues with Thomann QC or UPS damage and Thomann customer service. Please let me share my two experiences. The first was a Harley Benton bass, I forget which model because I have 4 or 5 (They're like potato chips. You can't have just one). The bass in question spent some little while lost and when USPS finally delivered it the outer boxing was trashed from water damage and there were a small handful of dings on the body. I took photos and contacted Thoman customer service. They were very easy to work with and in about a week I had a new replacement bass. The 2nd time was maybe two years ago. I'd purchased a Joyo BanTamp from them, new, at far less, even with shipping, than any US competitor. On arrival it had only an EU power cord. Again, contacting Thoman customer service, they informed me that being Euro-centric they had no US power cord to offer. What they did next blew my mind! They said to find one on my own, tell them how much it cost and Thomann would issue me a credit to my account for that amount. Which is exactly what they did! No proof of purchase or receipt required. I found one online and because I felt I should, I sent the link with the price in an Email to customer service. Thomann issued my credit before I bought the thing. That's my experience. Sadly, shipping costs have spiked so I'm less likely to go to Thomann first, but I always consider them and look forward to making more purchases from a company that shows it is willing to earn my trust along with my money. Thank & F.U. A long time viewer
I have ordered 3 Harley Benton guitars. They all came in timely fashion and were decently made. My only beef is their pickups could be voiced maybe a little better. However I did buy them to be projects for learning how to mod and set up my own equipment. I love my guitars to death especially after I put in the work to make them mine.
Coming from someone who is a Blackmagic fan, I hate the new Pocket lineup they have been saturating the market with. I’ve used the Micro Cinema since 2019 and fully rigged it out for the productions I do and it has served me well for years. As of this year I moved to a “4k” cinema camera because clients refuse to go with someone who has tricks of the trade but go with someone with the trendiest camera. Personally use Z CAM because their community is top notch the the E2 M4 can shoot really good slow motion at Prores422. I still use the Micro Cinema because the sensor is so damn good and continue to A-cam it on shorts and feature length movies but the Z CAM gets more gigs.
this might be a stupid question or might not but do record/produce genres other than metal? like, alternative rock, grunge, punk rock? if so, what advice do you have about working with these genres? p.s. I'd love to see some fearless gear reviews on some fender models like the kurt cobain jaguar or jim root jazzmaster. love your videos, dude.
To the guy asking about being fat and playing. I grew up playing a Jackson King V and ended up playing in a more classical guitar position when sitting. So I actually play, right handed, with my guitar on my left knee. Also I have straps on all my guitars. I just dont like not having one. As i got heavier with age this seemed to really help. Playing with it on my right knee seemed almost impossible due to my belly. As Glenn mentioned though, losing weight is going to help a lot. Not here to preach, but as I lost the weight, I also gained so much energy and life just seemed better. It's tough, but its worth it in the end.
I only have 1 experience with thomann, i bought a peavy 5150mh and harley benton 2x12 cab. It was cheap, arrived in great condition and shipped extremely fast from Germany to Southwest, USA. 5/5 for my experience.
I have a bunch of guitars spanning a wide price spectrum from glarry to strandberg blah blah ect. My most recent purchase was a harley benton fusion III. I know some folks have really bad experiences with them, but with all the honesty in the world this HB was the most perfect set up guitar straight out of the box that I've ever bought. I've been playing it for about a month now and haven't adjusted a thing. Now, again I understand that might not be typical, I was just as shocked as anyone could be. But I think it should be said that they do send winners out(at least sometimes)to us common folks too.
I have three Harley Benton guitars. They look and sound great. My only issue was with the cream colored three-pickup SG style. The machine tuners were so bad that two just did not work. I had to go through some headaches to find like tuners where the knob stem would clear the headstock. $95 and a set of Gotohs later, I still had to do some lutherie work to get the new tuners installed. Good thing I have 32 years of lutherie experience, but if I was the average buyer then I would have felt exactly as your commenter did and would be just as leery of HB. Today I bought the metallic blue R-446, which is a super-strat kind of model that's intended for high-gain playing (METAL)...for $127! I can't resist seeing what the heck this thing is going to look and play like. If you're interested. I'll drop a message on what I think - I'm a sucker for inexpensive guitars that are fantastic to play.
I think I'm guilty of the opposite of siding with corporations like Gibson. I personally hope that Solar does extremely well, knowing Ola Englund is behind that company. He seems like a nice guy and wanting to really push the craft over to what's good for him.
I bought 2 Harley Bentons in the last few months. The first one was one of their new Moserite-style guitars. It feels good and solid for the price, however, it has a GIANT stripe in the paint (think those racing stripes on some of those pawn shop edition Fenders), as if somebody set it on a rack before it was finished drying. I wanted to return it, but what they don't tell you is that if you order from the states and need to return it, you have to take it to a customs office AND you will not get your full money back as you are responsible for covering shipping. As much as I was annoyed by that, I decided to take a risk and try a different Harley Benton. I ordered one of their lake placid blue, double-bound tele copies. For $140 it's a damn fine guitar that feels great, but my heart sank a little when I noticed a huge crack in the clear coat at the top of the guitar. I was disappointed, but I also knew $140 gets you $140 worth of guitar. I'm going to try to fix it myself so it hopefully doesn't crack any further.
I just bought an Epiphone Limited Edition 59 Les Paul Standard. It has Gibson USA burstbuckers and 500k CTS pots. It's the result of the first ever collaboration between Epiphone and Gibson Custom Shop and it's fantastic, especially the neck profile. So you CAN get a Gibson Les Paul for hundreds, not thousands, it just says Epiphone on the headstock. This is my third Epiphone and each one is excellent. No complaints, they make excellent instruments.
On an unrelated note I've begun the arduous process of building an evh franky tribute in Lord Edwards name. The build will feature a swamp ash body and 84 reissue floyd rose in addition to all the paint and hardware I will also be channeling some wierd vibes to get through all the relic work and paint but I think the guitar will be sonically capable of interdimensional travel my only concern is if a spirit attaches itself during the building process and throws off the neck and body weight. If anyone else 'knows' of high level lutherie techniques for building an "accurate" franky I would like to hear em. ☮
15:22 for those of you on a budget but really wanting to know a good camera to start with I think the Canon M50 is perfect. It does 4k if you want, it has clean HDMI out for live streaming and also does 1080p 60 for the slow motion b roll stuff and the UI is perfect for bass players. You can always upgrade the lens later but the kit lens it comes with is absolutely perfect to get started. That’s what I use and I don’t see any reason to go to a more expensive camera. I just upgrade the lenses and for photography as well.
Can only add that I've ordered a few Harley bentons to the UK (including the Gotoh Sc) and delivery has been excellent (well packed ect even though it's been free P&P) and I've had no Quality issues so far. A better quality ratio than any other brand I've ordered over the last 30 years, So no complaints here. Great show as always fella.
I bought a Harley Benton fanned fret 8 string at the start of the pandemic. I did have to do some fret leveling, general fret work, a set up and put EMG 909's in it (the routes were too big for 808's). Now it plays & sounds amazing. I recently bought a Strandberg 8 string that cost almost 7 times as much. I still had to do a fret level & setup to get it playing good. So, Harley Benton is definitely, not a bad deal for the price.
I'm using Alpine MusicSafe Pro ear plugs. They also use filtering, instead of blocking and only cost 25... Also with the multi-lamellar design (Christmas tree), they provide a very good fit.
Montreal. Montreal is the actual armpit of Canada. Me and some friends from the 10th mountain drove up there to see what the hype was. Almost immediately, some girl walks up to our car and "cleans" our windshield, without asking, with some dirty ass newspaper and then expected some sort of payment for it. The experience went downhill from there.
To be honest you could go to a reputable luthier and have them build you a guitar for less than Gibson, they’ll put the time in to make sure everything is spot on because a bad commission could tank their company.
Bought my first, and only, Gibson second hand about 2 years ago. Maybe I just got lucky, but i love it. Can’t speak for what they make now but only for the one I own. It sounds great, it’s got locking tuners so it stays in tune. However I do have guitars that are a lot less expensive that feel just as good so I see both sides. Play what guitars you have/ enjoy ❤️
GLEEEEeeeeEEEEeeEEEEEeeeeeEEEEENN!!!! The comment in this video about the damaged Harley Benton was spot on with my experience as well. I purchased a 5-string progressive bass through them and it arrived damaged and shorting out. They were nice enough to send me another one without requiring me to return the damaged one. Pretty cool I must admit! Problem is..... the second bass was damaged and shorting out as well. I really REALLY wanted to be one of those happy customers but sadly both basses (even after investing cash in fixing them) are now basically dust collectors in my collection. I got quite a bit of hate for my honest review of it when all I did was simply point out MY OWN personal experience. Is it too much to ask that even when buying cheap guitars that they..... I don't know... FUNCTION? Keep up the great work and oh yeah... Love the blood curdling screams! Two horns up... way up!
I wanted a Gibson Les Paul for many years, but I was always irritated at the price and quality issues. I looked at the more expensive Les Pauls, but they suffered the same issues with paint drips, chipping around the neck joint and trim. Then there is the issue with the fragility of the head. I eventually settled on an ESP and also got a PRS. No regrets with these guitars.
I've bought 2 guitars from Thomann and had them shipped to the U.K. one is a Hagstrom Ultra Swede the other a b stock Harley Benton PRS clone and they were both in perfect condition when arrived. Even the b stock took me weeks to find the cosmetic flaws on it so I do not have a problem with Thomann or Harley Benton Keep up the stirling work dude
I have a Harley Benton Tele that I bought for $80 and souped it up with Gotoh locking tuners, Seymour Duncans, and a Wilkinson bridge that plays incredibly. I also bought the Explorer '84 copy and that plays great as well.
One thing that finally buying myself a Gibson LP last year showed me is that I didn't really need one. It's a beautiful guitar, but its not really better than several of my other cheaper guitars. I'm just glad it's not a QC disaster.
I got the Amarok about a year and a half ago. It definitely needed to be set-up, but after a little TLC it was great! For the price, I don't think that's a big deal. I love the guitar and play it more than any of the others. The one gripe I have (I don't know if it falls on Thomann or UPS) is that on the checkout page, I had typed in instructions to not leave it on my doorstep if I didn't answer, because packages get stolen in my area. They left it on the doorstep. Thankfully it was there when I got home from work though, whew.
To balance out any negative comments - always enjoy your videos (even if I disagree with some of the stuff sometime). They're always super informative and provocative. It's really helped me with my little hobby of home recording and mixing - comparing what I do now to what I did several years ago is like comparing night and day. Thank you so much Glen 🤘🏻
I bought a tele style Harley Benton and it was ok. The frets were sharp as hell though. No issues with the finish or wood. Tuners weren't great either. I ended up giving it to a cousin.
Because of that guys comment on solar, I ended up checking them out - wow! Love the fact they have a reversed headstock, just like my Ibanez RGR420EX. You don't see that too often. I'm definitely interested in getting one! 😂 Potential customer here!
I’ve played one and it feels like an in between of a Jackson and an Ibanez. My friend can’t really properly set up a guitar if his life depended on it and I was still amazing even after his horrible set up
I have a Gibson Les Paul and it is fabulous to play and doesn’t have hardly any tuning issues in my experience. That being said, it should be a really awesome guitar when you look at the price point. When I play it Vs a cheap Jackson I have I do notice a difference, but a guitar that costs thousands should have better quality than one that is a third of the price. Luckily I haven’t had the problems with my Gibson that so many people have. Thanks for the videos Glenn!
I have ordered 4 harley benton instruments so far They're all on the more cheaper side on their lineups but they were all in good condition. The edges of the body of the acoustic bass are a bit sharp but that's the only issue I have had with any of the instruments. Everything else I ordered from them has also always been in great condition. I have read reviews from a few years ago about quality control being spotty but I think that had been largely resolved by 2019 or something, so when I'm hearing reviews about that I think it's important to know when that happened. Though I do live in europe so shipping damages are much less likely.
Many venues around here force you to use their in house guy without the option of using your own. We've inquired in the past and it's not as easy as it sounds for many places around here.
He didnt crack the neck finish himself. It acually goes way deeper than that! What's really happening is Glenn found Doc Brown and traveled back to the early 80s went to the gibson factory and changed the QC guidelines thereby tarnishing Gibson's name ever since!
![Megan Thee Stallion - Neva Play (feat. RM) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TpYTyAaTRts/mqdefault.jpg)
Get Eargasm Earplugs at bit.ly/3OjIIe6 and protect what’s truly important: your ears!
Can we see the return of Stupid Musician Texts?
Glennnnn!!! If you communicate with the guys at thomann. tell them to make an afterpay option and they will sell many more!
ayo glenn, looks like there are spammers in this comment section stealing your profile pic and acting like they are you - if that really IS you, apologies, but it smells too fishy :D
Hey Glenn, serious question: has any of the Telegram scammers actually been stupid enough to do that whole “congrats you win” crap on any of your pinned comments? I was genuinely curious if that ever happened. Wouldn’t surprise me if they did but yeah, would be interesting to know.
I've also heard there is quality control issues with people who have ordered solar guitars. Which is unfortunate. Because I love Ola's channel and what he does. Solar guitars look like a great product. However there are customers who have experienced quality control issues with new purchased solar products. Definitely an unfortunate experience for some customers.
Gibson does not need Glenn to destroy them, they are perfectly capable of doing this themselves.
🤣
The Gandalfy wisdom on his comment is beyond mordor 🔥
There was no need to be this brutal (or was it?).
And the shits still sittin on GC's wall
Gibson… the gift that keeps on giving 😂😂😂
Congrats to Ola for being put in the same catagory as James Hetfield when talking about heavy pickers!
Ola's picking technique is super weird, though.
This comment CHUGGS !!!!!!
@@mrcoatsworth429 yeah, Ola openly admits it’s weird and tells folks not to emulate his style
Lonnie must have a short memory because Gibson filed for bankruptcy just FOUR years ago!! NO company is too big to die
Actually another company owns it...that's why they are sueing everyone.
Yeah but it still exists
Guitar Center still exists somehow
Bankruptcy doesn’t mean much if they rebound
Gibson has almost died multiple times: the mid 60s, the early 80s, mid 2010s... It'll happen again. I won't buy Gibson or fender. Too much $$$$
@@andrewgarcia3136 Love my Fender along with my Gibsons....my Fender was 300 bucks less than both of my Gibsons conbined...Have you ever played these brands or just looking at the price?
@@andrewgarcia3136 fender is no where near as bad as gibson with pricing and innovation. Fender does innovate it's line up and they are priced world's apart from gibson. a top end fender (non custom) is gonna run you right around $2000 , while some non custom gibsons go for as high as the $4000 price range. The average US made fender goes for $1,500-1,700 , versus gibsons $ 2500 range.
low end (costing) fenders are not bad for their price either (mim fender run between 650 on sale to 850 full msrp).
It's not fair to lump them in with gibson because these two campanies clearly ahve different mindsets. Fender also owns and produces Jackson and Charvel and jackson's are extremely afordable.
"As a musician/ audio engineer, your most important asset is your hearing."
Coming form a man who has been screaming at me several times a week for the last 6 years 😉
The hypocrisy, right? ;-P
Well he at least puts the distressor on - and there's always those Earplugs ;)
If Glenn did a Streisand and refused any compression, it would be a REAL Health Hazard
😂😂😂
Gibson makes guitars for “Blues Lawyers”: the guys who get just enough time off from their law, accounting, or dentistry job to learn the riff from crossroads and two pentatonic positions. Those cats used to come into the pawn shop I used to work in, look at the guitar wall and mutter “you don’t have any Gibsons?” before walking back out to their BMWs and fucking directly off.
For the record, I drive a Tesla. I got tired of my Bimmer.
The problem seems to be that you work(ed) in a Pawn Shop.
My best friend died and left me his 69 SG. Never played them before. Amazing instrument. So now I've switched over I bought two modern SG's. Not much money and amazing instruments. And I'm a handyman.
I can see I touched a nerve with this stereotype. 🤣
This is completely false… I work in IT.
As a guitar player, I needed a 5-string bass and I ordered the cheapest one from Thomann. And it was even cheaper than catalogue because it was B-stock. What can I say, a great instrument for my modest needs, without any problems.
The Harley Benton basses are really great. They're easily better than a Squier for the same price.
A friend at a local music store said "hey do you want this bass? It's got no bridge, nut or strings - I was gonna chuck it in the trash" and it was a Harley Benton kinda jazz bass style. I don't play bass (I have a bass player and he gets upset when I do lol) just guitar, but I also spent the plague years training myself up on guitar fixing - I won't call myself a luthier but I can fix most issues and refret a guitar, etc. Anyway, I said "Yeah I'll take it" - ordered a cheap replacement bridge and nut, cleaned up the neck, levelled a few high frets and polished them and restrung it and gave it to a kid down the street for free as he couldn't afford one and wanted to learn. Before I did, my bass player played it and loved it. I was impressed with the quality of the wood and finish - it was about a year old - and frankly they sell these for around $100. Pickups sound pretty amazing to my ears anyway (and my bass player) so yeah, Harley Benton in my experience anyway, make decent value and quality instruments.
I'll weigh in on the Harley Benton quality. I purchased a Harley Benton Amarok 6 in Emerald Green back in 2020. Aside from the shipping issues everyone was having during the height of COVID, it arrived in perfect condition along with the rest of my order. The guitar itself is fantastic overall. The only problem, the only quality issue, I had was with the output jack. It was somehow deformed internally so that the cable would not connect fully and securely. I had to open it up and manually correct it, which I did. However, in doing so, I clumsily broke off the grounding wire. Let me repeat, _I_ broke the ground wire. It was my fault. I purchased a $20 soldering kit and resoldered the wire back in place. It was my first time soldering too, so I'm super proud of that. Since then, this instrument has been phenomenal. Everything aside from the jack issue has been amazing. I would recommend this instrument to anyone looking to spend under $600 for a guitar with tons of high-end features.
I also purchased an HB JB-75 bass from Thomann this year. It showed up with zero issues. It plays perfectly. It sounds great. It's a fucking gorgeous looking instrument. Now, UPS tried to screw me on the shipping saying, after I had already received the product, that I had to pay "brokerage fees" which I had not agreed to. I contact Thomann about it. After I sent them photos of the bill, they refunded the exact amount to my card that UPS was demanding. Thomann treated me fucking right, by going above and beyond (seriously, I never expected them to give me a refund. I just wanted them to yell at UPS), which is why I will always consider them first when looking for an instrument.
Harley Benton/Thomann haters are full of shit.
UPS destroyed the very last V30 412 straight cab they had for sale while shipping it to me. Thomann got me a full refund in 5 business days, and it took that long because UPS dragged their feet on taking responsibility.
I'm calling BS on the guy that said all that about them, every complaint I have read online are people that either didn't take proper resolution steps or expected a PRS quality guitar for squire money, hahaha.
Agreed. Harley Benton is great for the price point. The only person I can imagine having problems with such quality at that price point would be an entitled child (or adult, looking at you Gibson players)
I modded my Harley Benton RB-414 bass with Seymour Duncan pickups and Grover tuning machines. It's been my go-to bass ever since.
I just bought a HB 7-string fan fret on sale for just about $160. Hardshell case and shipping (ordered on Monday, arrived the following Friday) put the final price at $318. For the price, it's unbelievable.
It needed a setup (action and intonation) and a light fret polish but after that, it's an absolutely stellar guitar. Absolutely no issues with the finish and build quality. Would absolutely recommend
Will your Harley Benton be worth anything in 50 years? Because vintage Gibsons are worth anywhere from 10s of thousands to millions and that phenomenon is not likely to change.
24:11 Great advice on making sure to always have protection! My parents didn't use any way back when and it resulted in a bass player.
😂😂😂😂😂
12:05 You know, I already love the channel (even if I don’t agree with all of your takes) but the fact that you publicly accept that you don’t have the true Customer experience (but rather the “TH-camr/Content creator” experience) when buying a HB speaks volumes about your integrity. It’s awesome, man, keep it up, you’re honest, and you truly care about your audience and our money. If only all companies and corporations had as much care for the consumer…
It seems like those HB guitars are definitely hit or miss, some are great others aren't. I was thinking about getting a DC JR but didn't pull the trigger because I didn't want to get a bad one
I went from not touching a guitar in almost a decade, to making an album at home of my high school metal that we had always dreamed of, and now onto writing and recording my own music once again. And learning how to do that has been mainly thanks to Glenn. So, thank you, Glenn!
3:30 this is funny, there is actually a "professional" video about how to mic a guitar amp for a gig.
Their sollution was to fiddle the cable through the amp handle and simply let it dangle before the speaker.
This was the moment I decided to go and search a different video.
Here’s some advice for open handed pickers who want to learn close handed picking. Take a second pick and hold it with your ring and pinky fingers in your closed hand. Since you’re giving those fingers something to do, you’ll have a much easier time growing accustomed to keeping your hand closed and building the muscle memory you need. Props to Samurai Guitar (I think?? May have been Music is Win) for that one, made learning close handed picking a breeze for me, where I had been struggling with it previously for literally years. It took like 2 days to make the switch using the 2nd pick. It really works, try it if you’re struggling to make the switch to close handed picking like I was.
Just to keep the comments positive - love your videos - and I’m not really big into metal… just a working musician with a home studio. Your videos are informative, honest, and funny. Probably the one TH-camr I watch consistently. Keep it up!
I’m pretty much in the same boat - love the videos. 👍
Love this channel! I find the attitude just right. If only we could combine movie and audio reviews. Keep up the good work 👍
Hey Glenn! I noticed most of your posts have had sponsors for a while now. Just wanted to say congrats on the success from the tons of hard work you put in this channel. :)
I regularly see several social media posts about musicians of all types asking “how do I make it to full time music” and I’ve lost track of how many people comment on their answers. But and the answer is simpler than you think - have multiple streams of revenue! Me personally, I’m a performing arts manager for an opera guild, private drum teacher, recording studio engineer, I rent out my studio for rehearsals and to other private music teachers, I also rent out my drum sets, do drum repairs and I’m a music product manufacturing business owner. There are far too many musicians of every genre that limit themselves to just one track as opposed to broadening the revenue possibilities
I just got a package from thomann the other day and the box had NO packing material what so ever. Gladly it seems like the stuff wasn't damaged but it's not a wonderful thing to hear your box of stuff rattle like a child's toy when you're fetching it from the post office. I did send a note to Thomann and haven't really heard much apart from "we're sorry and we'll figure stuff out maybe". Should've supported local
I was in the process of buying from Thoman for the first time and between problems with emails and wrong batch numbers it got me stressed out. I decided to go local instead,got to try out the guitars I was interested in(and many others for comparison) , got great advice and customer service from people in the real world. . I brought the 2 guitars back a week later for tiny adjustments free of charge. The whole experience was a pleasure and fun...and I saved 55 euro compared to thomann. Shopping for guitars is just so much better and less risky in the real world, especially if you are spending big money.
Feels weird hearing people having problems with Thomann. Been shopping form them for over 15 years. One time i had a package seem lost but after contacting Thomanns customer service about the tracking not updating they contacted DHL and the package got moving again. Ohter time i ordered a guitar pedal that was dead on arrival and after contacting customer support they sent me a prepaid return label so i could return it for a replacement within a week. All in all. i've onnly had positive experiences with Thomann and their customer service.
I 100% agree with you on the "too big to fail argument" (see also Enron and Lehmann).
However, and I can't believe it actually happened, one of the automated commercial breaks on this video featured a joint promotion of Philadelphia cheese spread and Kodak (which I didn't know still existed either). Lol.
Reality is tearing at the seams
I can tell you from experience, I worked in a UPS Sorting warehouse. The packages come down conveyor belts and get sorted into trucks before the drivers show up, but the volume of packages is insane, and anything not where it's supposed to be is literally thrown off the belts onto a sorting table below. I've heard glass shatter, I've seen flat screen TVs broken.
Also saw a truck with a halfway open back door drop a package IN THE LOT and keep driving off, out onto the highway. Be VERY wary of UPS
Love your channel! Regarding Thomann, I think it is easier to order in Europe, as they are in Germany and shipping within the EU is a lot easier and cheaper. To the US and other international places you have to add customs and I guess this is the part that cannot be refunded. And of course it is more tricky with all the shipping.
I order a lot from Thomann, but I am in f*ing Austria, so no problem here. And Harley Benton and their other brands are pretty good at this price point. But I wonder if they won't open a warehouse in overseas if demand is rising. This could be the death blow to Guitar Center...
They definitely should open a chain in the US. I live in Germany and having someone you can return a faulty guitar to will definitely also help their reputation.
I really wanted one of those HB vertical 2x12's and I managed to get my hands on one locally. The guy ordered a bunch of their cabs and didn't have any issues getting them into the states. I am still hesitant, as I can barely get something across state lines in one piece.
The truss rod likely had tension on it when shipped. Changes in humidity cause the neck to move. That’s why unless you are in the same area that your guitar was set up, a set up will be required when you set it up.
Hey Glenn!
Can I get your thoughts on fret buzz? Some people claim they have zero buzz, while others say buzz is normal and both camps call each other liars. What’s the actual deal? When you’re recording, what matters and what doesn’t?
I'm not Glenn but to me it depends on what sound I'm trying to get. A little bit of buzz sometimes gives it character and other times it gets in the way. It's your preference. You're never going to make everyone happy. Best of luck!
I'm not Glenn,(obviously)
I play a lot late at night without an amp.
I've noticed that there are some guitars that have that initial buzz all guitars have, but that you don't notice bc it's dead'ish
Not in a bad way, it just doesn't project.
Others are very loud and any buzz at all is noticeable.
Of course amplified it's a moot point.
Anyone that says it has low action and zero fret buzz are incorrect.
All guitars buzz
What they mean is they just don't notice, or they're lying
Take care🙂
My two cents... If the buzz only occurs on low strings in low frets, only during the attack of the note, and disappears when the string is struck very lightly, then it's nothing to worry about and will likely not even get amplified. The important thing is to make sure the buzz is not lasting longer than the attack and choking your notes. All guitars buzz a little if you play them with some energy. Strings vibrate and travel the farthest distance as the pick strikes the string making the string buzz against other frets. The travel dissipates quickly and should stop colliding with other frets when it settles into a sustaining vibration. You can raise the action on the guitar to give strings more room to vibrate, but at the cost of playability. That sweet spot when the action is low and the buzz is almost nowhere to be found is glorious. Good luck getting there.
Thanks for these replies very informative 🤘🏼
Been playing for40 years,if playing unpluged on any of my electrics there's fret buzz, not tons, but there's buzz, mainly on the thicker strings , you can't hear it at all during recording. I've found that I have to have the action uncomfortably high to have no buzz at all....
FOR THE GUY LOOKING AT COMFY GUITARS FOR DUDES WITH BELLIES.... here's an alternative answer: Look at guitars with V type shapes, X type shapes, star shape,explorer types.... basically anything with a back edge you can tuck the strap over the rear horn. This will comfortably angle your guitar upwards slightly and takes strain off your picking wrist (people dealing with certain RST's should take note of this as well, might make a difference). This has worked for me for like 20+ years, and I'm both a big and tall dude (6'1" 485lbs). Some people simply aren't bothered by being big, and theirs always other workarounds. It's upto each person themselves to decide whats comfortable for them, and the default "just lose weight" answer is not the only option. Myself? I'm probably not here for a long time, but I'm just here for a good time.
You know there's now a memo going out to all Thomann employees saying "don't send any shit guitars to Canada", right?
At least now every Canadian customer will surely get a good instrument. We need a Glenn in every country lol
@@mihneazoican2479 everyone who places their order before Glenn releases his fearless gear review vid, that is
@@BeanDogStudios yeah, that’s also true. I have no personal experience with HB whatsoever, a friend has an EX and he likes it but that’s it
@@mihneazoican2479 I have their fanned fret neck thru 8-string. I put some Seymour Duncans in it and it's excellent.
Here is a parable for those who think companies are too big to fail: in 1986-87 Kramer made the world's best-selling guitars. They had it all: they had a monopoly on selling Floyd Roses stock, and they had an incredible roster of rock and metal guitarists that included Eddie van Halen, Ritchie Sambora and Mick Mars (as well as a ton of equally-deserving but not equally-selling guitarits).
Come December 1989, and they filed for bankruptcy. They lasted for a little more than a year thereafter, but by January 1991 they were all gone. They are now owned by Gibson, a company that had nearly been bankrupted by the superstrat brands just a few years earlier.
Regarding the Harley Benton horror story. I ordered my first Harley Benton acoustic a few months ago and it came in PERFECT condition straight to Texas. It’s STILL in perfect condition. In fact, it has replaced my 1965 Gibson LG1 for a few reasons but my Harley Benton is so easy to play, sounds so good, and so cheap so I don’t need to worry about damages because I can just order another if needed. I also ordered the Harley Benton 212 cab and again, perfect.
Here’s the video to my Harley Benton guitar th-cam.com/video/DHAJkxOTooI/w-d-xo.html
I got a HB SC Goldtop LP with P90s some years ago. I still play it, but I had to do a setup for intonation and so. But the guitar itself was and still is very good. Some minor things like micro faults in the paintjob aside, you can't expect perfect instruments for that price, they are very good but not perfect. The hardware is not great and I always wanted to change the bridge, but haven't had the time and motivation to do so. There might be some guitars with poor quality, but you have those in every company tbh
I have 3 HBs, and all of those where in good to great condition on arrival. Some minor paint stuff, some truss rod adjustment, and some string and pickup height adjustment was needed on two of them. The third was great out of the box.
On the other hand, a buddy of mine got a double humbucker telecaster from them, and that developed some BAD fret sprout. I fixed that for him pretty quickly though.
Also the Tesla neck pickup was dead on my sc-550 II, but Thomann sent me a new one, with the pickup ring installed, for free.
@@Ari_Calamari I can’t speak for the fret sprout but I feel like truss rod adjustment (unless WAY out of wack), pickup height and a setup could be subjective. But as long as it isn’t broken in some kind of way I think for sub $500 is an absolute steal ESPECIALLY when it plays just as good, if not better, than a $1k guitar. I’m a fan.
That Harley Benton commenter is ridiculous. His problem with the 'sandpaper' frets could've been fixed with a $3 pack of steel wool. All he needed to do was polish the frets. I had to do it on the two HB guitars that I own. I have to polish the frets on my much more expensive guitars too. His problem wasn't Harley Benton. His problem was not knowing simple guitar maintenance.
We use the Blackmagic 4K as one of our main production cameras in college, and as far as I’m concerned they’re great cameras. However, like Glenn said, the camera screen doesn’t move, which is a problem if you’re by yourself and don’t have a crew or a big TV to use a monitor, and if you’re not careful, the camera will film in 120 frames per second without you realizing or being able to fix it (don’t ask how that happened it was super technical, and it was our first time using them). That being said, after that, the cameras worked out just fine, and the quality was awesome. I almost considered buying it but I think it’s overkill for me. To me they’re great cameras, but that’s only my opinion.
If people want to spend more money for less quality, let them.
Maybe they can pay extra for a professional to damage their guitars to give it fake use/age...
🤣
Oh god, the whole factory relic jobs are so fucking cringe.
@@SilentNightBodomNight I really can't stand it too. It looks so desperate. Look I can pretend to have had a hard live gigging in smokey blues bars too. Look at me!
How to fake putting in 10,000 hours on a guitar...
About a year ago I ordered some stuff from Thomann. I'm in the Illinois Quad-Cities. Got six 6' XLRs (in three different colors; $5 each), two TB75's (SM57 copies; iirc about $40 each), and a drum mic set ($200ish). Everything is great and the price makes me happy. I was gifted a Thomann.de lanyard that I use for my work badge as a cook at a large local arena/venue. If it ever becomes a conversation starter I will recommend this company.
That “ball of muscle on my forearm” is the biceps brachialis. Goes from your forearm to under your main bicep (connects at the shoulder). Pretty cool.
Do people realize that high end epiphones use THE EXACT SAME PICKUPS as gibsons?
Wait, how can someone with a sound engineering degree not even use cab sims and just go direct out? Sorry but whatever you expect, it's NOT THAT. 😅😅
High end Epis are using Fishmans now. Gibson hasn't innovated jackshit in like 40 years. It's embarrassing that THEIR "Budget" brand is doing better than they are! Even their artists are only using Epiphone😂
@@karterestill True, Jared J Nichols, Kiss (Yes, fkn KISS), Trivium.... All use Epis. 😂Gibson is just so disconnected from the market even with popcorn it's not funny.
You tighten or loosen a truss rod to get the desired neck relief for the given string gauge (I like a completely flat fretboard, low action, medium gauge strings). Just like you tighten or loosen the tuners to get the string to the desired open note.
My friend and I are building a guitar. No prior guitar making experience. My friend is now planning to sell his Gibson SG, because we, two drunk idiots in a garage, can make a better guitar.
based
may i ask where you get materials from and where you got the knowledge to build a guitar? youtube? i would love to build my own guitar too. how to get started?
My friend buys nice bits of wood whenever he finds them and yes, we just did a lot of googling and watching TH-cam videos. Also lots of trial and error
@@BeanDogStudios what do you all do by yourselves? like everything or do you buy certain ready to go parts. such as fretboard?
@@musictraining5071 we made the fretboard, as it's a 25.5"-28" multiscale 7-string. We also made the pickups. Just in case this is starting to sound too good to be true, don't worry, it's taken us four years so far 😂
*Thanks for some great advice Glenn* 👍 I was looking to treat myself (for my 60th birthday ) to a new 'metal' guitar to complement my EMG-loaded ESP EII MII and had put in many hours of online and in-store research. I know how you often bring out your trusty Schecter as a great example of a rock-solid guitar which doesn't sell for silly money. Anyway, following your recommendation I ended up buying a shiny new *Schecter C-1 FR S SLS Elite* loaded with a Fishman Fluence in the bridge and a Sustaniac in the neck. My god the finish on this thing is gorgeous (and flawless!), plays like a dream, delivers great tones, offers great bang for the buck and is fast becoming my favourite guitar 🎸 Awesome advice Glenn, many thanks from The UK 🤘😎🤘
I grew up in sarnia, haha fuck that caught me off guard - haha bang on with that appraisal. I live in winnipeg now, from armpit to the stabbytown.
honestly cant say enough about my HB, had my like baseline, £100 telecaster copy for a couple years now, new pickups, new hardware(done out of an aesthetic choice may i add)new paint job, its been a full on workhorse guitar and ive loved it
I'm sure everyone would love to see your camera setup. The quality is always top notch.
I have a Sennheiser e906 and it's totally designed to hang by the cable in front of a speaker cab because it's very light and side address. I also like it better than a 57 because the presence peak isn't quite as pronounced and it has slightly extended response on both low and high frequencies. For me, it's everything great about a 57, but slightly improved in every way. It's pretty well all I use on guitar cabs, though note I don't do metal. Oh, and an additional feature is the 3-way bright switch that can reduce or boost the treble frequencies a bit.
Timing is everything, and Friday comment reviews are perfect! After a hard week at work, it’s awesome to see such great feedback to those who follow you. Butt hurt of the week always brings a smile to my face ! Keep up the great content !
UPS = United Package Smashers Regarding Thomann they do pack really poorly and that in combination with the Package smashers isnt that good. I have had mixed experiences with Thomann when i have had problems, sometimes good and sometimes you had to convince them to do the right thing, i will say though that the shipping companies here in Sweden tend to take no responsibility at all and Thomann has stepped in instead.
In my experience if you havent packed it so that the shipping can throw the package a couple of meters then you havent packed it well enough since they cant be bothered handling it in a decent way, i try to have that in mind when packing but no company really does.
Recently bought two very low cost HBs (HBO-850 round-back acoustic and SC-500 BK Vintage Les Paul style), and wasn't expecting (despite many positive reviews, I'm still an old skeptic!) such quality. Both guitars had flawless finishes, needed very little setup to accommodate my beginner style, and sound really great despite the fairly generic pickups. Even with the high shipping cost, it only ran me less than $200 per guitar. I'd buy from them again, no question.
You can tighten the trussrod in both ways, t3hgir. Generally its called loose or backbowing and tight or bowing, lefty loosey, righty tighty.
When there is no tension in the trussrod it rattles like crazy.
Good call on having your friend order it. I'm sure they take extra care building and setting up ones they send to guitar channels.
As a sound guy/drummer/producer, I feel that if you are to get a good sound as an independent band, you need to BE part of the band, be a friend that knows or works with the band. It helps to have friends that want to learn to work in the industry. The Covid era warranted more opportunities for some to learn more about behind-the-scenes for some. Thanks for being an inspiration.
Glenn, your spiel on HR in corporations was absolutely SPOT ON. I work for a major corporation (looking for a way out) and recently went through a situation where I thought using the “open door policy” would benefit me, thinking I had gained respect over the last decade I’d put in for this place. HA. Yeah, my issue was swept under the rug, and the only person who ended up reprimanded was ME. Corporations are a scam, and it’s so easy to get caught up in the bullshit. GET EVIDENCE. WRITE DOWN DATES, TIMES, AND NAMES. TAKE RECORDS. And most importantly, SEEK OUT THIRD PARTY HELP. So important. Keep it up, man. Your videos get me through my days on this fucking assembly line.
Hi Glenn, Guitar Center was suppose to be too big to fail, but they've gone through bankruptcy twice in the past 15 years. I was at a Guitar Center store 4 days ago and randomly selected 5 guitars of different price points that were Fender and Gibson they all had fret spout.
I've owned a Harley Benton for 2 years. It's a Single Cut away with a P90. I had it shipped with a hard shell case it was double boxed. The finish was fine and so were the frets. I had no problems with the condition. It was only $350.00 with the case and shipping.
Re: FX3 autofocus
Not sure if I agree with your opinion on tracking ability of this unit. When you moved in close the quality of the image distorted enough to make it look like an extreme closeup of Glenn Fricker (shudder).
The issue with solar/harley benton is that the take them directly from the factory and dont go through a dealer which makes them cheaper but you loose out on a bit of quality control. The biggest complain I have heard about Solar are cracking ebony fretboards which they havent officially adressed to my knowledge only indirectly through KDH. I still bought one before I knew that but thankfully I m covered buy EU laws.
But then again buying stuff in person with something were you need good quality is aways better then online espacially if you dont have any knowledge about the thing you re buying.
Dude- just wanted to say thank you for calling ppl's attention to hearing loss and hearing issues. I've played my whole life- I'm in my fifties now, and though I've managed to dodge any serious hearing issues I have a lot of friends who weren't so lucky. Many of them have developed tinnitus- and on bad days music just sounds like noise to them now- a hell I can't even begin to imagine. These were ppl who had refined hearing abilities developed through ear training and some even worked in production and had perfect pitch- not any more though. Because they failed to protect their hearing I believe- I'm sure there could be other factors as well but- it had to play a part. Really cool to see someone like yourself thinking about it and reminding others- rock on brother. I'm definitely checking out those ear plugs too- thanks for the heads up.
If you get a Harley Benton and don’t properly set it up yourself when it arrives, that’s on you. It is very cheap to buff and polish the frets. Fret eraser packs from Crimson cost maybe 25 bucks
My Harley Benton 2x12 cab came with a tolex tear on the front. Don't know if it left the factory that way or if it was damaged in shipping. There was no obvious damage on the box, but I wasn't paying close attention. I didn't fight it, I wasn't upset, especially for the price I paid for everything. Cosmetics aren't a big deal to me on music gear, but that's just me. From what I've heard, Thomann would have probably refunded me or replaced the cab for free. CAB SOUNDS GREAT THOUGH!
Hey Glenn, I've purchased 2 of my instruments from Harley Benton/thomann, as well as a vertical 2x12. Both my 5 string bass and 7 string guitar arrived without issue to the instruments; however, the baffle (If I recall the term correctly) on the 2x12 was askew and did not have a secure fit, but I intend on fixing this myself. The packaging on all 3 did have speed travel holes, but I've come to accept this as normal for all packages in general. Furthermore, I've been playing for about 20 years and have played numerous guitars in various price points; that being said Haryley Benton is fucking stellar for the price; no question about it.
I've got three Epiphone guitars, a 339 and two Les Paul guitars. They sound great, not a problem with them. The 339 Inspired by Gibson is amazing! The Les Paul PlusTop Pro also sounds and feels amazing. The LP Custom is a bit "meh", but I think the only problem is that it's in Eb standard, and needs a bit of a setup, while the other two are in standard and feel great! People saying that Epiphone is crap and Gibson is the only way to go have no idea what they're talking about. Gibson are fine, but for that amount of money the QC must be impeccable.
I ordered a HB-TB70 bass, and it came from Germany to the Midwest in 2 days, and arrived...... IN TUNE 👀. The only 2 issues, 1. the right angle cable it came with is what the bass needed to play into my pedalboard (there was silence with the main cable, but the right angle has since become my main cable) 2. One knob was loose on arrival.
As someone who has been buying selling and collecting guitars since I was a teen around 1977 got my first guitar when I was 12 by the age of 17 was pretty much an expert especially when it came to Gibson. I learned by trial and error just because they charge 100s to 1000s more, give guitars to famous musicians for free, spend more on marketing their guitars they are not the always the best! There are some less expensive guitars I have tried like Firefly that are pretty much trash out of the box but with a little work can be great players. Never owned a Harley Benton I look for them used in the states but refuse to order one from over seas new. Any guitar I got that had structural issues was from bad shipping/packaging. I have bought some very inexpensive guitars that blew me away that I would put up against any big over marketed brand. Probably brands most people never heard of. I like your honest reviews and mainly because I am not a fan boy of any brand can't be and be non biased.
I've ordered a few Harley Benton guitars to Mexico some had manufacturing defects, one Chapman was broken in transit (Mexican customs fault) but most of it made it without any issues and are AMAZING guitars, I would recommend to order a hard case to avoid headaches as customs or national post offices tend to be lazy to properly pack the guitars back into it's case and that is when it brakes, unfortunately out of Thomman's control
I can say this, I got a Harley Benton lemon burst 335 copy. It’s awesome and just as good as an Epiphone. Came with no issues and really tight quality control.
i use eargasm plugs for about two years now, as audience member in concerts, and for band rehearsal. they work great, the sound comes through well, and i always have them on me on my keyring.
only thing i would not use them for is shooting, cause they don't deal with high impact noise well.
Hey brother ! Fellow ontarian here! On the gibson debate I just got my first and favourite ( a Gibson sg standard) and love it however I play allot of chapman guitars and those boys are neck and neck for me in terms of playability . Fortunately though my sg came right from the store not the factory so it was already set up. That being said I had a cheaper sg years back and the neck broke off it after falling over two feet were as my epiphone sg has gone through worse and is still to this day in one piece. That left a sour taste in my mouth. Cheers brother !!
About the HB's.... I do believe they're going trough secondary QC via Thomann, because, from what i've heard, people usually refer to them as "set up from the box". Mine certainly was, ordered one some 8 months ago, came set up and intonated straight out from the box.Apart from cutting myself on the fret wire sticking from the neck, grat buy. If anything goes wrong, you can always return them to thomann, or so i believe.
I had to pause 3 minutes in to say you're correct playing close fisted actually is a huge benefit. When I use a pick on bass. Because not every song calls for FINGER STYLE. Closed hand helps me control the pick better also and mute the unwanted strings.
My first (real) guitar was Epiphone SG. Loved it and still do for nostalgia. I Dreamed of a real gibson for years, and went to guitar shops to play and drool them. Then I saw a used HB Amarok 6 for sale for pennies. Went to try it out, bought it, and now my problem is whether to get another Amarok 6 or a Solar just to support Ola. Seriously the Amarok 6 just feels better in every way than any gibson I ever managed to let the shops let me try.
I think Mark Knopfler said that part of the reason his tone is how it is on Money For Nothing is because right before the guitar take used in the song was recorded, the mic stand by his amp got bumped and the microphone wound up pointing down to the floor.
Glen; Regarding the viewer that had issues with Thomann QC or UPS damage and Thomann customer service.
Please let me share my two experiences. The first was a Harley Benton bass, I forget which model because I have 4 or 5 (They're like potato chips. You can't have just one). The bass in question spent some little while lost and when USPS finally delivered it the outer boxing was trashed from water damage and there were a small handful of dings on the body. I took photos and contacted Thoman customer service. They were very easy to work with and in about a week I had a new replacement bass. The 2nd time was maybe two years ago. I'd purchased a Joyo BanTamp from them, new, at far less, even with shipping, than any US competitor. On arrival it had only an EU power cord. Again, contacting Thoman customer service, they informed me that being Euro-centric they had no US power cord to offer. What they did next blew my mind! They said to find one on my own, tell them how much it cost and Thomann would issue me a credit to my account for that amount. Which is exactly what they did! No proof of purchase or receipt required. I found one online and because I felt I should, I sent the link with the price in an Email to customer service. Thomann issued my credit before I bought the thing.
That's my experience. Sadly, shipping costs have spiked so I'm less likely to go to Thomann first, but I always consider them and look forward to making more purchases from a company that shows it is willing to earn my trust along with my money.
Thank & F.U.
A long time viewer
I have ordered 3 Harley Benton guitars. They all came in timely fashion and were decently made. My only beef is their pickups could be voiced maybe a little better. However I did buy them to be projects for learning how to mod and set up my own equipment. I love my guitars to death especially after I put in the work to make them mine.
Eargasm stole my channel name. Lawyering up for a blitz of cease and desist letters! 🤓🤘🏻🎸😜
Coming from someone who is a Blackmagic fan, I hate the new Pocket lineup they have been saturating the market with. I’ve used the Micro Cinema since 2019 and fully rigged it out for the productions I do and it has served me well for years. As of this year I moved to a “4k” cinema camera because clients refuse to go with someone who has tricks of the trade but go with someone with the trendiest camera. Personally use Z CAM because their community is top notch the the E2 M4 can shoot really good slow motion at Prores422.
I still use the Micro Cinema because the sensor is so damn good and continue to A-cam it on shorts and feature length movies but the Z CAM gets more gigs.
this might be a stupid question or might not but do record/produce genres other than metal? like, alternative rock, grunge, punk rock? if so, what advice do you have about working with these genres?
p.s. I'd love to see some fearless gear reviews on some fender models like the kurt cobain jaguar or jim root jazzmaster. love your videos, dude.
To the guy asking about being fat and playing. I grew up playing a Jackson King V and ended up playing in a more classical guitar position when sitting. So I actually play, right handed, with my guitar on my left knee. Also I have straps on all my guitars. I just dont like not having one. As i got heavier with age this seemed to really help. Playing with it on my right knee seemed almost impossible due to my belly. As Glenn mentioned though, losing weight is going to help a lot. Not here to preach, but as I lost the weight, I also gained so much energy and life just seemed better. It's tough, but its worth it in the end.
I only have 1 experience with thomann, i bought a peavy 5150mh and harley benton 2x12 cab. It was cheap, arrived in great condition and shipped extremely fast from Germany to Southwest, USA. 5/5 for my experience.
I have a bunch of guitars spanning a wide price spectrum from glarry to strandberg blah blah ect. My most recent purchase was a harley benton fusion III. I know some folks have really bad experiences with them, but with all the honesty in the world this HB was the most perfect set up guitar straight out of the box that I've ever bought. I've been playing it for about a month now and haven't adjusted a thing. Now, again I understand that might not be typical, I was just as shocked as anyone could be. But I think it should be said that they do send winners out(at least sometimes)to us common folks too.
I have three Harley Benton guitars. They look and sound great. My only issue was with the cream colored three-pickup SG style. The machine tuners were so bad that two just did not work. I had to go through some headaches to find like tuners where the knob stem would clear the headstock. $95 and a set of Gotohs later, I still had to do some lutherie work to get the new tuners installed. Good thing I have 32 years of lutherie experience, but if I was the average buyer then I would have felt exactly as your commenter did and would be just as leery of HB.
Today I bought the metallic blue R-446, which is a super-strat kind of model that's intended for high-gain playing (METAL)...for $127! I can't resist seeing what the heck this thing is going to look and play like. If you're interested. I'll drop a message on what I think - I'm a sucker for inexpensive guitars that are fantastic to play.
I think I'm guilty of the opposite of siding with corporations like Gibson. I personally hope that Solar does extremely well, knowing Ola Englund is behind that company. He seems like a nice guy and wanting to really push the craft over to what's good for him.
I bought 2 Harley Bentons in the last few months. The first one was one of their new Moserite-style guitars. It feels good and solid for the price, however, it has a GIANT stripe in the paint (think those racing stripes on some of those pawn shop edition Fenders), as if somebody set it on a rack before it was finished drying. I wanted to return it, but what they don't tell you is that if you order from the states and need to return it, you have to take it to a customs office AND you will not get your full money back as you are responsible for covering shipping. As much as I was annoyed by that, I decided to take a risk and try a different Harley Benton. I ordered one of their lake placid blue, double-bound tele copies. For $140 it's a damn fine guitar that feels great, but my heart sank a little when I noticed a huge crack in the clear coat at the top of the guitar. I was disappointed, but I also knew $140 gets you $140 worth of guitar. I'm going to try to fix it myself so it hopefully doesn't crack any further.
I just bought an Epiphone Limited Edition 59 Les Paul Standard. It has Gibson USA burstbuckers and 500k CTS pots. It's the result of the first ever collaboration between Epiphone and Gibson Custom Shop and it's fantastic, especially the neck profile. So you CAN get a Gibson Les Paul for hundreds, not thousands, it just says Epiphone on the headstock. This is my third Epiphone and each one is excellent. No complaints, they make excellent instruments.
just walked by a Tower Records store in Namba, Osaka, JP yesterday. We actually have 4 in Osaka. LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!
On an unrelated note I've begun the arduous process of building an evh franky tribute in Lord Edwards name. The build will feature a swamp ash body and 84 reissue floyd rose in addition to all the paint and hardware I will also be channeling some wierd vibes to get through all the relic work and paint but I think the guitar will be sonically capable of interdimensional travel my only concern is if a spirit attaches itself during the building process and throws off the neck and body weight. If anyone else 'knows' of high level lutherie techniques for building an "accurate" franky I would like to hear em. ☮
15:22 for those of you on a budget but really wanting to know a good camera to start with I think the Canon M50 is perfect. It does 4k if you want, it has clean HDMI out for live streaming and also does 1080p 60 for the slow motion b roll stuff and the UI is perfect for bass players. You can always upgrade the lens later but the kit lens it comes with is absolutely perfect to get started. That’s what I use and I don’t see any reason to go to a more expensive camera. I just upgrade the lenses and for photography as well.
Can only add that I've ordered a few Harley bentons to the UK (including the Gotoh Sc) and delivery has been excellent (well packed ect even though it's been free P&P) and I've had no Quality issues so far.
A better quality ratio than any other brand I've ordered over the last 30 years, So no complaints here.
Great show as always fella.
I bought a Harley Benton fanned fret 8 string at the start of the pandemic. I did have to do some fret leveling, general fret work, a set up and put EMG 909's in it (the routes were too big for 808's). Now it plays & sounds amazing. I recently bought a Strandberg 8 string that cost almost 7 times as much. I still had to do a fret level & setup to get it playing good. So, Harley Benton is definitely, not a bad deal for the price.
LOL, I love the nod to the Rip Torn quote. He stole the show with his role in that movie.
I'm using Alpine MusicSafe Pro ear plugs. They also use filtering, instead of blocking and only cost 25... Also with the multi-lamellar design (Christmas tree), they provide a very good fit.
Montreal. Montreal is the actual armpit of Canada. Me and some friends from the 10th mountain drove up there to see what the hype was. Almost immediately, some girl walks up to our car and "cleans" our windshield, without asking, with some dirty ass newspaper and then expected some sort of payment for it. The experience went downhill from there.
To be honest you could go to a reputable luthier and have them build you a guitar for less than Gibson, they’ll put the time in to make sure everything is spot on because a bad commission could tank their company.
Bought my first, and only, Gibson second hand about 2 years ago. Maybe I just got lucky, but i love it. Can’t speak for what they make now but only for the one I own. It sounds great, it’s got locking tuners so it stays in tune. However I do have guitars that are a lot less expensive that feel just as good so I see both sides. Play what guitars you have/ enjoy ❤️
GLEEEEeeeeEEEEeeEEEEEeeeeeEEEEENN!!!! The comment in this video about the damaged Harley Benton was spot on with my experience as well. I purchased a 5-string progressive bass through them and it arrived damaged and shorting out. They were nice enough to send me another one without requiring me to return the damaged one. Pretty cool I must admit! Problem is..... the second bass was damaged and shorting out as well. I really REALLY wanted to be one of those happy customers but sadly both basses (even after investing cash in fixing them) are now basically dust collectors in my collection. I got quite a bit of hate for my honest review of it when all I did was simply point out MY OWN personal experience. Is it too much to ask that even when buying cheap guitars that they..... I don't know... FUNCTION? Keep up the great work and oh yeah... Love the blood curdling screams! Two horns up... way up!
I wanted a Gibson Les Paul for many years, but I was always irritated at the price and quality issues. I looked at the more expensive Les Pauls, but they suffered the same issues with paint drips, chipping around the neck joint and trim. Then there is the issue with the fragility of the head. I eventually settled on an ESP and also got a PRS. No regrets with these guitars.
I've bought 2 guitars from Thomann and had them shipped to the U.K. one is a Hagstrom Ultra Swede the other a b stock Harley Benton PRS clone and they were both in perfect condition when arrived. Even the b stock took me weeks to find the cosmetic flaws on it so I do not have a problem with Thomann or Harley Benton
Keep up the stirling work dude
I have a Harley Benton Tele that I bought for $80 and souped it up with Gotoh locking tuners, Seymour Duncans, and a Wilkinson bridge that plays incredibly. I also bought the Explorer '84 copy and that plays great as well.
I like Gibson though. lol. And drum samples
One thing that finally buying myself a Gibson LP last year showed me is that I didn't really need one. It's a beautiful guitar, but its not really better than several of my other cheaper guitars. I'm just glad it's not a QC disaster.
I got the Amarok about a year and a half ago. It definitely needed to be set-up, but after a little TLC it was great! For the price, I don't think that's a big deal. I love the guitar and play it more than any of the others. The one gripe I have (I don't know if it falls on Thomann or UPS) is that on the checkout page, I had typed in instructions to not leave it on my doorstep if I didn't answer, because packages get stolen in my area. They left it on the doorstep. Thankfully it was there when I got home from work though, whew.
To balance out any negative comments - always enjoy your videos (even if I disagree with some of the stuff sometime). They're always super informative and provocative. It's really helped me with my little hobby of home recording and mixing - comparing what I do now to what I did several years ago is like comparing night and day. Thank you so much Glen 🤘🏻
I bought a tele style Harley Benton and it was ok. The frets were sharp as hell though. No issues with the finish or wood. Tuners weren't great either. I ended up giving it to a cousin.
Because of that guys comment on solar, I ended up checking them out - wow! Love the fact they have a reversed headstock, just like my Ibanez RGR420EX. You don't see that too often. I'm definitely interested in getting one! 😂 Potential customer here!
I’ve played one and it feels like an in between of a Jackson and an Ibanez. My friend can’t really properly set up a guitar if his life depended on it and I was still amazing even after his horrible set up
I have a Gibson Les Paul and it is fabulous to play and doesn’t have hardly any tuning issues in my experience.
That being said, it should be a really awesome guitar when you look at the price point.
When I play it Vs a cheap Jackson I have I do notice a difference, but a guitar that costs thousands should have better quality than one that is a third of the price.
Luckily I haven’t had the problems with my Gibson that so many people have.
Thanks for the videos Glenn!
We watch your Eargasm ads on Facebook all the time!
They stole my name! 🤓🎸🤘🏻
I have ordered 4 harley benton instruments so far
They're all on the more cheaper side on their lineups but they were all in good condition.
The edges of the body of the acoustic bass are a bit sharp but that's the only issue I have had with any of the instruments.
Everything else I ordered from them has also always been in great condition.
I have read reviews from a few years ago about quality control being spotty but I think that had been largely resolved by 2019 or something, so when I'm hearing reviews about that I think it's important to know when that happened.
Though I do live in europe so shipping damages are much less likely.
Many venues around here force you to use their in house guy without the option of using your own. We've inquired in the past and it's not as easy as it sounds for many places around here.
He didnt crack the neck finish himself. It acually goes way deeper than that! What's really happening is Glenn found Doc Brown and traveled back to the early 80s went to the gibson factory and changed the QC guidelines thereby tarnishing Gibson's name ever since!