Love and hate?

[blackcat]

Wondering if anyone hear has experienced a sense of blowing hot and cold ( and then hot again perhaps ) on a given guitar. My cheapie ( 209€ ) Harley Benton HB 35 + is my 'knockabout' - goes everywhere and is the one 1/5 of my intsrumentsthat I care least about. Except that................when it arrived from Thomann, there was work to be done on the upper frets, the pots definitely needed changing, the tuners needed changing ( and the three RH holes are not even equal to those on the left ) and fitting TI 12s, the tension was sufficient to completely flatten the curvature on the soft/base metal 'TOM' ( now changed to Gotoh version ). Pickups however, sound great and I love the neck profile and the overall appearance ( maybe not the 'F' holes so much ).

Thing is that at times, I put it to one side and play my Ibanez or Eastman or maybe a Tele BUT, always end up coming back to this thing. Anyone else experience mixed feelings like this - or is it just me?!

David

[Marcel_A]

I see what you mean. I have that with my wife.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I see what you mean. I have that with my wife.

If I were you, I'd clear my cache and delete my browser history and cookies immediately, Marcel!

From 48+ years of marriage, I've observed that the best wives are like vintage Gibsons. The basic design, materials, and construction were all equally high - only the embellishments and personality differed. Some of us prefer a Florentine cutaway, some a Venetian, and some none at all - but whichever we chose, it was executed with the same quality and precision. We could choose from among long scale, short scale, P90, 'bucker, etc and be assured it would be a fine example. Whether your 1949 is an L5 or a 125, it's very well made for the long haul and a loyal companion who will consider and respond to your needs as you consider hers. You take care of each other. I found and married a Super 400, and she still has her original parts plus an original finish that's taken on a lovely patina. She was well worth the investment

I have no experience with more recent models (and have no need or desire to get any). But my observations on those chosen by my friends and colleagues suggest that the same maladies plaguing the guitar industry may also have crept into the spousal market. Current offerings have more glaring compromises, seem to require replacement of far more parts than vintage models, and rely on flash and visual effects to get our attention. And the flip rate is astonishing - my current blues quartet (together for 15 years) has gone through 12, of whom only mine and the drummer's are original.

If you love more about anything than you hate, it's a keeper!

PS: In all seriousness, I've gone through that with a few guitars too. But it was usually a "great deal" on something I probably would never have bought at the current market price. And only one turned out to be a keeper. I got a new Epi Les Paul 7 from Sam Ash in the '90s. They'd apparently commissioned a run of these well before there was a production LP7 and they couldn't give them away to the only market they had for solid 7s (which was metalheads). The hardware was rough, the pickups were mediocre, and it was heavy as lead. 20+ years later, it sports Grover tuners from a 12 string set I got on clearance, a Tusq nut, and a single EMG in the neck spot. The original hardware is gone and the bridge PUP rout is filled, along with the holes for the second set of pots and the PUP selector switch. It's carrying a 70 7th under a set of XL Chromes, and it's been a great beater that's gone on many gigs. I was going to sand down the top and refinish it until I realized that I didn't even know if that "grain" was real or photoflame. So I made a wood plug and fit it with a paste of sawdust and white glue before trying to match it with furniture touchup sticks under slightly tinted poly.

[ccroft]

I think most of us have this. You play one for a few years and then decide to upgrade or try something different. You put the old one in the case and fall in love with the new thing. You start thinking about selling the old thing. You pull it out to see how it's doing and Voila! "I love this old thing. I think I'll start playing it more."

In short, it's probably why so many of us have so many of the darn things. I haven't been able to sell a guitar in 30 years myself.

BTW: I've been married for...umm (math)...46 years. I did have the opportunity to try several other models before settling on this one though :-)

[Marcel_A]

ccroft,

Just to be sure, you are not talking about your wife/husband?

[Gitterbug]

Harley Benton is a good example of how difficult it is for a brand to struggle from bargain basement to mainstream. The stigm will never wear off, I'm afraid. Your case is "intermediate" in that a basically good product suffers from low-grade hardware. I have a LP clone with Roswell PUs for testing purposes. For the money, excellent. No changes needed. The recent thinlines I've tried are just great.

By and large, irrespective of the price point, a guitar should be usable with the hardware and electronics it comes with. Changing components subjects you to retail-priced, high-margin items and requires quite a bit of time. Hobbies cost.

OTOH, sometimes, you get more than what you pay for. I've had an on and off love affair with 12-string electrics since my early rock'n'roll days in the 1960s. The current Yorkville 12-string Tele clone had a list price of 99 GBP. (A luthier looking at the woods thought 2.5K.) The bridge alone, with individual intonation for all 12 strings, should have cost more.

[Litterick]

Good grief.

[Archie]

I think you're confusing being a cheapskate with a french movie.

We all love a good deal.

My friend has been collecting guitars for more years than i’ve been alive and his hands down favourite, is one I bought off here for £200.

We all love a story and we all love a trier. The little engine that could will always play you, more than you play it. (Ok I cringed at that one)

I have 10 fantastic archtops yet the guitar I practice on and therefore play the most, is a cheap romanian classical guitar I somehow acquired.
I was going to take it to Martinique (where I’m currently on holiday) and if they would have disallowed it as hand luggage at Orly Paris, I would have left it there in the airport, without a second thought.

[blackcat]

ccroft,

Just to be sure, you are not talking about your wife/husband?

Definitely not! Wife has been here 43 years and the Harley Benton just 7

[kris]

Definitely not! Wife has been here 43 years and the Harley Benton just 7

Besides, the wife is not made of wood.

[ruger9]

Besides, the wife is not made of wood.

Thank goodness, because then we'd have to "burn her!"

[ccroft]

Once again I'm amazed at the number of guys here who have long marriages! Kinda the opposite of the public perception of jazz musicians.

[Gitterbug]

51 years, with the same woman!

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Once again I'm amazed at the number of guys here who have long marriages! Kinda the opposite of the public perception of jazz musicians.

And after 49 years, I say in all sincerity that it’s been the best seven years of my life! [insert cymbal crash here]

[Marcel_A]

20 years and still going strong, but I am relatively young.

[Doctor Jeff]

Back in the day we all lusted after Barbi Benton. Is Harley her sister?