Harley Benton MS-60 VW Vintage Series

It showed up in 9 days. A new record, I hadn't even bothered to track it yet.

Arrived unscathed. The only other HB guitar I was really jones-ing for the HB35 was still out of stock and I had 30 Euro credit that was set to expire. I had emailed Thomann about the possibility of an offset style guitar in left handed showing up soon and they said no. (of course, the day after I placed my order the hard tail Jazzmaster showed up on the site...I think they get customer service tips from Mr. Z)

Right off the bat, I pulled off the strings to make it a lefty. Lucky for me, the nut was not glued in place, so all I had to do was put a drop of Elmers on it and reseat it.

The bridge I tried to flip the saddles, but no dice they wouldn't come out so I just set it as close to intonated as possible. The only string I am having trouble with is the E, so I might Mick Jagger this and rip off the E.

It is a chunky little guy, does not feel like a toy at all despite the short scale and small body. It definitely doesn't neck dive...

Tuners are nice and smooth, no play or slop and they hold tune as long as you don't use the whammy.

The bridge is the downfall on this guy, it rocks enough to keep it in tune if you are really gentle with the whammy, but it will not return to pitch it you push it too hard. I am going to get a Wilkinson roller and while I am at it I will fill the current bridge holes and convert it to a lefty for real and angle the bridge correctly.

Pickups sound nice, not really like a Mustang, but they are very good. I especially like the neck pup. It is pretty muscular sounding. The bridge pup is pretty weak sounding, but in a good way. They really complement one another well with both engaged.

Neck is the highlight on this thing. It is a very nice quasi-vintage tint with a satin feel. Frets are vintage sized (pre-06 Fender size). They really fit the vibe of the guitar.

Headstock is rather small, but very tasteful, I especially like the "Fine Quality Sound" in fine print at the end of the headstock.

Finish is almost mint green as opposed to vintage white, but I like it. I think it would look sweet with a red tort pick guard and a chrome Mustang control plate.

How does it play? excellent, no issues playing up to the 17th fret (really good for a righty flipped to lefty) and the controls are out of the way, a right angle cord is all that is really needed. IT is even comfortable to use the trem. I am going to move the strap button to a neck screw and it should be good to go.

The bad? The pickguard is pretty dorky looking. I wish they spent a few more dollars and put a proper control plate on it. The bridge should have been a roller or at least barrel saddles. The Pickups aren't installed the same way (the staggered "B" string pole is on the A string on the neck pickup)

This was my first Harley Benton and i was very dissapointed with the setup, there was major fret buzz nearly everywhere on the frets. It took me about 3 hours to set it up correctly so their QC really needs to be checked. Tuners are decent but they do need replacing as they kept slipping even after 4 days of use.

Anyway enough of the bad here is the good sort of.

Once it was setup it is a great guitar for the money. It really looks vintage too with the ivory colour. The sound has a 70's vibe to it which i love. It feels very easy to play not the best but good.

Overall a great value guitar. All though you need to spend a bit more getting a decent setup and better tuners. but for the price it can't be beat. I will be buying another HB for sure.

Cons:
-Low E string binded to the neck above the nut. This got sorted whit a little filing on the neck
-Jag style tremolo unit is hard to set up because there is no trem lock button. I Blocked the tremolo system anyway.
-Could not set the action low enough. High e was at 2.2mm. Had to shim the neck.
-Input jack had a grounding problem. Sorted out with a little soldering.

Pros:
-Wilkinson pickups sound great
-Neck feels really smooth whit no frets stiking out
-Frets were leveled nice, no buzzing.
-Tuners seem solid.
-After fixing all the cons it plays great.
-Mustang shape is nice :D

Overall i would not recommend this guitar to any one who doesn't want to get their hands dirty fixing all the problems in it. But after fixing all the cons its a great nice guitar to mod or just to play.

For the price, this is a good guitar in terms of playability. The neck is fairly nice, the frets could do with a little bit of work but they're not too bad, the nut is good (even if a little rough), the tuners stay in tune fairly well, the bridge is passable, and the pickups & electronics don't have any problems.

That's where the positives end, unfortunately. This guitar is ridiculously heavy. I know Harley Bentons in general have a bit of a reputation of not exactly being the lightest guitars, but I did not expect this shortscale Mustang-esque guitar to be as heavy as it is. And it's not even a case of Thomann paying less attention to the weight of the wood they use in order to keep down the price, no, the body itself is thick. It's as thick as the body on my Fender Telecaster Standard AND it's heavier than that. I don't understand why the body has to be as thick as it is, considering how much unnecessary weight it's adding.

There's also just a general lack of care, especially when it was delivered. It was as if it was hastily packaged & chucked about in the factory. When I got it, one of the strings was snapped (not a big deal at the time, as I had another set I wanted to put on it anyway) & it came with a left handed trem arm, for whatever reason. I don't even think this guitar has a left handed version. And something in the trem system must have not been screwed in properly, as the bit where you put the trem arm in has collapsed into the bridge.

Don't buy this, even if the price is tempting. Look at the Squier Mustang Super Sonic instead.