Wow! Harley Benton makes The Prinz!!!

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Mon Oct 14, 2013 4:44 pm

Thomann seems like a great company. They already shipped my guitar and gave me detailed tracking and contact info.

Check this out.A friend on another forum got it on Craigslist for $50. It's a Columbus copy of the TE Prinz made in 1980

Here is one of the new HS Anderson reissues made in Japan. These sell for around $3000

Here are some original Madcats teles a '79

and an '84.

Here is Prince's Hohner badged Madcat. His was made around 1977. It is the only Hohner badged one I have ever seen.

George · Post by **George** » Mon Oct 14, 2013 4:46 pm

Yeah I have no complaints about them. Very quick, excellent support and keen prices

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Mon Oct 14, 2013 4:52 pm

I was surprised the shipping to the USA was only $40.

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Mon Oct 14, 2013 5:13 pm

German state postal service is comparatively cheap, if they ship your guitar from Germany. To be honest I don't why.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Mon Oct 14, 2013 6:57 pm

This looks like a pretty good deal too AAA maple top and mahogany neck and body for less than $200.

Harley Benton L-450Plus Honey Burst - Thomann UK

Harley Benton L-450Plus Honey Burst

Harley Benton L-450Plus Honey Burst Vintage Series, Electric-Guitar, Mahogany Body, thomann Arched Flamed "AAA"-Grade Maple Top, Set-In Mahogany Neck, C-Shape, 628mm Scale, 43mm Nut Width, Rosewood Fretboard, 22 Frets, Trapez Fretboard Inlays, Creme Body & Neck binding, Double Action Trussrod, 2x Wilkinson Alnico V MWCHB Humbucker Pickups, 3-Way Toggle Switch, 2-Volume control, 2-Tone Control, thomann Kluson-Style Tuners, Deluxe Chrome Hardware, Colour: Hi-Gloss Honey Burst.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Mon Oct 14, 2013 7:08 pm

George wrote:Yeah I have no complaints about them. Very quick, excellent support and keen prices

I'll second that. They are as professional as you can get for an online service.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Tue Oct 15, 2013 12:07 am

Here is a youtube video of the HB Les Paul.

[youtube][/youtube]

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 6:35 am

Here is a Hohner "The Prince" made in Korea around 1988. It looks very similar to the Harley Benton down to the pickguard materiall.

This is the Harley Benton

and the Hohner

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 6:59 am

Here is a very early H.S. Anderson Mad Cat. Probably from around 1974

It has the original logo like the one in the original Mad Cat ad

Prince's original Hohner is an early Mad Cat rebadged with a Hohner sticker designed to cover the the curved H.S. Anderson logo.

Below is the logo circa 1979(black) and 1984(silver)

1984 Madcat(left) and 1979 Madcat(right)

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:03 pm

Found out the Harley Benton LPs com from the same factory as the Welch W-65 Lps

Probably the same guitar(that is a good thing).Here is a review from MLPF

"So I've had my Welch WG-65 for approximately 4 months so I thought I'd write a little review about it for anyone that's interested.

Features: My WG-65 is 2 piece mahogany body with flamed maple cap, long tenon set neck, rosewood fretboard with inlays. The stock pups are Wilkinson "Vintage Voiced" buckers. The nut is supposedly bone, and all the other hardware is Wilkinson.

Sound: The stock pickups sounded pretty good right out of the box, and compared to an Epiphone in the same price range they were a lot less "muddy" sounding and delivered on the classic LP tones. However, I had a set of D.Allens I was originally planning to put in an Epi Dot that I dropped into the Welch instead, and it REALLY sounds amazing now.

Action, Fit and Finish: The action was set just fine when it was delivered, but I always have my local luthier give my guitars a full set-up within the first week I own them. It really didn't take much for him to set it up to my usual liking, and it plays like an absolute dream. The fit and finish are nearly flawless. I have yet to find any indication of poor craftsmanship, and it is simply stunning to look at. IMO, it is much nicer than Epi's with flame top because to me it seems less generic looking and really has a great classic look to it. Pictures do not do it justice. My luthier said it felt and played just as nice as his Gibby LP the only difference was the neck slightly fatter. He couldn't believe what I paid for it.

Overall: I really love this guitar overall. I was looking for my first LP style guitar and I can't afford Gibson so I played quite a few Epiphone models in the same price range, but never bonded with any of them they always felt "off" to me. But the Welch just feels (and looks) like a higher quality guitar. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to pick up an affordable Les Paul."

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 1:34 am

The Pickguard on this Welch tele looks like the one on the Harley Benton "Prince" tele.Same bridge pickup too!

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 7:33 am

Seems churlish to complain at this price point, but those pickguards are horrific, and badly cut to boot. Hope yours is better! I'd be tempted to find some of the leopard print style stuff the originals had.

Also, what's the body thickness on these copies? Looks thinner than the standard tele in the group shot.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 7:41 am

Could be thinner like Affinities, or just the double binding giving that illusion.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 9:55 pm

I have a friend who said he could make me a guard but you can't get the leopard spot celluloid like the originals. That stuff came all came from one factory in Italy.But the stopped making it 40 years ago.

Thomann doesn't say anywhere that this is a copy of the Prince guitar but they do use very similar model numbers.

HS-TE80 and HB-TE80

pumpkin · Post by **pumpkin** » Tue Oct 22, 2013 7:13 am

I bought one this morning... damn you westtexasred...

Question, how are you lads in the states buying from Thoman.de? I didn't think they had a U.S. online store?

AaronGuitarDude · Post by **AaronGuitarDude** » Tue Oct 22, 2013 9:13 am

Is there any retail websites that I can buy these beauties?

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Tue Oct 22, 2013 9:27 am

I think Thomann is the only place you can buy Harley Benton stuff. They tend to just be rebranded items though so you might be able to find the same guitar under a different brand name elsewhere.

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Tue Oct 22, 2013 1:20 pm

pumpkin wrote:I bought one this morning... damn you westtexasred...

Question, how are you lads in the states buying from Thoman.de? I didn't think they had a U.S. online store?

Buy from the UK store, but ship to the US.

cur · Post by **cur** » Tue Oct 22, 2013 2:15 pm

Westie, these guys look like they can custom make what ever you want.

Lank!

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Tue Oct 22, 2013 5:39 pm

Lank don't work!?