Harley Benton PB-Shorty LH BK Std. Series

Lovely instrument and well set up out of the box. I have added some shielding to get rid of some hums, apart from that it didn't need anything. Action and Relief were good. I'll probably change the strings soon, and might play with the capacitor value on the tone control.... at the price of this bass I can comfortably take it apart and play around without fear! Great buy.

Edit: I have had it a few weeks now. After sorting out the shielding issues (copper tape in the cavity and nail varnish on the pickup poles) I noticed that one of the pickups was microphonic: when I tapped the pickup housing I could hear the tapping through the amp. Pup probably needs re-potted. I swapped the pickups for some cheap Chinese ones and that fixed the problem. Put on some Daddario EXL220S strings when I put it back together. All sounds great. And I'm enjoying learning about the inner workings of a bass!

For what you're paying you're getting an extremely nice starter bass that you'd most likely pay around ?200+ for in another music shop.

The neck on my one is flawless and very playable, the finishing on the fretboard and frets is also excellent. The tuning heads are of a decent quality and I can't tell yet whether I'll have to put something like a set of Schaller's on it.

The body of the bass is beautifully finished and extremely light. As for the pickup and electronics, they're functional. Obviously it's not going to sound like a thousand euro bass, but for the price you pay you're really getting a lot for under ?80.

I plan on replacing the pickup with a Seymour Duncan P-Bass pickup, but for the absolute beginner there's not a thing wrong with the stock pickup and the shielding appears excellent.

In short, if you have a measly ?79 in your account and were thinking of giving the bass a try then spend it on this before you waste your money on something that won't last a 1/100th of the time that this bass will last you.

What is so good about these low cost Harley Benton B&W lefty guitars is that fresh out of the box with a minimal setup, they make for a great first instrument. All the hardware and electronics are fit for purpose and fully durable. What really shines is the sheer quality of the necks - fine grained wood and excellent fretwork. As a newcomer to playing bass, I had decided beforehand that my HB PB-20 Shorty was to be converted into a keeper I could bond with. I fitted brass saddles and a custom made brass top nut, good quality flat wound strings and a set of top quality pickups. After a proper setup, I now have a wonderful sounding precision bass style guitar that is a pleasure to play. Either way, it was a bargain out the box, and a bargain after my upgrade. I would have to pay a lot more money for an instrument in anyway better than what I now have. I would recommend the HB PB-20 Shorty bass to anyone - regardless of their ability or musical intentions.