I always wanted a Gibson Les Paul, but this was way out of my financial resources. The HB Single Cut Kit seemed a good alternative, as I already own a Harley Benton bass guitar & bass amp (both bought 2nd hand separately) and have been impressed with the quality and finish and I was keen to have a go at making my own instrument from a kit.
Delivery was fast and I was able to track the package with no problems - it was delivered to my door within a few days of ordering (I live in Sweden).
Opening the package - well packed with lots of protective air bubbles - I was pleased with the overall impression.
A couple of small points, though: the glue used in the construction was well spread across the front and sides of the body and needed a fair amount of sanding to remove the rough spots. Had I intended to finish the guitar with transparent finish, this would have entailed a lot more work, but I used opaque gloss lacquer, so it was only necessary to sand down carefully to obtain a smooth surface suitabel for painting.
Secondly, the cover for the truss rod at the headstock has been poorly cut, with very rough edges, which needed careful sanding to remove the roughness...
Assembly was straightforward, with no problems with the instructions supplied.
The finished guitar looks impressive and plays well - although I am only an amateur. It sounds great to my ears when played through my Fender Princeton Chorus amp and has a smooth action, easily adjusted by the truss rod and bridge.
All in all, very good value for money and for anyone prepared to put in a fair amount of effort (particularly in the finishing and setting up) I would recommend anyone to give it a go with one of these kits.
Would I buy another HB kit? Well, I already have a T-style and DC-style kit in my Thomann wish list. If I could find a kit for an HB-35 CH Vintage series, that would go on the wish list too. I think that says it all.
Additional comments after buying a second one of these kits:
1. It would be great if Thomann/Harley Benton could offer a kit without the sealer applied - it takes an awful lot of sanding to remove this if you want to apply a stain finish rather than a paint.
2. The second kit arrived on time with quite a few extra screws included, together with an extra 3-way switch...
3. While the wiring supplied is mostly shielded cable, the plug in connectors at the volume pots and the 3-way switch are totally unshielded, and in the case of the switch, seem to be unreasonably long.
4. The wiring harness itself also seems to be extra long. Not sure if it's this or the unshielded portions of the cables, but I found a degree of hum on plugging in to my amp, which disappeared when touching the strings. Tested the same cable and amp with several other guitars and no hum. All the earth connections inside the guitar test OK with a multimeter, so I'm now in the process of a) shortening the wiring harness and removing the unshielded wires, soldering the shielded wires directly to the various switches instead and b) applying copper shielding to the control and switch cavity to see if this helps....
Otherwise, I'm still pleased overall with the kit!