Harley Benton TE-LH Electric Guitar Kit T-Style User Manual

Harley Benton TE-LH Electric Guitar Kit T-Style

Safety instructions

DANGER!
Danger for children
Ensure that plastic bags, packaging, etc. are properly disposed of and are not in the reach of babies and young children. Choking hazard! Ensure that children do not detach any small parts (e.g. knobs or the like) from the product. They could swallow the pieces and choke! Never let children play unattended with the product.

CAUTION!
Risk of injury to the hands
When assembling and screwing the individual parts, pay attention to sharp edges on tools, screws and components.

Scope of delivery

Thank you for buying this guitar kit. All the wood, hardware and electrical components of the guitar are contained in this package.
The picture below shows the individual items included in the delivery.

• The assembly is described in detail in the following sections.

Assembly instructions

Useful tools and materials

Provide the following tools and materials for the assembly of the guitar:

• Phillips screwdriver
• Rubber mallet
• Ring wrench
• Pliers
• Varnish and accessories
• Needle files
• Sandpaper

Body and neck should by all means be painted before assembly.
When applying spray lacquer or paint, you must wear a dust mask.

Cutting out headstock

Design the headstock with a suitable saw to your desired shape. Make sure there is sufficient clearance between the cutting edge and the peg holes for stability. As a reference here serve the retaining rings of the tuner mechanics.
Finally, deburr the cut edge with sandpaper or a suitable file.

Painting body and neck

Painting the body

The solid wood of the guitar body is sealed and prepared for various types of lacquer coating. A wide variety of finishes can be procured from DIY, timber and automotive outlets in aerosol cans making finishing straightforward without requiring specialist skills.
The first step is to check the fit of the body to the neck joint. These components are machined from high-grade tone woods to ensure optimum alignment. Since wood is a natural material, however, its shape changes slightly over time. If the fit is too tight, you can adjust it using a sharp chisel or sandpaper. Please remember that the additional lacquer coat will make the neck fit a little more tightly into the cutout. Before coating the body, ensure that all surfaces are clean and free of dirt and dust. Carry out all painting operations in a well-ventilated, dust-free environment. Considered and careful working is a key factor for a qualitatively satisfactory result. It is highly recommended that you first try out the color and technique on another piece of wood.
Paint the body edges first and let them dry. If the edges are dry, go on with front and back side. By layered, successive application you can achieve a uniform coating structure. If you notice surface irregularities, wait until the paint has dried completely and correct them with fine sandpaper (e.g. 800+) before proceeding to paint. For full coverage apply three or more layers. Hang the painted body to dry in a dry, dust-free and preferably sunlight-protected area using a wire or hook in the recess for the guitar neck.
Wait another two to three days until the paint is fully cured. Polish or burnish the body until it meets your expectations. Take care not to buff too vigorously as this may remove the finish.

Neck finish

The guitar neck is sealed with a thin layer of matt lacquer before delivery and is ready to use. If you still want to treat the neck with coloured or clear lacquer, proceed as follows.
Carefully mask off the fingerboard and all frets before painting. Make sure that all sur‐ faces are free of dust and dirt. Carry out all painting operations in a well-ventilated, dust-free environment.
For the neck, use a clear or slightly tinted wood paint of good quality. Start on the front and at the edges of the headstock. Apply a thin layer evenly, let it dry and repeat the process two or three times. If you notice surface irregularities, wait until the paint has dried completely and correct them with fine sandpaper (e.g. 800+) before proceeding to paint.
Once the headstock has dried, place the neck on the fingerboard and paint the back of the neck as described.
Wait another two to three days until the paint is fully cured. Polish or burnish the neck until it meets your expectations. Take care not to buff too vigorously as this may remove the finish.

Mounting the machine head

• Insert the four machine heads from the rear side of the headstock into the bores. Align the machine heads so that the tuning pegs are perpendicular to the top of the headstock.
  Fix the machine heads as shown in the figure in this position hand-tight with the sup‐ plied screws.

• Turn the neck and fasten all the machine heads finger-tight to the front of the head‐ stock with the washers and nuts provided.

• Tighten the nuts on the front with an appropriate spanner, then tighten the screws on the back firmly to fasten the tuners.

Mounting the string retainers

• Screw the two string retainers to the front of the head plate in the holes provided next to the tuners. The string retainer with the thicker spacer must be inserted into the hole that is closer to the saddle.
  Ensure the string retainers can still move freely. They will be secured by the tension of the strings.

Mounting the guitar neck

• Place the body on a suitable work surface. Use a soft pad in order to avoid damage to the surface. Insert the neck into the neck cutout. If necessary, use a sharp chisel or sandpaper to adjust it. Be very careful when removing material. The neck should be tight and never have too much clearance in the cutout!

• Turn the guitar over and position the neck plate over the four bolt holes at the rear of the body, then screw the four wood screws provided through the neck plate, body and pilot holes in the neck until everything fits tightly.

Wiring the potentiometers, pickups and switches

• The pickups and potentiometer plate are connected via cable connectors.
  As illustrated, run the cable connector for the bridge pickup through the recess into the cable channel as far as the recess for the potentiometer plate.

• Run the cable for earthing the strings (stripped, without connectors) through the channel in the recess for the potentiometer plate and into the recess for the bridge pickup.

• Next, pull the cable out of the hole far enough to ensure sufficient contact with the metallic surface when the bridge is installed. Earthing the strings reduces noise interference.

• Place the body on a suitable working surface. Use a soft pad in order to avoid damage to the surface. Insert the bridge with the pickup into the cutout on the body as illustrated.
  Ensure the pickup sits in the centre of the hole and is aligned with the pre- drilled screw holes. Attach the bridge using the supplied screws. If necessary, adjust the position of the earthing wire so that the bridge can be mounted flat on the guitar body using the fastening screws.

Mounting the pickguard, output jack and potentiometer plate

• First, adjust the width of the recess for the guitar neck on the pickguard with a needle file and/or sandpaper. Note the positions of the mounting holes for the pick‐ guard! Run the cable from the neck pickup into the recess for the potentiometer plate.

• Position the pickguard over the front of the body so that the neck pickup is seated in the correct recess. Screw the pickguard onto the body using the screws provided.

• Connect the pickup connector to the connectors for the potentiometer plate. Insert the output jack into the hole provided on the edge of the guitar body.

• Set the holder for the output jack in place and check whether the jack protrudes. It should stick out over the holder enough that it can be screwed firmly in place with the nut provided, but no further than necessary. Correct the position if necessary by turning the counter nut inside appropriately.
  Then screw the output jack holder onto the body.

• Screw the potentiometer plate onto the body using the screws provided.

Mounting the strap buttons

• Screw the strap buttons into the pre-drilled holes in the body as shown.

Strings, neck relief, string height and pickups

Stringing

• The strings are threaded from the bridge towards the neck over the corresponding saddle. Wrap the string end around the tuner several times and pull each string hand-tight at first. Be sure that each string is in the correct position on the saddle and in the correct string retainer.

• Then tune each string in turn to the correct pitch. You can using a tuner or a pitch pipe as a reference. Please note that the string tension will still drift and the guitar will need to be retuned a few times before the strings are played in.

Adjusting the neck relief

The neck is equipped with a steel truss rod that can be used to adjust the relief to your preferences. After tuning the strings, check the relief by pressing on the low E string at the first and twelfth fret. The closer the string is to the fingerboard at the sixth fret, the more noise (buzz) will be audible when the guitar is played. Adjust the neck relief using an appropriate Allen key as follows:

• Turn the truss bar clockwise to increase tension. The neck will become straighter, even convex in extreme cases. The string will be closer to the fingerboard, is easier to fret, but will buzz more during playing.
• Turn the truss bar counterclockwise to decrease tension. The neck will respond more to the string tension and become correspondingly more concave. The string will be farther from the fingerboard, be somewhat harder to fret, but will cause less or no noise during playing.

Adjust the truss bar only by about a quarter turn per setting, then retune all the strings to the correct pitch and check the neck relief again after a short time. Repeat this process until the desired neck relief is reached.

Adjusting the position of the strings

• Once the neck has the desired relief, you can use the screws for each saddle to adjust the string position to suit your taste. Here, too, the lower the strings, the easier they are to fret, but they will buzz more easily when the guitar is played.

After adjusting string position, you can check the octaves of the guitar and readjust if necessary. Tune all the strings to the correct pitch, gently touch the first string right above the twelfth fret and then pick the string. The resulting overtone (harmonic in the 12th fret) must have the same pitch as the string in the 12th fret. If the pitch of the two notes is different, move the bridge piece forward for this string (tone too low) or back (tone too high). Listen to the pitch of the two notes and make incremental changes until the two notes match. Alternatively, you can also adjust the octave clarity with an instrument tuner. In this case, the pitch of the tone at the 12th fret must be the same as the unfretted string, but one octave higher.

Adjusting the pickups

The pickups should be set so that all the strings sound equally loud when played. Adjust the height of the pickups by using the lateral adjustment screws and listening to the sound. The minimum distance between each string and its pickup is two millimeters. The greater the distance between the string and pickup, the quieter the string will sound.

Protecting the environment

Disposal of the packaging material

For the transport and protective packaging, environmentally friendly materials have been chosen that can be supplied to normal recycling. Ensure that plastic bags, packaging, etc. are properly disposed of.
Do not just dispose of these materials with your normal household waste, but make sure that they are collected for recycling. Please follow the notes and markings on the packaging.

Disposal of your old device

This product is subject to the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) in its currently valid version. Do not dispose with your normal household waste.
Dispose of this device through an approved waste disposal firm or through your local waste facility. When discarding the device, comply with the rules and regulations that apply in your country. If in doubt, consult your local waste disposal facility.

Customer Support

Thomann GmbH
Hans-Thomann-Straße 1
96138 Burgebrach
Germany
Telephone: +49 (0) 9546 9223-0
Internet: www.thomann.de
13.09.2022, ID: 115991, 542097 (V3)

References

• Buy musical instruments online from the market leader – Thomann United States

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