thomann Harley Benton JA User manual

Electric Guitar Kit JA
do it yourself kit
user manual

Musikhaus Thomann
Thomann GmbH
Hans-Thomann-Straße 1
96138 Burgebrach
Germany
Telephone: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.thomann.de
20.11.2019, ID: 464648

Table of contents
1 Safety instructions................................................................................................................. 4
2 Scope of delivery..................................................................................................................... 5
3 Assembly instructions.......................................................................................................... 6
3.1 Cutting out headstock................................................................................................... 6
3.2 Painting body and neck................................................................................................ 7
3.3 Mounting the machine head...................................................................................... 8
3.4 Mounting the string retainer....................................................................................... 9
3.5 Mounting the guitar neck.......................................................................................... 10
3.6 Mounting pickguard and pick-up........................................................................... 11
3.7 Mounting bridge and tailpiece................................................................................ 17
3.8 Strings, neck relief, string action and pick-ups................................................... 18
3.9 Mounting the strap pins............................................................................................. 23
4 Protecting the environment........................................................................................... 24
Table of contents
Electric Guitar Kit JA
3

1 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.
Safety instructions
do it yourself kit
4

2 Scope of delivery
Thank you for buying this guitar assembly kit. All wooden parts, hardware and elec‐
trical components are contained in this package.
The following gure shows the individual components of the delivery.
The assembly is described in detail in the following sections.
Scope of delivery
Electric Guitar Kit JA
5

3 Assembly instructions
Provide the following tools and materials for the assembly of the guitar:
nPhillips screwdriver
nRubber mallet
nRing wrench
nPliers / wire cutter
nVarnish and accessories
nSandpaper
Body and neck should by all means be painted before assembly.
When applying spray lacquer or paint, you must wear a dust mask.
3.1 Cutting out headstock
Design the headstock with a suitable saw to your desired shape. Make sure there is
sucient clearance between the cutting edge and the peg holes for stability. As a ref‐
erence here serve the retaining rings of the tuner mechanics.
Finally, deburr the cut edge with sandpaper or a suitable le.
Useful tools and materials
Assembly instructions
do it yourself kit
6

3.2 Painting body and neck
The solid wood of the guitar body is sealed and prepared for various types of lacquer
coating. A wide variety of nishes can be procured from DIY, timber and automotive
outlets in aerosol cans making nishing straightforward without requiring specialist
skills.
The rst step is to check the t of the body to neck joint. These parts are machined
from high-grade tone woods to ensure optimum alignment. However, wood is a nat‐
ural material that changes its shape slightly over time. If the neck is too tight in the
cutout on the body, you can rework the t with a sharp chisel or sandpaper. Please
keep in mind that the coating of lacquer will make the neck t 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. Consid‐
ered and careful working is a key factor for a qualitatively satisfactory result. It is
highly recommended that you rst try out the colour and technique on another
piece of wood.
Paint the body edges rst 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 struc‐
ture. If you notice surface irregularities, wait until the paint has dried completely and
correct them with ne sandpaper (e.g. 800+) before proceeding to paint. For full cov‐
erage 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 bu too vigorously as this
may remove the nish.
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 o the ngerboard 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 ne sandpaper (e.g. 800+)
before proceeding to paint.
Once the headstock has dried, place the neck on the ngerboard 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 bu too vigorously as this may
remove the nish.
Painting the body
Neck nish
Assembly instructions
Electric Guitar Kit JA
7

3.3 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 gure in this position hand-tight with the sup‐
plied screws.
Turn the neck over and x all machine heads hand-tight with the supplied washers
and nuts on the front of the headstock.
Assembly instructions
do it yourself kit
8

Tighten the nuts on the front with a suitable wrench, and then tighten the screws to
secure the machine heads on the rear side.
3.4 Mounting the string retainer
Secure the two string retainers on the front of the headstock in the holes provided
next to the machine heads. The string retainer with the larger spacer must be in the
hole that is closer to the saddle.
Make sure that the string retainers can still move freely. These are only xed by the
tension of the strings.
Assembly instructions
Electric Guitar Kit JA
9

3.5 Mounting the guitar neck
Place the body on a suitable work surface. Use a soft padding to prevent damages to
the surface. Fit the neck into the neck cutout. If necessary, use a sharp chisel or sand‐
paper for reworking. Be very careful when removing material. The neck should be
tight and never have too much clearance in the cutout!
Turn the guitar over, position the mounting plate over the four screw holes on the
back of the body and screw the four supplied long wood screws through the holes in
the mounting plate into the body and neck until the connection is rm.
Assembly instructions
do it yourself kit
10

3.6 Mounting pickguard and pick-up
The pots, switches and output socket are already pre-assembled on the pickguard
and only need to be connected to ground. Pickguard and pick-ups need to be bolted
to the body.
Thread the string-earthing cable (stripped, without connectors) through the channel
from the back hole into the bridge mounting hole.
Lead the cable out of the hole so that sucient contact with the metal surface can be
achieved when tting the bridge. String earthing reduces noise (buzzing).
Assembly instructions
Electric Guitar Kit JA
11

Using a rubber mallet, hammer the mounting bolts of bridge and tailpiece all the
way into the body as shown. Make sure there is sucient contact between the
stripped end of the grounding cable and the bridge bolt.
Assembly instructions
do it yourself kit
12

Screw the bridge and tailpiece mounting bolts into the bracket.
Place the pickguard on the front of the body so that all the wiring is in the recess
provided. Screw the pickguard to the body with the screws provided, as shown in the
following gure.
Assembly instructions
Electric Guitar Kit JA
13

Put the supplied inserts into the recess of the bridge pick-up.
Screw the provided screws into the holes of the two pick-ups.
Assembly instructions
do it yourself kit
14

Insert the supplied springs onto the screws of the pick-ups.
Assembly instructions
Electric Guitar Kit JA
15

Insert the pick-ups into the recesses and screw the pick-ups to the body. Make sure
that the wiring of the pick-ups is placed so far under the pickguard and pads so that
they are neither obstructing when screwing the pick-ups nor visible.
Assembly instructions
do it yourself kit
16

3.7 Mounting bridge and tailpiece
Place the body on a suitable work surface. Use a soft padding to prevent damages to
the surface.
Put the bridge and the tailpiece onto the mounting bolts. Both components are still
loose and are only xed when stringing the guitar.
Assembly instructions
Electric Guitar Kit JA
17

3.8 Strings, neck relief, string action and pick-ups
The strings are threaded on the tailpiece and led over the bridge and the string
saddle. Thread the strings into the holes of the machine heads, wrap the end of the
string a few times around the peg, and then hand-tighten each string. Make sure that
the individual strings are in the correct saddle position as well as in the corre‐
sponding string retainer.
Stringing
Assembly instructions
do it yourself kit
18

Then tune all the strings in sequence to the correct pitch. You can use a tuner or a
pitch pipe as a reference. Note that the string tension will drop a little and the guitar
needs to be retuned several times until the strings stay in tune.
Shorten the protruding ends of the strings with a wire cutter.
Assembly instructions
Electric Guitar Kit JA
19

The neck is equipped with a steel truss rod, with which the neck relief can be
adjusted individually to the playing habits.
After tuning the strings, check the neck relief by pressing the low E string on the rst
and twelfth fret. The closer the string is to the ngerboard at the sixth fret, the more
noise (buzzing) will be heard when playing the guitar.
Adjust the neck relief with a suitable Allen key as follows:
nTurn the truss rod clockwise to increase the tension. The neck becomes
straighter, in extreme cases convex. The string is closer to the ngerboard, easier
to grip but causes more background noise when playing.
nTurn the truss rod counter-clockwise to decrease the tension. The neck yields
more to the string tension and accordingly curves concave. The string moves
away from the ngerboard, is a bit harder to grip, but causes less to no back‐
ground noise when playing.
Adjust the truss rod by about a quarter turn per setting, tune all strings to the correct
pitch after each adjustment, and check the neck relief again after some time. Repeat
the process until the desired neck relief is achieved.
Adjusting neck relief
Assembly instructions
do it yourself kit
20