The Harley Benton PB-Shorty!

Here's a tiny P-bass guitar made by Harley Benton (Thomann.com). It's an ultra short-scale instrument designed for ease of use and portability. This is a really small bass guitar. Its body is actually smaller than a stratocaster guitar body but the tuning is standard EADG on 0,40" strings. The scale is 762 mm (30 inch) but as I said, the tuning is in standard-E. This bass costs about 66Euros and it's managed to get a 4/5 star rating by 283+ reviewers!


http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbp90bk_shortscale_ebass.htm?partner_id=73786

Here are its original specs:
Harley Benton PB-Shorty BK Standard Series short-scale electric bass.
Bolt-on neck construction, poplar body, maple neck with modern C-shape, 
Rosewood fretboard with DOT inlays, 19 frets, 762mm scale, 
42mm nut-width, Double-action truss rod,
1 x PB-style pickup, electronics: 1-volume & 1-tone, 
Chrome hardware, classic PB-style tuners, 
040-095 strings, 
Color: hi-gloss Black,
Gig bag: optional (# 121548)



The bad:
As many harley benton instruments, this bass came with no setup at all. The action was high, the intonation was way off and the tuners, bridge etc were loose. All of these things can be easily fixed and adjusted though. 

Fixes:
At first, I had to tighten up every bolt. Then, I replaced the stock strings with a fresh Harley Benton 0,40 set. The stock strings are not good, H.Benton strings are way better, trust me on this one!
Then, I set the bass for low action and perfect intonation. The double action truss rod is a great feature as it makes the neck relief adjustment much easier. One can use 0,45" strings on this bass but I think 0,40" are the best for its scale.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_bentonvaluestrings_ebass_light.htm?partner_id=73786

The good:
This bass is nicely built with a solid poplar body, a maple neck and there's high quality hardware on it. The fretwork is good and you should be able to get low to medium string action depending on your playing style and picking attack.
 The tuners are massive elephant ear type and the electronics are pretty good. The precision dual coil pickup is hot due to its ceramic magnetic bars and its 8,5kOhm series DC resistance. Tone-wise, there's plenty of output and low end despite the size of this bass. The neck is very comfortable and a kid or a guitar player will find this bass quite easy to use and practice on. I got this bass just for fun but it turns out it's really good for gigs, practicing and even live use! It's pretty reliable if you take care of it.
Then, there's the Thomann warranty if you find any big problems with your new instrument and that's very useful in some cases. Luckily, this wasn't one of them!
At  ~66Euros, it's a steal... and if it ever gets stolen, I'll order a new one right away!

 Cheers,
Thanos