Harley Benton JB75 - are the BLACK inlays real or painted?

Pier_

Pier_

Dec 22, 2013
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Roma, Italia
#1
hi! I bought a HB JB75 (sunburst with rosewood fingerboard), and it's working better than I could imagine.
I sold my other basses when I realized that this one was working pretty good and had a wonderful fret-work (I like to keep my action the lowest possible).

mine has a two pieces ash body, weights at least 4kg, not more, and I'm really enjoyning it.

Picasa Web Albums - Pierfrancesco Sanò - Harley Benton...

I know and can see that the inlays and the binding are real (plastic), and not painted. I've had a couple of Squier Vintage Modified, and the black inlays and binding were painted, and the same apply to the Geddy Lee signature (at least the Japan one, don't know if the recent Mexican has them painted).

so, a friend of mine was interested in the Harley Benton with maple fretboard, but aske me if the inlays were painted or "real". I couldn't give him an answer, so I'm asking you about it.

thanks a lot!
 
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#3
Some inlays are indeed painted on, but other times it's a visual misunderstanding... What they do is use a black adhesive to bond them into the maple fingerboard and when this gets radiused or sanded down later, the glue can smear a touch and it can looks like a blurred paint edge. If they were to use the same glue as they do with pearl or other inlays, you'd see the imperfect edges more.

Harley Bentons are on the extremely cheap side, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were painted, but some Chinese factories don't charge much of a premium for simple blocks - so they could well be real.
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