HARRIER THUNDER BASSES?

[MIJ-VI]

I wonder if the Harrier instruments are equivalent to the SX instruments

Nah! They'll be made in a different corner of the factory...

 

[Baker69]

I also have a harrier thunder bass - i got it about a year ago and it has seved me well

Yes the Harrier is a super bass considering the price, although I did note the other day that they have now gone up in price to just under the £ 100 mark. (about $143).

Since I've had mine I dropped on a nice set of used Fender MIJ Jazz pickups which cost me £ 13 ( about $18) and it now sounds even better than before!

I have also replaced the stock white Scratchplate with a Black one which cost me £ 7.50 (about $10) so it is now a pretty cool looking and cool sounding Jazz Bass.

When I changed the pickups I was very surprised to see that there is no cavity shielding whatsoever, why I say 'surprised' is that this bass is pretty noiseless!

 

[slim_jim]

Sorry to bump an old thread but having found this page while deliberating on buying one of these basses I thought I'd add my impressions for anyone else thinking of splashing out.

I ordered one of these recently as Harrier have a sale on so I figured I'd take the plunge; I'm left handed and not primarily a bass player so finding an instrument to meet my needs was somewhat challenging. For £78.99 delivered I could not resist.

On unpacking it and checking for any obvious dings the first thing I did was remove the awful Harrier logo with some of the wife's nail polish remover and one of her scouring pads now noone needs to know!

There ARE some quality issues with this guitar. The guide dots on the side of the fretboard are somewhat haphazard with the octave position in particular looking like it's been put in by a 6 year old. I will post pics later, after tea

Additionally, the fret ends are quite sharp, but that's not a major problem as I can smooth them out myself. Some of the inlays on the fretboard have not been installed very well and rise out of the fingerboard, albeit by fractions of a millimeter. As a previous poster mentioned the fretboard is also stained and the workmanship here is somewhat lacking in class also.

The bridge intonation screws also seem to be made of some sort of low quality white metal which pretty much disintegrated as soon as they came into contact with a screwdriver. I WAS able to correctly intonate it (Harrier say in their email that a setup will be performed before delivery but I am dubious) however I had to force the saddles back by hand as the thread on the screw wasn't giving me any purchase.

The pickups don't appear to be spring loaded so I will have to collect some expired ball point pens to rob springs from if I ever want to be able to adjust the pickup height.

The strings which come installed are fairly rough but what do you expect.

The frets are tall and will require some work, I expected a project when I bought this thing so fair enough.

On the positive side it's a comfortable weight, well balanced, the neck is great and it plays really well!

Plug this thing in, and it really comes to life.

I visited my bass player's house today to try it out through his Ashdown and the sound was just great. This guy owns Ricks and Fender Jazzes and he even remarked on how great it sounded!

Bottom line, very good value for less than £80 but you will get what you pay for in terms of workmanship. I always viewed this purchase as a project so I am quite happy with it and it works just great in the mean time.

A few mods here and there and this thing will be rocking.

 

[slim_jim]

Oh yeah, one other minor gripe; the ad shows the volume and tone knobs as black with the white line like you get on a proper J-Bass, the one delivered had silver knobs similar to what you get on a Telecaster. Not the end of the world I know but I thought it was worht mentioning nonetheless.

 

[Baker69]

Hi slim_jim,

I think mine came with far fewer problems than yours seems to have, there was nothing wrong with the frets on mine for one thing, and it came with the 'proper' black knobs. (My bass is also left handed by the way!).

There was a minor ding in the body and the intonation was out.

But for the money (£59.95 when I bought mine) you can't grumble and it was only bought as a practice bass but I have actually gigged with it.

As I said in an earlier posting I dropped some second hand genuine MIJ Fender Jazz Bass pickups in and it sounds even better now.

I agree with the logo - hideous, although I haven't thought about sanding it out or anything. I'm not trying to make out it's anything that it's not.

Great bass for the money though.

 

[slim_jim]

Cheers Baker69, I am very happy with the bass for the money however it does require a little bit of work here and there. For the money you really can't complain and a lot of the faults are cosmetic. Replace a screw here, file a fret there.. no big deal. It's certainly a hell of a lot better than any Encore/Westfield/Rockton piece of rubbish that would cost double out of a guitar shop!

I always remove the logo on these sort of 'project' type purchases; I'd rather just have a blank headstock. For instance, I might buy the odd bit of cheap clothing from the supermarket once in a while but I wouldn't walk around town in a sweatshirt emblazoned with 'ASDA George' on it!

When I get some time maybe I'll sit down with photoshop and design my own custom logo stencil to put on it I also plan to replace one of the pots (any idea what rating these are?) with a push/pull to allow me to switch between series and parallel wiring.

Where did you manage to get Fender pups so cheap btw?

Take care
Jim

 

[baron665]

I have also replaced the stock white Scratchplate with a Black one which cost me £ 7.50 (about $10) so it is now a pretty cool looking and cool sounding Jazz Bass.

I got some of that Krylon paint for plasitc, and painted my white pickguard black, but first I put some peel and rub stickers on it, then painted it, then removed the stickers. Looks pretty sweet on a P bass. Still costed under $10.00(US).

 

[Baker69]

Where did you manage to get Fender pups so cheap btw?

Got them off evil bay mate!

The Fender pickups give a slightly warmer sound, but as you say the stock pickups weren't too bad at all.

Don't know what value the pots are, I presume 250k but never noticed.

The bodies are supposed to be Alder as well aren't they?

 

[slim_jim]

Hello again,

I haven't had the scratch plate off yet to check out the body but the listing does state it's alder; solid or laminate I don't know.

I did remove the plate which houses the volume and tone pots but they just seem to be stamped with a logo and no indication of what their ratings are. I'll probably end up replacing all three with something more authentic to a genuine J-Bass at some point anyway.

Not having much luck finding pickups at the sort of price you mentioned but I need to watch the pennies for the time being anyway I'm happy enough with the sound as it is so we'll see how things are next month!

 

[slim_jim]

I shimmed the neck on my Harrier the other day and the body is indeed solid alder. Since the shim it plays absolutely marvelously!

 

[Baker69]

Hi Slim Jim, Has yours got the weird fretboard overhang at the end of the neck? What's that all about? I meant to give the intonation another go but haven't got round to it yet, not my strong point in bass maintenance but I've also wondered whether the frets are incorrectly spaced? I need to compare it with my Jazz Bass to confirm.

 

[slim_jim]

Not sure what you mean Baker69; are we talking about the bridge or headstock end of the neck?


I meant to post pictures earlier didn't I!

Bridge Intonation Screws: Note that D & G were perfect (they won't be since the neck shim) which is why they look OK compared to E & A:

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Dodgy Inlay:

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Octave position marker- very wonky!

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I also noticed when I was taking pics that there seems to be some fading on the fingerboard perhaps where the palm of my fretting hand has been rubbing?

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[Baker69]

Not sure what you mean Baker69; are we talking about the bridge or headstock end of the neck?

You seem to have a very bad example mate, mine is pretty good comparatively!

I'll post a pic of the fingerboard condition, it overhangs the neck where it meets the body, therefore has possibly one more fret than a normal jazz bass. (If you look at my earlier photo you can see it has an extra fret).

I bought a black pickguard for mine (off evil bay again) for about £7.50, I had to notch it out due to the fingerboard overhang. The screw holes were pretty much in the same place though fortunately. Looks good in all black (except for finger marks), but at the moment I have the white one fitted.

Yes, the fingerboard was quite light in colour in places when I got mine, I applied some gunstock oil and it's been ok since. Seems to look more like rosewood now.

 

[slim_jim]

Hi Baker69

Having looked again I do seem to have an extra fret like yours. I can't remember seeing an overhang when I had the neck off but then I wasn't looking for it.

I do have a Telecaster copy here which has a very visible overhang though; maybe this is one of the little alterations that companies make when copying Fender guitars so they don't end up getting sued?

Jim

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Just a bit of a bump, I actually posted asking about these a few days back and didn't get any replies!

I'm thinking of getting a P-bass model for a bit of a project. Good to see that they are def. useable quality

 

[Baker69]

Just a bit of a bump, I actually posted asking about these a few days back and didn't get any replies!

I'm thinking of getting a P-bass model for a bit of a project. Good to see that they are def. useable quality

Hi there,

Sorry I missed your posting. Yes, they're well worth the money, but as you will have read from the recent postings the quality seems to be a bit 'hit-and-miss' on these basses.

Although we have been mainly talking about the Jazz Bass copy (Harrier Thunder), the P Bass Version (Harrier Quake) should be pretty reasonable as well.

Although not as good as say a Squier in regard to build quality, the playability and tone is quite good 'straight from the box' as they say, and the bodies are made of solid Alder. The necks are maple as well!

At £59.95 they are brilliant value for money (how much does a set of strings cost?), and would make an excellent starter bass (or for a project as you say).

The balance on them is pretty good as well and although the fingerboard appears to be stained timber of some sort, the neck is very nice to play, smooth with no rough edges. I haven't experienced any dead spots on mine and the volume is fairly even across the strings. The action is pretty good on mine but as Slim Jim has said, he's had to shim the neck to get it right on his.

I hope this is of help to you!

If I didn't already have a Fender P Bass I would probably get one myself!

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Hehe, well, I've got a few nice basses, but I don't have any P-like basses. So, certainly seems like a viable option.

Cheers for the response

 

[slim_jim]

I'd be interested to hear how you get on with the P-bass mohawk!

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I'll be sure to post a wee review about the bass when I get it.

And then some update when I get around to doing some mods.


- Will

 

[Baker69]

We look forward to hearing what your thoughts are about the bass when you get it!