Harley Benton JA-20HH Active vs Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola
Reasons to Get
Harley Benton JA-20HH Active over Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola
Reasons to Get
Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola over Harley Benton JA-20HH Active
Other Key Differences
Harley Benton JA-20HH Active vs Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola
Shared Features
Harley Benton JA-20HH Active vs Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola
Common Weaknesses
- Pickup Alter Switch/Knob
- Weight Relief
- Locking Tuners
- Stays in Tune (Evertune)
- High-Quality Frets
- Compound Radius Fretboard
- Luminescent Sidedots
- Strap Lock
- 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- Active/Passive Preamp
Table of Contents
Price History Comparison
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Which One is Better Overall?
After going through our comparison algorithm, the results show that the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola is probably the better product overall with its final score of 73 compared to the Harley Benton JA-20HH Active's 61 score, which is a significant difference.
The Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola wins when it comes to sound, build quality. On the other hand, the Harley Benton JA-20HH Active has the upper hand when it comes to value for the money.
If you got small hands, you'll probably feel that the Harley Benton JA-20HH Active is easier to play.
Which One is Better for Beginners?
Both meet 4 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players. If you're looking for your first guitar to learn how to play, you can't go wrong with either of them.
New Player Friendliness
Harley Benton JA-20HH Active- Easy-to-use bridge
- Tall frets
- Narrow nut
- Comfortable neck
- Comfortable shape
- Comfortable fretboard
- Short scale
- Locking tuners
New Player Friendliness
Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola- Comfortable shape
- Easy-to-use bridge
- Tall frets
- Comfortable neck
- Comfortable fretboard
- Narrow nut
- Short scale
- Locking tuners
Nevertheless, when it comes to choosing an instrument, you should pick the one more compatible with your personal style. Still, below we'll try you to give you our results as objectively as it's possible to help you decide.
Harley Benton JA-20HH Active Overview
- From Harley Benton's 2022 Progressive series
- Made in China
- 6 strings
- 25.5"'' scale
- 12" Fretboard Radius
- Poplar body
- Maple neck
- Roseacer fretboard
- Bridge pickup: HBZ Hi-Gain Humbucker (Humbucker/Active)
- Neck pickup: HBZ Hi-Gain Humbucker (Humbucker/Active)
- 1 volume and 0 tone Bell knobs
- 3-way Switch
- Hardtail bridge
- Harley Benton Modern C Bolt-On neck
- 22 Medium frets
- Diecast tuners
- Compare Specs >
Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola Overview
- From Gibson Custom's 2022 Historic Collection series
- Made in United States
- 6 strings
- 24.75"'' scale
- 12" Fretboard Radius
- Solid Mahogany body
- Mahogany neck
- Indian Rosewood fretboard
- Bridge pickup: Custombucker Alnico III (Unpotted) (Humbucker/Passive)
- Neck pickup: Custombucker Alnico III (Unpotted) (Humbucker/Passive)
- 2 volume and 2 tone Bell knobs
- 3-way Switch
- ABR-1 Maestro Short Vibrola bridge
- Traditional 1960s SlimTaper C Profile Set neck
- 22 Medium Jumbo frets
- Kluson Single Line, Double Ring tuners
- Compare Specs >
Sound Quality Comparison
The wood used in an electric guitar or bass is not as important to determine the final tone. However, some people prefer specific wood types, so we'll take a look at those first. Then, we'll take a look at the electronics to determine the versatility and sound quality of each instrument.
Woods Used in the Harley Benton JA-20HH Active
Maple is one of the most popular necks for good reasons. It is a strong wood that is relatively cheap to make and looks beautiful. The highest quality maple is the hardest that comes from North America. Find out more about Maple.
It's also known as roasted maple, which is regular maple that has been treated with heat to remove humidity. It makes it more resistant to temperature changes and also darkens its color.
Poplar is a cheaper and heavier alternative to Alder wood. It terms of tone, it emphasizes the low-end and has cutting mids. It's relatively soft compared to most body woods. Find out more about Poplar.
Woods Used in the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola
Mahogany is a fairly rare wood nowadays. It's used mostly for bodies due to its relatively lightweight. Gibson popularized it with their Les Paul guitars during their golden years, so this wood has a lot of good reputation behind it. The most expensive type comes from South America and it's still used by Gibson even today. Find out more about Mahogany.
Rosewood is an almost purple-looking wood that is used mainly for fretboards since it's heavy, rare, and expensive. It's sometimes used on acoustic guitar bodies to create stronger warm tones. Find out more about Rosewood.
Winner: Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola.
Pickup Configuration
Both pickup configurations are HH. Double Humbucker (HH) is the choice for people who want a fuller, more round sound with tons of mids and lows. Humbuckers also get rid of the hum noise that plague single-coil pickups. They can work out for almost any genre going from Djent to even Jazz.
Pickups Quality
The Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola pickups from a more specialized brand than the Harley Benton JA-20HH Active. Its pickups should give you a fuller, richer sound, although it all depends on what type of music you're going to play. We recommend these pickups for Hard Rock and similar genres.
The Harley Benton JA-20HH Active's pickups are Active while the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola's are Passive.
Passive pickups are what most guitars use. These have a normal output that works well for most genres. However, Active pickups are the preferred choice of heavy metal players because they offer extra output thanks to their 9v battery, which results in a heavier, more distorted sound. Bear in mind that achieving a completely clean tone with them won't be easy. So if you want to also use clean tones, you might want to avoid Active pickups.
Winner: Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola.
Versatility Comparison
Some instruments offer you more ways to explore your creativity than others. Below you'll find how both compare when it comes to versatility.
Switch Options
Both are equal when it comes to the pickup switching option.
Neither of them come with some kind of coil split or pickup mod option. This makes both lacking in terms of versatility.
They both share the following switching options:
When evaluating versatility, we also take into consideration bridge and neck joint type, number of frets, switch options, amount of pickups and more.
Winner: Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola.
Final Sound Quality Scores
Build Quality Comparison
When it comes to build quality, we like to take into account everything used to build the instrument. This includes materials, hardware and the quality control expected depending on the country where it was built. Let's see how the Harley Benton JA-20HH Active compares to the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola.
Country of Origin
The manufacturing country can tell a lot about the build quality of an instrument. The Harley Benton JA-20HH Active is built in China while the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola is made in United States.
China has a bad reputation when it comes to building quality. However, times have changed and now respectable brands use China's cheap labor to build good instruments for a lower price. Don't discount a guitar only because it was built in China, but also expect more quality from countries like Korea.
The United States is considered one of the best electric guitar manufacturers in the world. A guitar made in this country is supposed to have world-class quality control. Nowadays, guitars made in other countries can beat some of the ones made in the US, but most of the time, this country offers the best you can get. Of course, that comes at a price.
Winner: Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola
Nut Material
If you want your guitar to stay in tune and sound good, you need a well cut nut. Nut quality can be inconsistent even when comparing two copies of the same model. The best way to make sure you're nut will be well done is by getting a nut made by an expert company like TUSQ or Micarta.
The Harley Benton JA-20HH Active has a Plastic nut. This is a low-quality nut that you might want to consider upgrading soon. Bone and TUSQ nuts are the best for guitars with a fixed or simple tremolo bridge.
On the other hand, the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola comes with a Nylon nut. It used to be one of the highest quality materials for nuts (and still is), but it's rare to find nowadays because it's hard to work with. It's a very resistant material with very low friction, so it will keep the guitar in tune and will last for a long time
Winner: Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola.
Fret Material
Most fret wire is made of nickel silver. This material eventually wears down after a lot of use and most instruments end up needing a complete fret replacement. However, some expensive models come with stainless steel frets. This is what you should aim for if you can afford it.
Unfortunately, none of them come with stainless steel frets.
Winner: Tie.
Bridge
The perfect bridge for you will depend on your playstyle because they all have advantages and disadvantages. However, some bridges are more expensive—like Floyd Roses and Evertunes—and thus add more value to a guitar.
The Harley Benton JA-20HH Active's brige is a Fixed. It's a simple bridge that is very beginner-friendly since it doesn't require any set-up. You can swap strings easily. It might also give more sustain since it doesn't have complex moving parts that make the strings lose vibration. However, it doesn't have the same versatility as a tremolo bridge.
On the other hand, the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola's is a Tremolo. Tremolo bridges give you more versatility than fixed bridges. They let you perform the intense vibrato effects that would be impossible with a fixed bridge. However, since the bridge floats and there's less contact with the body, the strings lose sustain slightly faster. They can also be a bit harder to restring and set up correctly than fixed bridges.
Since we need to be objective, the most expensive type of bridge will be the winner of this section. In the end, this doesn't matter if you're not going to use the bridge for its original purpose, so choose the bridge that fits your playing style better.
Winner: Tie.
Tuners
Both come with regular tuners. The Harley Benton JA-20HH Active's are Diecast while the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola's are Kluson Single Line, Double Ring
Winner: Tie.
Neck Joint
Contrary to popular belief, the difference in sustain and tone that some neck joints give to a guitar is simply unperceivable—if they're all well built. However, some of them do have advantages over the others.
The Harley Benton JA-20HH Active has a Bolt-On neck joint. This neck is joined to the body by 4 bolts that you can simply unscrew. This allows you to replace the neck or take it off for travel. It's the most common and cheapest way to build a guitar.
On the other hand, the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola comes with Set neck joint. This neck is tightly glued to the body. They give you the least versatility because you can't swap them for a neck that fits your hand better if you want to, unlike bolt-on necks. Some people think this gives more resonance and sustain, but there's no real difference if the bolt-on joint is well built.
Winner: Harley Benton JA-20HH Active.
Here is the list of features that were considered when choosing the winner in the Features subcategory:
Harley Benton JA-20HH Active
- Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
- No Locking Tuners
- Made in China
- No Expensive Woods
- No High-Quality Nut
- No Top Brand Pickups
- No Neck-Through Build
- No Push Knob or Extra Switch Option
- No Weight Relief
- No Luminescent Inlay
- No Tremolo
- No Compound Radius Fretboard
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- No Strap Lock
Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola
- Made in United States
- Expensive Wood
- Nylon Nut
- Top Brand Pickups
- Tremolo
- Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
- No Locking Tuners
- No Neck-Through Build
- No Push Knob or Extra Switch Option
- No Weight Relief
- No Luminescent Inlay
- No Compound Radius Fretboard
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- No Strap Lock
Final Build Quality Scores
Playability Comparison
Let's now compare their playability. Bear in mind that the instrument will feel different depending on your hand size and play style. That's why you should always test before buying. But if you can't or want a second opinion on it, we can still take a look at each of the important measurements of the instrument for you. This way, we can predict how easy a guitar might be to play, or how different it will feel compared to the other.
Remember that, even though the difference might seem small, every inch counts when it comes to feeling of the instrument in your hands. Any variation can completely change how comfortable a guitar feels in your hands.
Nut Width
The nut width will affect the separation between strings at the nut. In this comparison, the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola has the wider nut with 42.9mm (1.688'') vs 42mm (1.654''). This is a 0.9mm (0.034'') difference
This means that it will be more difficult to do bar chords on the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola, especially closer to the nut. However, it's also easier to play without muting strings accidently. This favors people with big hands.
Scale Length
The scale length is one of the things that influences playability the most. This is the distance between the nut and the bridge and will affect everything from low action allowance, difficulty to perform bends, fret separation, and even tone.
The Harley Benton JA-20HH Active has the longest scale: 25.5". The Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola is only 24.75" long. This is a 0.75'' (19.1mm) scale length difference.
This longer scale means that the strings need more tension to get in tune. This is good if you want to avoid fret buzz, which can happen when the strings are too loose and touch the frets while vibrating. This is especially important when playing in lower tunings. This will also let you reduce the gap between fretboard and strings (low action) to make them easier to press down. However, this higher tension will also make it harder to perform bends and vibratos as the strings will feel stiffer.
This also means that the frets have a longer separation between each other, so this will make it harder for people with smaller hands when playing some chord positions.
Another characteristic of a longer scale is that it makes the guitar sound 'snappier' or brighter. This is due to the extra separation between harmonics and overtones produced by the tension. This influences tone more than any other factor (except the pickups).
Lastly, remember that you can also affect the tension of the strings by changing your string gauge. You can use a thicker gauge for more tension and a lighter one for less tension.
Neck Profile
No single neck shape is better than others. However, most people tend to prefer a thinner necks because it doesn't get in their way when playing fast and most hand sizes can adapt to it pretty well. However, some people still prefer thicker necks for a better grip, especially if they have big hands.
Both the Harley Benton JA-20HH Active and the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola have a C-shaped neck. This is what you'll find in most modern guitars. Most people feel like the thickness of a C neck is simply the less intrusive one for playing fast, while at the same time allowing you to grab the neck easily for resting if you want to.
Fretboard Radius
Most guitar fretboards are not flat; they usually have a curve or arc across their width. A curved fretboard will make it easier to perform chords without muting strings, while a flatter one will make it easier to play single notes, which is good for bending and soloing in general. The best fretboards have a compound radius that varies across the fingerboard, but they're not common since they take a lot more work to build.
Both the Harley Benton JA-20HH Active and the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola have the same fretboard radius of 12". This is the radius used in most Gibson guitars. It gives you a good balance for playing chords without muting, but also good comfortability for playing single notes and bending.
Hand Size Comfortability
Everyone has a different hand size, and that's why it's recommended to try a guitar before buying, even if others tell you that it's comfortable to play. However, we can know whether a guitar favors small or large hands just by knowing its exact measurements.
And after taking into account the scale length, nut width, neck profile and fretboard radius, we can conclude that the Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola favors large hands more than the Harley Benton JA-20HH Active. But it's still more comfortable for people with small hands, as you can see in the score meter below.
Harley Benton JA-20HH Active:
Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola:
Fret Size
The Gibson Custom 1964 SG Standard Reissue With Maestro Vibrola has Medium Jumbo frets, which should be taller than the Harley Benton JA-20HH Active's Medium frets.
Some people prefer taller frets because they result in more sustain since the strings get pressed cleanly without interference from the fretboard. However, if they're too tall—like Jumbo frets—, you might change the pitch of the strings accidentally if you press too hard because you won't be touching the fretboard with your fingers. This is also why some guitarists with a heavy grip prefer smaller frets. They like to feel the fingerboard to avoid pressing down too hard and getting out of pitch.
