# Harley Benton DC Junior



## DavidP (Mar 7, 2006)

These DC Juniors, especially the Pelham Blue (DC-Junior LTD Pelham Blue - Harley Benton) sure look enticing if they play as well as they look, and the reviews suggest this! I rarely buy a guitar w/o playing it first but this could be an exception.

However, it looks like the only shipping option to Canada is UPS -- I would likely spend as much on their absurd brokerage charges as the purchase price... Anybody got a recent experience bringing one in??

Too bad they don't have a NA distributor for the brand...


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

Broker it yourself...









How to Avoid UPS Broker Fees From Online Shopping.


If you're in Canada and you've ordered anything from the United States, chances are you've been blindsided by a broker fee. The UPS guy shows up at your door and says you owe UPS what amounts to close to what you paid for the item in the first place. DON'T PAY IT. You can avoid broker fees if...




www.theartofdoingstuff.com


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## Stephenlouis (Jun 24, 2019)

I've emailed them to see if they have another option. I'll let you know what I hear.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I did the brokerage thing myself once. I ordered a car part for 80 bucks. When UPS showed up they wanted over 80 bucks in brokerage fees. I was outraged. After numerous phone calls I was told I could go to UPS depot in Fort Erie. CBSA was in the same building. I went to UPS got some paperwork, walked over to CBSA counter, paid the taxes, went back to UPS and got my item. Cost me gas money but not 80 bucks worth.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

knight_yyz said:


> I did the brokerage thing myself once. I ordered a car part for 80 bucks. When UPS showed up they wanted over 80 bucks in brokerage fees. I was outraged. After numerous phone calls I was told I could go to UPS depot in Fort Erie. CBSA was in the same building. I went to UPS got some paperwork, walked over to CBSA counter, paid the taxes, went back to UPS and got my item. Cost me gas money but not 80 bucks worth.


Yup. You can do it all electronically except the CBSA part (and maybe with COVID, there’s a way to do it online). Once you get your tracking number, you get UPS to email you an invoice which you give to CBSA, who then determine the product category and any applicable taxes/duties. You pay those to CBSA and they give you a clearance form that you email back to UPS. Done.


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## hammerstein (Oct 17, 2017)

I have been tempted a few times to buy one, but I'm in the same boat.. The amount that it costs to get it here defeats the purpose of buying a cheap guitar.


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## DavidP (Mar 7, 2006)

Stephenlouis said:


> I've emailed them to see if they have another option. I'll let you know what I hear.


Thanks for digging deeper -- I wonder if it could go via the German postal service and then over to good ol' Canada Post.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

Looks nice and good price. I like the headstock better than an epi.


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## Stephenlouis (Jun 24, 2019)

DavidP said:


> Thanks for digging deeper -- I wonder if it could go via the German postal service and then over to good ol' Canada Post.


No worries, they have a guitar I want too. Just for the paisley, well and I hear they sound great.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

Man! I didn’t realize how good the price was on these! If they’re made in the same Indonesian factory as the Supro stuff, they’re probably really nice guitars.










I’m telling you...
Go UPS and broker it yourself.


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## Tone Chaser (Mar 2, 2014)

There is a Canadian guy, Landon Bailey, who does YouTube reviews. He did one on Harley Benton LP Junior vs. Epiphone LP Junior inspired by Gibson. He says exactly what it cost him to get that guitar into Canada. A complete breakdown of costs. I think it came out to something like $472 CDN, all in. If my memory is half functioning.


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## sillyak (Oct 22, 2016)

DavidP said:


> Thanks for digging deeper -- I wonder if it could go via the German postal service and then over to good ol' Canada Post.


Apparently not with the pandemic. There was a thread about it on TGP, it was said there that they are only shipping with the private couriers for the time being due to the pandemic.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

Darrell Braun, (youtuber) whom I do not watch very often just ordered a PrS copy from Harley Benton and said it took about a week. I'm surprised because i had a really hard time getting something shipped from Germany a few months ago


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## Tarbender (Apr 7, 2006)

In October, I ordered a HB-35 plus (ES335 copy) to replace my Gibson ES-335. I was shocked to received it 4 days later via UPS. Duty/taxes came to $56.63 and UPS charged $11.30 for clearing it. I don't know about others, but for me to get all the doc's and then hike all the way up to Pearson Airport to get the clearance doc's then submit them to UPS before they schedule delivery just doesn't make sense to save $11.30 and delay delivery by a day or two or three. Just my 2 cents.


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## DrumBob (Aug 17, 2014)

2manyGuitars said:


> Man! I didn’t realize how good the price was on these! If they’re made in the same Indonesian factory as the Supro stuff, they’re probably really nice guitars.
> 
> View attachment 341701
> 
> ...


Here's another coincidence; I've been thinking about buying one of these Harley-Benton Juniors too, but in red. I don't like their mustard yellow TV finish.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

Tarbender said:


> In October, I ordered a HB-35 plus (ES335 copy) to replace my Gibson ES-335. I was shocked to received it 4 days later via UPS. Duty/taxes came to $56.63 and UPS charged $11.30 for clearing it. I don't know about others, but for me to get all the doc's and then hike all the way up to Pearson Airport to get the clearance doc's then submit them to UPS before they schedule delivery just doesn't make sense to save $11.30 and delay delivery by a day or two or three. Just my 2 cents.


Actually, that’s a good point. I think the amount that they charge for brokerage has really dropped over the past while.

I remember about 8 to 10 years ago, paying about a $100 fee on top of the duties and taxes. But just a couple weeks ago, I bought a guitar from the US and called FedEx to tell them that I would self-broker. She said they they didn’t know if brokerage was included in the shipping cost yet (it had _just_ shipped) but even if it wasn’t, the fee was only about $24 Cdn. I told her, at that price, go for it.

Just buy the damn guitar!


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

fretzel said:


> I like the headstock better than an epi.


Way better. And they are set-neck and the single cut versions are real nice too. 
I'm going to have to go write lines on the blackboard. 'I am NOT shopping for a guitar'. 
(But please Mrs. Santa's sister...)


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

jb welder said:


> Way better. And they are set-neck and the single cut versions are real nice too.
> I'm going to have to go write lines on the blackboard. 'I am NOT shopping for a guitar'.
> (But please Mrs. Santa's sister...)


Haha! There is a single bound black Harley Benton tele fairly local to me. I am saying the same mantra.


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## Stephenlouis (Jun 24, 2019)

They got back to me saying someone will get back to me from their shipping Department. I'll let you know when they do.


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## Stephenlouis (Jun 24, 2019)

*Thomann <[email protected]>*
3:55 AM (5 hours ago)
 
to me







Dear Customer,

Thank you for your question.

Due to the unfortunate spread of the novel coronavirus our shipping partner DHL has declared “force majeure” and suspended letter, parcel and EMS shipments to your country.

Therefore, the only option to ship you these goods would be through UPS Express Saver however, which is not covered by our flat shipping rate and will also likely incur a higher customs import fee.

Thank you for your understanding

u
Kind regards,

Sidney Harris, Export Sales


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

A guy at work pointed me towards these. I've seen Braun's demo of the PRS copy. He says it is a "good guitar" but one does not replace the other. The Jr's however look fantastic, and with less "frills" to mimic, I'd imagine it would be easier to clone. 

I am really, really tempted to dig deeper on the double-neck. $633??? I think with a $200 guitar adding all the above mentioned duties is kind of silly as it is basically 50% of the guitars value, but if they are roughly the same for the $633 one, it seems less of a sting. (mentally anyway)


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