Harley Benton Guitars….

Voxsupertwin · September 2023

Been discussed on here a few times but here’s my take .
I’m 75, playing and gigging since 1958….so I’ve been round the block a few times ….

Bought many guitars over the years, cheap at the beginning and the big names later on…

Just arrived from Thomann, the HB 52 Style Tele ….
at a ridiculous price !

Unbelievable value, looks good, sounds good and plays great straight out of the box….

Thomann’s own brand, how they do it, why they do it at this money is baffling BUT this is a FINE instrument…

I’ve got a 70’s Fender Tele and TBH there’s very little, if anything between them, apart from the money….

So check Thomann out …..they have many HB guitars, right and left handed and well worth a look….

and if you don’t like your choice you can send it back !!!

also, post Brexit, the price you pay, is the price you pay….delivered by DHL with no messing about….

there you go ……

Offset · September 2023

I think that HB Tom Delonge Strat is going to see a few Fretboarders getting their orders in early...

Fortheloveofguitar · September 2023

I’ve bought two in the past week with a third on the way. Baritone, Electric Reso and a Tele. Paid £150 each for them.

I’ve got several Custom shop guitars here but I didn’t want to pay out big money for models that I won’t be playing all the time so I gave these a try and the value for money is exceptional.

All have had better fretwork than my 2 Charvels that cost me £800 each and had sharp fret ends. The HB’s were smooth

Not quite sure why there are so many on here that take the piss out of them. It’s become a contentious subject with a few around here much like a Covid or Brexit thread. I really don’t get it.

bluecat · September 2023

A man after my own heart Voxsupertwin. Why you had to mention your age I will never know. But while we are at it, I am 72 . I have a Harley Benton 90 FLT Cabronita with filtertrons. I am very interested in a 52 Harley Benton, just need to scrape the money together. The reviews and vids are brilliant. What is not to like. I only own one Harley Benton but glad I do, I rate them 100%.

Fortheloveofguitar · September 2023

bluecat said:

A man after my own heart Voxsupertwin. Why you had to mention your age I will never know. But while we are at it, I am 72 . I have a Harley Benton 90 FLT Cabronita with filtertrons. I am very interested in a 52 Harley Benton, just need to scrape the money together. The reviews and vids are brilliant. What is not to like. I only own one Harley Benton but glad I do, I rate them 100%.

The 90 FLT is on my shortlist next. Looks like a really good model and the pickups are getting a lot of praise too.

Voxsupertwin · September 2023

bluecat said:

A man after my own heart Voxsupertwin. Why you had to mention your age I will never know. But while we are at it, I am 72 . I have a Harley Benton 90 FLT Cabronita with filtertrons. I am very interested in a 52 Harley Benton, just need to scrape the money together. The reviews and vids are brilliant. What is not to like. I only own one Harley Benton but glad I do, I rate them 100%.

I quoted my age just to show I’m not the new kid on the block and maybe, just maybe, my experience in life was worthwhile to our younger Fretboarders …….

ROOG · September 2023

I'm quite sure that I don't need another guitar, but Harley Benton models have caught my eye more than once or twice this month, enough of these threads they aren't helping!

Now where did I spot that flying V a-like? :0)

Axe_meister · September 2023

We now live in a time of highly accurate CNC machines and cheap foreign labour. It is now possible to bash out cheaply made guitars at high quality on a consistent basis.
When you look at the engineering of a guitar they are really quite simple devices. A slab of wood, joined with another slab of wood. Likewise winding pickups is easily automated and lets be honest they are very simple devices, magnets with wire wrapped around them. Tuners and bridges are also simple things.
My son has a couple of PRS SEs and I have a made in the US PRS CE. The hardware (pots and switches) are actually of better quality on the SEs than on the CE. In fact the inlays on the CEs are simple clay compared to the mother of pearl (may of course be plastic) on the SEs. The pickups are different sounding, but exactly the same construction.

Power_Freak · September 2023

I bought a 7 string Harley Benton last summer, I sent it straight back. For the price it was fine, but it needed a lot of work to be usable for me, the frets were very rough, fret ends a bit sharp, out of the box it was a bit buzzy and had too much neck bow. None were deal breakers and I could have dealt with it - but a long way away from "perfect out of the box".

I found a great price on a second hand PRS SE 7 string which was a better fit for me so I didn't keep the Harley Benton.

Funkfingers · September 2023

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Not quite sure why there are so many on here that take the piss out of them.

Read again. For the most part, H-B is mentioned jokingly to undermine the pretentious purchasers of top price Gibson Les Paul guitars.

Instead of mithering over weight relief, capacitor materials and aluminium tailpieces, H-B buyers just plug in, get on with playing and (gasp!) enjoy themselves.

57Deluxe · September 2023

I bought the 25th Anniversary Tele in Firemist Gold/double bound. Stainless steel frets, locking tuners, Brass compensated saddles, D'Addario strings, Gig bag - £214

Has THE Best neck of ALL my guitars, no setting up, spot-on intonation. Has one of the best Hendrix Strat tones on the front pup and turns my 57 Deluxe into an inhumane Beast on the bridge - just on the turn of the vol knob.

Image: https://i.pinimg.com/750x/14/05/9f/14059f6ec29366d8e92ec27bf9e717cb.jpg

Television

Sassafras · September 2023

Your cheque's in the post Voxsupertwin.
Regards,
H. Benton.

Fortheloveofguitar · September 2023

Funkfingers said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Not quite sure why there are so many on here that take the piss out of them.

Read again. For the most part, H-B is mentioned jokingly to undermine the pretentious purchasers of top price Gibson Les Paul guitars.

Instead of mithering over weight relief, capacitor materials and aluminium tailpieces, H-B buyers just plug in, get on with playing and (gasp!) enjoy themselves.

Those jokes haven’t gone unnoticed are it’s good fun.

It’s the smart arse comments that HB users are trying to polish a turd. And that they now think they own Custom Shop quality guitars just because they swapped the pickups. Plenty of those from cork sniffing folk.

Funkfingers · September 2023

One of my cherished teenage memories is seeing the Herbie Flowers Band at a tiny outdoor gig in West Wales. One of the guitarists was Joe Partridge. (He's on Face Value by Phil Collins.) He played slide on a Seventies plywood LP copy through a low powered Fender valve amplifier. He made it sound fantastic.

Dave_Mc · September 2023

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Funkfingers said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Not quite sure why there are so many on here that take the piss out of them.

Read again. For the most part, H-B is mentioned jokingly to undermine the pretentious purchasers of top price Gibson Les Paul guitars.

Instead of mithering over weight relief, capacitor materials and aluminium tailpieces, H-B buyers just plug in, get on with playing and (gasp!) enjoy themselves.

Those jokes haven’t gone unnoticed are it’s good fun.

It’s the smart arse comments that HB users are trying to polish a turd. And that they now think they own Custom Shop quality guitars just because they swapped the pickups. Plenty of those from cork sniffing folk.

I make that joke all the time (it's an easy way to farm a few cheap LOLs

) and I'm fighting really hard to resist an HB in this 25 year loyalty sale... I agree there's probably some corksniffing involved with some people, but you can make that joke and just be making a joke, or even be making a joke at the corksniffers' expense, as @Funkfingers said.

I actually find it quite funny because I couldn't wait to get the pickups out of my Gibson SG. I wouldn't be surprised that- for my ears at least- I'd want to upgrade a (non custom shop) Gibson with Harley Benton (ok, Roswell or Tesla) pickups!

GoFish · September 2023

Every cheap manufacturer can make the odd nicely playing monster, almost by accident. You attach enough necks to bodies and eventually, something will be more than the sum of its parts. Likewise, the most careful assembly on the finest virgin's thighs etc will occasionally produce some duds. Some bits of wood are just tone deaf.

What Harley Benton do is something else. Yes, there are duds, but the general q.c. is as high as any other budget brand, but at a lower price to us. The specs and customer service beat out most competitors. My 90 FLT is one of my faviourite guitars to play. It's not refined but it's light, playable and wicked sounding. I'm even idly considering bunging some TV Jones in there to make it as good as a custom shop Cabronita.

I will add that HB are no longer outliers in this - Jet make some very nice guitars that look good and play well. Squier can be more hit n' miss, but when it's good, it's pretty darn good.

Axe_meister · September 2023

It would be interesting to know which factory these are being made in. There aren't that many. If it's coming out Cort who make the PRS SE line, they may well have taken some of the lessons learnt about QC from that line.
Being made in America no longer is a quantity of great QC and manufacturing., the only difference is really the people with the Americans being paid a little more but do they have the same attitude towards work?

Dr_Necessiter · September 2023

I’ve now got 3 Vintage guitars that I picked up second hand.

Quite happy bottom feeding for value for money guitars that don’t embarrass me by being too expensive vs my piss poor efforts.

steve91 · September 2023

Dr_Necessiter said:

I’ve now got 3 Vintage guitars that I picked up second hand.

Quite happy bottom feeding for value for money guitars that don’t embarrass me by being too expensive vs my piss poor efforts.

I've got a Vintage V100 that I paid £100 for, and I can't put it down. Such a nice guitar and even at full price it would be a bargain.

The HB guitars do interest me, especially some of the ones in the sale at the moment - temptingly cheap!

prowla · September 2023

Nowt wrong with a Hardly Bentone...

Voxsupertwin · September 2023

Sassafras said:

Your cheque's in the post Voxsupertwin.
Regards,
H. Benton.

If only ,,,,,!!!!!!!!

skullfunkerry · September 2023

I have a HB Fusion III, the one with EMGs and it's a great guitar. Very nice neck, sounds great, and looks good too. More than holds its own against my other guitars (neither of which were expensive, it must be said).

WYNIR0 · September 2023

I bought myself the SC 25th anniversary goldtop, Would be a great guitar at 3 times the price, for £260 it's astonishing.

TTBZ · September 2023

I keep looking at the double bound TE62 in black as I've always loved that look for a Tele. Wish it came with maple fingerboard though, can't always trust that the laurel will look good!

BillDL · September 2023

TTBZ said:

I keep looking at the double bound TE62 in black as I've always loved that look for a Tele. Wish it came with maple fingerboard though, can't always trust that the laurel will look good!

That's something which has always surprised me too. They have other colours in the TE-62 model that come with either laurel fretboard (DB suffix for "double bound" (doppelbinding) body) or maple fretboard (CC suffix - not sure what this means). I have the TE-62CC in Lake Placid Blue. The closest TE-62 to black with a maple fretboard is the Charcoal Frost finish which is really attractive, but it's definitely not black.

guitarjack66 · September 2023

I'm more impressed that you've been gigging since you were 10 years old.

Voxsupertwin · September 2023

guitarjack66 said:

I'm more impressed that you've been gigging since you were 10 years old.

Thank you ‘…..it all started with a Skiffle Group and Lonnie Donegan songs and then moved on to The Shadows….I won’t bore you with rest ….

Pjon · September 2023

BillDL said:

TTBZ said:

I keep looking at the double bound TE62 in black as I've always loved that look for a Tele. Wish it came with maple fingerboard though, can't always trust that the laurel will look good!

That's something which has always surprised me too. They have other colours in the TE-62 model that come with either laurel fretboard (DB suffix for "double bound" (doppelbinding) body) or maple fretboard (CC suffix - not sure what this means). I have the TE-62CC in Lake Placid Blue. The closest TE-62 to black with a maple fretboard is the Charcoal Frost finish which is really attractive, but it's definitely not black.

I have a TE52 in charcoal frost, had it since august but have only played it a handful of times. I think it looks really good. (I've played acoustic guitars since my teens but never owned an electric, so my wife bought me this for my 55th birthday!). It's great, other than fairly poor tuners and being heavy, although I can play it for a couple of hours standing up with no problems, so can't be too heavy.. The neck and fretboard are fine, but I'm not qualified to talk about the electronics. I'll pick up a guitar every day, pretty much, and play for a while, but plugging in puts me off - that's why it hasn't been used as much as my acoustics, but it's a good new toy!

I also spotted Louise Wener playing the same colour Fender on a rerun of TOTP a few weeks ago. Looks better in her hands than in mine.

TTBZ · September 2023

BillDL said:

TTBZ said:

I keep looking at the double bound TE62 in black as I've always loved that look for a Tele. Wish it came with maple fingerboard though, can't always trust that the laurel will look good!

That's something which has always surprised me too. They have other colours in the TE-62 model that come with either laurel fretboard (DB suffix for "double bound" (doppelbinding) body) or maple fretboard (CC suffix - not sure what this means). I have the TE-62CC in Lake Placid Blue. The closest TE-62 to black with a maple fretboard is the Charcoal Frost finish which is really attractive, but it's definitely not black.

I was all set to buy that charcoal frost one as it looked great in the first few photos I saw of it, but on the stock photos and others I've seen from people online it just looks like a bit of a flat and dull grey colour to me. Usually love how charcoal frost looks but not these, maybe it needs more "frost"! The Inca silver looks quite cool too. I really love the double bound body of the DB but prefer the look of maple necks on teles.

OilCityPickups · September 2023

Voxsupertwin said:

Been discussed on here a few times but here’s my take .
I’m 75, playing and gigging since 1958….so I’ve been round the block a few times ….

Bought many guitars over the years, cheap at the beginning and the big names later on…

Just arrived from Thomann, the HB 52 Style Tele ….
at a ridiculous price !

Unbelievable value, looks good, sounds good and plays great straight out of the box….

Thomann’s own brand, how they do it, why they do it at this money is baffling BUT this is a FINE instrument…

I’ve got a 70’s Fender Tele and TBH there’s very little, if anything between them, apart from the money….

So check Thomann out …..they have many HB guitars, right and left handed and well worth a look….

and if you don’t like your choice you can send it back !!!

also, post Brexit, the price you pay, is the price you pay….delivered by DHL with no messing about….

there you go ……

I'm only ten years and a bit younger than you ... and I'm amazed by the quality of so many Harley Benton, and indeed Fazley and Jet guitars that are available today. In my youth the cheap stuff was virtually unplayable ... and the choice was very limited.
There has really never been a better time to be a new, lower price guitar buyer. I record with a Harley Benton Jazz Bass copy ... with my own pickups ... and I love it.

darthed1981 · September 2023

Voxsupertwin said:

Sassafras said:

Your cheque's in the post Voxsupertwin.
Regards,
H. Benton.

If only ,,,,,!!!!!!!!

TBF - if that's the case, half the forum is owed cheques from Gibson and Fender.

What Matchless and Supro owe - god only knows!

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