...'belters'...must be a Brit term....good I assume? LOL. My TE52 is heavy but an amazing find at 3x the price. Frets were among the best I've ever seen at any price....only exception would be perhaps my Eastmans.
@@frankcarter6427 Why have a pop at Gibson you arsewipe? Nothing to do with Gibson, this is a fender copy. Why not have a pop at Fender? Because you're just another bandwagoner clown. You don't have to dress up as one. You are one.
@@frankcarter6427 Why have a pop a Gibson? What have they got to do with a Telecaster copy? Why not have a pop at Fender and their ludicrously over-priced and overrated guitars? You're just another bandwagoner muppet with nothing original to say. Probably very much like your playing.
@@frankcarter6427Why have a cheap shot at Gibson? What has a review of a telecaster copy got to do with Gibson? Why not have a pop at Fender and their overrated and over-priced guitars? Because you're just another bandwagoner with nothing original to say. Probably very much like your playing.
I have a number of Harley Benton bass guitars. They all needed a bit of love and attention at the start, but now I gig with them with joy and confidence.
I have noticed that, when a guitar ‘clicks’ with you, you play much more freely and really vibe with it. Todays’ mini performance was really enjoyable, I completely forgot that you were “testing” the guitar. Really great to listen to.
I have the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Custom and this guitar really pulls off the look almost perfectly. My Fender has the proper tuners, rosewood fretboard, nitro finish, and slightly hotter neck pickup (about 7.8K), and the attention to detail is better, but it also cost about $2149 USD new before it was replaced by the American Vintage II line. The Fender has the proper high quality pots and switch as well. That being said, it is truly impressive that Harley Benton can produce a beautiful and nice playing and sounding guitar based on a Fender which was more than 10 times the price.
T and S styles aren't my favourites, but once I saw a Fender American Original 60s Tele Custom (pointlessly long name) I immediately knew that was my dream guitar... I LOVE the way it looks and can't wait to afford one. Still I do know they aren't for everyone so having cheaper knock-offs is awesome.
@@samuelllakaj5439 I love mine and I’m very glad I have it, but I also cannot deny there are affordable guitars that get you 90% of the way there for a lot less money.
We have 4 hb guitars in our house, one thing hardly mentioned is that they have a lot of options for left handed people, my son has a 25th jazzy, a basic lp, a hb 35 hollowbody and a 75e acoustic, they all blow away anything else in the market that squier or anyone else in that space make. Great playing Colin
Agree 100% re left handed selection. I've got 3 Squiers and the new LH models of Fender Classics are sadly neglected. I've waited for years for an affordable LH Squier "Starcaster" to no avail. Therefore HB are now a budget manufacturer firmly on my radar - along with Vintage. Especially with Guitaristas positive/honest reviews. 😎 Although to be fair non of my LH Squier's were under £400 - so not really "budget."
Great review 👏 😊 I bought a HB ST 62 a few weeks ago. It cost me 1600 Swedish crowns. Besides the tuners (they work), that guitar has a killer sound and with great quality. Now....1600 Skr that is what I paid for a completely unplayable crap guitar back in...1982 !? now consider inflation under 42 years !! that is crazy 😅 Another thing about the very affordable price. You don't need to pay for some company to import the guitar and some other to sell it in a shop....and that would probably double the price. Credit to Thomann. Concerning the relation between price - sound - quality, it is impossible to get anything better out there. We do live in the golden age of good affordable guitars....pity that didn't happen 😢 40 years ago.
@leer.2137 it was expensive but; in 1982 you paid 13 000 SKR for a Les Paul Standard....so it was cheap in comparison, and very expensive if you compare what you get for the "same" amount of money 40 years later.
That is a very nice Tele from Harley Benton I must say Colin. Everything seems decent on it. The binding as well along with the color. Good Job HB and thank you for showing it.
Absolute beast of a guitar. I bought one of their cheapest TE-20 telecaster models on a whim a couple of years ago and I can’t fault it. Not even for the money, it’s a great guitar. Like I’ve always said, if you don’t want to spend thousands on throwing a guitar around, these can more than do the job and can take a beating.
Yes Sir, this is entertaining, you are such a delightful guy to watch. I think I've been following you almost since you started on TH-cam, and I have to say I follow lots of guitar channels, but yours is by far my favorite. I have recently been off of work for medical reasons, and I look forward too all your videos. Don't change a thing my friend, you're doing justice to your channel. Enjoy your adult week off. Lol
I got the TE-25th Anniversary in Firemist Gold. I was equally impressed and satisfied. The bag it came with was outstanding in quality also. Other appointments too like locking tuners, alder body, roasted maple neck, graphite nut, slanted pickup switch. Get one while you can.
I picked up my first Harley Benton a few months back, the MR Modern (Mosrite tribute w/ 2 point trem and humbuckers). Snagged it on Reverb from their American store for $280 shipped. Phenomenal guitar and quickly became my #1 player. Hard to beat at that price with (flawless) stainless frets, locking tuners, outstanding hardware tip to top. That T style is gorgeous!!
I'm the proud owner of a Harley Benton SC-450 P90 GT Classic Series and it's the best sounding guitar I've ever played including Gibsons and Epiphones. Feels great too. Straight up. I have seven guitars here and the Harley Benton SC-450 P90 GT is the one I go to first every evening. I could even sell the rest apart from my Jet strat. Cost of guitar with two superb P90s included on it -- 160 euros. Locking tuners and strap locks and a better selector switch took it just over the 200 euro to qualify for free delivery.
Status Quo was the band that got me in to the T-style guitars in the mid seventies...and i bougt the same guitar a week ago....really greate axe...i have 21 Fenders,Squiers and HB guitars now....in theese days,budget guitars have really rased the quality...and i still buy them for testing and i agree on this..thumbs UP!
Do not forget, there are around 20 or so factories in Asia (Korea, Indonesia, China etc) that are constantly manufacturing guitars since the 1980s. The sheer number of bodies, necks, electronics etc is mind blowing. Companies such as Thomann/HB take advantage of that, no advertising and purchasing directly from them keep the prices super low. It is very hard to argue with a lot of their products. If you ask any experienced luthier in the world, what "brand" is best, they will all tell you that the name on the headstock is meaningless.
I ended up ordering Harley Benton TE-70, and now i play it more than my Fender Strat, like 90% more, absolutely amazing guitar, cant fault it for anything. Harley benton begs the question how can other guitars be so expensive in comparison
Well done Colin. A lot of us know that HB can be good (despite variable QC. Very variable). Given that you review Teles that cost 8+ times as much and you still rate it speaks volumes.
I've been eyeing this guitar for a while primarily for the high grade roasted and stiff maple neck. Impressed with your in depth approach to playability and video production quality in spite of their length. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and playing skill.
I live in NY, and I ordered the TELE-STYLE Harley Benton Fusion-T HH EB OCT (Ocean Turquoise w/Roswell humbuckers and WSC staggered locking die-cast machine heads) at 9am from the Thomann website..., it shipped from Germany 2 hours later and it's already here in New York at 8am the very next day, 23 hours later, marked "Out for Delivery" by UPS!! WOW! This will be my 5th HB. Ive had nothing but wonderful experiences with this company. (I own 8 Gibson's, btw... 3 LP standards and 5 SG standards) Im always looking forward to your reviews ;)
@@MAX96MENDES It arrived safely and straight out the box it tuned up nicely, stays in tune with tremolo use. No QC issues whatsoever. The tuners are quite nice and the color - Ocean Turquoise - is fantastic. Now I may be getting lucky, but this is my 5th HB and I've had zero complaints.
I was playing classical guitar for 10 years when i was younger until it outgrew me. I have forgotten everything, even the notes, since i haven't touched it for the past 13 years. Today i just ordered this guitar along with everything that i need to start learning electric guitar. It's gonna be frustrating in the beginning because 10 years of classical won't translate to it and it's been se long my fingers don't remember shit but i can't wait! Thanks for the review.
You can’t argue with value for money, at £135 plus shipping it’s an absolute steal. Aside from my usual moan about the 305mm radius fingerboard being wrong for a Telecaster I think they’ve got just about everything right. The alnico pickups sound good and the switch and pot’s although cheap function ok, anyway should problems arise in the future they’re pretty inexpensive to replace. I’m not so sure about the machine heads, I’ve never seen split posts without a hole down the middle before it just doesn’t make sense. I can’t help wondering if they were just a faulty batch, if it was my guitar they’d have to go, imagine trying to change a string quickly at a gig! I’m looking forward to the rest of the Telecaster style guitar reviews but the HB will take some beating for the money, the sea foam green unbound version is even cheaper at £125.
I swear by my Harley Benton JA-60. I also saw Andy Partridge of XTC a month or so ago playing a Harley Benton during an interview. :) I ALSO ADD That's been some of your best playing on this guitar!
Not to go Full Fan Boi, but I absolutely LOVE your channel and look forward to every new episode. It's like I'm watching the answer to the question "I wonder what Nigel Tufnel ended up doing after Spinal Tap finally broke up?!?" 😄
These budget guitars get better and better. I had an Artist TC59 and it was amazing. At this price if you don't like something you can change it easily enough. Nice one Col.
Good evening, I bought 7 HB guitars from Thomann last year. This is exactly one of them. Incredibly good price, build quality, sound and color. From the point of view of an amateur guitarist, I did not notice any technical imperfections, but I repeat that I am a complete amateur. I bought 2 more models of Telecasters. I will only allow myself to state my personal recommendation for colleagues of my amateur type, and that is to focus generally on models that are on sale and in production for the shortest possible time. It's just a personal observation and note, it worked for me, even when I bought one of their classic long-produced models (also without problems). Thomann provides all information, including negative reviews, on its website. Fantastic phone support in my native language and free shipping even for a relatively small order. I can only recommend. Thank you for the video and greetings Pavel CZ.👍👍👍Status Quo?❤
To be honest this sounds incredible. And not with an "incredible for an instrument of this price" caveat. It just does... Loved the jam from about 24 mins in, super stuff!
Absolutely right...!!! When an instrument "HELPS" you play, while you are already "IN" the "ZONE" well that's always nice.... But on top of that, when the instrument "GETS" you in the zone...well then, you've got a keeper eh..?😉👍 Can't complain about the bang for the buck...At ALL...!!!😃 Nice looking to boot👍 The rolled fretboard edges are 😎👍👍 Thanks for this unveiling Colin...😎👍 Definitely an eye opener😁 😎✌👍❤🖖 Love Brother
I currently have 2 Harley Benton’s, the TE80 (Prince Madcat Tele) and their early 335 copy which is a much more accurate copy than the current model! Both have been upgraded with full size quality pots and Seymour Duncan pickups etc! For the money they are incredibly good guitars which after a few upgrades sound and play well beyond their price! What’s even better is that I managed to purchase them used so saved even more!
Split post tuners without a hole can be used just as normal tuners (winding one coil above to keep it all down, the others underneath) and still have the advantage of allowing a quick pull off and put back of the whole thing whenever one wants to temporarily remove the strings. They just don't keep the end of the string inside.
Not a bad guitar but to my ear all of the HB guitars have tones that are on the thin side. I bought a Latitude to compare with my Fenders and the tones were OK sort of between thin and normal. I still prefer the tone on my Classic Vibe Tele. Again just my preference. All of these guitars are good it is just a matter of finding one that matches the tone your’e looking for. Hunting for them is fun so enjoy!
That's a lot of guitar for the money. I paid 450 US dollars for my Squire cv 60s thinline, incidentally I love it. Just saying, you really do pay for the name & I mean Squire was never the coolest thing in the world to be playing, but they've come along way. It's definitely a great time to be playing guitar, we didn't have stuff like this when I started. Great playing as always Collin. Can't wait for next week's show.
I bought a Harley Benton TE 30 BE in off white for £95.00 + £10 sounds better than the price suggests plus fit and finish was good as well. Changed the tuners and strings after a couple of weeks, for a set of Gotoh and NYXL' s, major improvement. A month or so later found a 6 saddle bridge with ashtray cover, not going to change anything else as i like the sound and now like the look. How they can make as cheap a guitar with an ash body rather than a basswood one is beyond me.
I think the way forward these days if your not a guitar snob and headstock snob is to buy a good moding platform. Harley benton, Jet and something from the Sire 3 range are epic modders. You can buy a Jet JS-400 and buy fender american parts for it and your total will be under £700 and you will have a premium guitar for less than half the price of a Fender pro 2. I bought a JS 400 3 weeks ago in lake placid blue for £199 and I was blown away by the fit, finish and playability. The neck is crazy for the price, worth 199 just for the neck. My days of being a Fender fan boy snob are over, I'm all about buying a cheap guitar that is incredibly well built and upgrading the pups and electronics and tuners if need be. That tele looks beautiful, gotta love a tele with double binding.
I have a 25th Anniversary Harley Benton Tele, I did a bit of fret work, swapped the jack, saddles (I like a groove in compensated saddles) and nut then tweaked the stock pickups a bit. About $50 and two hours of work total and it is honestly my favorite Tele in the world right now. I've had a couple nice Fender Tele's, even the Mateus Asato Suhr T for a while and for real I'd put this Tele against most of those. Really kind of changed my whole perspective on vintage style guitars.
I am fortunate to not have owned an early HB. The four I have are no older than three years ago. I purchased the upper price models. Still under $500.00! Really nice guitars.
I got the TE-62 in sea foam green, i wanted a tele with binding but they did not have sea foam green with binding when i got mine. Had to give it a better set up. Very nice guitar, no issues. I am changing pups,wiring graph-tech nut. The tunners are decent. None of these things need to be changed but i like to tinker and make it better. Better then Squier in my opinion.
In 2004 I had all the guitars I would ever need - USA Deluxe Tele and Strat, a Heritage 535 and 3 Carvin Custom shop models. Around 10 years later my interest was aroused watching Greg Koch on TH-cam demo-ing an Epiphone Dot - looked good, sounded great. This got me checking out Epiphone and eventually Harley Bentons too. Out of curiosity I got a HB Tele, £6 cheaper(no binding) than the one you used and like you say, it's a great guitar. Thomann is a good company to deal with, too. It's a great time for guitar buyers.
Brilliant film as always Col! Got my nibbles and beverage ready whilst it was loading up. As someone who enjoys setting some loops down and jamming out at home, if you were looking for some more fresh content ideas, it would be good to get a talk on how you get your inspiration for your loops/jams. The play out this week was particularly good. Things like what keys/scales you use and songs you use for inspiration! Thanks again!
I have the 25th anniversary with trem & humbuckers, tiger maple neck, ss frets..... I can't put it down! seriously the best bang for buck I've ever had.
HB had their 25 year anniversary models a while ago. Hadn’t heard of them until few years ago. This ticks all tele boxes for me. Classic bridge, stringthrough (just for being fancy, nothing wrong with toploaded) binding. Fretboard could use a drop of oil. Nice guitar. Especially for that money. I have a jazzmaster style and a short scale bass. Neckfitment and frets were spot on. The bass was only 99 Euro.
I have one of these same color, bought it, just because it was so cheap to mod it. But after getting it, all I needed to do was a truss rod adjustment, it came with NY Xcel 942s on it. And it plays phenomenal. Sounds great. Stays in tune! And I’m not even gonna change the pick ups which I usually do and a lot of my Guitars even my fenders, Gibsons, And one of my PRS us. This is a very good guitar that you can gig with, and if it gets stolen, it’s not a biggie! It plays very well I’m quite happy with it.
I tried buying a TE-62DB. First one was _brilliant_ but had some varnish missing from part of the back of the neck. So, I sent it back (mistake). I then spent weeks (months) trying three others.... all were total shite. I even asked them to send the first one back to me (could have sanded the thing down, removed what varnish it had) but it was sold as B-Stock, so someone got a really great guitar at a really good price. In the end I paid a bit more and ended up with a TE-25TH, their 25th Anniversary Telecaster style model. _Awesome guitar,_ and worth the price of the upgrade.
Damn, you were cooking in this playing session! I stopped what i was doing to see what that noise was about. Bit like driving a cheap car you just thrash it and have alot of fun.
Colin...I love watching you play....for me the #1 thing for a guitar to be a telecaster is that it must have a ashtray bridge....if it doesn't I am not interested
The Lauel being used in recent times looks so much better. Originally the stuff looked grey and anemic and uneven. But they looked to have somehow solved that, whether thru staining or just using better woods. And I 100% prefer it to Pau Ferro, which I cannot stand! Although my parent's neighbor has a nice early SRV strat with Pau Ferro and it is one VERY nice piece of fingerboard slab.
Hello, I am not a pro and I don't need expensive gear. I just like to be creative on guitar solos in order to have fun and to relax in the world of music. I've got some cheap gear that matches my needs. I am not chasing perfection neither in tone nor in gear. I like to do set-ups on my own (saving money) and YT videos like yours are much of a help, also helping to become a better player. I have strats and LP-style guitars, but no tele yet. Maybe the HB 24 models will be worth to get one. I have a HB SC 450 plus which I like a lot. Thanks for your work, Sir!
Regarding the Pickup types juged by the magnets, my understanding is: Bar magnet underneath = ceramic magnets No bar magnet = pole pieces are magnetic = mainly ALNICO pickups as these here are. Alnico pickups often considered as the „better“ pickup types.
I got a TE-52 tele in lockdown and got an SC-550 II last week. They've both got really good bones. Tuners left a little to be desired on both models, and the range of the pots in the tele weren't great. A few tweaks and they're excellent instruments.
I was just listening to you and could tell instantly that you were able to find your groove. Can’t complain about a 135 quid guitar that can sound like that. Have a great week off.
Just found Col's channel and absolutely love his reviews. I've just turned 62 and decided to learn the guitar. Still struggling with my first few cords with my uncooperative fingers. Bit of a story how I came to want to do this. I have always been a keen model builder and have had for a few years a 3D printer. Last year I got a really good one and found a project to 3D print a guitar. So rather than printing bits of useless plastic crap thought I would give it a go. To be honest it's only the body that you print and you use a Harley Benton T-style kit for the neck, hardware and electronics. Well first mistake was not paying attention on the Thomann site and ordering a Strat style kit (Doh!). So after then ordering the correct kit put it all together and it worked. After a visit to a local guitar shop it as I needed strings and did not know what to get and he was very interested and asked me to take it over. He was really quite impressed with it. For those interested if you Google Prusacaster it should show you what I made. So apart from that I now also built the Strat kit as well and spray painted it with nitro paint but I'm not all that happy with the finish. Oh and as I thought I ought to have a ready made guitar I have an East Coast L1 in flamed blue which I love. Keep those vids coming Col and happy strumming everyone.
I have two and they're both great. Both were playable out of the box (well, one had a rattling tone knob, but that needed 30 seconds with a spanner). I'd happily play live with both of them. My main guitar's a Baja Telecaster with the chunky 50s neck. My only issue with the HB Teles is that I've heard they're heavy.
Nice review! I have the shell pink version. I love the neck. It's very even, no taper. My tuners are allright, I can push the strings in. So it could be a weird batch on yours or they changed it for the worse 😂. Also, nice catch on the bridge saddles position! They are moved a bit more forward because the bridge placement itself is moved a bit backward. Probably because of copyright issues. I discovered this when trying to change the pickguard. A regular Fender tele pickguard won't fit nicely. There's a seller on ebay that makes custom te-62 pickguards. Great teles these te-62's. Ive owned a a few harley bentons but this te-62 is definitely a keeper!
For another £40 or so you'd get a decent set of tuners and this guitar would be perfectly good still for under £200 I think the Harley Benton guitars are amazing for the money I got an EX84 modern with EMG's and a Fusion III HSH they are a little more expensive I think about £350 when I got them but they are amazing you should try one of the more expensive Harley Bentons stainless steel frets etc for much less than £400 is hard to beat spec wise 🤘Keep up the excellent work 👋👍🤘
I've been eying these up for quite a while. I have a Fender MIM Classic 60s neck and a set of Bare Knuckle Brown Sugar pickups looking for a home, which might well be one of these gorgeous Harley Benton bodies.
Colin my friend, You're a Gibson native. Me - I'm a Fender native. Oddly enough that doesn't matter at all, and you're my favorite guitar channel. You'll never understand the Stratocaster, but that's ok. I do, and they have been my main axe - along with the Telecaster my entire career. These Harley Benton's haven't made it to Jacksonville Fla, so I have yet to play one - but damn, you make me interested. Now I never buy without playing what ever it is - first BUT I may very well make an exception for one of these. Anyway thanks again, and keep up the good work.
I'm looking for a Tele, I am looking at a HB TE62, ...up pops your vid. Thank you for reviewing 😄👌. Did you look at the Eart Tele? Regardless, gratitudes from Ireland!
The TE- 62 DB is the guitar I pick up most nowadays, despite having plenty of more expensive "better" instruments. It is a lovely guitar - maybe I got an exceptional one, I don't know but if you want a Tele copy on a budget, don't hesitate to buy one of these - £135 delivered to your door! It even comes with a decent set of D'Addario strings from the factory. If you buy a Candy Apple Red one, just be aware that its quite a pale shade of red and can look slightly pink in certain lights.....not a problem for me, it's a nice finish with it's metallic flakes embedded in the red but if you're expecting a true Candy Apple Red, you might be disappointed. You can always buy a blue one if that's a concern. I did also own an Eastcoast T-Style a while back....it was the one with a P90 in the neck and was labelled a "Deluxe"....also a decent guitar although not nearly as good as the HB in my opinion but it was also cheaper, especially as I got it B-Stock (never did find anything that warranted that either). With a new set of strings and a setup though, it was perfectly fine, a nice roasted maple neck, decent fretwork, stayed in tune (but the machine heads were cheapo items as you'd expect). Obviously it's not comparable to more expensive guitars in many ways but it felt good, it looked nice enough in its vintage sunburst clothes and it played pretty well. I ended up donating it to my son's guitar teacher for a young lad who didn't have the means to buy an electric guitar. Hopefully it got something into his hands that was good enough not to kill his youthful enthusiasm.
Got one on order thanks to your review- plus just got the Antiquity' Rosewood tele (George Harrison) that you featured which I LOVE already -so I expect this HB to be pretty decent alongside it. Great value and good looking, playable guitars. Great work Guitarista geezer 👏
Can’t beat Harley Benton on performance to cost ratio. I bought the DC junior in Pelham blue just out of intrigue. Now has a Monty’s 54 p90, cts pots, bumblebee cap, switchcraft jack, lightening bar bridge from mojoaxe. It’s honestly now my best sounding guitar out of the ten I own, from a Les Paul, strats, Ibanez etc. Keep up the great work Colin. Cheers
After the unboxing video, I drove over to Thomann and picked up a 299 Euro Strat. Harley Benton. It was very well crafted. I can make no complaint against the tuners, finish, etc...my problem was the neck pickup. It was also a Roswell but the magnets did not line up with the strings and there was no way to adjust the height of the pickup. The bridge was great. I took it back after two hours. It appeared that the pickup hole was not bored out in line with the neck. Playability was excellent. Smooth neck, no fret burrs and the sound I did get out of it was decent, but that blasted neck pickup ruined it for me. I would rate that strat at a solid eight even with the neck pickup faulty. WIth a better positioned pickup, I would definitely have kept it. Your review of the tellie is wonderful. I sounds great and looks great. Yep, new tuners and a pickup upgrade and that's a great guitar. Looking forward to your next review.
I bought a Harley Benton Flying V classic. I didnt like the Ceramic pickups, but I dont like Ceramic pickups in any brand. Installed Borns pots, Epiphone burstbuckers and MAN, she is a BEAST. My favorite guitar now, and I own a G & L S500, a Music man sub 1and an Epiphone Classic Les Paul. I recently bought an Epiphone Prophecy V, and returned it next day after comparing it to my Harley Benton. My cheap V absolutely BLEW the Prophecy OUT of the water. My band thought the same thing, say WHOA, your old guitar kicks its ass. Yes I replaced the pickups, but that was $80, and 3 pots for $20. Do the math. I now ordered two more Harley Benton V's. The active pickup and Alnico Mahogany versions instead of basswood classic.
After 40 years of guitar playing I bought my first real cheap guitar...a Harley Benton Jazzmaster copy. Although you find little things that remind you of the price you paid there is nothing wrong with it. In fact it rocks and I have a lot of fun with it!
Great video, and a great jam. To your question about is it you or the guitar... I think the only real question is does the guitar get in the way of you being in the zone? Doesn't sound like it did. Cheers.
I’ve had a HB TE52-NA for about 9 years, and it gets played more often than my Gibson SG. It’s the cheapest guitar I own, but it’s a cracking little instrument. As a spotty youth, I was always drawn more to Strats, but the these days it’s the Tele (or T style if I’m fending off litigious corporations) that floats my boat. I’d buy this guitar (in CAR) but I honestly have run out of room for any more.
fine review Colin, I bought this same model in early january I changed the tuners straight away, for same reason, just put cheap guyker locking tuners, exact fit, no drilling perfect fit, even left original ferrules in, I needed to file nut a little & swapped the bridge for one with compensated brass saddles, I didn't like bridge pickup, seems opinion in reiews of them is split, a cheap fleorsingle coil did the trick for me, suits me fine now, thanks for the videos always entertaining
I like the smile on your face when you played Down Down. Rossi and Parfitt were really my first guitar teachers, even before I learned my "cowboy chords". I adored Hendrix, Gallagher, Alvin Lee etc, etc.(The Punk thing came too late for me, I was a BOF at the age of 13:-) But these two guys sounded great to me and I never thought I could figure out, what all these "heroes" were doing. So I said to myself, ok, you might be able to pick up some Quo stuff and you'll be ready to start a band, maybe become a genius later ;-) Now, after decades of curiosity and tryin to find out about things I finally got around to some jazzy impro, even figured out some theory but I still like to come back to the glorious Status Quo. It 's a bit like the stuff you listen to when you're young fades away but comes back when the youthful elitism vanishes😎
I love the binding, great color. would have killed for a guitar of this quality in 1976 when i got my first japanese electric cheapo. Guitars are a commodity at this point. markets of scale at work pushing down price and driving up quality. just like the auto industry early on or televisions as well.
I'm very happy with my TE62. The only thing I did after an setup was changing the string tress to two 'Göldo Roller String Tree' 9 Euro - Big difference
I bought one of the lefty models in Seafoam green as its hard to find affordable lefty guitars and I mainly use it for playing Police tunes and its a brilliant guitar and nails the tones im looking for, just throw a flanger into the mix and that the tone. Its stays in tune well and I have literally no complaints after a year of ownership and the frets hardly wear down and even if they do I can just pick up another guitar for 150 quid.
Harley Benton are on fire atm. I own the TE52 Vintage and it’s an absolute weapon. I take it to rehearsals and it’s sturdy, fun and reliable I record for an average at six hours at a time: no issues at all. Not even fatigue Weighty sod though
I just got a Mooer GE-150 on an eBay auction for £50! You know that feeling when you get something so cheap on an auction that no one else bids on that you feel guilty! 😂 The guy was a lovely bloke as well!
Tuners and switch are replacable and a 6 brass barrel saddle to get intonation spot on.with it being so light l pass the g+l in the rack and grab my hb 62db in lpb.putting a black scratch plate on it too.great vid mr collin.keep at it.
Tuners: Take off, warm up on say a radiator, soak in lighter fluid & spend with string winder. Then lightly lube with a light teflon lube. Making sure no lube soaking out (obviously as bad for wood) and put back. Worked for me a couple of times on cheap tuners. It's amazing what you can get for your money these days - I have a few in this price range on a rack in my living area & the "better'' ones stay in their cases elsewhere. Cheers
Good to see an honest review. Both reviewers and owners alike tend to forget to mention these are only really good guitars when the price is taken into account. You'd think they were secret PRSs the way they get bigged up by owners wanting to convince themselves a hundred and fifty quid guitar is a custom luthier job. And then theres owners happily saying they own 3 or 4. So thats 600 if new, which would have bought a used model that really is pretty decent. But their 600 will be now more like 200 on resale as the resale on these is peanuts. Good for beginners or if you really cant afford anything else. Otherwise a cheap body with fake tuners and tinny pickups.
I have this same double-bound model in black. It's a fantastic guitar...regardless of the price (I never liked the saying "It's a good guitar...for the money.")
Great review! Not sure if you have reviewed the HB TE 52 but that too is a great Telecaster which pays homage to the Vintage 50's sound! It is a bit heavy, and yes some work may be needed but the value is great! Other Harley Benton's worth consideration are the HB - TE FLT 90, and the Harley Benton Aeolus. The Aeolus Semi Hollow is a unique one for sure! Looking forward to seeing you on stage with a Harley Benton, hope to see a video of that. No doubt, its not about the guitar brand, its about the guitar player, thanks for your valued insight and God Bless
Harley Benton...I have a love/hate relationship with them. While they do make extremely affordable guitars, many of those guitars in my opinion slip through QC a bit too quickly. Last year I bought the HB TE53-KR Keith Richards Tribute "Micawber" Telecaster....love the heavy Butterscotch finish, and the 12" radius caramelized maple satin neck...what I do NOT like was the fact it weighs 10 freakin' pounds ! I also agree in that the split post tuner's split isn't deep enough so changing strings is a pain...truly crappy tuners. It's ridiculously heavy and because of this, there's no joy in playing it. I've been trying to sell it. Shipping from Thomann in Germany is extremely expensive to the U.S.. So in wanting to give Harley Benton a 2nd chance, I discovered they have a U.S. "limited" inventory distributor via REVERB with FREE shipping (you do pay tax) so I bought their HB ST62-MN VW. Wooo Hooo that came in at just about 7lbs. Much better. However both of my Harley Bentons came with extremely sharp frets so that was disappointing and pretty cheap strings but I guess considering the price point they are able to offer very inexpensive guitars...you get what you pay for, IF you're lucky ! p.s...WOW you're a lucky man. Only 7.3 lbs ? My tele is ash and weighs a bloody 10lbs ! 😣
As a guitar maker... Harley Benton is terrifying 😂 I've played 2 and after setting them up, (10 mins) they were both belters. Nice review as ever.
...'belters'...must be a Brit term....good I assume? LOL. My TE52 is heavy but an amazing find at 3x the price. Frets were among the best I've ever seen at any price....only exception would be perhaps my Eastmans.
You liked them?
Or not?
@@jasujokelainen5073 belters means really good. Loved the necks.
More appreciated evidence that a fella doesn't need to mortgage his entire life to buy a fun, playable instrument.
exactly - rather than buy a gibson , dress as a clown and throw 2 grand in the sea
@@frankcarter6427 Why have a pop at Gibson you arsewipe? Nothing to do with Gibson, this is a fender copy. Why not have a pop at Fender? Because you're just another bandwagoner clown. You don't have to dress up as one. You are one.
@@frankcarter6427 Why have a pop a Gibson? What have they got to do with a Telecaster copy? Why not have a pop at Fender and their ludicrously over-priced and overrated guitars? You're just another bandwagoner muppet with nothing original to say. Probably very much like your playing.
@@frankcarter6427Why have a cheap shot at Gibson? What has a review of a telecaster copy got to do with Gibson? Why not have a pop at Fender and their overrated and over-priced guitars? Because you're just another bandwagoner with nothing original to say. Probably very much like your playing.
@@frankcarter6427 Yawn. Don't be a clown all your life. No need for you to dress like one. You are one.
I have a number of Harley Benton bass guitars. They all needed a bit of love and attention at the start, but now I gig with them with joy and confidence.
I have noticed that, when a guitar ‘clicks’ with you, you play much more freely and really vibe with it. Todays’ mini performance was really enjoyable, I completely forgot that you were “testing” the guitar. Really great to listen to.
The snippet of Quo at the end made my day!
I have the Fender American Original 60s Telecaster Custom and this guitar really pulls off the look almost perfectly. My Fender has the proper tuners, rosewood fretboard, nitro finish, and slightly hotter neck pickup (about 7.8K), and the attention to detail is better, but it also cost about $2149 USD new before it was replaced by the American Vintage II line. The Fender has the proper high quality pots and switch as well. That being said, it is truly impressive that Harley Benton can produce a beautiful and nice playing and sounding guitar based on a Fender which was more than 10 times the price.
T and S styles aren't my favourites, but once I saw a Fender American Original 60s Tele Custom (pointlessly long name) I immediately knew that was my dream guitar... I LOVE the way it looks and can't wait to afford one. Still I do know they aren't for everyone so having cheaper knock-offs is awesome.
@@samuelllakaj5439 I love mine and I’m very glad I have it, but I also cannot deny there are affordable guitars that get you 90% of the way there for a lot less money.
We have 4 hb guitars in our house, one thing hardly mentioned is that they have a lot of options for left handed people, my son has a 25th jazzy, a basic lp, a hb 35 hollowbody and a 75e acoustic, they all blow away anything else in the market that squier or anyone else in that space make. Great playing Colin
Agree 100% re left handed selection. I've got 3 Squiers and the new LH models of Fender Classics are sadly neglected. I've waited for years for an affordable LH Squier "Starcaster" to no avail. Therefore HB are now a budget manufacturer firmly on my radar - along with Vintage. Especially with Guitaristas positive/honest reviews. 😎 Although to be fair non of my LH Squier's were under £400 - so not really "budget."
Always a sucker for a lake placid blue guitar. That does look flipping brilliant.
Great review 👏 😊
I bought a HB ST 62 a few weeks ago. It cost me 1600 Swedish crowns. Besides the tuners (they work), that guitar has a killer sound and with great quality. Now....1600 Skr that is what I paid for a completely unplayable crap guitar back in...1982 !? now consider inflation under 42 years !! that is crazy 😅
Another thing about the very affordable price. You don't need to pay for some company to import the guitar and some other to sell it in a shop....and that would probably double the price. Credit to Thomann. Concerning the relation between price - sound - quality, it is impossible to get anything better out there. We do live in the golden age of good affordable guitars....pity that didn't happen 😢 40 years ago.
The wonders of CNC and cheap labor.
Sixteen hundred Swedish Crowns ~ sounds expensive ! 🤔
@leer.2137 it was expensive but; in 1982 you paid 13 000 SKR for a Les Paul Standard....so it was cheap in comparison, and very expensive if you compare what you get for the "same" amount of money 40 years later.
Sometimes you come across a guitar where you just think this is so good and such great value that everybody should have one.
That is a very nice Tele from Harley Benton I must say Colin. Everything seems decent on it. The binding as well along with the color. Good Job HB and thank you for showing it.
Absolute beast of a guitar. I bought one of their cheapest TE-20 telecaster models on a whim a couple of years ago and I can’t fault it. Not even for the money, it’s a great guitar.
Like I’ve always said, if you don’t want to spend thousands on throwing a guitar around, these can more than do the job and can take a beating.
Yes Sir, this is entertaining, you are such a delightful guy to watch. I think I've been following you almost since you started on TH-cam, and I have to say I follow lots of guitar channels, but yours is by far my favorite. I have recently been off of work for medical reasons, and I look forward too all your videos. Don't change a thing my friend, you're doing justice to your channel. Enjoy your adult week off. Lol
Cheers Terry that's appreciated! 😁👍
You really got into that playing Colin and Down down at the end. Perfect
I got the TE-25th Anniversary in Firemist Gold. I was equally impressed and satisfied. The bag it came with was outstanding in quality also. Other appointments too like locking tuners, alder body, roasted maple neck, graphite nut, slanted pickup switch. Get one while you can.
Same here. I love it
@@willlodge5386 Oh, how could I forget to mention compensated brass saddles?
Bought a HB a couple of years back just to see what the fuss was about. I have five of them now, great modding platforms.
I picked up my first Harley Benton a few months back, the MR Modern (Mosrite tribute w/ 2 point trem and humbuckers). Snagged it on Reverb from their American store for $280 shipped. Phenomenal guitar and quickly became my #1 player. Hard to beat at that price with (flawless) stainless frets, locking tuners, outstanding hardware tip to top. That T style is gorgeous!!
Great to see you enjoying the jam! That bridge PU sounds awesome.
one could argue a maple neck that has been baked is carmalized, as maple holds a lot of sugars within the wood.
I'm the proud owner of a Harley Benton SC-450 P90 GT Classic Series and it's the best sounding guitar I've ever played including Gibsons and Epiphones. Feels great too. Straight up. I have seven guitars here and the Harley Benton SC-450 P90 GT is the one I go to first every evening. I could even sell the rest apart from my Jet strat.
Cost of guitar with two superb P90s included on it -- 160 euros. Locking tuners and strap locks and a better selector switch took it just over the 200 euro to qualify for free delivery.
The Harley Benton HB-35Plus is nice too with the split humbuckers.
Status Quo was the band that got me in to the T-style guitars in the mid seventies...and i bougt the same guitar a week ago....really greate axe...i have 21 Fenders,Squiers and HB guitars now....in theese days,budget guitars have really rased the quality...and i still buy them for testing and i agree on this..thumbs UP!
Do not forget, there are around 20 or so factories in Asia (Korea, Indonesia, China etc) that are constantly manufacturing guitars since the 1980s. The sheer number of bodies, necks, electronics etc is mind blowing. Companies such as Thomann/HB take advantage of that, no advertising and purchasing directly from them keep the prices super low. It is very hard to argue with a lot of their products. If you ask any experienced luthier in the world, what "brand" is best, they will all tell you that the name on the headstock is meaningless.
I ended up ordering Harley Benton TE-70, and now i play it more than my Fender Strat, like 90% more, absolutely amazing guitar, cant fault it for anything. Harley benton begs the question how can other guitars be so expensive in comparison
Well done Colin. A lot of us know that HB can be good (despite variable QC. Very variable). Given that you review Teles that cost 8+ times as much and you still rate it speaks volumes.
Haven’t tried a Benton yet. But I did purchase a Jet guitar strat . I’ve been pleasantly surprised !
I've been eyeing this guitar for a while primarily for the high grade roasted and stiff maple neck. Impressed with your in depth approach to playability and video production quality in spite of their length. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and playing skill.
I live in NY, and I ordered the TELE-STYLE Harley Benton Fusion-T HH EB OCT (Ocean Turquoise w/Roswell humbuckers and WSC staggered locking die-cast machine heads) at 9am from the Thomann website..., it shipped from Germany 2 hours later and it's already here in New York at 8am the very next day, 23 hours later, marked "Out for Delivery" by UPS!! WOW! This will be my 5th HB. Ive had nothing but wonderful experiences with this company. (I own 8 Gibson's, btw... 3 LP standards and 5 SG standards) Im always looking forward to your reviews ;)
That´s Great! That Fusion Tele is already on my list to buy next from Thomann. I hope you enjoy it
@@MAX96MENDES It arrived safely and straight out the box it tuned up nicely, stays in tune with tremolo use. No QC issues whatsoever. The tuners are quite nice and the color - Ocean Turquoise - is fantastic. Now I may be getting lucky, but this is my 5th HB and I've had zero complaints.
I was playing classical guitar for 10 years when i was younger until it outgrew me. I have forgotten everything, even the notes, since i haven't touched it for the past 13 years. Today i just ordered this guitar along with everything that i need to start learning electric guitar. It's gonna be frustrating in the beginning because 10 years of classical won't translate to it and it's been se long my fingers don't remember shit but i can't wait! Thanks for the review.
You’ll be fine… it’s like riding a bike the basic skills are still in there somewhere! 😁👍
You can’t argue with value for money, at £135 plus shipping it’s an absolute steal. Aside from my usual moan about the 305mm radius fingerboard being wrong for a Telecaster I think they’ve got just about everything right. The alnico pickups sound good and the switch and pot’s although cheap function ok, anyway should problems arise in the future they’re pretty inexpensive to replace. I’m not so sure about the machine heads, I’ve never seen split posts without a hole down the middle before it just doesn’t make sense. I can’t help wondering if they were just a faulty batch, if it was my guitar they’d have to go, imagine trying to change a string quickly at a gig! I’m looking forward to the rest of the Telecaster style guitar reviews but the HB will take some beating for the money, the sea foam green unbound version is even cheaper at £125.
I swear by my Harley Benton JA-60. I also saw Andy Partridge of XTC a month or so ago playing a Harley Benton during an interview. :)
I ALSO ADD
That's been some of your best playing on this guitar!
Not to go Full Fan Boi, but I absolutely LOVE your channel and look forward to every new episode. It's like I'm watching the answer to the question "I wonder what Nigel Tufnel ended up doing after Spinal Tap finally broke up?!?" 😄
I actually enjoy your relaxed waffling because it’s relaxed and genuine
There’s no bs
These budget guitars get better and better. I had an Artist TC59 and it was amazing. At this price if you don't like something you can change it easily enough. Nice one Col.
Good evening, I bought 7 HB guitars from Thomann last year. This is exactly one of them. Incredibly good price, build quality, sound and color. From the point of view of an amateur guitarist, I did not notice any technical imperfections, but I repeat that I am a complete amateur. I bought 2 more models of Telecasters. I will only allow myself to state my personal recommendation for colleagues of my amateur type, and that is to focus generally on models that are on sale and in production for the shortest possible time. It's just a personal observation and note, it worked for me, even when I bought one of their classic long-produced models (also without problems). Thomann provides all information, including negative reviews, on its website. Fantastic phone support in my native language and free shipping even for a relatively small order. I can only recommend. Thank you for the video and greetings Pavel CZ.👍👍👍Status Quo?❤
To be honest this sounds incredible. And not with an "incredible for an instrument of this price" caveat. It just does... Loved the jam from about 24 mins in, super stuff!
I have eleven guitars. A couple are high end over a grand. Four of them are HBs. No issues. I am proud to own them. Tele style are my favorite! 😁👍🍻🍕
Absolutely right...!!!
When an instrument "HELPS" you play, while you are already "IN" the "ZONE" well that's always nice....
But on top of that, when the instrument "GETS" you in the zone...well then, you've got a keeper eh..?😉👍
Can't complain about the bang for the buck...At ALL...!!!😃
Nice looking to boot👍
The rolled fretboard edges are 😎👍👍
Thanks for this unveiling Colin...😎👍
Definitely an eye opener😁
😎✌👍❤🖖
Love Brother
4 harley bentons later, I love them just need a bit of a fiddle to get them playing 100%
I currently have 2 Harley Benton’s, the TE80 (Prince Madcat Tele) and their early 335 copy which is a much more accurate copy than the current model!
Both have been upgraded with full size quality pots and Seymour Duncan pickups etc!
For the money they are incredibly good guitars which after a few upgrades sound and play well beyond their price!
What’s even better is that I managed to purchase them used so saved even more!
Split post tuners without a hole can be used just as normal tuners (winding one coil above to keep it all down, the others underneath) and still have the advantage of allowing a quick pull off and put back of the whole thing whenever one wants to temporarily remove the strings. They just don't keep the end of the string inside.
I found them to be awful. No need.
Friday...Colin...guitars...Cup of tea and a few biscuits = HEAVEN 😊
Not a bad guitar but to my ear all of the HB guitars have tones that are on the thin side. I bought a Latitude to compare with my Fenders and the tones were OK sort of between thin and normal. I still prefer the tone on my Classic Vibe Tele. Again just my preference. All of these guitars are good it is just a matter of finding one that matches the tone your’e looking for. Hunting for them is fun so enjoy!
That's a lot of guitar for the money. I paid 450 US dollars for my Squire cv 60s thinline, incidentally I love it. Just saying, you really do pay for the name & I mean Squire was never the coolest thing in the world to be playing, but they've come along way. It's definitely a great time to be playing guitar, we didn't have stuff like this when I started. Great playing as always Collin. Can't wait for next week's show.
I bought a Harley Benton TE 30 BE in off white for £95.00 + £10 sounds better than the price suggests plus fit and finish was good as well. Changed the tuners and strings after a couple of weeks, for a set of Gotoh and NYXL' s, major improvement. A month or so later found a 6 saddle bridge with ashtray cover, not going to change anything else as i like the sound and now like the look. How they can make as cheap a guitar with an ash body rather than a basswood one is beyond me.
I think the way forward these days if your not a guitar snob and headstock snob is to buy a good moding platform. Harley benton, Jet and something from the Sire 3 range are epic modders. You can buy a Jet JS-400 and buy fender american parts for it and your total will be under £700 and you will have a premium guitar for less than half the price of a Fender pro 2. I bought a JS 400 3 weeks ago in lake placid blue for £199 and I was blown away by the fit, finish and playability. The neck is crazy for the price, worth 199 just for the neck. My days of being a Fender fan boy snob are over, I'm all about buying a cheap guitar that is incredibly well built and upgrading the pups and electronics and tuners if need be. That tele looks beautiful, gotta love a tele with double binding.
I have a 25th Anniversary Harley Benton Tele, I did a bit of fret work, swapped the jack, saddles (I like a groove in compensated saddles) and nut then tweaked the stock pickups a bit. About $50 and two hours of work total and it is honestly my favorite Tele in the world right now. I've had a couple nice Fender Tele's, even the Mateus Asato Suhr T for a while and for real I'd put this Tele against most of those. Really kind of changed my whole perspective on vintage style guitars.
I am fortunate to not have owned an early HB. The four I have are no older than three years ago. I purchased the upper price models. Still under $500.00! Really nice guitars.
I got the TE-62 in sea foam green, i wanted a tele with binding but they did not have sea foam green with binding when i got mine. Had to give it a better set up. Very nice guitar, no issues. I am changing pups,wiring graph-tech nut. The tunners are decent. None of these things need to be changed but i like to tinker and make it better. Better then Squier in my opinion.
In 2004 I had all the guitars I would ever need - USA Deluxe Tele and Strat, a Heritage 535 and 3 Carvin Custom shop models.
Around 10 years later my interest was aroused watching Greg Koch on TH-cam demo-ing an Epiphone Dot - looked good, sounded great. This got me checking out Epiphone and eventually Harley Bentons too.
Out of curiosity I got a HB Tele, £6 cheaper(no binding) than the one you used and like you say, it's a great guitar. Thomann is a good company to deal with, too.
It's a great time for guitar buyers.
Brilliant film as always Col! Got my nibbles and beverage ready whilst it was loading up.
As someone who enjoys setting some loops down and jamming out at home, if you were looking for some more fresh content ideas, it would be good to get a talk on how you get your inspiration for your loops/jams. The play out this week was particularly good. Things like what keys/scales you use and songs you use for inspiration!
Thanks again!
@@yetanotherflippinusername5174 I wasn't actually, will give it a listen now!
I keep coming back to this, the guitar and your playing are stunning ❤.
Thank you. Just what we have waiting for. A proper review!
So which do you prefer for the money? The HB TE62 or the Squier Sonic Mustang
I absolutely love double-bound telecasters! That is a beautiful guitar. And outstanding jams sir Colin 👍
I have the 25th anniversary with trem & humbuckers, tiger maple neck, ss frets..... I can't put it down! seriously the best bang for buck I've ever had.
HB had their 25 year anniversary models a while ago.
Hadn’t heard of them until few years ago.
This ticks all tele boxes for me. Classic bridge, stringthrough (just for being fancy, nothing wrong with toploaded) binding.
Fretboard could use a drop of oil. Nice guitar. Especially for that money.
I have a jazzmaster style and a short scale bass.
Neckfitment and frets were spot on.
The bass was only 99 Euro.
I have one of these same color, bought it, just because it was so cheap to mod it. But after getting it, all I needed to do was a truss rod adjustment, it came with NY Xcel 942s on it. And it plays phenomenal. Sounds great. Stays in tune! And I’m not even gonna change the pick ups which I usually do and a lot of my Guitars even my fenders, Gibsons, And one of my PRS us. This is a very good guitar that you can gig with, and if it gets stolen, it’s not a biggie! It plays very well I’m quite happy with it.
I tried buying a TE-62DB. First one was _brilliant_ but had some varnish missing from part of the back of the neck. So, I sent it back (mistake). I then spent weeks (months) trying three others.... all were total shite. I even asked them to send the first one back to me (could have sanded the thing down, removed what varnish it had) but it was sold as B-Stock, so someone got a really great guitar at a really good price.
In the end I paid a bit more and ended up with a TE-25TH, their 25th Anniversary Telecaster style model. _Awesome guitar,_ and worth the price of the upgrade.
Damn, you were cooking in this playing session! I stopped what i was doing to see what that noise was about. Bit like driving a cheap car you just thrash it and have alot of fun.
Colin...I love watching you play....for me the #1 thing for a guitar to be a telecaster is that it must have a ashtray bridge....if it doesn't I am not interested
The Lauel being used in recent times looks so much better. Originally the stuff looked grey and anemic and uneven. But they looked to have somehow solved that, whether thru staining or just using better woods. And I 100% prefer it to Pau Ferro, which I cannot stand! Although my parent's neighbor has a nice early SRV strat with Pau Ferro and it is one VERY nice piece of fingerboard slab.
Hello, I am not a pro and I don't need expensive gear. I just like to be creative on guitar solos in order to have fun and to relax in the world of music.
I've got some cheap gear that matches my needs. I am not chasing perfection neither in tone nor in gear. I like to do set-ups on my own
(saving money) and YT videos like yours are much of a help, also helping to become a better player. I have strats and
LP-style guitars, but no tele yet. Maybe the HB 24 models will be worth to get one. I have a HB SC 450 plus which I like a lot. Thanks for your work, Sir!
Regarding the Pickup types juged by the magnets, my understanding is:
Bar magnet underneath = ceramic magnets
No bar magnet = pole pieces are magnetic = mainly ALNICO pickups as these here are.
Alnico pickups often considered as the „better“ pickup types.
Cheers, and in fact I forgot to mention that these are indeed Alnico 5 magnets
I got a TE-52 tele in lockdown and got an SC-550 II last week. They've both got really good bones. Tuners left a little to be desired on both models, and the range of the pots in the tele weren't great. A few tweaks and they're excellent instruments.
I got a sc 550 few weeks ago SH, can't put it down
I was just listening to you and could tell instantly that you were able to find your groove. Can’t complain about a 135 quid guitar that can sound like that. Have a great week off.
Just found Col's channel and absolutely love his reviews. I've just turned 62 and decided to learn the guitar. Still struggling with my first few cords with my uncooperative fingers.
Bit of a story how I came to want to do this. I have always been a keen model builder and have had for a few years a 3D printer. Last year I got a really good one and found a project to 3D print a guitar. So rather than printing bits of useless plastic crap thought I would give it a go. To be honest it's only the body that you print and you use a Harley Benton T-style kit for the neck, hardware and electronics. Well first mistake was not paying attention on the Thomann site and ordering a Strat style kit (Doh!). So after then ordering the correct kit put it all together and it worked. After a visit to a local guitar shop it as I needed strings and did not know what to get and he was very interested and asked me to take it over. He was really quite impressed with it.
For those interested if you Google Prusacaster it should show you what I made.
So apart from that I now also built the Strat kit as well and spray painted it with nitro paint but I'm not all that happy with the finish.
Oh and as I thought I ought to have a ready made guitar I have an East Coast L1 in flamed blue which I love.
Keep those vids coming Col and happy strumming everyone.
Cheers man glad you found us! 😁👍
I have two and they're both great. Both were playable out of the box (well, one had a rattling tone knob, but that needed 30 seconds with a spanner).
I'd happily play live with both of them.
My main guitar's a Baja Telecaster with the chunky 50s neck. My only issue with the HB Teles is that I've heard they're heavy.
I can't speak for all them, obviously, but I had the ash TE-52. It was a freakin' boat anchor.
I've had the TE-52 for a few months and its a wonderful guitar for the same price too, a little heavy but it is Ash. great value
Nice review! I have the shell pink version. I love the neck. It's very even, no taper. My tuners are allright, I can push the strings in. So it could be a weird batch on yours or they changed it for the worse 😂.
Also, nice catch on the bridge saddles position! They are moved a bit more forward because the bridge placement itself is moved a bit backward. Probably because of copyright issues. I discovered this when trying to change the pickguard. A regular Fender tele pickguard won't fit nicely. There's a seller on ebay that makes custom te-62 pickguards.
Great teles these te-62's. Ive owned a a few harley bentons but this te-62 is definitely a keeper!
For another £40 or so you'd get a decent set of tuners and this guitar would be perfectly good still for under £200 I think the Harley Benton guitars are amazing for the money I got an EX84 modern with EMG's and a Fusion III HSH they are a little more expensive I think about £350 when I got them but they are amazing you should try one of the more expensive Harley Bentons stainless steel frets etc for much less than £400 is hard to beat spec wise 🤘Keep up the excellent work 👋👍🤘
I've been eying these up for quite a while. I have a Fender MIM Classic 60s neck and a set of Bare Knuckle Brown Sugar pickups looking for a home, which might well be one of these gorgeous Harley Benton bodies.
Colin my friend, You're a Gibson native. Me - I'm a Fender native. Oddly enough that doesn't matter at all, and you're my favorite guitar channel. You'll never understand the Stratocaster, but that's ok. I do, and they have been my main axe - along with the Telecaster my entire career. These Harley Benton's haven't made it to Jacksonville Fla, so I have yet to play one - but damn, you make me interested. Now I never buy without playing what ever it is - first BUT I may very well make an exception for one of these.
Anyway thanks again, and keep up the good work.
Cheers man! 😁👍
I'm looking for a Tele, I am looking at a HB TE62, ...up pops your vid. Thank you for reviewing 😄👌. Did you look at the Eart Tele? Regardless, gratitudes from Ireland!
The TE- 62 DB is the guitar I pick up most nowadays, despite having plenty of more expensive "better" instruments. It is a lovely guitar - maybe I got an exceptional one, I don't know but if you want a Tele copy on a budget, don't hesitate to buy one of these - £135 delivered to your door! It even comes with a decent set of D'Addario strings from the factory. If you buy a Candy Apple Red one, just be aware that its quite a pale shade of red and can look slightly pink in certain lights.....not a problem for me, it's a nice finish with it's metallic flakes embedded in the red but if you're expecting a true Candy Apple Red, you might be disappointed. You can always buy a blue one if that's a concern.
I did also own an Eastcoast T-Style a while back....it was the one with a P90 in the neck and was labelled a "Deluxe"....also a decent guitar although not nearly as good as the HB in my opinion but it was also cheaper, especially as I got it B-Stock (never did find anything that warranted that either). With a new set of strings and a setup though, it was perfectly fine, a nice roasted maple neck, decent fretwork, stayed in tune (but the machine heads were cheapo items as you'd expect). Obviously it's not comparable to more expensive guitars in many ways but it felt good, it looked nice enough in its vintage sunburst clothes and it played pretty well. I ended up donating it to my son's guitar teacher for a young lad who didn't have the means to buy an electric guitar. Hopefully it got something into his hands that was good enough not to kill his youthful enthusiasm.
Got one on order thanks to your review- plus just got the Antiquity' Rosewood tele (George Harrison) that you featured which I LOVE already -so I expect this HB to be pretty decent alongside it. Great value and good looking, playable guitars. Great work Guitarista geezer 👏
Can’t beat Harley Benton on performance to cost ratio. I bought the DC junior in Pelham blue just out of intrigue. Now has a Monty’s 54 p90, cts pots, bumblebee cap, switchcraft jack, lightening bar bridge from mojoaxe. It’s honestly now my best sounding guitar out of the ten I own, from a Les Paul, strats, Ibanez etc.
Keep up the great work Colin. Cheers
Had my HB telecaster paisley deluxe for 3 years gigging with it .I wouldnt change it at all
After the unboxing video, I drove over to Thomann and picked up a 299 Euro Strat. Harley Benton. It was very well crafted. I can make no complaint against the tuners, finish, etc...my problem was the neck pickup. It was also a Roswell but the magnets did not line up with the strings and there was no way to adjust the height of the pickup. The bridge was great. I took it back after two hours. It appeared that the pickup hole was not bored out in line with the neck. Playability was excellent. Smooth neck, no fret burrs and the sound I did get out of it was decent, but that blasted neck pickup ruined it for me. I would rate that strat at a solid eight even with the neck pickup faulty. WIth a better positioned pickup, I would definitely have kept it. Your review of the tellie is wonderful. I sounds great and looks great. Yep, new tuners and a pickup upgrade and that's a great guitar. Looking forward to your next review.
I bought a Harley Benton Flying V classic. I didnt like the Ceramic pickups, but I dont like Ceramic pickups in any brand. Installed Borns pots, Epiphone burstbuckers and MAN, she is a BEAST. My favorite guitar now, and I own a G & L S500, a Music man sub 1and an Epiphone Classic Les Paul. I recently bought an Epiphone Prophecy V, and returned it next day after comparing it to my Harley Benton. My cheap V absolutely BLEW the Prophecy OUT of the water. My band thought the same thing, say WHOA, your old guitar kicks its ass. Yes I replaced the pickups, but that was $80, and 3 pots for $20. Do the math. I now ordered two more Harley Benton V's. The active pickup and Alnico Mahogany versions instead of basswood classic.
After 40 years of guitar playing I bought my first real cheap guitar...a Harley Benton Jazzmaster copy.
Although you find little things that remind you of the price you paid there is nothing wrong with it.
In fact it rocks and I have a lot of fun with it!
Absolutely love my Goldie 25th anniversary!
If you’re replacing tuners get the Harley Benton locking ones- seriously! 40 quid and they’re absolutely brilliant.
Great video, and a great jam. To your question about is it you or the guitar... I think the only real question is does the guitar get in the way of you being in the zone? Doesn't sound like it did. Cheers.
I’ve had a HB TE52-NA for about 9 years, and it gets played more often than my Gibson SG. It’s the cheapest guitar I own, but it’s a cracking little instrument. As a spotty youth, I was always drawn more to Strats, but the these days it’s the Tele (or T style if I’m fending off litigious corporations) that floats my boat. I’d buy this guitar (in CAR) but I honestly have run out of room for any more.
fine review Colin, I bought this same model in early january I changed the tuners straight away, for same reason, just put cheap guyker locking tuners, exact fit, no drilling perfect fit, even left original ferrules in, I needed to file nut a little & swapped the bridge for one with compensated brass saddles, I didn't like bridge pickup, seems opinion in reiews of them is split, a cheap fleorsingle coil did the trick for me, suits me fine now, thanks for the videos always entertaining
To be fair the prices of fender, Gibson, and even Epiphone now I think these guitars are bang for your buck. Great shirt too Colin! 👏👍🏻
Always wanted to get one of those in for my show. (hey Thomann, are you listening? Lol)
I hope so... fingers crossed for you Jonny! 😆🤞🎸🧷
I like the smile on your face when you played Down Down. Rossi and Parfitt were really my first guitar teachers, even before I learned my "cowboy chords". I adored Hendrix, Gallagher, Alvin Lee etc, etc.(The Punk thing came too late for me, I was a BOF at the age of 13:-) But these two guys sounded great to me and I never thought I could figure out, what all these "heroes" were doing. So I said to myself, ok, you might be able to pick up some Quo stuff and you'll be ready to start a band, maybe become a genius later ;-) Now, after decades of curiosity and tryin to find out about things I finally got around to some jazzy impro, even figured out some theory but I still like to come back to the glorious Status Quo. It 's a bit like the stuff you listen to when you're young fades away but comes back when the youthful elitism vanishes😎
I got a Harley Benton JA60 last year, and I just wish that budget guitars of this quality were available 50+ yrs ago.
me too, we had unplayable planks didn't we - I bought a HB SC550 (fancy LP type) s/h for £180 few months ago, it's a great guitar.
those guitars were totally crap indeed....and they were not so cheap.
@@you2vertigo my beat up 2nd hand Sumbro 'SG' was about £20 in mid 70s - a fair chunk of money and utter crap instrument
Adjusting for inflation, twenty quid in 1975 would be around £148 in 2024 money.
I love the binding, great color. would have killed for a guitar of this quality in 1976 when i got my first japanese electric cheapo.
Guitars are a commodity at this point. markets of scale at work pushing down price and driving up quality. just like the auto industry early on or televisions as well.
I'm very happy with my TE62. The only thing I did after an setup was changing the string tress to two 'Göldo Roller String Tree'
9 Euro - Big difference
I bought one of the lefty models in Seafoam green as its hard to find affordable lefty guitars and I mainly use it for playing Police tunes and its a brilliant guitar and nails the tones im looking for, just throw a flanger into the mix and that the tone. Its stays in tune well and I have literally no complaints after a year of ownership and the frets hardly wear down and even if they do I can just pick up another guitar for 150 quid.
Harley Benton are on fire atm. I own the TE52 Vintage and it’s an absolute weapon. I take it to rehearsals and it’s sturdy, fun and reliable
I record for an average at six hours at a time: no issues at all. Not even fatigue
Weighty sod though
I just got a Mooer GE-150 on an eBay auction for £50! You know that feeling when you get something so cheap on an auction that no one else bids on that you feel guilty! 😂 The guy was a lovely bloke as well!
Tuners and switch are replacable and a 6 brass barrel saddle to get intonation spot on.with it being so light l pass the g+l in the rack and grab my hb 62db in lpb.putting a black scratch plate on it too.great vid mr collin.keep at it.
I have quite a few guitars with dime size CF pots, and they have remained completely serviceable after 5 years.
Tuners: Take off, warm up on say a radiator, soak in lighter fluid & spend with string winder. Then lightly lube with a light teflon lube. Making sure no lube soaking out (obviously as bad for wood) and put back. Worked for me a couple of times on cheap tuners. It's amazing what you can get for your money these days - I have a few in this price range on a rack in my living area & the "better'' ones stay in their cases elsewhere. Cheers
Good to see an honest review.
Both reviewers and owners alike tend to forget to mention these are only really good guitars when the price is taken into account. You'd think they were secret PRSs the way they get bigged up by owners wanting to convince themselves a hundred and fifty quid guitar is a custom luthier job.
And then theres owners happily saying they own 3 or 4. So thats 600 if new, which would have bought a used model that really is pretty decent. But their 600 will be now more like 200 on resale as the resale on these is peanuts.
Good for beginners or if you really cant afford anything else. Otherwise a cheap body with fake tuners and tinny pickups.
Well, David Knopfler, a great guitarist and formerly of Dire Straits, thinks very differently about that.
I have this same double-bound model in black. It's a fantastic guitar...regardless of the price (I never liked the saying "It's a good guitar...for the money.")
Great review! Not sure if you have reviewed the HB TE 52 but that too is a great Telecaster which pays homage to the Vintage 50's sound! It is a bit heavy, and yes some work may be needed but the value is great! Other Harley Benton's worth consideration are the HB - TE FLT 90, and the Harley Benton Aeolus. The Aeolus Semi Hollow is a unique one for sure! Looking forward to seeing you on stage with a Harley Benton, hope to see a video of that. No doubt, its not about the guitar brand, its about the guitar player, thanks for your valued insight and God Bless
Harley Benton...I have a love/hate relationship with them. While they do make extremely affordable guitars, many of those guitars in my opinion slip through QC a bit too quickly. Last year I bought the HB TE53-KR Keith Richards Tribute "Micawber" Telecaster....love the heavy Butterscotch finish, and the 12" radius caramelized maple satin neck...what I do NOT like was the fact it weighs 10 freakin' pounds ! I also agree in that the split post tuner's split isn't deep enough so changing strings is a pain...truly crappy tuners. It's ridiculously heavy and because of this, there's no joy in playing it. I've been trying to sell it. Shipping from Thomann in Germany is extremely expensive to the U.S.. So in wanting to give Harley Benton a 2nd chance, I discovered they have a U.S. "limited" inventory distributor via REVERB with FREE shipping (you do pay tax) so I bought their HB ST62-MN VW. Wooo Hooo that came in at just about 7lbs. Much better. However both of my Harley Bentons came with extremely sharp frets so that was disappointing and pretty cheap strings but I guess considering the price point they are able to offer very inexpensive guitars...you get what you pay for, IF you're lucky ! p.s...WOW you're a lucky man. Only 7.3 lbs ? My tele is ash and weighs a bloody 10lbs ! 😣