I got myself the Harley benton...check out if it's any good! Gear used: Victory Sheriff 22 Timmy overdrive Tone Job boost / eq Zilla cabs mini modern 1x12 with celestion creamback 65 M
So, you basically ordered it thinking it would be really crappy just because that's what anything that says 'made in China' is, right? And then you're pleasantly surprised to see it's actually really nice. Imagine the exact opposite that happened when I got my Gibson.
@Chuck Bailey If the Chinese need to be sued for copyright issues concerning a brand name or a design, Suhr, many more brands and Gibson should be sued too!
Harley Benton guitars are a proof that we've been fucked for the past 30 years by big guitar companies (Gibson, Fender, PRS and others) so they can make a shitload of money on us - guitar players.
I didnt like the definition and weak tone on mine. The classic vibe is 200 more and sounds really nice. The hb looks and feels really nice but the weak output, low end and the sound with chords sounds like its all mashed together with little seperation... so the build is great, no complaints but dont want to do electronics upgrades and saddles and maybe pots just to find out it doesnt really help the tone, as I have heard and seen on other videos so returning it for the CV 50s tele. Great review btw
There's a Chines guitarist on youtube named Jonathan Koe who has demo some Harley's and compared to a Fender tele reisue pretty damn close! Some settings were even better than the Fender. Then again the guy makes everything sound good
@@seanvanmolle7836 Why wouldn't it be useable on a stage? It's a Tele.... there isn't enough stuff on there to fail. Frets could wear depending on the material but i highly doubt anyone would burn trough them in less than 3 years even if it's played every day and even if it does they're dirt cheap..... throw a 100 euro Allparts neck on there and you're ready to go another 10 years while still being off cheaper than any "decent" Squier would set you back. Go for it!
@@seanvanmolle7836 there is guitarplayer, american, sorry forgot the name, plays with his Fender and Harley Benton, live and filmed it. Both sound very good! No issue not to use it on stage, enjoy
Love Harley Benton guitars. They are worth far more than you pay for them. Ok the body or the neck may not be one piece but the joints are so good it doesn't matter. Guitar snobs hate Harley Bs because they make their 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 $ guitars look like a waste of money.
I can only speak for the teles but for this one, they are comparable to a mim tele but sound better, it's close to an American strategy and the pickups are comparable to a USB tele and has some advantages but mostly my American tele pickups are better. The te30 needs alot of work, but once I did they sound pretty good
There's a guy on YT whose surname I can't recall Tony something and he has a collection of top-end LP's and he got hold of an HB and did a video on it slating them(all lies) he claimed he had to change the bridge as it was all corroded and rusty it was id'd by many people and was not a bridge that HB has ever used, he also claimed that the flame was printed on cardboard, and they are not they are real wood laminates, he was called a liar and a hoax by many people and removed the comments from the video. basically, he had spent a small fortune on Gibsons and hates that he and thousands of people had got a guitar that cost less than the case for one of his Gibsons but was of great quality and sound
I bought the same guitar about two years ago and was also quite surprised. I did replace the saddles with intonated Brass saddles, but didn't swap the bridge. Everything else on it was great so I left it. It's one of my favorite guitars, and I have some that are much more expensive. We truly live in a golden age of guitars.
Btw...that fret buzz went away after relieving the neck a little. The guitar plays great now. The only thing I'll upgrade are the tuning keys, as the base strings sometimes go out of tune.
Thanks for the sonic impressions of this guitar, which - also on this video - totally impress me! So much so that this video has tipped the scales for me to order one. So cool that you compared it with high-end Telecasters! That really helped me - as a normally acoustic-only player - to get more of a feel for how very good its sound is. In fact, I have to confess that I much prefer the sound of the HB over the other two. It has more earth and grit to it. The other two have more singing qualities and punch, but that‘s not at all what I‘m after. Even when I compared the TE-52 to HB‘s next-higher-up model, I still prefer the 52‘s sound. It feels organic and real. Love it!
Got one. Modified it though [2 humbuckers, new 6 sadle bridge, new pickguard] for barítone tuning. The OG Pups are fine and went to another HB Tele a mate gave me. Love them.
It sounds bright and clear, which I like. Tone softening csn always be added, but when pups are like that dry, there's no way to get them to clear/clean. Nice buy. I recently got the cst-24t Benton PRS copy and just love it
"My favorite" guitar is which ever one gets played the most. Thanks for posting this. I am not generally a Tele guy but love to hear what others think. This was a great video and you clearly took time to make it. Appreciate the effort.
I just got mine a few days ago, needs a little tlc, replacing the tuners right away too. I was a little surprised by the lack of lacquer on the fretboard, most teles seem to have some on it, mine feels really dry. Sound is really nice, overall a great value
If Joe Satriani was to play a stock Harley Benton guitar through his amp, would we all start swapping out SD dimarzios and more expensive pups for Roswells instead. The tone is primarily in the fingers and even amp settings have a far greater impact. IMHO people should find what the standard gear can actually do first, before spending hundreds on something, that most can't tell the difference. Just throwing it out there.
Harley Benton is amazing. I bought an 8 output pedal power for 69€ and quality is top notch. Isolated outputs, 300ma, 2 outputs 9v/12v/18v... simply perfect.
I watched this video before buying one along with others I’d seen. I agree with all your observations other than I did find it noisy in my tiny home studio. I installed copper foil in all the cavities/scratch plate/control plate, twisted all the hot and earth wires as tight as possible, grounded all cavities to the tone pot. It’s now amazingly quite, as quite as a Humbucker. The tuners are OK, but I think over time they will cause a problem. I will eventually change them to Kluson Vintage ones. I did also replace the saddles for brass ones, a cheap upgrade. The frets did need a polish and some of the fret ends needed a bit of filing and sanding to, but it was acceptable out of the box. I now have a great sounding, easy to play tele for little money compared to a high end one. Thank you for helping me decide to buy one to add to my collection.
Probably the best Harley Benton review on TH-cam. Excellent comparisons. I have an american performer Tele and it's a fine guitar. But, Harley Benton makes a quality guitar. I'm not sure I want to shell out another $1400 mainly because it has Fender on the stock. You earned a new sub! Keep posting.
I have LOTS of guitars (some expensive, some not) but my two main gigging guitars are my Fender Original 50s Tele (about £1500) and my Harley Benton TE-52 (about £120). Both are great guitars! I love my TE-52 and have changed nothing - it was great out of the box.
Hi ! Your play is great and the review is fantastic. It's interesting what will be your impression after half year of use ! Thanks again and keep bluesing !!!
The last 4 guitars I have bought have been Harley Bentons and only one needed a bit of work setting it up, I love my Bentons! and have just ordered the DC Junior. It's a no brainer when it comes to buying any HB
I bought one along with HB locking tuners. Right out of the box, as soon as I saw the guitar I was overjoyed because it had that glow and feel of quality. The guitar looked, played and sounded great after a few minor intonation adjustments. When it arrived it was almost in tune!!! The medium jumbo ferets were dressed to perfection, the neck, a thing of beauty, with a much more elegant headstock than the ugly Fender design. Beside changing the tuners which I knew would be crap, I made a few other modifications. I changed the bridge and control plates with a fancy, engraved inexpensive Chinese plates and roller saddles, flipped the control plate because I was slapping the 3 position switch, changed the nut with a brass nut I modified to fit, changed the string trees, and soldered in an orange drop capacitor. The long and short of it is that for about $260.00 total including delivery, I have a guitar that is as good or better than any Fender or botique tele ever made. The guitar feels and plays like an extention of myself. Although I was never really a fan of Teles, I also brought the HB Proline black tele which has 2 humbuckers comes stock with HB locking tuners, Wilkinson tremolo, ebony fretboard, Sapele (like mahogany, with tighter grain) which has a deep rich red brown color, a beautiful light brown-ochre binding, gloss black finishm with a cut that reveals the red-brown sapele in the cutawy, inother words, an absolutely georgous guitar that sounds great right out of the box. With all the stock features, this guitar at $320.00 delivered is comparable to a Paul Reed Smith, but I like it better. In both guitars, I was surprised to find that the pots were the big, beefy quality pots, rather than the cheap dime sized Chinese pots you generally find in cheap guitars and even many medium priced instruments by major brands like Fender Squier and Ibanez.
I just got a Cabronita Tele from Harley Benton used for 90EUR. Its from the Deluxe Series and has Al-Nico FTL (Roswell) pickups and after a setup it plays like heaven. Great guitars for the money.
Good video. Liked the information presented and some nice finger style playing. Just got one of these from my wife for Christmas. I have had 3 previous HBs and this is the best one out of the box. Tuned it and did nothing more. Only thing wrong with mine is that they didn't level the switch plate very well and looks out of line with the guitar. Easy to sort that though. Excellent guitar for less than £120. It also gives you a good physical workout.......Solid lumps of ash...to me it's quite heavy. Definitely keeping it though, may add some compensated brass saddles as I already have them from a previous project. Well done HB and Thomann
There other tele that peaks my interest is the Vintage V52 with the Wilkinson Hardware, but I surprised how good this HB TE52 sounds for the money you cannot go wrong,
I do like HB. You often need to do quite a bit of setup work but they are amazing for the money. Good to hear guitars through standard amps instead of high-end stuff, better to know the reality. Thanks Man!
I purchased one recently to replace my Squire Affinity with Fender MIM pickups. Honestly the HB blows away the Squire for that Tele country twang! Very happy!
Its the BEST sub £200 guitar ive ever played. HB are amazing. What they offer for the money. Simply amazing. Like he said you know this guitar is gonna sound great even without an amp its has a great acoustic sound. I was stunned by the tone and sustain. Highly recommended.
I got the sc 400 "goldtop" from hb for Christmas. Its more of a copper color than gold, but I actually liked that better once I got it. 107 bucks plus 32 to ship. The only thing I changed was the strings. Didn't need fretwork, the pickups are great, the hardware works fine, the tuners are great and I didn't even have to set it up. Just slapped on some ernie ball 9s and have been rocking out ever since. I plan on ordering their copies of all my "dream guitars" and it'll only cost me 700 bucks and shipping. A jazz master, strat, single cut junior, sg 3 pup custom, and the sc450 goldtop with p90's and im set for life. Im sure they'll all be great and sound great straight into my fender blues jr and vox ac15.
Im an acoustic guy that's been teetering on getting one on my local fb for £100... You've convinced me. Great objective review and demo... Not the usual look how good I play demo... But hey you're good too dude. So thanks for posting
Upgrades to reccommend: Gotoh string retainer and a bone or tusq nut make the tuning more responsive and a bit more stable. Any s/t-style nut from Amazon will do. Some have to be sanded in order to fit in the slot.
I almost bought one of these. In the end, I got the Squier Classic Vibe Tele, but it was a really close call/ It literally came down to the shape of the headstock to break the tie
Good sound fantastic price. Excellent review. But I got a room full of guitars. It becomes an addiction. I mostly play a tele American made and D 38 Martin acoustic. That's it playing 66 years as a 75 year old since dirt was invented.
Just discovered you and subbed. You have great hands/ears, so most any axe will sound good when you play it. Thumbzup.. PS; the rosewood fingerboard is darker, why I like maple mostly.
I lucked out and found one on craiglist for 140. I'm not a professional musician, just someone that really enjoys to play. The American made Fender stuff is starting at around 1200 bucks now... Call me crazy but I just don't understand what could possibly justify that price.
That’s so cool it has the fatter neck profile! I’ve only felt that on a custom shop I couldn’t afford. It also looked like a comfort cut in the picture is that correct?
Hi! They have been out of stock for quite some time, but I got mine yesterday after roughly a month after ordering. Possibly, Thomann has listened to numerous complaints on too high action, and crappy/uneven/sticking tuners , cause mine arrived with in my opinion too low action, and perfectly well working tuners! There still was some light scratchiness from the frets while bending, so I took off the strings and sanded all frets with 240 wet sanding paper ( used dry ) , followed by steel wool and metal polish ( masking tape covering fret board ). New 10-52 Elixir strings , rose the bridge saddle for non-wowen G-B-E strings, and voila! a solid, great looking, very well built and functioning tele for no money at all. Inspired by your experience and demo.... BR Magnus
@@dimitrisaivaliotis5616 i! I used small pieces of wet sanding paper held directly with my fingers and sanded each fret along it's length ( in the fret direction, not along the neck ) til I could not feel any scratchiness when sliding the tip of my nail along it anymore.
Good call, I had mine delivered last week. Unbelievable quality for the price totally playable out of the box. I've been playing for fifty years - it's a pity there weren't instruments of this quality/price available when I started!
I have 8 Harley Benton's all are fantastic instruments. At the price point they are selling you can't beat the quality. You would have to spend at least 3x to come close to the Harley Benton Quality. I own the TE-52 as well as the ST-90 and the are just fantastic. Lastly not all Harley Benton' s are made in China some are made in Indonesia, Korea, etc...
Got one of these 2yrs back now, Had a Bone Nut Cut and fitted by Plek machine at Thomann for £52? mine was the same as yours, Loud acoustically, and I didn't want to touch it, but have just put on a Wilkinson Brass saddle Ash tray bridge, and Hasn't spoilt it at all, so, go for it? Pick ups are fine and work well enough. Know what you're saying about the Neck, and being a bit fuller in the hand? is something I liked, Bit mine is Heavy, being 10.5lbs ash body
Hi bro, that HB it has same woods and quality resonance but please tell me if exist so much diference from Fender telecaster in sound, today exist better tecnology and for this better quality than50 years and 30 years ago.
Am now 69, been a strat player for 55 years, build and play guitars. Never had a tele - shock, horror. Bought a cream maple neck HB ST62 strat 2 years ago - am a 'man-in-black' fan - and was frankly shocked by the quality of the thing. Didn't screw the middle pick up down or bevel out the fretboard...😂 A few scratchy frets I polished out, as I do with all my new and used guitars. So. No tele. Not cool as I play more finger style these days. Looked at used Fenders, most needed frets and necks. New ones cost a dollar bob or two. So I bought my HB TE52 a year ago, on the back of the HB strat. Big shock. The frets and fret ends were great. The pickups were great. Sounded great. I fitted brass saddles, only to be able to intonate in pairs by gauge, didn't really need to (but what would a strat player do!). Felt a touch heavy but I don't have other teles to know. Thought about fitting a neck humbucker for slide playing, but not now, it's great as is. In any case, for the money, the build quality is amazing. I might gather more strats - but this is the only tele I'll ever need. HB? Might watch the flimsy feel quality of the controls over time, but cheap to replace. Well...must look at their 335 versions...just for the hell of it! As for retired life, with no woman (or man) in the house, guitars on EVERY wall and amps turned up to 11 and a half! 😂😊
I play every day , and have 3 Good working, good sounding Halrley Benton guitars. the HB-35, 158 €, St-20,79€, and a kit guitar Ja-60, 89 €. tomorrow I get the TE-53 with humbucker. 239€. cheers sir. sounds like a guitar . Nice warmTwang.
![ลักพาตัว เอาลูกเอิร์นกลับมา...!! [เอิร์นไดเม่]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/f4NVKlZ5qkk/mqdefault.jpg)
So, you basically ordered it thinking it would be really crappy just because that's what anything that says 'made in China' is, right?
And then you're pleasantly surprised to see it's actually really nice.
Imagine the exact opposite that happened when I got my Gibson.
please tell us more ....
@Chuck Bailey If the Chinese need to be sued for copyright issues concerning a brand name or a design, Suhr, many more brands and Gibson should be sued too!
Same here. Im excited that i bought a Gibson Trad Mahogany. But now, it's in the case and preferred my OBG
I think it was the price, not the brand or country where made....
i thought they are made in Indonesia ??
Harley Benton guitars are a proof that we've been fucked for the past 30 years by big guitar companies (Gibson, Fender, PRS and others) so they can make a shitload of money on us - guitar players.
Obviously you are not a musician
Right on brother
@@ralex3697 ahh yes you need shitloads of money so you can get “fender” printed on the headstock. only then are you a true musician
I didnt like the definition and weak tone on mine. The classic vibe is 200 more and sounds really nice. The hb looks and feels really nice but the weak output, low end and the sound with chords sounds like its all mashed together with little seperation... so the build is great, no complaints but dont want to do electronics upgrades and saddles and maybe pots just to find out it doesnt really help the tone, as I have heard and seen on other videos so returning it for the CV 50s tele. Great review btw
Harley Benton's are priced at a point where doubt enters the mind. After purchasing four of them i no longer question, I just enjoy.
There's a Chines guitarist on youtube named Jonathan Koe who has demo some Harley's and compared to a Fender tele reisue pretty damn close! Some settings were even better than the Fender. Then again the guy makes everything sound good
Same here - they offer absolutely great value for money...
Could a harley benton guitar be used on stage? I'l thinking of buying one,but it's gonna 'work' allot. How are the frets for example?
@@seanvanmolle7836 Why wouldn't it be useable on a stage? It's a Tele.... there isn't enough stuff on there to fail.
Frets could wear depending on the material but i highly doubt anyone would burn trough them in less than 3 years even if it's played every day and even if it does they're dirt cheap..... throw a 100 euro Allparts neck on there and you're ready to go another 10 years while still being off cheaper than any "decent" Squier would set you back.
Go for it!
@@seanvanmolle7836 there is guitarplayer, american, sorry forgot the name, plays with his Fender and Harley Benton, live and filmed it. Both sound very good! No issue not to use it on stage, enjoy
Love Harley Benton guitars. They are worth far more than you pay for them. Ok the body or the neck may not be one piece but the joints are so good it doesn't matter. Guitar snobs hate Harley Bs because they make their 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 $ guitars look like a waste of money.
Indeed Roy
I can only speak for the teles but for this one, they are comparable to a mim tele but sound better, it's close to an American strategy and the pickups are comparable to a USB tele and has some advantages but mostly my American tele pickups are better. The te30 needs alot of work, but once I did they sound pretty good
There's a guy on YT whose surname I can't recall Tony something and he has a collection of top-end LP's and he got hold of an HB and did a video on it slating them(all lies) he claimed he had to change the bridge as it was all corroded and rusty it was id'd by many people and was not a bridge that HB has ever used, he also claimed that the flame was printed on cardboard, and they are not they are real wood laminates, he was called a liar and a hoax by many people and removed the comments from the video. basically, he had spent a small fortune on Gibsons and hates that he and thousands of people had got a guitar that cost less than the case for one of his Gibsons but was of great quality and sound
@@AndrewAHayes if everyone buys hb's his gibbos lose resale value. Thats why he did it.
Untrue
I’ve been playing over 60 years. This guitar is a great buy and it plays and sounds great. It holds its own with my 72 Tele.
Right there is my reason to look into buying this guitar, with recommendation from a seasonned pro. PS-I'm also well seasonned
I bought the same guitar about two years ago and was also quite surprised. I did replace the saddles with intonated Brass saddles, but didn't swap the bridge. Everything else on it was great so I left it. It's one of my favorite guitars, and I have some that are much more expensive.
We truly live in a golden age of guitars.
I like how they made the headstock shape not an ugly pile of garbage like almost every other non-Fender tele.
Btw...that fret buzz went away after relieving the neck a little. The guitar plays great now. The only thing I'll upgrade are the tuning keys, as the base strings sometimes go out of tune.
change the pods go 500 . and and get a better 3 way switching ..
@@LUCKYB. no need imo
Thanks for the sonic impressions of this guitar, which - also on this video - totally impress me! So much so that this video has tipped the scales for me to order one. So cool that you compared it with high-end Telecasters! That really helped me - as a normally acoustic-only player - to get more of a feel for how very good its sound is. In fact, I have to confess that I much prefer the sound of the HB over the other two. It has more earth and grit to it. The other two have more singing qualities and punch, but that‘s not at all what I‘m after. Even when I compared the TE-52 to HB‘s next-higher-up model, I still prefer the 52‘s sound. It feels organic and real. Love it!
I currently bought this TE-52. Man, it is an amazing guitar, I love it.
Got one. Modified it though [2 humbuckers, new 6 sadle bridge, new pickguard] for barítone tuning. The OG Pups are fine and went to another HB Tele a mate gave me.
Love them.
It sounds bright and clear, which I like. Tone softening csn always be added, but when pups are like that dry, there's no way to get them to clear/clean. Nice buy.
I recently got the cst-24t Benton PRS copy and just love it
"My favorite" guitar is which ever one gets played the most. Thanks for posting this. I am not generally a Tele guy but love to hear what others think. This was a great video and you clearly took time to make it. Appreciate the effort.
I just got mine a few days ago, needs a little tlc, replacing the tuners right away too. I was a little surprised by the lack of lacquer on the fretboard, most teles seem to have some on it, mine feels really dry. Sound is really nice, overall a great value
I own two Fender Custom Shop teles. I love them, but now I know just how much I paid for that name. Jeez.
If Joe Satriani was to play a stock Harley Benton guitar through his amp, would we all start swapping out SD dimarzios and more expensive pups for Roswells instead. The tone is primarily in the fingers and even amp settings have a far greater impact. IMHO people should find what the standard gear can actually do first, before spending hundreds on something, that most can't tell the difference. Just throwing it out there.
Why the fuck would you buy two custom shop teles? I hope you are lying. If you are not, ur dumb
My Les Paul’s getting ignored over it. I just picked it up for the first time in days.
Harley Benton is amazing. I bought an 8 output pedal power for 69€ and quality is top notch. Isolated outputs, 300ma, 2 outputs 9v/12v/18v... simply perfect.
I watched this video before buying one along with others I’d seen. I agree with all your observations other than I did find it noisy in my tiny home studio. I installed copper foil in all the cavities/scratch plate/control plate, twisted all the hot and earth wires as tight as possible, grounded all cavities to the tone pot. It’s now amazingly quite, as quite as a Humbucker. The tuners are OK, but I think over time they will cause a problem. I will eventually change them to Kluson Vintage ones. I did also replace the saddles for brass ones, a cheap upgrade. The frets did need a polish and some of the fret ends needed a bit of filing and sanding to, but it was acceptable out of the box. I now have a great sounding, easy to play tele for little money compared to a high end one. Thank you for helping me decide to buy one to add to my collection.
It`s true! Before a few hours I`ve received my HarleyB. It is such a fine guitar, for me better than squiers!
I'm blown away by your right hand finger picking style - you don't need a pick and you sound great. Congratulations.
Guitars are like tattoos, you get one, then not long after you have to have another, then another.
[nods head] [weeping ensues]
22. Then 30
Ah…is it?
In fact, I liked the bridge pick up on the HB more than the others.
Wow! You play so beautifully. Your review is inspiring me to buy a TE-52. Thank you.
Probably the best Harley Benton review on TH-cam. Excellent comparisons. I have an american performer Tele and it's a fine guitar. But, Harley Benton makes a quality guitar. I'm not sure I want to shell out another $1400 mainly because it has Fender on the stock. You earned a new sub! Keep posting.
Thank you So much for comparing the teles, and for not whining about the weight for 20min. :)
Sounds really good my dear ! Thank you for the demo and keep rocking !
Thanks to this review! You really made me pull the trigger! Mine is coming next week. Hopefully it will be as good as your review.
I have LOTS of guitars (some expensive, some not) but my two main gigging guitars are my Fender Original 50s Tele (about £1500) and my Harley Benton TE-52 (about £120). Both are great guitars! I love my TE-52 and have changed nothing - it was great out of the box.
Hi ! Your play is great and the review is fantastic. It's interesting what will be your impression after half year of use ! Thanks again and keep bluesing !!!
Great review, the HB TE 52 is a really great and impressive guitar, great playing too!
The last 4 guitars I have bought have been Harley Bentons and only one needed a bit of work setting it up, I love my Bentons! and have just ordered the DC Junior. It's a no brainer when it comes to buying any HB
Sound like a professional. Great job !
Great playing! Been watching a lot if HB guitar videos. May purchase a Tele style very soon. Greetings from the USA!
obk music me too.
I ordered one. I'll let you know what I think.
This guitar is amazing value. Beautiful, plays well and sounds great!
just bought the same guitar about 8 months ago plays great
I have a modded TE-80 NT Deluxe and it's stunning and plays brilliantly. It has a flat fingerboard as well which is awesome.
Great review man ...nice comparison with others ...nice playing too !
I bought one along with HB locking tuners. Right out of the box, as soon as I saw the guitar I was overjoyed because it had that glow and feel of quality. The guitar looked, played and sounded great after a few minor intonation adjustments. When it arrived it was almost in tune!!! The medium jumbo ferets were dressed to perfection, the neck, a thing of beauty, with a much more elegant headstock than the ugly Fender design. Beside changing the tuners which I knew would be crap, I made a few other modifications. I changed the bridge and control plates with a fancy, engraved inexpensive Chinese plates and roller saddles, flipped the control plate because I was slapping the 3 position switch, changed the nut with a brass nut I modified to fit, changed the string trees, and soldered in an orange drop capacitor. The long and short of it is that for about $260.00 total including delivery, I have a guitar that is as good or better than any Fender or botique tele ever made. The guitar feels and plays like an extention of myself.
Although I was never really a fan of Teles, I also brought the HB Proline black tele which has 2 humbuckers comes stock with HB locking tuners, Wilkinson tremolo, ebony fretboard, Sapele (like mahogany, with tighter grain) which has a deep rich red brown color, a beautiful light brown-ochre binding, gloss black finishm with a cut that reveals the red-brown sapele in the cutawy, inother words, an absolutely georgous guitar that sounds great right out of the box. With all the stock features, this guitar at $320.00 delivered is comparable to a Paul Reed Smith, but I like it better.
In both guitars, I was surprised to find that the pots were the big, beefy quality pots, rather than the cheap dime sized Chinese pots you generally find in cheap guitars and even many medium priced instruments by major brands like Fender Squier and Ibanez.
I had'nt realized it comes with 'Jumbo Ferets' are they trained?
Great review and your legato runs are beautiful!
I just got a Cabronita Tele from Harley Benton used for 90EUR. Its from the Deluxe Series and has Al-Nico FTL (Roswell) pickups and after a setup it plays like heaven. Great guitars for the money.
Great guitars indeed! Love your playing too btw :)
Ordered it. I am beyond excited man.
Dude, nice playing. Great sound. Excellent tone
Cool review man. Love the sound test.
Good video. Liked the information presented and some nice finger style playing. Just got one of these from my wife for Christmas. I have had 3 previous HBs and this is the best one out of the box. Tuned it and did nothing more. Only thing wrong with mine is that they didn't level the switch plate very well and looks out of line with the guitar. Easy to sort that though. Excellent guitar for less than £120. It also gives you a good physical workout.......Solid lumps of ash...to me it's quite heavy. Definitely keeping it though, may add some compensated brass saddles as I already have them from a previous project. Well done HB and Thomann
A friend of mine made a HB Tele kit, it's a real guitar, amazed!.
Sounds great, I will get one soon, thanks for the video. Cheers
My god... it sounds so so good! FOR THAT PRICE? lol are you kidding me?
There other tele that peaks my interest is the Vintage V52 with the Wilkinson Hardware, but I surprised how good this HB TE52 sounds for the money you cannot go wrong,
I do like HB. You often need to do quite a bit of setup work but they are amazing for the money. Good to hear guitars through standard amps instead of high-end stuff, better to know the reality. Thanks Man!
it sounds legit,for the money its unbeatable
I purchased one recently to replace my Squire Affinity with Fender MIM pickups. Honestly the HB blows away the Squire for that Tele country twang! Very happy!
Thing sounds spectacular, especially right out if the box.
Its the BEST sub £200 guitar ive ever played. HB are amazing. What they offer for the money. Simply amazing. Like he said you know this guitar is gonna sound great even without an amp its has a great acoustic sound. I was stunned by the tone and sustain. Highly recommended.
Oh my, it does sound amazing!
I think the 2nd Tele (Blue with perloid scratchplate) sounds a bit more sparkling and 'drives' a bit more with harder playing
I got the sc 400 "goldtop" from hb for Christmas. Its more of a copper color than gold, but I actually liked that better once I got it. 107 bucks plus 32 to ship. The only thing I changed was the strings. Didn't need fretwork, the pickups are great, the hardware works fine, the tuners are great and I didn't even have to set it up. Just slapped on some ernie ball 9s and have been rocking out ever since. I plan on ordering their copies of all my "dream guitars" and it'll only cost me 700 bucks and shipping. A jazz master, strat, single cut junior, sg 3 pup custom, and the sc450 goldtop with p90's and im set for life. Im sure they'll all be great and sound great straight into my fender blues jr and vox ac15.
I put a Wilkinson bridge and tuners on my TE 52 and annoyingly it's too close for comfort to my US Tele. Unbelievable value for money. Good demo
I have it and love it. With that prices range I have a HB 35 (335 tipe) amazing and a jaguar tipe one that is also incredible for 100 euro.
The HB needs some brass saddles fast and will be almost on par with the others
Im an acoustic guy that's been teetering on getting one on my local fb for £100... You've convinced me. Great objective review and demo... Not the usual look how good I play demo... But hey you're good too dude. So thanks for posting
Upgrades to reccommend: Gotoh string retainer and a bone or tusq nut make the tuning more responsive and a bit more stable. Any s/t-style nut from Amazon will do. Some have to be sanded in order to fit in the slot.
Good review! TE52 is hard to beat.
Enjoy your videos! Great teles! Which amp did you play trough this time? Creamback?
Brilliant review, and excellent playing
Sounds great. What are you playing through? I like the Blue with TS pickguard best, the HB second.
I think it sounds better than my Fender 52 re-issue tele.
I almost bought one of these. In the end, I got the Squier Classic Vibe Tele, but it was a really close call/ It literally came down to the shape of the headstock to break the tie
The headstock is prime for reshaping. Just sand off that hook at the end and apply a little gloss varnish.
Nothing wrong with those pickups ! Sounds really good ! Can't beat the deal, thats for damn sure ! Enjoy !
😁🖒✌
sounds " Authentic " to me .....I want one .....NOW !!!!!!! The finish looks great .
Your neck rest is the best i've seen so far ☺️
Good sound fantastic price. Excellent review. But I got a room full of guitars. It becomes an addiction. I mostly play a tele American made and D 38 Martin acoustic. That's it playing 66 years as a 75 year old since dirt was invented.
Very nice good audio too very natural sounding
Just discovered you and subbed. You have great hands/ears, so most any axe will sound good when you play it. Thumbzup.. PS; the rosewood fingerboard is darker, why I like maple mostly.
Thanks man
Sounds good.... but your 2nd tele sounds great!
Those are some excellent guitar sounds
Enjoyed your demo.
Maaaaaan you have just play so soft so pro :D Love it :D
Great sound and great playing.
I lucked out and found one on craiglist for 140. I'm not a professional musician, just someone that really enjoys to play. The American made Fender stuff is starting at around 1200 bucks now... Call me crazy but I just don't understand what could possibly justify that price.
...replace pickups with Tone Riders HOT and you'll get a really good sound !
The TE-52 is easily one of the best guitars harley benton make, they're great
That’s so cool it has the fatter neck profile! I’ve only felt that on a custom shop I couldn’t afford. It also looked like a comfort cut in the picture is that correct?
Hi!
They have been out of stock for quite some time, but I got mine yesterday after roughly a month after ordering. Possibly, Thomann has listened to numerous complaints on too high action, and crappy/uneven/sticking tuners , cause mine arrived with in my opinion too low action, and perfectly well working tuners! There still was some light scratchiness from the frets while bending,
so I took off the strings and sanded all frets with 240 wet sanding paper ( used dry ) , followed by steel wool and metal polish ( masking tape covering fret board ). New 10-52 Elixir strings , rose the bridge saddle for non-wowen G-B-E strings, and voila! a solid, great looking, very well built and functioning tele for no money at all. Inspired by your experience and demo.... BR Magnus
High..you sanded th frets one one..or with sandbar??
@@dimitrisaivaliotis5616 i! I used small pieces of wet sanding paper held directly with my fingers and sanded each fret along it's length ( in the fret direction, not along the neck ) til I could not feel any scratchiness when sliding the tip of my nail along it anymore.
@@vespass225 ok l suppose the fret leveling it's fine!!
Wow great demo/review I want that thing.
there's a definitely a reason why many HBs are on back order atm ;)
Love my TE 52,wouldn't change it to anything under a Classic vibe
Same thing with my ST-62 strat
Could compare the hb te 52 with the Tele classic vibe 50. How do they compare tks
What a nice review. Thanks!
Love the second one.
I bought one. Fantastic! I am getting the HB-35 Plus in Lemon next.
Good call, I had mine delivered last week. Unbelievable quality for the price totally playable out of the box. I've been playing for fifty years - it's a pity there weren't instruments of this quality/price available when I started!
The Harley Benton sound great
I have one of these great guitars has a whole week of sustainability
I have also one like this, and I'm very happy. It's a great telecaster
th-cam.com/video/3IQXYoHSkhQ/w-d-xo.html
Looks like premium series i think, sounds great.
I have 8 Harley Benton's all are fantastic instruments. At the price point they are selling you can't beat the quality. You would have to spend at least 3x to come close to the Harley Benton Quality. I own the TE-52 as well as the ST-90 and the are just fantastic. Lastly not all Harley Benton' s are made in China some are made in Indonesia, Korea, etc...
Got one of these 2yrs back now, Had a Bone Nut Cut and fitted by Plek machine at Thomann for £52?
mine was the same as yours, Loud acoustically, and I didn't want to touch it, but have just put on
a Wilkinson Brass saddle Ash tray bridge, and Hasn't spoilt it at all, so, go for it? Pick ups are fine
and work well enough. Know what you're saying about the Neck, and being a bit fuller in the hand?
is something I liked, Bit mine is Heavy, being 10.5lbs ash body
Can the tone knob roll back in the bridge position? Those pups sound great
Hi bro, that HB it has same woods and quality resonance but please tell me if exist so much diference from Fender telecaster in sound, today exist better tecnology and for this better quality than50 years and 30 years ago.
That middle Tele clean sounded so damn good….
Am now 69, been a strat player for 55 years, build and play guitars. Never had a tele - shock, horror. Bought a cream maple neck HB ST62 strat 2 years ago - am a 'man-in-black' fan - and was frankly shocked by the quality of the thing. Didn't screw the middle pick up down or bevel out the fretboard...😂 A few scratchy frets I polished out, as I do with all my new and used guitars. So. No tele. Not cool as I play more finger style these days. Looked at used Fenders, most needed frets and necks. New ones cost a dollar bob or two. So I bought my HB TE52 a year ago, on the back of the HB strat. Big shock. The frets and fret ends were great. The pickups were great. Sounded great. I fitted brass saddles, only to be able to intonate in pairs by gauge, didn't really need to (but what would a strat player do!). Felt a touch heavy but I don't have other teles to know. Thought about fitting a neck humbucker for slide playing, but not now, it's great as is. In any case, for the money, the build quality is amazing. I might gather more strats - but this is the only tele I'll ever need. HB? Might watch the flimsy feel quality of the controls over time, but cheap to replace. Well...must look at their 335 versions...just for the hell of it! As for retired life, with no woman (or man) in the house, guitars on EVERY wall and amps turned up to 11 and a half! 😂😊
All Harley Benton guitars are brilliant.
I play every day , and have 3 Good working, good sounding Halrley Benton guitars. the HB-35, 158 €, St-20,79€, and a kit guitar Ja-60, 89 €. tomorrow I get the TE-53 with humbucker. 239€. cheers sir. sounds like a guitar . Nice warmTwang.
Looks like I'm gunna end up trying one of these things out.