Fusion-III HSH Roasted FBB : Great guitar but looks like a B-Stock

I ordered this guitar late last week and as always the shipping was FAST! Awesome but spoiling kind of fast compared to any other online seller! Top notch.

The bad: This will be the 6th Harley Benton I’ve received. Of the 6 I ordered, one was an SC-550 B-stock and sadly it was in better shape than the Fusion III!! There’s a knick in the body on the top horn that was lacquered over, lacquer missing in two of the bolt on neck holes as well as a nice scratch and another apparent mishap with finishing on the cut away. Thankfully all the issues are on the backside of the body. But I will admit I’m a bit disappointed in the fact that I didn’t order a B-stock. One thing that I didn’t notice….because I like shiny things 🤩…..was the tuning keys. They are very close together (even closer than my Squire 50’s Tele), not a big deal but when you have sausages for fingers it can be difficult. Lastly the pots are very scratchy but unless you’re constantly adjusting the settings while playing (I’m not really that advanced) then it won’t matter.

The good: It arrived in almost perfect tuning, that darned G string……lol. This guitar sounds Amazing, by far the best of the bunch that I own. But it’s also supposed to be a “premium” guitar by HB standards. The neck and frets are a thing of beauty, the binding is beautiful and from the front this is one stunning guitar. Other than the few cosmetic issues, I would recommend this to anyone! But as with anything it’s a gamble on what you get when you open the box.

If it weren’t for the cosmetic issues and scratchy pots this would have been 5 stars across the board.

Cheers