Fusion-III HSS Roasted DP : Solid 4.5 and great value

I had been looking a long time at a Fender Player Series HSS or a Guthrie Govan style Charvel or Suhr, but my budget did not allow it. After hearing about Harley Benton, this guitar was under my budget even with the $83 shipping. After reviews I was aware of some potential issues, but even with my expensive guitars I have always taken them to my luthier for a professional setup.

When the guitar arrived in four days I noticed out of the box the guitar actually had a decent set up and fairly lower action than expected from other reviews and the intonation was almost spot on. The guitar looks gorgeous and I could not find many flaws. There are some slight imperfections from tools on the 21st to 24th fret, but they are minor. One of the bridge saddles has some imperfections on the metal, but my Fender Tele was similar and this happens over time on all my guitars with play from sweat so it did not bother me but your mileage may vary. After restringing the guitar with Elixers I played around and the tuning stability is great. I use the bar a lot and found it did not go out of tune. The neck is comfortable and fast, and not over glossy like my Fenders. I play a higher gauge than the strings the guitar came with so it did require a truss rod adjustment and intonation after restringing, but nothing major just a few small tweaks. The frets were not scratchy or sharp and no fret spouts was apparent, contrary to other reviews. I have done fret work and expected I would have to on this guitar but it was fine out the box.

In terms of sound, based on other reviews I expected the Roswells to need upgrading but after playing them for a week they are by no means bad. The bridge pickup has clarity and warmth and is very responsive to the tone knob. The coil tap also sounds good and is not ice picky like my Fender. The Middle pickup sounded way better than expected and positions 2 and 4 have that trademark strat quack. The neck pickup had some harsh high end, but a quick adjustment to lower the pickup balanced it out. Out of all my single coil guitars, including multiple Fenders, this one is the quietest. I might still swap out the pickups but it's not as urgent as I expected and I would absolutely gig on this guitar as is.

Overall any issues with this were minor and the QC was comparable to my Fenders. I bought my kid a Squier recently and there were greater quality control issues out of the box than this guitar. Based on previous reviews of this guitar, your mileage may vary, but for the price I am very happy I went this route with the Harley Benton over a Fender Player. The playability and quality are comparable to guitars costing double, even with high shipping, and this guitar was in playable condition out of the box. For the features such as the roasted neck, stainless frets and locking tuners the guitar is a steal. I would buy another one and would recommend this guitar.