Harley Benton Aeolus Bengal Flame Reviews

Can't believe the bad reviews on this guitar

Been playing longer than most players on here have been alive. Currently own everything from P, G, F, Gu, Gr, I, R, on an on. I bought the Aeolus simply because it had a 30-day money-back guarantee, and to be honest, with the intention of sending this 'cheap' guitar back, as I simply didn't believe the good reviews it has gotten over the past year. I seriously thought they were paid shills. I was 100% wrong. The Good: It was playable out of the box, intonation great save the G string. Action was a little high, adjusted the truss rod and string height a little, conditioned the neck and fingerboard, and it played like a dream. The roasted flame maple neck/fingerboard is an amazing combination. Slick, fast and beautiful. The stainless steel frets were near perfectly dressed but very scratchy. It sounds like a cross between a Les Paul and a 339 (I have both). A Paul with the openness of the 339, and plays nearly as good as both, with a much nice neck/fingerboard/frets. I kept the guitar and seriously play it as much as any other guitar I own. The Bad: I had to polish the stainless steel frets with my Dremel tool, a felt disk and polishing compound as they were way scratchy, now they not only don't scratch, they shine! The F-holes were rough to look at and to touch on the inside. Took a small file around the inside bottom edge, blew it out and it's much better. I can see the bare wood thru the F-holes, just like I can in my ES-339, so I can't see why people complain about that. IMO he pickups are just a bit muddy in the middle position and brittle on the bridge, but it costs less than the average beginner guitar. Replacing them and the problem will be solved and this guitar is a not only a keeper, I'm performing with it live each weekend. Ordered 2 HB's today as the first one was a deal clincher.

was impressed of the specs, fell in love after a hour playing it

Don't let the price fool you ,this is a great quality instrument ,I fell in love with it after an hour, this one is perfection all around , fret board is heaven to the fingers , sounds awesome too , got it at my front door 7 days after I placed my order ,from Germany to Canada ,couldn't ask for more ,,would have given a 6 stars rating ,, just love it

GREAT GREAT Guitar!

I love this top quality guitar it can do or play anything!

Great guitar, thick neck, QC issue.

Had some major issues with nut depth on this guitar, ordered a new nut from graphtech and fixed it perfectly. It's a great guitar with a lot of tonal options, the tesla pickups are decent enough, the action is rather hard to set low enough to be really easily playable and not get severe fret buzzing. It's a decent guitar, but definitely needed better QC.

The best so far

I can't say enough good things about this one. It has every feature you could cram into a much more expensive guitar. The nut is the best so far of any Harley Benton I've played. The frets feel great. The neck profile is a bit chunkier and the satin finish makes it feel really fast.

Pros:

This thing is punching WAY above its weight class. A guitar this inexpensive has no right to be among all time favorites but it absolutely is.

Cons:

If I have to give it a con (and trust me, I'm really nitpicking here) It's the cosmetics of the neck. It is not as flamed as in the photos. The transition point of the gloss black to the satin flame is also pretty abrupt. That's it.

Seriously, buy one.

Unfortunately disappointed

I have 6 Harley Bentons at present. I did order more and had to send back a couple because of guitars due to several issues. I was really excited when i saw this Aeolus, but was disappointed when i received the guitar. The colors do not match the picture at all. The binding is not light as in the picture, but dark so that it does not stand out against the wood. The color of the guitar itself was pure brown, no flame what so ever. When you look into the f-holes you see a pure massacre (the wood is not cut out with any care and not symmetrical) and the f-holes had damaged parts in it where the paintwork was completely gone. I personally also don't feel that the Tesla pick-ups are an improvement over the Roswell pick-ups, but that of course is a matter of taste. This guitar should not have passed quality control. The locking tuners are a great plus, i do love those and the idea of the guitar is brilliant. A better quality control would have prevented that this guitar was sent out however.