Harley Benton Amarok-BT BKBL Flame Burst Reviews

Good but problematic guitar

The first impressions of the guitar were good, but during the first tuning of the guitar and after 3 months of storage in the case, I found many problems.

I must say right away that I serviced the fretboard with Dunlop lemon oil, the humidity in the room is normal. In addition, the last 3 months the guitar was stored in a gigbag.

Many frets have come out and become sharp at the edges. Сrack on frets appeared, also in the region of 10-15 frets, longitudinal cracks appeared on the sides of the overlay (maybe this is varnish, but I'm not sure).

Also problems during the first setup. Having completely lowered the bridge saddles on factory strings .013 - .062, the height of the strings above the 12th fret cannot be lowered below 2.1mm-2.3mm, the hipshot bridge is to blame for this. This is with the neck fully tuned with no flex.

The quality of the finish upset me a little. The frets are well set, but there are burrs on the edges that are pressed into the wood - does not cut fingers but looks bad.

Defects of the top are visible on the body - shallow furrows at the place near the fretboard under the matte varnish. Visible in the glare of light is the neck strip protruding from under the top (one of five pieces).

I'll see what happens next with the guitar, maybe I'll returning the guitar back.

Looks good, sounds good, feels... sloppy

Came in drop B with a battery preinstalled. Action was too high - lowered it, only one string had correct intonation - intonated it, output jack kept popping out - fixed it, selector switch was fully vertical - turned it to move diagonally, volume knob was grinding against the body - pulled it out a bit, action setting tool was not included, truss rod stick was included (the regulator itself looks a bit crooked in there), a few finish errors here and there; tuners are small, but the headstock is smaller; the selector switch is not solid and wiggles around a bit - this is maybe my biggest issue with this instrument, this and the fact that the strings on the headstock past the nut are noisy as F, definitely wrap them up asap

All in all a great guitar especially for the price. Little tinkering needed, but nothing bone breaking. Needier users might want to install some tighter sounding pickups, but the 70's sound hot too.

Price considering, very good instrument.

Was a bit skeptical for HB brand, some negative reviews about quality, but also a lot of positive/mixed ones. Decided to give it a try. Have it for a few days, guitar sounds and plays amazing.

So, I'll start with positives:

1. No frets/intonation issues on my instrument.

2. Pickups are well known EMG Retro with a classic sound.

3. Locking tuners are holding the tune very well.

4. Number of features for this price is exceptional - through body neck, locking Grovers, TUSQ nut, active EMG pickups.

Few less positive things to mention:

1. Some finish issues, if you look close you could see it (minus one star in quality for that).

2. Guitar came tuned in standard E. 27 inch scale, 13-62 strings, tuned in E? Come on... Very high string tension, tuned it down to B, tension is ok. Put 12-60 strings for standard B, better tension for my taste and better clarity in low B and E strings.

3. Tuner heads are really close to each other, the head is relative small, so if you have a big fingers it will take time to learn how to tune one string without touching tuner of another one. I guess this is something to get used to (minus one star in features for that).

To sum it up: for this price really decent instrument. The cons are minor and do not affect playability and sound, the most important things for me.