Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit T-Style Reviews

Excellent quality / price DIY compromise

If you love do-it-yourself approach, have some tool and a little knowledge about guitars, this kit is something wonderful.

I've had to plaster and drill half of the pick-guard holes because misaligned, cut and shape the head as a telecaster style, making holes through body for ferrules, and the rest is only assembly. And I ENJOYED IT A LOT.

The FINAL RESULT IS AWESOME compared to the money spent. I kept the original colors in order to stand out the quality of the wood of body and neck.

Some improvement / suggestion: I would split the screws depending on the final use, colored differently the pick-up wiring in order to be sure while connecting them within blade switch, have been more precise in drilling holes for parts to be assembled. And would be the PERFECT KIT.

Anyway 10/10

Straightforward and satisfying

Everything fitted together without issue. I really enjoy playing it and love the sound it makes. What more can you ask

Fantastic T style for the price.

Great product for the prize range. When mounting it the action was too low. Its a great educational tool on guitars. Any guitarist should have one or two to understand better the instrument.

Outrageous value and fun

This kit turned out much better than expected. From reading other reviews I was worried that the alignment of the pre-drilled holes might require filling and redoing but I had no such issues, at least when it came to the neck join and bridge. Looking very closely, some of the fittings (tuners, pickguard, control panel) aren't absolutely perfectly aligned, but within acceptable tolerances - such that any attempt to redo myself is unlikely to produce better results.

Assembly is fairly straight forward, though I found the instructions a little sparse. For example, no indication of which screws to use for which parts.

On setup, I found the intonation surprisingly good, very little adjustment needed. I probably got lucky there. Adjusting the truss rod was a little cumbersome, the strings feel like they are in the way more so than my other guitars.

Tuners are basic but perfunctory and no issues with the nut. The pickups sound fine enough, and the selector switch feels solid. However the volume pot is very uneven and the tone control not much better - they will be the first candidates for an upgrade.

What amazing value and fun little project. It's unbelievable that for such little money and a bit of effort you get a perfectly useable instrument (unless you need decent volume and tone control).

Great for DIY project product

Bought this kit so me and my SO would have a project together given that we both enjoy the electric guitar, had the most fun customising the kit and painting together.

The quality of the pieces and wood are great for such a low price and I play it every chance I get, I would recommend being careful in not covering completely the screw holes with paint if you're using acrylic paint so everything goes where it should.

It also lends itself to future upgrades very easily, so you can have a pretty inexpensive canvas to personalise as you like and find your sound later on if you mean this to be an ongoing project

For custom guitar project: 9/10

For sound quality: 7/10

Price-quality ratio: 10/10

Great base for a grat project

The hardware is not the best, but the body and neck alone are worth way more than the kits costs.

With a tusk nut, black pickgurad, alnico pickups and a quick fret job.

Home-made string trought with Gotoh ferrules and brasas saddles.

For under 200€ this is a serious guitar now.

The tuners are decent, and with some better string tress and the tusq nut the tuning stability is great.

Considering buying a second kit for a HH setup.

Good learning platvorm

Pretty easy to assemble, gives a good idea on how the guitar as an instrument works. Pickups sound average at most, but a perfectly working guitar for less than 100€ - a steal.

World class quality and great service!

Bought this kit as a gift to a person who's both into diy projects and just getting back to playing guitar. Needless to say he was thrilled and so was I!

I did I quick runthrough of the components in the box before gifting, to see if everything was in order and I was thorougly surprised with the quality of the materials used. Everything looks and feels "the business". It's all good as is, out of the box. Perhaps the only minor gripe would have to be the fret ends, which I found a bit too sharp. That problem can be easily adressed with a sharpening file during the building process though.

Sound-wise this is certainly ok for beginner guitarists. The pick ups are definitely on the cheaper side, but they're serviceable enough.

Recommended.

Great budget guitar!

The overall quality of the guitar is excellent for this price point. I would highly recommend for anyone looking for a cheaper alternative. The quality of this guitar is well above the price point. It handles overdrive very well.

Decent starting point for a potentially great guitar

Bought this kit as I love tinkering with my guitars and been wanting a tele-shaped guitar for a while.

Everything in the box was packed neatly and the visible parts of the guitar were in pretty good nick. The main drawbacks when assembling the guitar were that almost all of the pre-drilled were out of alignment, and not by a millimeter. The first thing I did was fill them all in with wooden dowels which allowed me to correct the alignment.

The electronics were all replaced and I was pleasantly surprised by how roomy the control cavity was; allowing me to install large-sized pots, The neck went on next, and was very disappointed with the fitment. There's about a millimeter gap on the side that needed some attention with a thin wooded sliver glued into place and a bit of truss rod adjustment

Next was the tuners which seem to be decent for what they are. I figured I'd use the strings that were supplied with the kit to set up the guitar but that failed miserably; two strings snapped whilst I was tuning them with the high E string drawing blood from my finger as it snapped. I guess this guitar wanted a blood sacrifice of some sort. A set of Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinkies did the trick and it was time to plug it in.

All in all, it's not a bad buy and for the price, you really can't go wrong. It's a good starting point for anyone wishing to understand more about guitar mechanics and fine-tuning. I guess keeping all the original hardware is possible but you will definitely want to spend some money on upgrades.

Good for the price, get what you pay

Overall, good tone, not bad playability, some hardware are bad. Good for project guitar

Use:

Bought this guitar for having a try on DIY guitar. Now used as the secondary guitar

Pros:

Most of the holes are drilled well. I love the tone of the two pickups. Body is smooth and neck back looks tidy. Frets are a little bit sharp at ends but I've got it polished

Cons:

Fret buzz unless turn the truss rod all the way left. To erase this I have to raise up the bridge height a lot, and then this had caused a high string tension. I broke the stock 1E string the next day I installed it (probably because the string is not good as well). Another problem is the tuning machines. They are really bad and don't hold in true for long. Need adjustment frequently.

All in all, if you are looking for a cheap project guitar, it is good, but probably you need to upgrade some hardware to make it more playable.

Project

So I bought this kit after seeing a lot of reviews online saying how good it is in terms of value for money. Now I haven't yet put it together but I have been working away sanding down and painting and doing a few bits and pieces with the parts for assembly.

Everything looks pretty good out of the box especially considering the price of the kit but I cant say anything about the sound/tone as I will update this once I get it put together.

Overall I must say for the price everything does look amazing! A little bit of elbow grease and you can put together a pretty solid guitar.

I'm amazed by the Brand Harley Benton as such affordable but quality instruments!

Cheap

It's quite cheap, and thats very impressive, but I can see easliy why. After tinkering with it and assembling it I wish it was only the body and neck. Pre-drilled holes are not aligned with pickguard, potguards or jack plate..

The screws I got were all in 1 bag, and I am 99% sure I got more of 1 screw and less of another screw. Also 2 screws broke .. while using hand strength.

Massive fretsprout / sharp edges on the frets that NEEDS to be filed down. Cut myself while feeling it for the first time.

I can't say much about the pickups or soundpots as I bought Seymour Duncans and some more expensive quality pots.

It was fun and interesting to start with but I will never assemble another guitar. Been there done that as they say.

A successful experiment

I bought this as a distraction from coveting guitars that I liked but didn't really need. In fact, what I got was a practical and useful insight into the construction of a the body and the electronics of an electric guitar. Plus I have a new tele style machine that is enjoyable to play and is pleasantly distinguishable from my other shop bought guitars. I would recommend the process to anyone, simple as it is both for the benefit of the process and the quality of the result. I liked the ease of the build. I discovered I had a lot to learn about wood staining and wood finishes generally. Even if you were set on purchasing a more expensive guitar with all its brand related dependability, I would try to build a kit guitar beforehand not alone do you get a simple look at what goes into guitar basics but you end up with a very playable instrument that you can continue to work on and improve over time.

Если Лего стало скуч&#1085

Брал, чтобы в коллекции появился Телекастер. Разница между этим комплектом и уже готовым телеком от HB составляла 600рублей, и если вы не хотите заморачиваться с кастомизацией, то лучше выбрать уже целый. Однако, в пользу DIY играет дерево корпуса - это индонезийский палисандр. Телекастеры из красного дерева это, как минимум, не обычно.

Из плюсов: цена, нестандартные материалы(корпус: палисандр, накладка: амарант); достаточно нестыдная фурнитура(не ждите чуда за эти деньги), приличный звук.

Минусы: надо заморачиваться со столярными работами; выпиливать голову, сверлить корпус для сквозной протяжки струн; наколки под саморезы для крепления пикгарда нанесены неточно, сам пикагрд надо подрезать в районе крепления грифа, струны сразу отнести на кухню - резать коржи, желе и другие мягкие продукты.

Но это, прямо скажем, мелочи.

Что в итоге? По факту вы получаете очень нестандартный телекастер из неплохой древесины за смешные деньги и фурнитурой, которую можно со временем поменять на более дорогую. Но даже в варианте из коробки это будет инструмент по уровню превосходящий SQUIER AFFINITY, а ценой в 4 раза дешевле.

If you home fantasy you can do it !!

The body was a lot darker than it was on the picture but because i made a barnyard project guitar, that helped me a lot actualy.

It sounds fantastic and for the price the metal parts are good quallity.

It has some minor issues like some screws missing, and surely needs a fret job , but very easy to construct it.

My advise, buy some good quallity strings with it cause the ones that comes with aren't good at all.

At the very end I couldn't be happier , i ve made my dream guitar come true , exactly as i imagened it would be.

Comparable product

Although building this guitar was fun, isn't it the same as this one, built, painted and headstock shaped?

Harley Benton TE-20 SB Standard Series

Great quality, really satisfied!

I bought this kit because I wanted to, 1 get a telecaster style guitar, 2 I wanted to build it myself or at least put it together, and 3 I had a very small budget!

This kit is very easy to assemble and all of the instructions are very well detailed! It took no time at all to build and I am surprised by the sound!

Just a couple of sides, certain screws were hard to get in and I still haven't put them in all the way, I am pointing out the screws for the tuning pegs, they are really hard to get in! Unless you already have the tools and experience, one this that will disturb you will be the fact that the frets on the neck are not at all filed down and they have the original round shape and this can be annoying while playing because it isn't as easy to play, and the head stock will have to be cut because it has a square shape as indicated in the pictures and this may be disturbing as in certain cases the head won't fit as well. But as I said if you have the tools, time and experience these little inconveniences will not be an issue!

Over all I am really satisfied with this kit and I would recommend it to anyone!

Very nice kit!!!

For the price is very good tele. Sounds very good and you can achieve very low action without buzzing and chocking

Fun project, but not much more

This was fun to build, but the cutouts in the body were so bad that I had to use woodglue and filler to make it workable in places. Regardless, I think it was worth the price just for the experience and the activity. Might get one for my neice or nephew.