Harley Benton Fusion-T HH Roasted SSP

Incredible

What could I possibly say about this guitar! It is amazing how well it plays. It came with an almost perfect setup, and have no issues until today. Great neck, great tremolo and overall quality. For this price (290€), I feel I have hit the jackpot! Well done guys!!!

Exceeded Expectations

I’ve been playing for over 30 years, and I’ve owned at least 100 guitars in my time…from the cheapest $100 junk to ultra boutique $7000 instruments.

After hearing debates about Harley Benton guitars for several years now, I decided to purchase one. My expectations were somewhere in the middle - I thought it would be an instrument with some flaws, but a good deal overall.

I ordered this model because of the specs and finish. It’s one of the higher end Harley Bentons, but it’s still extremely affordable. I figured that getting a complicated finish like this would be a good test of the work that their factories are doing these days.

Upon receiving the guitar, I was immediately impressed with the overall fit and finish. Everting looked great, felt good, and seemed to be in order. I then did a deep inspection, specifically looking for flaws.

All that I found in terms of finish flaws were one tooling mark on the fretboard, and two tiny (almost imperceptible) black dots in the sparkle finish…So basically nothing wrong…

The neck is a comfortable C shape with a satin finish. The woods on the neck and fretboard, while not “standard” wood types, are nice examples, exhibiting good figuring. There is no neck twist, no fretwork that needs attention, and no sanding or other finish work that needs to be done. It’s just a really a nice neck. The action on the setup was a bit high for my taste, but nothing egregious or atypical. I easily corrected it to my preferences, did a slight intonation adjustment, and it’s basically perfect for me now.

I then went on to inspect the wiring and electronics. I expected a somewhat inferior job here, but I was shocked to see very clean and professional wiring and clean routing of the cavities. Yes, the guitar uses cheaper pots and a cheaper switch that it could, but it’s totally functional. The pickups aren’t the best I’ve ever heard, but they are much better than I expected, and I feel no need to replace them.

Just like a lot of other people would say, this is a great guitar for the price. But honestly, it’s just a great guitar. Again, I’ve owned a ton of instruments at all price ranges, and I’d be completely comfortable taking this to a stage or studio. Would I trade some of my high end guitars for this one? No, of course not…and this won’t be my number 1 guitar or anything. But if my example is indicative of what Harley Benton is sending out to customers, they are sending people very good products at a very reasonable prices. I would not hesitate to recommend them to fellow musicians.

Quality guitar

I will be honest. I would have never bought this guitar if it wasn't on sale. IMO the silver sparkle color is a complete overkill. The pictures don't really do it justice, you need to see it in low light, it looks like covered with Swarowski crystals. If Britney Spears played guitar, this one would be perfect.

The guitar has a black line which looks like a binding - it's not. It's just painted and on my guitar few small drops of black paint fell on the natural wood part. No big deal, not really noticeable. Frets were very raw - need polishing or a lot of playing. The hardware is brushed aluminium and I think chrome would have looked better on the sparkle finish. Pickups are not great but not bad either.

Now for the good stuff. The roasted neck is a dream - modern and thin, has locking tuners and spokes wheel truss rod, medium size steel frets. Easily one of the best necks I have seen on any guitar. The body has a nice natural color and maybe I got lucky but on my guitar it is made from one single piece. Amazing.

Overall, this looks and feels like a much more expensive guitar.

Value for money

Guitar is definitely more than what I paid for. Stylish, very well built, neck is very comfortable to play. The pickups are a little bit bassy but thats just preference and nothing an EQ can't tweak.

My first Harley Benton was an interesting experience

The guitar looks good and I like the neck. My cavity shield paint was sloppy and sparse, the trem springs needed to be replaced with better/tighter springs and the pickups are a little lackluster, but all-in-all I am super pleased. Like many of you, I buy these less-expensive guitars to fix up and this guitar will play great with a little work. Honestly, I got a better guitar than I expected for the price and will get another one as soon as I have some extra money. I am putting DiMarzio Utopia pickups in it and will shield and rewire the electronics cavity.

Awesome guitar!

Amazing features and quality for this price range. The sparkle is blinding!

Great value but a little tinkering may be needed.

This is a beautiful guitar with really high quality parts. There were a few issues that needed addressed, some being pretty major but easily fixed with some time and know-how.

Cons:

Part of the tremolo was rubbing the body under the bridge. After disassembling and a quick file, it was working as it should. The frets were very rough and were wearing into the strings and leaving black dust on my fingers. Some 600 then 1500 grit sandpaper, polishing compound, and 45 minutes later, the frets were glassy smooth and shining like a mirror and shouldn't need addressing for a long while. The nut on the audio jack was loose and needed tightening and a small finish crack by the neck pocket were some of the minor problems. The pickups are OK and the only thing I will replace on this guitar with the possibility of the string trees with Graphtech ones.

Pros:

The neck, the finish, the tuners, the neck, the bridge, the frets (now), the styling, the value, and did i mention the neck.