Harley Benton TE-40 TBK Deluxe Series 4-stars Reviews

Looks amazing, needed a little work on set up though.

A beautiful black tele that looks amazing. Sounds and plays well. Only issue was the action had to be lowered considerably and the intonation set. Worth buying!

Love it

For this price you cannot go wrong. Absolutely love it and the hum buckers sound amazing. 100% recommend

Perfect for beginners, minor issues

Love the smooth neck, very easy to quickly jump between positions. No harsh edges on the frets. It is a very beautiful guitar, too. The sound is also nice, though I'm not picky. It's also fairly light which is quite nice and reduces the strain. Build quality seems overall very good but I have an issue with fret buzz. I get a buzz when I play the lowest 2 strings anything more than gently-to-assertively regardless of what note they are on. I maxed out the action for these strings but this still did not solve it. It would be nice if there were a way to individually adjust action rather than raise either side of the bridge. Overall, very nice and worth the price, but the issue with fret buzz is quite annoying.

Perfect guitar for beginners

Also I made some studio recordings with this guitar, and the final sound was pretty good for the guitar with this price.

Good base but needs some work

So I bought this guitar by the advice of a friend. The guitar itself is a beauty, the sound is not bad for that price range though a bit weak for my taste. The thin E string sits right in the bridge but then touches the edge of the bridge base before reaching the body. I'm not sure if this is a problem but it made me worry a bit. Also, the tuners can't stay in tune (have to set them again even after bending). I'm not sure but they feel like plastic. I'm going to buy new tuners as soon as possible, so I can't actively use this guitar right now. One of the tuners came with a broken screw but this probably happened during shipping. The tuner holds somehow but who knows for how long.

Overall, the guitar is fine. The tuners really need a rework if this isn't only a problem for my specific guitar.

Eye catching nimble beauty with a sweet voice!

My first HB and I’m so pleased. This T shaped well sculpted sweetie feels great in my hands and hugs my body with the body cut. Fantastic finish. Turners are fine, pickups are ok, neck and frets are great! Bottom line I’ve played about 30 shows in the US with this budget guitar! I love it. I’m looking to buy the ST-62RW BK Hot Rod next. Great job Harley Benton staff.

Had this guitar for a year now and have had no problems at all with it, it sounds great I really love it

Great Guitar!

I was interested in the Harley Benton instruments since I first heard about them. I read a lot of reviews about them and decided to give them a try. I chose the TE-40 TBK because I wanted the wider (43mm) nut and because it looks cool!

When it arrived I discovered a couple flaws - a small chip in the binding and a bent flange on the socket that the bridge posts slide into. Neither of these were a show stopper for me. I didn’t have to do much adjusting, the intonation and neck were great. I did lower the action and raise the pickups a little.

It’s been a few months now and I still love this guitar. I’m ok with the Roswell pickups and the neck is comfortable. One day I’ll swap the tuners for Harley Benton locking ones but the stock ones are ok for now.

My only warning to potential customers in the US is to be aware of expensive shipping. I suggest buying it with the understanding that you won’t send it back unless it arrives broken and unplayable because it costs more to return it than it does to get it delivered to you.

Amazing guitar for the price.

I’m going to start off by saying this guitar is absolutely just as beautiful in person as in the pictures. Right out of the box (and after a quick tune up) it felt great in my hands and was exceptionally easy to play, although I did need to oil up the fretboard (which is expected with a new guitar) anyway.

It sounds beautiful, the Roswell pickups on this guitar are so clean and holds up well against bigger name pickups like Seymour Duncan and EMG, especially considering the massive price difference.

My only two gripes with this guitar so far are:

1. The pickup switch seems a bit intermittent when switching down to the bridge pickups. It usually works but sometimes the signal goes quiet, requiring me to flip it back up and down. Seems like a shoddy wiring job.

2. Not sure if this is a defect, but the frets on the guitar I got were not very in line with each other. Specifically, the 17th fret was a tad too high for some reason, causing the 16th note on the high E string to buzz and mute.

Overall, it’s a steal at this price, and with a quick setup from a good luthier, this guitar could very easily be a daily driver of mine.

Great job Harley Benton!

Nice guitar!

At first glance I love the flame neck guitar has, it came with a decent setup and string height. The only negative i find is that it has a neck shim from the factory.

I try to setup the guitar without it but then the guitar is not playable.

So for the 166e is a keeper, perfect to take it to strange places that you don't want to risk harm your pricey guitars.

Cant beat it for the price!! 🎸🔥

I love the sound of it, very unique guitar i always wanted a tele with humbuckers.

Great guitar for the cost.

When I receive this guitar it was actually set up pretty good for me. I was impressed with the quality based on the price. It played very nice. I like the sound of the pick ups but I did not love them. I Found them a little muddy on the neck pick up. I preferred the control set up in relation to a standard tele. My only complaint would be the tuners. I think they could be improved upon, possibly locking tuners.

My favorite to play so far

Five Harley Benton guitars in my collection and this is the one I play most. I spent a lot of hours improving the fret sprout issue. It was easy to convert to the HB roller trees. I don't have a Fender Telecaster to compare it to but I enjoy this guitar as much as I enjoy my '92 Strat Plus Deluxe. That's saying something. I can take the TE-40 out and not have to worry about it. When I used to take the Strat out I was nervous all of the time. (Dings, scratches....theft) That's just the math of it. Again....I LOVE to play it.

Nice Guitar tho

Good guitar for the buck

The guitar is amazing, but the quality is bad

This guitar is very nice with amazing sound. Unfortunately my guitar arrived with several defects-two cracks on fretboard and tuning machines were not aligned. I sent it back for replacement and I hope the next new guitar will be perfect. I recommend checking the guitars before sending to countries from Eastern Europe.

Pretty awesome tool for any guitar player!

It is what it is, a pretty good deal for the price. It has its flaws, and some materials (nothing serious, really) feel cheap. In any case, this is a REALLY good guitar for the price. Sounds and plays very well, so if you are looking for a very balanced, good sounding, inexpensive guitar, this is a great choice

Beside some flaws it's ok

Guitar arrived with decent action height.

Gold hardware on glossy black looks killer.

The neck is pretty good since I have relatively small hands and fingers. Frets were just fine. No sharp or rough edges.

Sadly I have fret buzz on 1st fret when I play open strings because the nut is cut too deep. Will have to send to luthier since it's not very usable when your open notes are cut short by the buzz. (Yes the neck have relief and the bridge is set up)

There are 2 black spots as big as a pea on the maple neck wood.

Theres wood chipped off at the end of the last fret.

It feels little compact and petite but it weighs decent.

Over all it's what you pay for.

Quality check could be better.

Solid guitar, Easily feels more expensive than it is.

This thing has some serious output with those Roswell humbuckers. It puts out a lot louder signal than most of my other guitars in comparison. Only downside to these pickups is they can get a little muddy. Body and fretwork is A+, especially at this price point. Neck is a fine shape, and frets are comfortable. Fun to play, and great for rhythm sections when it comes to recording. POWERful power chords. The weight is a little heftier than my preference, and the tuners are just meh. I'm in the habit of tuning at the beginning of a play session anyways, since I record a lot, so this doesn't really bother me, but modders will probably want to change those first. I wish it had at least one more volume knob to control the pickups seperately, as I don't hear too much of a change in tone through using the tone knob or pickup switch alone. Might be good to crank your gain and volume on your amp, and then use the volume knob on the TE-40 to change your tone. Shaped like a tele, but sounds like an HH something :)

TL;DR: Would recommend.

Beautiful with possible design flaw

The "B" & "E" string rub against the back of the bridge. We'll see what that does to string life over time. It sounds great. The fret ends were well-tooled. It holds tune. It plays well and is gorgeous.

overall good for the money

Pros:

Powerful pickup signal

Very long sustain

Sounds good

Cons:

Poor pre-sale preparation

Frets are not polished, so the bends make a terrible scratching sound - this is the biggest drawback.

Highly lifted strings over the neck. - In my case, over 22 frets it was 0.5 centimeters, but this is easy to fix.

The strings sound at different volumes - you need to adjust the height of the core of each pickup.

On the fretboard in the structure of the tree visible mote - I think this is potentially bad.