Harley Benton TE-52 NA Vintage Series Reviews

Great guitar for the price

Received today so had to write this. This guitar is fantastic, the quality of build and hardware is as good as guitars four times the price, unbelievable. The tuners, bridge, pick-ups are great. The neck is smooth with no fret sprouts, controls work smoothly and the ash body is superbly finished. The neck pocket is a superb fit and there is nothing loose on the guitar. The only thing I had to do was to tune it. I did not find it too heavy. If you want to mod it there are plenty of parts available, but I cannot see me changing anything as it is great straight out of the box. I recommend that if you want a Telecaster, you wont get one this good for the money.

100%

I had some real doubts regarding the possible condition/quality of the instrument or issues that may occur and affect it over the course of the delivery but was surprised to see that after thorough inspection and a bit of tweaking at the saddles and truss rod (just for string height, the intonation was spot on), this is a great instrument! The only part that I can say feels a bit cheap is the (acoustically) audible friction you hear when playing vibrato - could be that the frets need time to 'break in'. I say 'cheap' because aside from that you could tell me this guitar costs X4 what it did and I would easily believe it. Satin finish on the neck feels great and the pickups are good as well.

*Use

Home studio (not my first or second guitar, 19 years in the game), possibly some gigging - I would definitely consider this as a primary instrument for a gig as opposed to just a backup

*Pros

Price(obviously)

Sounds and feels good

Sturdy hardware

*Cons

Needs some setup out of the box

A bit of audible(acoustically, not when amped) chafing between strings and frets, possibly need to be 'broken in'

who needs a fende/squirer when you have this.....

bought this guitar as i read the reviews,

so...what do you expect from a telecaster?

thewood quality, the tone, the twang, the neck,

this guitar has it all, despite of its considerable weght, i m ahappy owner,

recommended to Novice as wellagigging musician

Price/Quality - WOW

Very happy with the price compared to quality. Great guitar, and fun to play.

Best choice

Pros:

guitar looks perfect

neck profile and matt finishing feels great

good sustain and resonance

Cons:

action setup is a bit high

scratching frets and ends are sharp

a few dead spots while bending strings

May not suit:

heavy body (for me it's ok)

neck pickup is not bright at all

guys you make wonderful things for this price

perfect !

Great Tele - Heavy Tele

This guitar was in perfect condition. Placed and sounded beautiful! I really couldn't have asked for better. The only issue I have is that it is very heavy! Heavier than a Les Paul!

For the price

For the price it's a awesome guitar !

great value

looks and sounds great. Wooden body is really beautiful up close. I experienced no problems with the tuners. Only con is that it is heavier than expected but the body is really a beautiful block of wood.

Great Guitar!

I've never had a Tele or a guitar with maple fretboard and wanted to try them out so decided to go for the TE-52.

I'm super happy with the guitar, love the fat neck, the fret work is good with no sprout, it sounds good (to my ear), generally a great guitar for very little money.

I would say its heavy which doesn't bother me as I like a chunky guitar but some might not.

Delivery was speedy as always and it was packed really well too.

Perfect - more then expected

Very well built , not a single flow, the neck is chunky but surprisingly very comfortable and comes with a nice satin finish, frets are also well done although could have a little polish (not really an issue).

3 pcs body and they did a great job matching these pieces together.

Tuners works well and the sound is also great.

Сheap and cheerful

This guitar is beautiful. It's heavy, yes, and I love it. The neck is wide and pleasant to play. The guitar came already rebuilt, completely ready to use. The frets were unpolished in some places, but after playing for a couple of days and changing the strings, it went away by itself. By the way, after changing the strings, it became so sweet and soft to play that it was even somehow unusual for me.

I don't know about pickups, I used to play Affinity with their standard pickups. Roswell on TE-52 is definitely better.

Of course, I must say that for such a price I received just a brilliant instrument, we live in an amazing time.

Thanks Harley Benton, what else can I say. Greetings from St. Petersburg, Russia.

Te-52 na vintage

The guitar is great, powerful pickups and I'm powerful too. Excellent coverage. I recommend

Great value for the money

The only downsides I found in this instrument are unpolished frets and different shades of color on the front and back of the neck, also a cheap plastic nut. Other than that, is a great instrument with great sound!

The best Telecaster under €200

Sounds very good, looks great!

Crazy good for the price

Amazing guitar for the price. Frets smooth, plays really easily, and with a good tone. Strings that came with guitar totally fine too. For a beginner guitar - or a first "tele-style" guitar - I can't see how you could go wrong.

For this money, this is a very good guitar.

Just what I was after!

I'm primarily a bassist, but I've been known to dabble with 6 strings. I got my old Variax out for the first time in years and it was the Tele sounds I enjoyed the most, so after some gentle persuasion from my wife that I ought to move some guitars on before I ordered anything new, I did just that. I ordered on a Friday evening, it was sent out on Monday and after a few "Brexit related delays", it was in my hands the following Monday.

I'm really pleased - it's great! D'addario 10s are my preferred string, so that is a massive bonus not having to restring it. The tuners seem to hold well, the pickups sound great, the action works for me and even with straight saddles, the intonation seems great to my ears (not checked it with a tuner yet). Weight is a smidge over 4kg, which is fine by me. I had a wide leather strap that I've put on it. I've plugged it in to my new Terror Stamp through my bass pedalboard and that whole setup works better than I had expected! Sounds just like a telecaster 👍

As others have said, it's also not just great for the money, I'd happily gig this tomorrow if I was more proficient at guitar. Notable basses in my collection include a 76 Fender Mustang and a Dingwall Combustion. The feel compares really well. It's amazing how budget guitars/basses have come along since I started playing 20 years ago.

The only annoyance I'll add is that I had to unscrew the screws and pots to get all of the plastic off from the pickguard and control plate. There is still a little bit stuck around the neck pickup...

In summary, if you're on the fence, buy it!

Almost perfect

This guitar came today and looks amazing except for the slightly scratched scratchplate that I noticed when I took it out of the box. Other than this minor cosmetic issue it looks and plays beautifully and for the price I would recommend it. It has a great tone from the brief testing I have put it through.

Did I just win the cheap guitar lottery?

Did they PLEK this? Or did I just win the cheap guitar lottery? This Harley Benton TE-52 is amazing. I bought it to mod and relic it but it turned out to be so good I'm keeping it mostly stock. The neck! Wow... the neck! Checked it with a StewMac fret rocker. There is NO high or low frets. I mean not even a micrometer! There should be some adjustments needed at this price point. There was a little on a Fender MIM (1000$) I bought recently. This neck is straight as an arrow. Actually it is the best made neck I have ever seen and I have seen a lot of guitar necks through my 45 years of playing. There is no fret sprout or sharp fret edges. The frets needed polishing though. I used steel wool. As did the fretboard that had some rough satin lacquer on it. I used some polishing compound and a rag to polish the fretboard. The guitar is a heavy beast. The rest of the guitar is perfectly ok but not overwhelming. There was nothing wrong with the paintwork. It's a two piece body as far as I can tell. The string ferrules, all six of them, came out when I changed the strings. Easy fix. I really can't come over the neck being so nice. This is a player and a keeper. I can't guarantee you will get a guitar this good if you order one but IMHO it's worth the try at this price.