Harley Benton TE-52 NA Vintage Series Reviews

What a deal!

I'm blown away by the quality of construction, particularly the quality of the neck and fretwork, and gorgeous woodgrain.

The pickups are a little milder than my Squier Classic Vibe, but the strings are so light that I think a set of 10-46 may solve that problem.

A very well made guitar at any price.

Stunning Telecaster

I bought this guitar without hesitation, and am I glad I did. Straight out of the box, not only did this tele look stunning, but the set up was spot on, all I did was remove the 10g strings and replace them with a set if 8.5g due to having arthritis in my fretting hand, but boy, does this thing sound good. I would highly recomend this guitar to anybody thinking of getting a telecaster, cos you will not go wrong with one of these!!

Have had this guitar 3 years and only changed the strings and tuners

Quality build, well setup right out of the box. Only the tuners needed replacing to match up to any mid priced Fender Telecaster.

Real Deal

What can I say about this guitar that hasn't being said yet ? Sounds awesome and the look is great. Thanks Harley Benton

Great deal

Everything you would expect from a budget tele. my only complaint is the string ferrules fall out when changing strings.

Incredible at this price!

The quality of this guitar as way above its price, sounds amazing out of the box, if you want some extra sparkle, you can upgrade the pups in it and maybe add some brass bridge 🤟🏻

Decent guitar for the price, but not for everyone

First things first I bought this to be upgraded in the future and have experience with setup and troubleshooting guitars, so for me if the neck was good enough I was going to keep in anyway.

The body looks pretty good but the biggest downside is the weight of this thing. I'm ok with that for now since I just play this sitting down at home but will probable buy a new body for it when I find a good deal.

The neck feels good, its a flatter radius than I am used to but its nice.

Downside was the fretwork, it needed a fretlevel badly so that's what I did before going on with a regular setup.

Fretedges were decent and not sharp.

The pickups sound nice when you set them up right(height) but again a big flaw here, the wiring was not correct and had to be fixed.

On my guitar in all the positions both pickups were active, fixed this mistake also.

The nut was cut well and that was a surprise on a cheap guitar, I did replace it with a bone nut since I had to level the frets anyway.

As you can expect for this price, the electronics(pots, switch etc.) and overall hardware are where you save the money.

The biggest issue I have is with the tuners, they seem to "jump" and don't feel great, but they work for now.

Some screws were put in by someone that was in a hurry, but that was fixed easily.

I don't think this can be advertised for absolute beginners that have no experience with setup or troubleshooting guitars, but it can be just the guitar I got.

As mentioned for me this was always going to be a upgrade platform if I liked the neck.

I have put together partscaster with pickups more expensive than this guitar so my expectations weren't that high anyway but the build quality did surprise me its not bad at all and it just "failed" for me in the expected areas, fretwork and used hardware.

So in short, you get what you pay for and if you know your way around setups you should be fine.

If this is your first guitar and/or you have no experience with setups make sure you know someone that does.

This is the Tele Clone to all Teles !

I did not have a Telecaster type, despite after being into guitars for better than 20 years... I had bought American Fender , Gibson & PRS ... But no "Tele". Until I (after watching several YT videos that showed the HB models were not made of balsa wood, or green cheese) I bought a TE 52 NA. Its beautiful. Looks great. Feels great, but most importantly... Sounds great with stock pickups ! Check out Shane's "In the Blues" comparison between a $2K US Fender Original Series Tele and a TE- 52. For the most part, You cannot tell the difference in tone between the two !

Yes, thay can be heavy (mine weigh about 10 Lbs) ... But I sit. and I slapped a 3" cotton web strap on both to take care of the "comfort" issue Great guitars, considering they cost less than $200 US, and will challenge any Tele type out there. I bought a second, to simply put Fender real pickups (actually Leo Fender) G&L MFD's into. I 'll report back once done.

NoBrainer..

If you are looking for a great Tele on a budget, don't hesitate,

superplayable :)

Doesn't feel or sound budget at all.

Great guitar!!

Can't beat the price!

Great Guitar

I love this guitar and it play’s itself

Superb

All I could want in a tele

more then expected

needed basic setup after ariving, after that was perfect for me.

I can't believe it!

Can an entry-level instrument be perfect? The TE52 boldly answers yes! I mean one can argue about different features that could've been easily added, like the switch should be angled and not go straight into the volume. Or everyone's favorite 3 saddle bridge. But when you play it suddenly none of it bothers you. The guitar gives you that authentic experience, and there's just something magical about the whole of it. Somehow, I feel like this embodies the spirit of the original idea of Leo. It's simple guitar, no fancy bindings, no flame maple top, simplest possible wiring. A paddle with some strings on it. But that's the appeal of it, isn't it?

Throughout the half year that I've owned it, I tried hard to find things that aren't good, or that I dislike, and I couldn't! Many people talk about this as a great modding platform. It is, but don't feel like you need to, for it to be a great instrument. Pups are good as they are, leave them be! Bridge, tuners and nut? Even with wild bends, it holds tuning well, and a surprisingly good intonation, for an instrument where you can't setup a proper intonation...

I'll quickly mention that I'm impressed by the woodwork, finishing and soldering, it's common to see way worse things in much more expensive instruments!

My only complaint is I guess that it's freaking heavy, 4,5 kilos! But that's just part of the authentic experience! :D

Excellent value.

Straight out of the box, a fantastic guitar for the money. I bought it for a bit of a joke, not expecting very much …. But it is a very competent instrument, the neck in particular, is excellent, with no sharp fret ends and immediately playable. The only things I did were new string trees on the headstock and a new set of compensating bridge saddles. I gave the truss rod a quarter turn, and this guitar played like a dream. Fabulous tele like tones , but I CANNOT use it for gigs. !! Why ???? It weighs an absolute tonne. Way heavier than the average les Paul. Such a shame. If it were much lighter, I’d use it all the time.

Do it!

Sounds great and better than a squire. All their stuff sounds good!

Great but heavy

Luv it, but wish it was hollow, chambered, or just lighter.

Great Beginner Guitar

Purchased this guitar to start playing again after a long hiatus. This guitar is very well built, feels amazing, and sounds great too. It's on the heavy side, but I find I prefer that. It feels like it could get thrown off a building and still play. The toasted maple fretboard is stunning. And it cam from the factory very well set up, and ready to play out of the box.

Highly, highly recommend. It's worth the shipping costs to ship to the US.

Value for money !!!

I had a Fender Baja and after letting it goes I was missing a nice T-style guitar.

Comparing both of them the TE-52 is pretty similar on quality (for the price of course !)

To make it quick:

Good:

- Quality, i don’t know if I’m lucky but I got a 2 pieces of ash body and the finish is really beautiful .

- pick-up (bridge), a good surprise and you will have the typical Tele sound that you’re looking for.

- price, I don’t know which guitar could have such a excellent quality/price ratio

Of course for this price you will have some “bad things”

- tuners, not holding the guitar tuned properly as it should be and will need to be change soon

- an upgrade regarding the electronic could be done (but that’s getting picky)

- neck pick-up is not as good as the bridge one

- the end of the frets could be a bit more finished but I found the same issue on other more expensive guitar.

To resume, im already ready to try again the Harley Benton experience with another model as im happily surprised with the quality. And after the few upgrades on the TE-53 in the futur ( tuners and electronic) I'm sure it will be an amazing guitar

If you're looking for a quality Tele Style this is it!

My first ever Tele Style guitar and this is a GREAT one, if you need or want a Tele Style then this is the one. Quick delivery, quality guitar and expert setup ready to play and sounds amazing!! I left a review on YouTube if you're interested @goldenboymd.