Harley Benton TE-52 NA Vintage Series 4-stars Reviews

Stunning guitar but with a couple of teething problems

I've had the TE-52NA for several months now, using it regularly for recording rhythm parts. It is a great guitar and outstanding value.

First of all the bad points...

When the guitar arrived it was difficult to bend strings due to the roughness of the frets. When I removed the strings three of the ferrules fell out of the back. However these were easily glued back in place. It was a bit of a pain masking off the fretboard for polishing the frets but the actual polish was done quickly and easily.

It's all good from here...

Once restrung I plugged it in and it played like a dream, no problem at all with the frets. The guitar was very well set up with a nice low action. Playability gets 5 stars. The Roswell pickups sound superb. The bridge pickup provides that classic T-type bright, biting twang and the neck pickup is lovely and warm. 5 stars for the pickups. The tuners are OKish but once tuned the guitar stays in tune. I haven't weighed the guitar but it is a heavy beast, as heavy as my Gibson Les Paul.

I have owned two Fender Telecasters in the past and this Harley Benton is just as good. The TE-52 plays great and sounds great and at this crazy price I have no hesitation in recommending it. Superb guitar!

Was heavy as hell

I loved this guitar so much, the sound, the look of it, the feeling... But mine was way too heavy for my standards.

Ended selling it for what it cost me to a guy who loved it.

The neck is chunky and unfinished, and I'd probable end changing the pickups for something a bit more close to the 50 ones, but hey, is a cheap axe that plays and looks amazing, and probably my superheavy one was just a rarity.

still good value

high E string tuner was a bit faulty and at certain position makes a buzzing noise when the open string vibrates. Sides of a fretboard also look as if they were polished together with the frets

Can't be beaten for the price

I was a little sceptical as some have stated that his Tele may not be the best guitar for its price but I was proven wrong! It arrived pretty quick and in good condition. Immediately, I changed the strings etc on it and checked all of the action and frets which are pretty spot on. It does need a change of tuners because they stick a little but thats to be expected on a lower level price point. Overall very happy.

A nice cheap tele

I've got this tele to start playing guitar and I'm impressed. The pickups sound pretty decent, but with different strings. The stock strings are not very comfortable and tend to wear down quickly. Mine has a 3 piece body with a maple neck. The tuners are fine, one has a bit of slack, nevertheless, they do the job and stay in tune. If you're looking for a heavy guitar, look no further. This weights an impressive 4.7 kilograms, so get yourself a nice wide strap. My only complaint is that the screws of the pickguard aren't straight in the holes.

Good Guitar

Really good considering the price

Guitar OK. Initial setting (truss rod) NOK.

Hello.

PROS.

Guitar is great in terms of look and quality.

CONS.

But after breaking 5 thin "E" strings in a couple of days I had to re-set the truss rod and action with the included tools.

Now no more broken strings and, finally a happy customer.

My suggestion is to double check upon arrival the guitar.

Harley Benton TE-52 NA

The cheapest and best quality option to learn to play the guitar. Perfect for a gift to your child. The thing is 100% paid off and serves without failure, I bought it recently and use it daily. Despite the ridiculous price , it can compete with more expensive musical instruments. You can change the position of the pickups and achieve the best sound. Has one minor minus, during the game there are quiet overtones on the lower threshold, but the sound through the amplifier is not reflected. Recommend for beginners.

great value guitar for money

I love body color polish finish.

a little like color satin in neck.

the edge of neck near fret a little rough.

Head stock someone tight someone good someone loose but and lock well done.

Bank for your buck, needs work to be awesome

I got this guitar in November 2018. At the moment this review is written, I have been using it for 6 months.

Specs:

Mine has the Roswell pickups, a 3-piece body and Strat pickup routing in the neck position (I am mentioning this as there are variants with Wilkinson pickups and humbucker routing). The reason I bought it was because I have another guitar with a floyd rose and wanted to have a second one with a fixed bridge.

Pros/Cons/Middle

Pros:

-Tone: It sounds great out of the box(sound wise, we'll get on the setup later). The pickups won't go anytime soon. I love the neck pickup, sounds really bluesy. The bridge pickup has a lot of grit and when overdriven, it can get heavy.

-Build quality: I feel it comes on par with other budget teles, costing a hundred euros more

Cons:

-Electronics(not the pickups): they feel cheap. Welding seemed ok but the switch feels really cheap.

-Bridge: I changed it with a Wilkinson with brass saddles. Tone improved, the metal is of better quality.

-Tuners: functional, a bit too stiff.

Comments:

-Setup: The frets are a bit sharp. The intonation was already fixed and stock strings were not bad, however. Came almost tuned out of the box.

-Weight: This is a heavy guitar, period. I kinda like that, others may not. I have not measured it, definitely heavier than my Ibanez RG (basswood).

Conclussion:

Overall, I really like this guitar. I have already spent about 30-40 euros on it, I will take it to a professional to have it setup, maybe change the nut to a bone one. I highly recommend this guitar for modding. If it is your first guitar, take it directly pro to fix it up for playabillity and you will have a fine instrument in your hands.

Edit: After 2 years of owning this, it is still my go-to guitar. After installing a bone nut, the next improvement will be to change the tuning pegs.

Great for the price

Great guitar for the price..

GOOD FOR THE PRICE

Cool guitar for those wo want a Telecaster in a budget.

very confortable to play , great fat neck like a fender , Tuners do the job, no need to replace them . The lacker is good and even, no huge deals, on thing that bugs me is the parsley model have a wilkinson brigde with brass tunning pegs, this one for more 10 euros could have one to . Ill buy a wilkinson bridge and put it there (the bridge that came is fine ok), the brass saddle give it more entonation and sustain , the Nut is plastic , like in many guitars under 500 euros , so have to go, replace it for a graphite one, the sound is Ok , i think the roswell pickups will do the job, so no need to replace them , ill replace the tone and volume control for a CTS ones with more quality, that will change the sound a lot with a little money, the frets are good but have some sharp edges, nothing that 10 minutes with a file dont do the job , i do that on all my guitars, have to do it in my Fender strat of 600 euros so....

Overal very good for the price, it put a smile on me, its 4 kg more a less, i?ve guitar more heavy and more expensive, it ash, so its a Bright Sound tele, its great. Buy it , you dont regret it , and with more 50 euros you can transform the sound and the playability of the guitar like a more expensive fender that cost 5 times more.

A nice beginner guitar!

I bought this guitar as a gift for a friend who just started playing guitar!

He is very happy both with the looks and the sound of the guitar.

I find the guitar a bit difficult to play becasue of the fat neck, but this is just a personal preference.

Considering the cost, it is sure worth it, especially if it is destined for a beginner.

It is not a guitar to record with, but for home use it is ideal and it sure looks beautiful!

I recieved the guitar with crack it he body near neck and bough on the fretboard, tuning heads is very poor quality.

Great value for the price

I play guitar since more than 40 years, have been a pro for a while and provide myself to set up my guitars. I owned ?66 and ?69 Tele?s.

Pros:

These are few elements but the most important for low-budget instruments.

- true solid woods;

- good Alnico pickups;

- good tone and playability;

Cons:

- body finish is too thick and glossy for my taste;

- frets needed polishing (easy to do it by yourself);

- neck angle needed a correction for better action;

- tuning gears are nice but not precise;

- the five (!) body-parts aren't well matched, the last little splice is even much darker and looks ugly so I'm considering to refinish it. But that's my fault because I didn't return it for a replacement (actually I've seen other TE-52's with far better grain matching). I'd suggest the producer to finish the bad-matched bodies in solid colors.

Overall this guitar has very good quality for a beginner and/or for further improvements.

Perhaps the best T-style guitar for the price.

Happy

Happy with this tele much more then I expected

Great value

Reminds me if a squier classic vibe 50s telecaster I had but at less than half the price! A couple of the string ferrules fell out of the back of the body but nothing a little glue couldn't fix. After that and a basic set-up I couldn't be happier with it.

Great buy

Brilliant guitar for such little money. Once received I removed the strings and cleaned the frets to make playability smoother. With new strings now it plays, feels and sounds great! Ideal for beginners but not only. It is also great for people who love customising and experimenting with mods and upgrades. Go for it - for such little money there is really not much risk.

Good guitar for the money

I was a little skeptical but guitar has very good price/quality ratio.

I will start with impressions.

-Very nice body and neck finish. Hand slides on neck like charm. body looks like a dream and everything just looks like much higher priced instrument.

-1ply thick pickguard- not a minus for me.

-Classic style bridge that works fine, pretty good intonation for 3 barrel saddles.

- Switch and pots works fine. Nothing to be afraid about.

- Pickups are great. Very good classic sound with good clarity thanks to alnico. Bridge pickup has very good output which is desirable with tele.

- Good soldering job.

- No sharp frets. Pretty good level across whole neck. Very nicely polished.

- Nut is ok. With some graphite from pencil it will do job just fine.

Now the bad sides.

- My tuners are awful. They are pretty hard to turn but they seem to hold tune. I think i'm gonna replace them but not for this reason.

-Holes for the screws in headstock that holds tuners were too big. Under a tension from strings tuners were just very unstable. I had to glue all 6 of them with some wood toothpick inside. Now there's no problem. If that would be modern tuners there would be no issue but these tuners are hold in place thanks to screws on back of the headstock.

- Bridge is slightly misplaced. Maybe 2-3 millimeters. Holes from body doesn't align with bridge and strings are not perfectly in the middle of the neck.

General impressions. Great guitar for the money. It requires some work but after that we get instrument that other manufacturers have for 3 times more money.

It isn't flawless but it gets job done. No one should be disappointed with that kind of sound.

Totally worth it

Overall, I am very satisfied with this instrument given its low price. The guitar looks really nice and it sounds and plays better than I expected. Upgrading the pickups, hardware etc. will make it even better although IMHO it is not necessary.

Now to the negatives: the strings were corroded, the frets were just a bit rough and buzzed a bit and also two tuner bushings were not flush with the headstock. All of the above were of course minor problems that were very easily fixed. Unfortunately, my guitar came with one small chip in the finish near the neck pocket but that's not important for me in order to ask for a replacement.

After this experience I will most definitely try some other instruments of the Harley Benton family.