Harley Benton TE-52 NA Vintage Series 5-stars Reviews

Harley Benton Tele TE-52 NA

Use this in Band/Open Mics/Studio

Pros:

First, Looked Great , Beautiful Guitar

next, Tone - Wilkinson pickups are amazing, Spot on Tele tone

add a little slap back delay and compression and you can sound like Brent Mason. You can sustain till the cows come home.

Action very playable.

Cons: Lacquer on fret board came off quickly, down to wood pretty fast.

Needs a bit of fret leveling, but still very close.

Overall: value is unbeatable. would definitely buy again if something happened to this one.

I don't know how they do it

This guitar is on par with at least the higher end Squier products. It boggles the mind that Harley Benton are able to make such a quality instrument at this price point.

The Wilkinson pickups sound excellent and the guitar feels lovely to play. It also looks fantastic (I had a friend think that it was worth a significant amount more than it cost when he first played it)

The were a few minor (and I really mean minor) imperfections, cosmetically speaking. There was a dark mark in the fretboard at the higher end and there is a small crack in the glossy finish near the neck joint, you really have to go over it carefully to notice, though.

I've had this puppy for a year now and it has become my go to guitar for everything except metal. It sounds utterly amazing through a glassy clean amp and it really works well with overdriven sounds too (I use it in conjunction with a Lotus Effects THD+N fuzz pedal and it screams).

If you're someone who likes their guitars to look as good as they sound then this is a good choice for you, especially if you're on a tight budget. It looks as beautiful as it sounds.

It single handedly demolished all of my previously held ideas about how much you need to spend to get a nice sounding, looking and playing guitar.

Buy it

Great guitar for those who are not after a brand!

Awesome

This guitar is awesome the neck feels so smooth the guitar was perfectly set up. The Roswell pickups sound amazing I love shape . I do have a a couple of cons the tone knob on the control panel wasn't on tight enough the G slot on the nut was cut to deep. Over all this is a great guitar

Good Product!

One of the best copies for its price!

I have tried different telecasters but this one really nailed it.

I didn't have to change anything; pick ups, tuners, and intonation etc.. is great. I think I got lucky!

However, the neck pocket has a tiny crack, probably due to shipping issues.

Solid guitar - perfect after small upgrades

Just got my HB TE-52 NA. here is the honest review. CONS: I bought this with the intention of upgrading hardware and electronics. Out of the box the action was a little high, the bridge was slightly squint and the nut was too high. The tuners did not work well, they slipped when tuning and sometimes needed multiple turns with little movement. They look good but are not good quality. The fret board is a little dry and scratchy but that's easily fixed. But I didn't expect much for the price anyway. I expected to have to change the tuners. DON'T LET ANY OF THE ABOVE PUT YOU OFF BUYING ONE. PROS: The body, made of ash is perfect, the neck sits perfectly in the body, after action adjustment it plays really nice. The "roswell" pickups are actually quite good. I changed the tuners to kluson locking, the bridge to kluson with brass saddles and put on heavier guage strings. Then I filed down the nut. It now plays and sounds as good as my 1000 euro jap tele and better than the mexican's I have played. So far I have spent 55 euros on the upgrade and will add strap locks later for about 20 euros. And get some fret gloss or oil. I have fender single coil pickups but don't know if I'll put them in it yet. The worst things on the guitar was the tuners and nut. But for 129 euros for the guitar and until now an upgrade cost of 55 euros it is well worth it. So that's why I gave it 5 stars. If you are thinking of buying one then definitely buy it and ignore the tuner issue - that's easily fixed for 35 euros.

Cheap but satisfying

After some year I may say I'm really satisfied.

Very good general quality, just some little detail (not high quality screws, frets to be adjusted just for more confort).

It's much better built than my MIM Fender Stratocaster!

I just changed the strings and shielded the body cavity.

No problem with twisting neck or similar even if I keep the guitar in my car during the summer.

Amazing

Just got the tele back from the luthiers .The guy could not believe i only paid just over a ton for this axe,He said that its as good as any teles ,american or mex that he has ever worked on. The only fault i can find is the string holes on the back are a little uneven .I can sure live with that.

Great guitar for the price

Right out of the box the guitar looked and felt like a very decent guitar. The guitar most certainly didn't feel like a cheap guitar. I bought it because I needed a TE style guitar that sounded good at a reasonable price and one that I could take to jam sessions and small gigs without having to worry about it getting scratched and beaten up. I must say I was pleasantly surprised, so far it's doing great, the sound I am getting out of it is awesome when paired with a nice amp. It holds up to alot more expensive guitars and is generally a sweet deal.

A few minor things to be mentioned though. The neck is quite thick especially up at the first couple of frets which might be a problem for someone with very small hands, I personally like it. Some of the frets seem a bit rough and a lot of the screws were loose when I got it and continues to rattle themselves free sometimes.

With that being said it's a guitar that at this price point you just can't beat.

TE_-52

by far the best entry level tele out there! Incredible shipping speed (3 days from Germany to central usa) and packaging was top notch. After several months of use, I must say this is an any level players guitar! Stays in tune very well, sounds great, plays great. On to the p90 tele next purchase!!!!

this is amazing Tele

very impesive build

guitar assembled very high quality. the cover looks cool and expensive

guitar has a good body. I replaced the sound pickups with a fender nokaster 51. and the guitar revealed itself. sound bomb people do not understand how I for $ 300 received the sound of a guitar 10 times more expensive. bridge is fine. pegs keep line.

for the money, the guitar just has to be bought.

10 out of 10 in total

better in quality than a square or cheap fender.

I advise. I have two years. and the same as it was once bought it.

Love it

I am really a bass player who needed a guitar for home use, I have always loved Tele's but couldn't justify spending big money.

This was my first Harley Benton and I was a little apprehensive....turns out there was no need, there is little to fault in this guitar, it looks the part, sounds every bit the tele....certainly to me!

The quality is way beyond what I expected for the price, it was nearly in tune and nicelky set up. Neck is really nice, none of the usual China sharp frets, etc. Great product, great price, great service.

Amazing Guitar

This really is an amazing guitar for the money. I waited a while before making a review and have now had the guitar for a year. Has been great for the past year everything is rock solid with no issues at all. Have made a few changes in the past year but due to personal preferences than anything else. I would recommend paying for a set up - i played the guitar without this for 6 months and it was good but the set up changed it completely. Have to stop myself buying anymore HB guitars!! If you are thinking about it, buy it now!!

For the price it is fantastic

The only issue I had with this guitar are the tuners. Went out of tune once a week. Replaced them with a Schaller set and now it is just perfect. Really great option for a budget guitar!

Quality

I bought this because I had heard of the quality of these instruments and because of the strung through body and wood used. This is an absolutely fantastic guitar for the price, in fact its just a fantastic guitar full stop. The finish on the body is perfect, the finish on the neck isn't great, but doesn't effect the way it plays. Out of the box it wasn't terrible but did need to be setup. once it was setup the guitar played and sounded fantastic. No high or buzzing frets. The hardware on these guitars is also great, the switch and pots are solid. Might replace the input jack. I have had no problem with this guitar holding tuning at all. The pick ups sound good as well. This has joined my collection of Fender and will be going no where any time soon. 5 stars for features because it has exactly what a Tele needs, especially that three saddle bridge. 5 Stars on sound because this guitar sounds great. 4 Stars for quality because of the finish on the neck.

Over all a super guitar at a very cheap price

Unbelieveable value

I've owned a lot of guitars, at all sorts of price ranges, and this thing is insanely good for the price.

Firstly, it's easily the heaviest guitar I own. The body is a big ol' slab of Ash that would cost probably 10 times as much Fender. This thing has sustain for days. The neck is solid and true. The fret job was pretty good, the finish was great, the hardware was good. The Wilkinson pickups are stupid good, and the wiring/soldering is cleaner than on my £1k Ltd. It's worth noting that it's routed for a humbucker in the neck too, which was a nice surprise.

The only real issue I have is that one of the string holes (it's string-thru) was drilled twice - not all the way through, but when you put a string in, you can end up in the wrong channel. It just means changing that string takes 2 extra seconds, and I could fix it if it really bothered me.

I spent maybe £50 on locking tuners (not really needed) and a modern 6 saddle bridge (again, just a taste thing), and it's brilliant. It's been used on half a dozen recordings alongside an American Tele, and it holds it's own.

totally worth!

using at home and just compared it with fender tele deluxe and I havent noticed any big difference in sound, maybe a bit quieter but deluxe has high signal pickups so probalby thats the difference. I'm totally delighted.

Outstanding

Forget the low price. This guitar would be good value at four times the price.

Compared to "full fat" fender telecasters its hard to spot the difference. Wilkinson pickups are fine and give good telecaster sound.

Well finished. Played great straight out of the box. Professional guitarist who played it just kept muttering £99? Really? No, how much was it really? Can't be £99.

one minor glitch

1 screw was missing from top of pick guard. hole is there so maybe was stripped. looks, plays and sounds great.

Very impressed

I,ve only been playing guitar for aound 18 months,so for me its a difficult one .So far i,ve owned a encore strat copy a yamaha pacifica 012. firstly the look of the the guitar is superb.I have had to retune it slightly. I,ve got a new practice amp.On all 3 postions the guitar sounds very good.A friend of mine who has been playing telecasters for nearly 30 years,also gave it 5 stars.He was also impressed with the price too. You really cant go wrong with this.