Harley Benton TE-30 BE Standard Series 4-stars Reviews

Amazing quality for the price, but modders beware

You can't even buy an unfinished ash Tele body for $92, so obviously this thing is a great deal right out of the gate. Mine is no exception. Mostly flawless finish, no sharp frets, etc. Tuners are a little weak, as are the pickups, but I didn't buy it for the hardware.

However...mine shipped with a different bridge than what is pictured. The pictures show the shorter, traditional size bridge. The one that shipped with mine is basically a basically a Squier Affinity bridge. This is important for a top loading bridge, as now I can't just drop in a Wilkinson style bridge without leaving 3 ugly screw holes visible on the back end of the bridge. Not cool. Again, not a quality or features issue, it's just not what I ordered.

This is a real bummer, as the stock bridge is not good, and I was going to replace it.

suprised!

I was very surprised at the build quality of this guitar. It stays in tune, and is ideal as a back up.

Great Telecaster to work on it!

This Telecaster has really nice body wood and neck. Guitar needs a string change and a bit of adjustment. Tuners works quite well with 10-46 strings. Saddles are nickel but their do the job. Neck pickup a little bit muddy, bridge one nice with good punch.

If you're searching nice cheap base to work it on take it and be satisfied as me.

TE-30, my new guitar

Got the new guitar yesterday, tuned it back up, played it for a few minutes, and let it set. Got a good look at it again to day. Amazing blonde finish, great maple neck (even with a very slight case of fret sprout). Bridge sounds awesome. Neck pick up is a little (soft)quiet, but sounds good. Body is HEAVY. Heavier than my Gretsch which has a mahogany body. Very solid hunk of wood.Got a few dings- being shipped from Germany to the US- guess that is to be expected. For $94 USD, it is better than ANY $250 squire

Noice!

Not too bad,for the price its a wowsy good guitar.especially since it's a telecaster.

Amazing for the price

It's not the real deal and the sound it's just not good enough for more serious application, but wow! Amazing value and really fun as a first t-style guitar. It actually looks really great and the woods seem to be good quality. With a good set up and new pickups this guitar could really fly!

nice purchase TOP

VERY NICE GUITAR FOR THE PRICE ! TOP

TE-30

The TE-30 was my first telecaster. I received the package when I was at my office and I got quite surprised when I open it; the guitar looked so beautiful and flawless and I just wanted to go home to try it out. Later on, after playing a while I decided to change the strings I could see some scratches on the neck (which also doesn't look like very well finished); they probably came from the production process. Despite, the guitar is great, it plays well and sounds good but be aware that it will probably not be perfect (which is reasonable for this price).

Cheap tele

Didn't expect a lot from a $97 dollar guitar .... tuners are crappy , bridge pick up is crappy neck is ok .... guitar needs a set up ( fret buzzing) Build quality was decent ... only a few imperfections Neck seems a bit thicker than most teles but all and all it's a decent guitar for the money after some new tuners and some tone rider pick ups this guitar will be a definite daily player

TE-30 Standard series

Seen many good reviews of Hartley Benton guitars decided to purchase the TE-30, also having previously purchased a Hartley Benton acoustic.

Pros:

Excellent construction and finish

Neck is satin finish/Natural and wider in comparison to my Fender strat. Assuming this is typical for a Telecaster design style for Country/Blues/Rock, and slightly higher string setup, perhaps for playing slide.

Electronics; Both Tone/Volume knobs work well - tone and volume change is clearly notably, Switch works well, Pick-ups; Sound very good, give typical telecaster country plucking sound/ Bluesy Led Zepp. Perhaps a more experienced telecaster player may prefer to change pickups

Play ability; Yes, the strings seems to be little higher. However no problem playing notes right up to the 22 fret, no buzzing when bending or plucking. Comparing to America Fender stratocaster.

Cons:

Advised to replace stock strings

Machine heads are ok, top E is a little lose not the best.

Tone/Volume knob do not turn level, when looking from side. This does not effect their function.

Heavy guitar with quality Ash body - this may effect some people - using a hardwood body comes with the advantage of chip resistant in comparison to Bass wood, Popular or Lime wood which is much softer

Conclusion:

Advise machine head upgrade, otherwise very good quality guitar.

If you are picky the pickup can be upgraded. Feel that the sound quality should be judged for it own and not how much it sounds similar to the original. Every guitar has its own individual sound.

Thumbs up.

Great guitar really happy with it really nice fretboard and all tuned up when I open it nice touch thank you harley benton the te-30 looks awesome and well worth the money I paid would recommend you to my friends. The case I got has lost of space to but my thinks in and a key too keep my too kids from opening it up

The body was made of three well matched pieces. he finish was quite good except for a small blob of solid white paint beneath the clear coat. I bought the guitar to strip and stain, so it did not bother me. The body by itself weighs about 3 kg. The neck pocket fit was quite good. The pickguard is nice.

The hardware is extremely basic, as is to be expected for the price, but everything works as it should. It has a box type switch and 250 k mini pots, CTS pots wont fit unless the holes in the control plate are widened.

The intonation was spot on but the neck had a couple of high frets and the action at the nut was too high. I was planning on dressing the frets and replacing the nut with a bone nut from the beginning, so again, it did not bother me much.

The guitar is quite loud unplugged and sustains well, which is a good sign. The pickups do their job. ,There is no buzz even though the guitar is not shielded.

So, what is the verdict? Judging by other comments these guitars seems to be a bit hit and miss in regards to fit and finish from the box, but as a modding project, it is probably hard to beat. I would probably go for the more expensive HB models if my intention was not to mod it.

Unbelievable

Finish: Excellent finish, no blemishes, the pickguard is just amazing and the fretboard is fast and smooth! It's a piece for the living room I'll tell you that!

Electronics: Switch and knobs work and feel fine. Pickups ara a bit microphonic but still excellent sound, representative of a tele (I doubt one could tell the difference between this one and the clean tones of an original fender telecaster in most cases). Nice and crisp especially on the neck side. A bet that with a pickup upgrade it would be as rich sounding as a guitar 20X more expensive...

Playability: Came decently setup, action about 2mm at 12th fret. I am still getting used to the beefy neck shape but that's just because I usually play les paul style guitars. Strings are junk but for 92 bucks I shouldn't expect more. Frets need polishing though! My friend Jack (the chinese QC person) forgot to remove the file scratches from the levelling... Fret ends nicely smoothed .

Conclusion: Highly recommended for all! it plays as beautifully as it looks and... it looks beautiful.

Heavy but pretty

I really like this guitar. Its so cheap and it sounds pretty clear for the price.

Its great guitar for the beginners

But I think its too heavy guitar. I mean REALLY heavy

Fabulous for the money!

I'll admit it straight away - I bought the TE-30 as a project guitar, so it was never intended to stay stock. But straight out of the box it was a really nice guitar, I'll get the (slight) negatives out of the way first - the body is quite heavy, which isn't unusual for ash. There was some muck on the fretboard which disappeared in no time with a bit of cleaner, and the machine heads felt a bit cheap and cheerful. Playability was great. Action was nice and the neck is comfortable and chunky in a good way. The pickups sounded great. The finish was very nice too. Just a ridiculously good T-style guitar for the price.

Now it has locking tuners, an Esquire scratchplate, no neck pickup, and a Bigsby B50. None of that was strictly necessary (though the tuners were a sweet upgrade).

Whether you're looking for an entry level Tele or the basis for a franken-Tele project, the TE-30 is a great place to start.

Great beginner style Tele

For the money you pay for this entry level Tele, you can't go wrong. Great finish, great hardware and a great sound. Love my TE30.

Well worth the money!

Okay, now I bought this product to fill both curiosity and a tonal gap in my guitar arsenal.

The following comments, I believe, are an honest appraisal from an experience guitarist.

I have another HB guitar, the semi hollow CST-24HB. The quality of that guitar was good, in fact very good for the price point. Hence, I thought I'd try a really budget HB guitar!

With guitars at this price you have to be realistic and understand where corners are cut. Namely tuners, the nut, electrics, setup and to a certain degree pickups. The HB-CST-24 was twice the cost of this "Tele"

The quality of the body and neck , including fretwork in both guitars is astounding, for the price.

I changed p/u's on the CST-24, tuners as well and cut a graphite nut (the stock one was way to high. This transformed an already pretty good £172 guitar to a very good one with an extra £75 spend.

Ok, back to the "Tele" £88 , "CHEAP"! yes, poor electrics yes, dull p/u's - to a certain degree (simple, cheap "Tele mods" cured that).

New nut required to replace plastic thing.

Changed saddles to compensated brass ones.

Will change neck p/u for either P90 or Humbucker(NEVER liked tele neck p/u's even on a real Tele. Possibly change the bridge p/u at some point.

Tuners are awful, changing those to locking ones asap.

Now, BOTH guitars setup easily to a LOW action, lower than I usually want, intonation improved immensely with compensated saddles on the "Tele"

To summarize:

Pros:

*Emminently upgradeable to achieve a good guitar for another £60 (better than a certain well known makes budget series)

* Setup well, very well in fact.

* Body one piece solid ash!

* Neck, one piece maple.

* Looks great.

* Stock, for a beginner with someone to set it up, with no upgrades, is an absolute bargain.

* My upgraded one will be great!

Cons:

* Experienced players will need to spend a little to bring up to their standards.

* Poor electrics, neck p/u, nut and tuners.

* Needs a setup.(action, intonation,nut)

* Body is heavy

In summary, I am happy with this guitar. I knew it would need work and a little spent on it to achieve what I regard as a good guitar. For a beginner it's a steal (after a setup)

Great guitar for the price

Although I play a few Harley Bentons, I never actually owned one so I decided to get a TE-30. I've always been a fan of the tele sound, but I don;t play it often enough to justify a Fender. I considered several models, but decided to go with the ash body. For the price, this guitar is amazing. It's very comfortable, lighter than expected, and sounds great. Both pickups have the iconic tele vibe to them, include the "bottle" effect teles are famous for. I know HBs can be a hit and miss, but mine arrive with no flaws. There are a few issues worth mentioning though. For starters, the pickguard had lots of excess plastic around the edges so I had to remove it to clean it. The neck pocked isn't perfect, but I can't say it affects the sound and playing. The neck pickup sounded weak at first, but only because it was lowered into the body too much. Finally, the bridge isn't the best and I'm having trouble getting the intonation right on the saddle for the E and A strings. This is probably the biggest issue, but definitely fixable with time and attention. The tuners are surprisingly good and the guitar stays in tune. Frets aren't sharp. They could use a bit of work, but definitely good for what they are. Overall, it's a good guitar and pretty much confirms that Harley Benton gets too much heat. They made vast improvements lately.

Great guitar

Out of the box the guitar looks great,the body is fully gloss,the neck feels good and the sound is excellent.I have put just some string retainers and the guitar stays in tune.There is only one thing I don't like,the fingerboard and the neck are not the same color

Unbelievable!!

So I wanted a Tele that I could run around with and use for practice in the studio and living room that was not my Fender Deluxe $1,500 Telecaster. Also, I wanted something at least Fender MIM quality without the price. I watched some videos on YouTube on the Harley Benton TE-30 BE. The videos looked compelling so I decided to order one?and WOW!!!

When I received the guitar I could not believe how heavy it was. The finish was clean, deep, and rich. Much creamier than it looked in the pictures. Frets were crowned nicely and well levelled. Tuners keep the guitar in tune well even after days of layoffs. No need to upgrade. The sound: Man this thing sounds like a Telecaster. It?s got that Tele twang and can also rock. At this price you would not believe a guitar could not sound this good! Huge surprise with these pickups!

Here are the cons: I had to adjust the truss rod as the neck buzzed like a bee. I am surprised it passed QA like that. With my truss rod neck adjustment, the buzz went away quickly and no more issues there with just a little relief. The string trees were junk. I replaced them with rolling string trees. Much smoother now and a nice upgrade for only $10.00. Lastly, I replaced the nut with a Tusq graphite nut. Another $10.00. With that, this guitar is simply unbelievable and not just for the price! Just a really good guitar all around.

The fact that I could get an instrument of this quality for $80 before shipping is just plain crazy great. If you told me that my guitar would cost me $400 or more I would believe it. It is Fender MIM quality for a fraction of the price. If you want to save some cash and want Fender Tele MIM level quality, look no further. This is your lucky day.