Harley Benton TE-30 BE Standard Series Reviews

Low Cost Guitar

Amazing guitar for the price.

The only downside for me is the neck pickup which i will eventually upgrade. The pickup selector is very stiff and frets need to be polished, but after being played in for some days the strings end up polishing themselves if you bend a lot.

For the price it is an amazing guitar, I am pleaseantly surprised and will buy another telecaster from Harley Benton for sure.

Keep up the good work and low prices!

Simply unbelievable.

I always wanted a telecaster, but somehow never got one. Since I couldn't spend a whole heap of money on one, I kept trying out guitars that went somewhere around 250 euro, but I never found them likable, they never sounded like a tele should. So, after reading lots of good reviews, and having purchased a Harley Benton strat before, I thought I'd give it a shot, thinking that if it turned out to be lousy, it'd be a good modding base, but how wrong was I. This guitar is simply unbelievable, especially for a mere 89EU. Upon inspection, I could find no flaws in the overall finish of the guitar - the color looks great, lighter than in the pictures, creamy, very sweet, the neck is of a satin finish and is extremely comfortable, the tuners are alright, the spin ratio seems good enough, though I see why some would want to upgrade, though I would rather suggest trying rolling string trees first. But as of now, it stays in tune. The pickup switch feels cheapish, but it does it's job fine and it's not something that would bother me since an "upgrade" is very very cheap. Now, these things that I mentioned are absolute nitpicks, as the guitar looks and plays amazing.

Firstly, the neck - many that reviewed this commented on how fat or wide the neck is, ala the baseball bat neck. While it is surely subjective, I find the neck to be very comfortable as I dislike very thin, flat ones. It's similar to the HB ST-62 strat, but a tad slinkier, and feels much much faster. The satin finish is very nice and helps with slides. As this is my first guitar with a satin neck, I am absolutely loving it! The fret job is great, no sharp ends, everything is rounded off and such, really extremely impressive for this price! The only bit that was wonky was that the frets themselves weren't fully polished, but that went away after playing for a couple of hours. The leveling is astonishing, considering the price, no buzz, nothing. Also, the action was great right out of the box. I must be lucky or something.

Electronics - I have no quarrel with them. I quite enjoy the pickups, the middle position is very chimy and full, the bridge is biting, snaps right back at You, just as a proper tele should, and the neck is heavenly. I also should mention that it must be properly shielded because it doesn't buzz anywhere nearly as much as I expected, considering it's single coils.

Body - it's a two piece, and let me tell You, it's damn heavy. I don't mind it since I'm used to an LP that weighs a ton, but even so I was surprised since it weighs exactly as much as the full blown LP! I'm used to the weight and have a good back, but I can see how this could be an issue for some, so beware - it is darn heavy!

Playability - honestly, it's one of the best playing guitars I've ever played and I've been playing for over 15 years and played a whole lot of guitars. I bought this on the basis that my HB ST-62 strat was surprisingly okay, since I wanted something that would lay around the house, but Jesus is this nicer that the strat! The neck is miles away and overall it just feels good.

You may choose not to believe me, it might sound like a bought review but I absolutely swear that it is not so, it's just a very very good guitar. Maybe I lucked out and got the best one, I don't know, but once I've picked it up and plugged in I couldn't stop playing for a couple of hours! Very comfy, and startlingly versatile.

Overall - I honestly can't believe that I payed only 89 euro for this, it's comfortable, sound great, looks great too!

Would I recommend?

YES.

You'd be a fool not to get one of these.

Good for the price

Chip on top of the headstock as if it was dropped head first on the ground (keep in mind the packing boxes were perfect), chip on the finish near the input jack, two blemishes on the finish near the controls, frets filthy really need polishing, lower side of neck very rough, strings that come with it are nasty.

It sounds good, has a nice weight to it's solid body and can hold notes very well. If you don't mind spending a bit of time (or money) dressing the frets better and swapping the strings straight away it's good value.

Great price ! good sound

i have many guitars and i tried to test guitar for less than 100¤. this is killer ! you can get wood with pickups for less than 100¤, please stop kidding :). but this is true !.

Tunning is great, sound is better than you can imagine for less than 100¤, playability is great :).

Beautiful Tele Devil Magic

I bought this guitar as I needed something bright to cut through a mix, what better than a Tele? I was going to buy a Squire Tele but man, am I glad I didn't.

This is a beautiful guitar! Looks, build quality, play-ability and sound are all of great quality. If I were to value this guitar without know the actual cost or brand it would, at the VERY LEAST be in £250+ price range. it does every thing you would expect a high-mid range Tele to do, sounds bright and sparkly without being tinny or shrill and you can get some great necky warm tones without sounding muddy.

Now I do see two things that some would consider bad points (they don't bother me at all)... The guitar is heavy, not uncomfortably heavy but it my effect very young players, older players and any one with a bad back, so be warned. OK bad point number two, the neck was very dry when it arrived (being shipped from Asia to Germany and then to N.Ireland in the dry heat of summer probably didn't help) leading me to believe the fret ends were very sharp, when really the wood had just shrank, Ireland has a damp climate so this fixed itself, if you lived else where a quick rub with some oil would sort this out in a day.

All in all a great guitar. Buy 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

Best $100/100¤ guitar in thr market. Amazing cheap/affordable quality Telecaster style guitar!.

How's it going fellas? The HB TE30 is an incredible bang for thr buck, far beyond anything you'd find at that price range. Solid ash body, beautiful finish, comfortable satin neck, surprisingly good tuning stability and intonation, great tele twang tone from both pickups. Plenty of clarity as well. The hardware from the bridge all the way to the tuners is of surprising quality. Set up surprisingly well I can not stress enough how good this is for the money. Way too many pros and next to no cons. Only thing I can mention is that the pickups could be louder and it is a bit heavy but not back breaking either. Very resonant. I've owned a bit over 400 guitars from all price ranges and played thousands and this is easily as good as others 3-4 times it's price or more. Simply amazing for pocket change. It is far and away the best $100/100¤ guitar in existence.

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.

Good quality guitar!

I bought this guitar a long time ago and such have had over a year of practice on it.

For the price, you can't fault it.

It was set up well, it sounded pretty good considering the pickups it had and it felt amazing. It was well made, had a good weight to it and played beautifully. You would never have guessed that it cost the price that it did.

It excelled in blues and clean settings as well as some lighter rock, although the pickups weren't too good for much heavier sounds. The strings didn't seem too great, but I switched them out for Ernie Ball's straight away anyways, so I can't say too much about that.

For the price that it is, I could definitely recommend and being my first HB guitar, I was pleasantly surprised. I'm currently writing this review before I purchase my second HB guitar, so I can definitely say that they make excellent guitars for a low budget.

TE30 BE Ash

What a beautiful guitar. I had thought about buying this on and off for months, based on the sound samples, reviews and price. I'm glad I did. OK it might not be perfect but then again it's not a £1500 made in US Tele is it. It sounds fine to my ears, is playable once action is lowered a bit and it cost under £100. The only thing I don't like so far is the raw maple neck/fret board. Not what I was expecting.

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.

Harley Benton TE-30

Amazing what 88 euro can get you nowadays ! If you are thinking about getting one of these guitars then you cant go wrong. Body is made from 2 pieces of ash. I think on my guitar the grain isnt as nice looking as some can be. But thats the thing when you buy mail order. You dont get the chance to compare. Has a medium weight which i like. Finish looks beautiful, white see thru ash wood grain.. I dont like guitars too light nor too heavy. Has a great feeling neck. D shape i would say. The fret work is very good. The fret end are very well finished for the money spent. As good as a guitar costing many times more. I will give the frets a final polishing though. Couple frets have little bit high spots but not worse than a 500euro guitar. Machine heads are fine actually. Bridge is a bit cheap but functionable. This part i will change. Vintage style bridge wont fit but the more modern one does. Will need to plug the mounting holes and redrill. Electrics are the usual cheap pots and switch but again they work as they ought to. Neck pickup sounds really nice. Bridge is a bit overpowering compared to the neck. But it dosent sound bad. And for sure this is a musical instument and not some shiny thing that looks nice .

Blown away!

After reading all the reviews and watching a million youtube videos (Cory Mura and Henning) I finally decided to order this guitar. I figured it would be an okish guitar. Man was I really blown away by this thing. No problems with shipping or anything like that, arrived within like 12 days of ordering. I cannot get over just how good of an instrument this really is. It feels right, sounds right, and plays right. If you have been on the fence about trying one of these, I am telling you just go ahead and order it, you will be glad you did.

Really At that Price

Solid ash body, for that price, unbelievable to be honest. Solid build. feel guilty that it cost so little.

Would have given it 5 stars but on arrival the jack socket did not work and was faulty. But instead of the hassle of returning it i refitted a spare i had from another guitar.

Apart from that, the bridge pick up is a bit micro-phonic but that is coming out anyway.

great guitar

I wanted a Tele-style guitar, so I decided to give it a go on another Harley Benton.man was I impressed.solid guitar, it has some weight to it .the wood is ash. the maple neck is great. love the guitar, what can I say 89 euros .worth at least 5 times that.

Tele 30 BE is my best guitar ever

I love this guitar! I have it by my bed every night from the first day I got it because the tone unplugged is great. It's a real work-horse guitar and it feels great. Plus the price was excellent, so I don't feel like I have to baby this guitar, but I still kind of do. Plugged in, the sound is high quality. I mean, I've tried other much more expensive guitars, and this one hold up almost to those equally in caliber. It's a great platform for modifications, but the pickups are great, keep those. Mods that I did, since it's so affordable, were drilled holes through the body for the strings (which it doesn't need--the sound is great); I installed an ashtray saddle (just to look more tele-like) [previous holes are covered perfectly by the way], (oh, the old saddle is thicker and better) and I sanded the paint off and refinished it in natural wood ash, but I want to buy another antique white; it just looked too pinkish for me, but the paint was excellent and the ash sounds good. Oh, I sanded the neck down a bit (I like super thin necks-but it's perfect previously), and did a little set up on it (truss rod) frets polished, basic. Wow, this guitar is worth buying. I love it more since I worked on modding it a bit. Good beginner or even advanced guitar. Sounds good, plugged in or not, feels good, sturdy as a rock, looks cool. I'm buying another if I can, just to have one in my collection. I bought a TE-90FLT vintage/white, I adore that but always play my TE-30 everyday! It's that good. --Marco USA

Belter!

This is the second harley benton guitar....delivery and packaging excellent.

As for the guitar...I tried about 10 differenet usa and mexican strats and teles from £507 to £1100 in glasgow...to me this guitar more than stacks up against then.

Sure I do my usual setup thing like i do with all my guitars but i would with a £1100 guitar.

One solid piece of Ash...sounds great.

Love it!

looking for my next harley benton product.

Stu

Second Quality Harley Benton Guitar

These guitars are outstanding quality for the price range. My guitars range from Harley Benton's to American Fenders. Previously I bought a Harley Benton TE-52 and loved, which prompted me to buy this guitar.

I bought this guitar to put a Bigsby on it so the fact it wasn't strung through was ideal for me. Out of the Box this guitar was in good shape, I took a little bit of setting up but not a major amount. The neck is perfect, nice low action and no sharp or high frets. The strings it ships with are 9's, which I didn't like but others might. All the Finish and hardware was very good. The hardware is cheaper than you'd find on others guitar which is reflected in the price.

This guitar makes a great platform for modding and I would highly recommend it. It is worth every penny

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)