Harley Benton TE-30 BE Standard Series Reviews

Very underrated guitar

I bought one and changed the tuners to the Kluson MC6LN and the saddles to ABM VCS. Also removed the metal cover of the neck pickup as I'm not a fan for the muffled sound of it. What can I say? Well, I was expecting it to be a practice guitar, just to play a bit at home and some rehearsals, but boy, I was so wrong. Now it's kind of my main live guitar and I'm loving it. With proper care and the right replacements (tuners and saddles, mainly) it really shines as a great workhorse.

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.

Harley Benton TE-30

Never had a Tele guitar before and have started doing a few Stones and Quo numbers so thought I would try a Tele out. Straight out the box very impressed with build quality and finish which is absolutely immaculate. Changed strings, 9's a bit too light for me, set action and intonation up to my liking. Slight crackle on volume pot when altering levels but nothing untoward. Nice firm lead plug in. Overall the value for money on this guitar is outstanding and after hammering it for over a week now found the playability and balance great. If you want a great value for money guitar then get one of these you can't go wrong. Very happy Bunny here !!!!!!!

The best telecaster you can get for the price

I have owned several budget guitars, including other t-style or s-style guitars, but this is amazing. Great woods, decent hardware, it stays in tune really well, the input jack doesn't fall off, the strap buttons stay in place. These are very common problems among guitars that you find in this price range. The pickups aren't the best, neither the electronics, but I really love the way it sounds, even with all the cheap hardware (because it's made out of solid wood, not some cheap cardboard) . I have played at a small gig with this guitar and the people were very happy with the way it sounded. If you have a decent amp, you can't go wrong with this.

I was not expecting what I got!

Wow! I am blown away with what was in the box. I was not expecting something this good for $78.00 US dollars! The weight threw me off right away, I did not expect such a heavy guitar for such a cheap price. Real Ash body, 3 piece but proper 3 piece, one center piece and a piece on each side. No fake veneer top and back to fake a one piece. The Wood grain figuring is beautiful. The fit and finish is excellent! It came correctly intonated and the frets correctly dressed.

Now I should say the reason why I would purchase such a cheap guitar being that I own like 30 already. I am always on the look out for a decent quality guitar for a cheap price that I can customize and make amazing and better than, in this case any Squire. I always wanted to try Harley Benton, and it did not disappoint. For the money you can't go wrong but as a stand alone out of the box..Meh... it will do for the person who just like to play around. But this guitar makes a Affinity Squier Tele for $150 dollars seem like a $30 dollar guitar.

The neck and body are great. Pickguard and some of the hardware will do just fine. Things to upgrade; Pickups, pots and switches. Tuners nut and saddles and the string trees. Do that and its perfect. I already purchased some vintage style tuners, compensated brass saddles and roller string trees. Next with be a brass nut with a full pickup and controls swap.

Very nice guitar

The shipping was fast, 2/3 days and the guitar was well packaged. Cosmetically the colour isn't quite as pink as the photo depicted. The finnish is a transluscent high gloss that you can see the wood grain through, overall a very unique looking guitar that i personally have never seen before. I am not sure about the pearl scratchplate and will change it I think. My one and only minor gripe with the guitar is the weight, weighing in somewhere between 8 and 9lbs but im getting used to it.

Sound wise the guitar does a very good telecaster impression, the two pick up selector and tone pot let you dial in a multitude of different timbres.

The guitar plays very well. I lowered the action slightly with the included key and put on a set of Ernie Ball skinny top heavy bottoms and it became a delight to play. I've had it for one week and I literally have not put it down. I was apprehensive about buying a guitar for the price, but I am happy I did. Good stuff

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.

Harley Benton brilliance

I can't believe a guitar of this quality is so cheap to buy, at this price point,

This is a very aesthetically nice looking guitar which has great components that do the job very well , a squier affinity strat is twice the price and not as good in my opinion, the Harley Benton has warm mids and can produce that famous telecaster twang if requested to do so.

This guitar has a lovely pearlescent pick guard and a lovely satin neck, a good weight and good components added all together make for a great guitar for beginner or expert

Highly recommend .

Took delivery yesterday.....

I ordered the B-stock of the Benton TE-30 BE knowing that there may be some scratches and dings on the guitar.....post office delivered yesterday and upon looking over the guitar I found no major problems.

For the price savings the B-stock can not be beat, especially if you plan on using it as the 'base' for making a modified and customized piece!

A solid instrument

I confess - I bought one of these to use as an 'Esquire' platform, but was impressed by the range of tones, the build quality, and the set-up straight out of the box.

Sure, there is an element of 'getting what you pay for' when comparing to a more expensive instrument - but for your money, you get an *awful lot* of instrument - a comfortable, stable neck and a solid body for less than 100 Euro?

It's hard to go wrong with a Harley Benton.

An excellent guitar, with excellent value for money

When looking at this guitar i was at first skeptical of the features and quality that other reviewers advertised.

However the guitar delivers on every single feature it promises.

It has a beautiful blonde/honey ash finish with finely finished components, with no signs of poor craftsmanship or sloppy assembly.

The pickups are of a surprising quality with quite high output and are suitable for both clean and distorted tones.

The guitar stays in tune relatively well and overall the preset action isn't too bad but can easily be altered to suit a players needs.

The strings that come with the guitar are really the only "bad" talking point. It is obvious that they aren't of a premium quality and they do have a tinny sound, but they can easily be changed and the value of the guitar in itself with all of its outstanding features far outway this small issue.

Overall, an outstanding guitar with great value for money as a first guitar or a worthy addition to the collection of a more adept player.

Cracking tele copy

What a nice piece of kit, solid, nice finish.

No sharp frets, great tuners.

I would highly recommend this to anyone from beginners to more experienced players out there.

At this price its a steal!!

Buy one now.

Not really happy

The copy I got was way too heavy and the tone knob did not really work. It looked great but I gave it away although I'm sure other copies are fine, I have the TE-20 which is almost the same model and it's a very decent guitar.

Excellent Tele style guitar

I've been looking for a Tele style guitar for a while, deciding how much I wanted to spend on it..... If I'd known that one as cheap as this would be so good then I would have stopped looking and just bought it a long time ago!

This guitar is a surprisingly authentic replica of a classic given the price. It plays lovely, the neck feels great in the hand and the whole thing balances out great, even though the body is pretty heavy. Set up out of the box feels absolutely fine to me, no frets buzz, it plays nicely across the whole range of notes.

For sound, this model is very, very bright. It's got a very trebly "twang" to it. That twang can be toned down by switching to the bridge pickup and turning the tone control down obviously, but it still has a certain bite to the sound. No bad thing! At this price, this is a guitar that I've bought for a particular character, at has not disappointed at all.

I've paid a lot more in the past for guitars that play a lot worse than this one does. I wanted to add the Tele style brightness and twang as an option in my collection and I'm amazed that I managed to do it at this price!

The only thing I will almost certainly change at some point is the scratch plate... It's not really my taste, but that is purely my taste, entirely aesthetic, and doesn't affect the quality of the product at all! The cost of a new one added to the cost of this guitar still makes it an absolute bargain!

I have had my eye on a few other Harley Benton guitars and now I know that they really are this good, I will certainly be ordering some more pretty soon! What a great way to build a collection of entirely playable guitars of different flavours.

Unbeatable value for the money!

I have a few low/mid range instruments in my house but the quality of this TE-30 was a big big surprise. It looks, feels, sounds and plays just as good as my Squier or Ibanez guitars but for less money.

Look/finish

The first time I saw this guitar in real life I was amazed by the look of it. Every pieces and parts of this beauty look and feel nice and high quality. The finish itself has a weird plastic look, though. Still, it looks better than on the pictures. The pickguard also looks good but I would prefer a black one on this light coloured guitar.

The tuners are surprisingly high quality.

Playability/Setup

The guitar was set up really nicely out of the box. The truss rod was set up perfectly, the intonation was OK, the action was pretty good, however, I could lower the strings without getting any rattle. The guitar plays really well, it is one of my most comfortable guitars.

Sound

The sound is close to what you would expect from a tele style guitar. It certainly has that 'twang' vibe. The neck pickup by itself sounds a bit hollow for my ears. The bridge pickup tends to be too harsh but you can play nicely with the tone knob. The two puppies together sound beautifully. Overall, I'm happy with the pickups, they can give you a nice impression of a real tele. Also, being a single coil guitar, it is not noisy at all, I was surprised how high could I turn the gain on my amp without much annoying hum and buzz.

You can play very different styles of music with this beauty, it is very flexible.

To sum it up: I love my new TE-30, I can tell you it is my no. 1 guitar since I have it. I am amazed by its overall quality, and I would deifinitely recommend it!

How on earth is it this cheap?

I seriously can't believe the quality of this guitar at this price. There are a few niggles e.g. the wiring could be slightly better (occasionally it cuts out for a moment but then is fine) and the pickups aren't the absolute best but they're certainly good enough.

I've mainly just messed around with this at home but I have no doubt it could hold it's own at a gig, I would probably give the wiring a once over before doing that though.

I'm not a huge fan of the colour but I didn't buy it for the colour, I bought it for how it plays and sounds.

If this is your first electric guitar you're very lucky. My first electric guitar around 18 years ago cost about £40 more and was about 10 times worse than this in every way.

You won't find a better guitar for under £100 than this!

As with all my purchases, I invested time to read up on the pros and cons of this product. The guitar arrived safely and well packaged not to mention quickly too.

Now for the guitar itself, for the price you really can't be anything other than impressed. This played better than some £200+ guitars I've played in the shop right out of the box.

The guitar is pretty light which I find is rare in cheaper guitars, the neck is nice and very playable. What made this better was that the action was spot on right off the bat, can't ask for too much more than that really, especially when you consider the price point.

All in all I'm very happy I made this purchase, there's nothing I can complain about to be totally honest. I originally bought this as a project guitar but the finish is that good that I've convinced myself to leave it as it is, if that isn't testament to the work that's gone into this guitar I don't know what is!

I mean it even came with a lead, what more could you ask for. A very happy customer!

Awesome Guitar!

I purchased this guitar about 3 days ago and i love it!!!I've tested it with other guitars including the 7ender Standard Tele MIM,Squier Affinity Tele and higher priced Harley Benton Guitars but the TE-30 had the absolutely BEST sound!The Perfect choice for Clean Tones,Classic Rock and George Harrison stuff.You can also do nice Malcolm Young stuff and dirty Blues with this Guitar!It has such a nice twangy sound!Much character! :).I Use these Dunlop Billy Gibbons 008 Gauge strings.

Mine came with a FLAMED MAPLE Neck!DOPE!This is such an awesome guitar!

The neck is really nice shaped,it could be a bit thinner in my opinion,but the Playability is still really nice,especially for a 89 Euro guitar.

The string action was a little bit high when i first played it,but its not much work to change that :).The Tone and Volume controle works very smooth.

The Bridge ist ergonomic,perfect for Lead and Picking.

The only thing i don't like are the tuners.They don't keep the tuning very long,but they work realy smooth.I think i'll change them.

This guitar is great for modification!The 50s look is perfect for an Esquire Project :)

Maybe i'll build something like a Bigsby-Humbucker-Gretschy style tele out of it.

Buy this guitar if you want a Tele for under 500 Euros!

Total Suprise

I basically bought this to be a donor guitar (Ash Body for £64 = yes please). However, I've decided to keep it as it is, with the exception of up-graded pickups. Build quality is excellent. Plays nice. I find the standard pickups un-balanced but nothing a quick up-grade can't sort out.