Harley Benton R-456FR BK Progressive Series

I LOVE THIS GUITAR

My least expensive FLOYD ROSE guitar. And yet I keep grabbing it. The frets needed a polish and a ton of oil on the fretboard. Oiled up the FR and it is smooth as butter, best FR special I have.

Very good for the price after some tweaking

First, the pickups are excellent, they are a copy of the Duncan Distortion's with heavy bass and very high output that creates a little grit when regular pickups leave the tone too clean and bland. Metal is metal at high distortion levels. Second, the bridge is very good, returns to pitch very well with stock strings and stock setup. However the knives needed some sharpening, and D'Addario strings improve the tone. The most important components are lined up accurately, neck, pickups, and bridge, so no major rebuilding was needed. Only the string holder had to be moved 0.8mm to a side to center it. The fine E string was too close to the neck edge, and the palm of the hand would mute it, sometimes. So I filled the screw holes with plugs and drilled new holes 0.8mm to the side. The jack retainer plate was held by small screws that I replaced with stronger ones. Pulling and pushing the jack stresses that part, so I like stronger attachments. The neck joint is done very well, not a cigarette paper could be inserted there, no gap. The tuners seemed to have a little play but just tightening their screws solved that. The knobs have no play, no unevenness, no noise, they are true professional grade knobs. They are firm. Same for the selector, it's the only selector in all my affordable guitars that makes no noise at all. One solder joint broke after two days so I reflowed it, and checked the other solder points, they're all good. The bridge springs needed a bit of recentering, too, so, plugs, drilling, and voilà, screws and springs are square with the cutout in the wood, and with the bridge. The truss rod moved silently and smoothly, no problem adjusting that. Tightening the string holder screws doesn't change the pitch much, no problem there. The trem arm seems thin to me, so I added three layers of heat-shrink tubing to make it fatter and more grippy, a totally reversible and easy mod. The internal cutouts are made well, paint was not even but making it even was easy. The outside paint is applied very well, and doesn't scratch too easily, except I have seen harder (polyurethane) skins. But the Harley Benton has to be affordable, so the quality is adequate. The neck finish is very good, undistinguishable from the finest Ibanez or Jackson axes. Only the frets need the usual polishing, nothing to blame here, they don't buzz at all from the factory, and their edges are smooth. So five stars for the sound, five for the ergonomics, and four for the perfectible fit and finish. A bargain. Note that the guitar was totally usable, it's just that I do a systematic check on all my new axes, and improve what I can. For 200€ the overall factory quality was fine. Most importantly, the main components, pickups, neck and Floyd Rose, are very good, and assembled right.

Great guitar, worth all the money

Returned mine because I struggled to get the Floyd Rose set up properly (my fault, not the guitar's) and decided I would exchange it for something without a floating bridge - however, absolutely fantastic guitar, sounds and plays really well

Shipped to me with buzz on Low E and A string

Like the title says, it has buzz. I went to a music shop to get it restringed and they still brought it back to me with buzz. Makes playing it kinda disappointing

Perfect vfm. Don't buy without owning a decent amp/multi fx.

Headline says it all. Playability and frets are fine. Bridge needs sharpening on the knife edges. Pickups are pretty and i mean pretty bad. For the price it is absolutely worth it especially for a beginner guitarist looking to become familiar with floating bridges. I got it as my secondary superstrat for quick band rehearshals/trips/vacation. Generally i needed an instrument where damage would not be a main concern of mine. I would not recomend this as a main axe for an intermidiate/advanced player but one would already know that at this price point.

I love this guitar!

Ive had it for a few years now and i always want to play this one over all my others (i have 11) for the money this is the best value guitar I've ever found.

Floyd Rose Tuning Stability

I guess this guitar is some sort of Ibanez imitation or a Budget Super-Strat, and it's really good. The construction is good and there were no defects, it's set up well out of the box.

The main feature is the Floyd Rose Tremelo. This is the 1st I've ever had, and the "word" is that you, like, "never have to tune again!". Well, you do (at least I do), but you almost don't! It's really great: the tuning stability WHEN USING THE TREMELO is there. Incredible. I'm speechless.

The body finish scratches up but that doesn't really bother me.

I'm pretty much a "Harley Benton Bottom Feeder": I have a bunch of their guitars, but mostly under $200, some over.

This one is the "fastest" of all of them. Probably not as fast as an Ibanez (I understand that they have a specially designed neck that's extremely fast) but is fast and easy to play. It's wider than a traditional electric but easy to get used to (I play a Classical Guitar too, so this is ok.) However, I think I'd like it better if it wasn't as thick, something of a "baseball bat" for a neck. Fast though.

The pickups sound ok. They're Humbuckers but "microphonic", so they'll pick up pick and string noise at higher volumes and probably generate too much feedback (I'm a "Low-Watt Busker", so it's fine for me....for now.)

One Tone and One Volume Knob each, I like that just fine.

On how it sounds: add some Overdrive or Distortion Effect and it's a great Metal Guitar for sure, I like it for a lot Heavy or Hard Rock, especially anything that you "whammy".

Surprisingly, at least to my ear, turn off the distortion, play it straight - I like it for Jazz! (Weird.)

Anyway, except for the pick-up noise,

MY FINAL JUDGEMENT IS!!!.....

..Cool man. Dig it.

holds tune has floyed rose

great sounding axe had to do a complete setup now it sounds great pick ups are not bad neck is comfortable damping the floyeds springs help with spring noise

Rocker Guitar

Really like this guitar compared it with my Fender HM Strat and it's right there!

Definitely a rock guitar my HM and this guitar both have the Floyd Special and they stay in tune no matter what you do with them.

Neck pickup- 8.7 k

Bridge pickup- 14.6 yeah that's right this thing is HOT!!!

Only thing I had to do to this guitar was lower the bridge for my personal preference and re-tune and it was ready to go.

Frets are nicely finished,neck straight and excellent finish.

Good Bang for the Buck

Stock PuPs are weak, Swapped em out for Seymour