Harley Benton TE-20HH SBK Standard Series Reviews

Dark Tele

Beautiful dull black appearance, strong sounding, affordable metal style.

I'm statisfied with it.

UNDER $100 IS TOO CHEAP!

I bought this guitar thinking it will probably be a great wall peice after playing it i cant stay away from it suck a great guitar love everything about it!

lots of promise and worst case a good project

I expected to need to dress the frets, which is all that's needed from the quick noodle around I had and I think its going to be good to go. Intonation and set up were fine out of the box. Tuners are smoothly, bridge pick up a little on the weak side but sounds great in the middle or neck position. I normally play a les paul so you can feel a difference as you'd expect. Bargain for the price, I nearly bought a Charvel monthly ago at 8 times the price. Bargain for what you pay and you can always replace parts and mod it out.

Coolest Tele ever

I bought it to put a Bigsby on and boom.... The most popular guitar ever.

the quality of the guitar corresponds to the price

Satisfied with the instrument, great guitar for rehearsal, small stages, and for learning

Very happy with the guitar given price point

brought as a gift for someone wanting to learn guitar, prefer it to my own (much more expensive) guitar in many ways.

finish is gorgeous in person, plays very well with good neck dimensions.

at this price i was expecting to perform a full setup, in reality i just had to drop the string saddles a touch as the action was a little high however the truss rod and intonation was good out if the box.

sounds is very good, nice and warm.

only slight issue is the fret material seems to be rather cheap, a bit rough maybe, is audiable when bending if you have an ear out for it. however in sure this will not be an issue after a good break in period.

all in all a very good product.

fantastic guitar

really cant rave about this guitar enough.

having previously bought the HB-te20 mn i couldnt wait to get my grubby hands on this.

first of all..the build quality is amazing.

the paint job is outstanding.

the playability is a joy

& the price is unbelivable.

after a set up & string change to my prefered gauge i was rocking pretty much straight out of the box.

the pickups are not the worlds greatest but suit me fine for punk/rock & metal jamming.

nice sound & clarity.

the guitar is a nice weight for a Tele & sits nice on a strap.

the satin paint wont be for everyone & those with ocd but the neck is smooth & very playable.

the only mod i have done is put locking tuners on..(hey i prefer them) but the tuners that the guitar came with are perfectly fine as they are.

thankyou HB for another job well done.

Low on Cash Screamer!

Either you like it, or hate it but it's an $85 guitar that I found to be spectacular. I own dozens of guitars and several Harley Bentons and must say this is one of the surprises. The neck is fast, the pickups are a little low in output however if you have a gain knob on your amp, all is well. I had plans to mod the guitar however it doesn't need it. The tuners, electronics, and fret job were great. My only gripe is, why didn't I get 2 of them? I gig with it regularly and have no complaints. Even if I did...it costs 85 bucks!

Better than expected

At the price point I was expecting some areas to be somewhat disappointing as I once had a very low cost guitar that had quite a few issues. But the TE20 HH SBK that I received had only a couple of issues.

The action was a little high on the low E string and the intonation was off on the same string. I adjusted the action and replaced the strings after which I adjusted the intonation. Fortunately the only string that needed attention was the low E string as the other strings were spot on. But those were the only issues that needed to be attended.

The fit and finish of the guitar is actually very good. The neck and frets are very nice with no fret sprout or roughness on the frets. The neck joint is very tight and strong. The finish of the SBK is also very nice and I kind of look forward to seeing how it ages with playing it over the coming years. It will be cool to create my own patina to the guitar.

Limpios increíbles

Valla que emite un sonido limpio increíble!

Y con distorsión wow!

La verdad súper recomendable, no duden comprarla!

Surprisingly Good

Honestly very impressed. No sharp fret ends, no dings in the finish, everything looked great! The setup was pretty bad out of the box. Action was miles too high, intonation was all out of wack, truss rod was out of alignment. If you’re a beginner, you’re gonna get to learn the ins and outs of this thing right away. It’s not a bad thing though, I wish I had learned all this stuff when I started. I do wish the pickguard was closer to standard so I could replace it more easily. All in all though, it’s such a massive steal at this price.

Does the job, and does it well!

You get what you see, possibly more, with this guitar, from the price what are you really expecting?

Expectations were set at a paltry 3-4/10 and this guitar has totally exceeded them, solid, well finished and considering buying each competent individually would more than triple the price you can’t go wrong.

Took about an hour of set up - truss rod, action etc but from there has served me well, it’s been 6 months since the initial purchase and it feels like it’s really settled in. Stays in tune surprisingly well.

Harley Benton has truly gained my confidence for budget but reliable guitars, currently awaiting shipping for another purchase based on the merit of this one.

Superb Guitar and not just for the money.

Bought this TE 20 HH back in July 22 for use in Spain when I travel there.

This Guitar (or certainly the one I received) is immaculate, finish, sound, neck, frets.

Set up was good out of the box, but I like my action really low so adjusted and this went really low with no buzzing anywhere.

It is that good that I would buy one for home but I have too many guitars.

For the music I play (predominately Rock) I would quite happily play this guitar at any venue.

Hats off to Harley Benton here guys.

Don’t miss out buy it!

metal machine

i am a beginner to intermediate player. this guitar has it all for me. i love it.

Amazing

Delivered perfectly. Gorgeous Matt black, no feet buzz, great weight. Good solid hardware. Plugged straight in to my Marshall AVT150, and those humbuckers are nailed in!!! SHRED!!!

Great guitar

I’m just a beginner, this guitar is perfect for me. I really enjoy playing it. . I can’t wait to buy another Harley Benton!

Unbelievable for the price

Got this a few days ago and have been blown away with the guitar you get for the money. Plays great, just needed a few minor action adjustments but thats normal on a guitar from any budget. Humbuckers sound powerful and push my vox amp just fine. Finally the finish is perfect, love the satin black look, as a personal touch im adding a matt black pick guard to make a metal machine for a ridiculous price!

Does this guitar make Fender obsolete?

Drawn to this guitar like everyone else. Price and potential, for what you are paying for you are getting a good not great platform to swap out pickups replace tuning keys and have an entry level to intermediate guitar.

The good.

Looks great, the finish on the guitar is very nice and I was surprised that it really isn't a finger print magnet. Good weight, the tone knobs and position switch have a Very good feel. Shipped fast, and in good shape with tracking everything was handled in a professional manner.

The bad.

The pickups are not good, they make sound and you can make a nice sound with them but should be replaced whenever possible.

The tuning keys are not good, miles ahead of where we were on budget off brand guitars of the 90's these are squishy feeling and unstable and should be replaced whenever possible. The neck, this could be a case specific thing so fair warning. Fret ends were pretty sharp but a file cleans that up. What is interesting is that the fretboard ends are round, where there may be a binding on other guitars I notices its rolled over pretty hard almost like the ends are scalloped, It does not affect the playability but as far as fit and finish goes it looks cheap and feels cheap in the hand.

The gripe.

The instrument that I received was NOT a thru body as shown in the images. Very disappointing, deal breaker? I don't think so just buyer beware you may not get a string thru body. Over time I can see this causing scratches in the finish of the body.

Final thoughts,

You are buying a cheap guitar. As cheap guitars go this isn't a bad one. I would compare it to a bad Fender bullet. With the cosmetic flaws of the guitar I received the best I can hope for is a guitar that I can upgrade to sound better, not the sleeper guitar I was hoping to build that looked amazing and sounds great. If I drop in $300 dollars in upgrades to the tuning keys and pickups I will have a entry to mid level guitar that has some cosmetic issues, add in the shipping and cost I would say if your plan is to get a steal of a guitar that is ready to rip right out of the box, skip this one. Find something that you can hold and see first hand, $500 state side will get you a better guitar. If you plan on changing out pickups and upgrade as you go....I'd still say skip this one. I may have received a poorly QC'd instrument and your experience may differ but I can not recommend this one and sleep at night. I took a gamble on this one and lost, I will take the time and effort to make it sound better but I wont be dropping much on upgrades here. You guys got me with they hype, well played. If you are buying this as a beginner guitar and don't want to go too deep in the pocket, then sure this would work but so would the Bullet from fender or even a dinky the market is saturated with close enough $150 dollar guitars.

Pleasantly surprised

I can't believe how good this guitar is for the price. It sounds amazing and feels great! I didn't know if I was going to like the way the neck feels, but it surprised me and is one of my favorites now. The only issue that it had on arrival was a stray copper wire hanging out of the bridge pickup. I placed a dab of clear nail polish on it to prevent it from coming loose and it's been holding up since.

Great guitar on budget

As second purchase harley benton guitars it again was plug an play out of the box just needed to tune perfect feel no defects great sound didnt need to set up at happy with it.