Harley Benton TE-53KR BL Tribute Series Reviews

Best of the bunch

As the owner of three HB acoustic guitars and eight electric, I have never felt the need to leave a review before. I love the price point and the quality it brings for it. Yes some of my cheaper purchases I love to tinker with. New pick ups and pots etc all enhance the playing . Years ago I had a Japanese Fender Keef telecaster. I moved it on and like so many of us. I questioned my sanity in the coming years on why I didn’t keep it. I had the HB KR tele in my wish list for the last year however bought the ST 25th Firemist before it went out of production. I committed to the KR tele and I am not disappointed. It is fabulous. The Tesla pick ups are so good. The Opus 4 humbucker is a class sounding beast. Harley say it’s Alnico 5 magnets. Tesla website state it’s Alnico 2. Bridge pick up is hand wound and competes well with the neck pick up. No weakness is apparent. What a fabulous caramelised Maple neck. A real joy to play. A word of caution. This is the heaviest guitar I have played. A real solid ash body. Enhances the resonance no doubt but it really is weighty. I highly recommend this guitar. £205 spent and I know it has been said on many reviews. This guitar is as good as a guitar four to five times the price. Well done Harley Benton. Look forward to your next Tribute guitar.

Pro level guitar at an affordable price

A very solid, well made guitar. Nothing feels cheap or inexpensive.

I feel like Keith Richards playing this one!

I bought this guitar, my seventh Harley Benton purchase in 2024. After experiencing the wonderful tone of a P90 in the neck position, I instantly wanted a guitar with a humbucker in the neck position. I wanted to obtain the Keith Richards sound!

Keith would be proud!

Nice guitar for the money. Good tuning stability, neck and fretwork. The color is a little off but overall the guitar is comfortable to play and sounds great. Highly recommended!

Very Happy With Guitar

I took time to research Harley Benton guitars before ordering one, as I was a bit skeptical as the story goes. My first reaction when I opened the box and sat it next to my Fender Strat and Gibson Les Paul was that it looked nice, but also like a cheap guitar, however this thing sounds way better than either guitar. I was blown away at how the sound quality coming out of the pickups (played through a 2x12 Marshall combo amp. Guitar was a bit heavier weight wise than expected, but still not as heavier as the Les Paul. All in all I love it and just ordered a second Harley Benton guitar!

great for someone

if you play the guitar while sitting down - almost perfect, for the stage is not so perfect

Great Guitar

No issues at all right out of the box. Had a string change done and dropped the low E and tuned to open G for some endless fun. If looking for a an inexpensive Telecaster this one is great.

Fantastic guitar

This is a fantastic guitar for the money. The build quality is equal to that of higher brand guitars.

Pick ups are excellent playability and feel of the guitar is what you’d expect of a higher brand. I highly recommend this guitar.

Great features but too heavy

The neck on this guitar is amazing! Great frets - no sharp edges sticking out.

Unfortunately the one I got was almost 5.8kg! It was uncomfortable even playing sitting down.

Tesla pickups sounded great but were very microphonic, picking up any touch to the guitar.

The pickup selector switch wasn't switching to the neck pickup consistently and after two days stopped completely.

I think the description is not correct regarding the included strings - mine came with 09s instead of 10s.

Nice case for the coin

Not much to say, very good for the price. A generic case that is usually a compromised fit somewhere is at least twice the price.

HB TE53 KR tribute

perfect build-up, lovely quality, only a bit adjustment needed for action, and I put in locking tuners and enjoyed the guitar: very happy with it

Love my TE-53KR

I’m very pleased with this guitar!

Great tone, great playability, good quality right out of the box. Made a few tweaks, great guitar.. I’m a big Keith Richards fan … loving this guitar. Played several gigs with it already.

Can’t believe the quality for the low price. Compares very favorably with my 2 Fender Telecasters.

Nice Keith Tribute

This is a blast to play.

Buy one now !!

This guitar is GREAT. I can not believe the quality and sound of the pickups for the price of this guitar. Neck and frets are top notch.

Great sound, great value

Very happy with this guitar. The most important things -- how it plays and how it sounds -- are incredible bang for the buck. Out of the box it played well! Clean fretwork, intimated well; both pickups have the tones I was looking for in a guitar like this. Don't feel any need to upgrade. Only complaints: it weighs a ton (9.8 lbs) and is a pretty ugly orange-is color. For the playability and tone for $211, I will deal with those. Highly recommended.

Harley Benton TE-53KR BL Tribute Series

Unboxing the guitar from it Package was well done, The Guitar was in flawless condition well made ,my only thing I found was the frets were a bit stratchy which is not a big deal, that would improve with playing the guitar.

The guitar was on the heavy side but that didn't bother me at all.

My conlusion about this guitar is that it is well made, it has great tones and fantastic pickups, and yes Iam very pleased with my purchase, its great value for money.

Awesome Tone!!

Whether you are goig for Keith or another sound, this guitar has it all.