Harley Benton TE-62CC SP

Amazing value

I bought this as a back up for my American tele. Bang for buck is unbelievable. Only had one small issue, the neck needed a light sanding near the neck pocket. Easy DIY fix. Pickups sound fking great. Great tele twang on middle position. Shell pink finish looks beautiful. Holds tuning well. Looking for a tele but don’t want to spend a fortune? The buy this bad boy.

very nice feel and nice to play pickups are a bit sensitive to noises

Very good guitar for it price, especially if you a beginner. (It may be even better than expensive guitar twice it price or more.)

The one minus is that I got pickguard all in scratches, but it is cheap to replace, so no problem at all.

Great Guitar

Purchased this just because I wanted a vintage style pink tele. It looks and feels amazing with nice Roswell pickups. I really liked the vintage tuners and the caramelized maple neck, a steal for the price. The contrast of the shell pink with the mint green pickguard is also beautiful. Absolutely no problems whatsoever aside from some minor fret buzz here and there that can be fixed by a luthier.

good cheap tele

I wanted a cheap single-coil guitar and ordered this as I read that some of the ash-bodied HB teles can be quite heavy.

This one is OK weight-wise, although it's a little more Barbie pink than shell pink to my eyes. Really nice guitar otherwise, sounds like I expected, and the neck is comfortable - the finish on the back is nice and non-sticky. I think it's a 12 inch radius, it feels less weird than some strats&teles with a smaller radius.

Better than my last F Tele

Great feel and build quality of this Tele. Neck is perfect for my hands. Pickups are good but high standard aftermarket could be an improvement.

Unbelievable

I've had this for nearly a year now and I love it. The quality the setup the sound everything is stock..I didn't even change the strings for 6 months. Plays better then my USA telecaster and is my go to at home and on stage.

A real Tele but be prepared for the finish to distress

When I opened up this guitar I thought it looked fantastic and had a lovely light weight to it (I liked light guitars). I care about tonewood and usually go for alder/ash/mahogany but the poplar body has some good properties: it's as articulate as basswood, as rounded as alder but has done if the brightness of ash. Anyway, the Roswell pickups are great for cheap units. The neck pickup in particular has some sweet top-end to it that stops it from being dull. I use it in a covers band and feel no need to upgrade anything.

The bad-ish side is that the pink finish is thin and not very resilient. Surface scratches develop quite easily and neck pocket cracks appeared within a month. I suppose this means that the guitar can resonate and is no issue unless you have mild OCD like me! There neck is a great mid C profile.

Overall, This is a real Tele and strictly reminds me of the Brad Paisley Mexican Fender for much less money and a less garish paint job.

My new favorite guitar

I'm a pretty inexperienced guitar player, so first impressions really mean a lot to me. I was a bit nervous buying my first Harley Benton because I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of quality or value, but I am absolutely blown away with this guitar. The neck feels great, there were no issues with the paint or any of the parts, it all around feels like a very solid guitar on the same level as some of the more well-known brands I've played. I will probably end up replacing the pickups and pickguard, but for about $200 USD I am more than happy with my purchase. I will definitely be getting another Harley Benton guitar in the future.

A Budget T-Style Guitar That Exceeded My Expectations

I'm an advanced guitarist but I don't believe in spending thousands on big-name brands as the marginal benefit is so low the higher up you go (I am also an economist). That being said I was looking at an affordable T-style guitar that gave me the most value that I could upgrade down the line and learn advanced luthier skills such as fret levelling, etc (And to play math rock) and this guitar intrigued me. I had really low expectations because of the price tag but was very impressed with what I received in comparison to similarly priced instruments from Squier.

Positives

- The fit and finish are amazing, I love the mint pickguard and pink finish! But the pickguard is a lot more mint than in the images. 0 defects that I can see. My only complaint is one of the screws for the control plate was a bit too close to the cavity but no functional issues there. If I was being really picky, the pickguard edges and the bottom of the vol/tone knobs are slightly rough.

- The neck looks and feels amazing, and the fretboard edges also feel slightly rolled which was a surprise.

- No sharp fret ends and scratchy frets! I was surprised that they were polished pretty decently, it's not perfect but it's way better than Squier's for sure.

- Great tone, obviously not identical to Fender tele pickups but I'd say they are 90% there, I don't think they are ceramic either so I probably won't be replacing these soon!

- Very lightweight, the body is poplar and seems to be a few millimetres thinner than an actual tele body which I'm all for if it decreases the weight!

- The nut is perfectly cut

- Tuners honestly are decent, I really liked them

- Switch is decent as well, a little flimsy but not too bad.

- No crackling with turning pots, no microphonic pickups, awesome!

Negatives

- It came terribly setup out of the box, the action was a mile high but the neck relief was ok, just gave it a quarter turn and lowered the saddles so it was playable

- The strings on it were old and sounded terrible, I immediately replaced them.

- There are a few high frets so there is some buzz with my preferred action setting, but no dead spots no choking on bends.

- Intonation isn't great on the low e but that's a tele problem

- It has mini pots, GuitarGeek did a review for it and the model he got had full-size pots, not a deal breaker but I do feel a bit misled.

- Tuning stability was poor initially, but I used a pencil to add graphite to the nut slots and it's alright now.

- I can't lower the high e-string saddle height anymore as I reached the limit, it's fine but I would like it slightly lower, maybe I'll shim the guitar.

- Saddle adjustment screws protrude after setup, I don't mind it as it doesn't hurt but yet another tele design problem.

- It was 21 frets, I prefer 22 but it is what it is.

Overall a great guitar and for the price you can't go wrong but it NEEDS a setup, IMO all guitarists should know how to do a basic setup and if you're scared of doing it with your expensive axe, practice on a cheaper one! I'm pretty happy with it now but I'm planning to change the saddles to compensated brass saddles, get a tusq nut and level the frets. Maybe down the line, I'll replace the electronics. Giving 4 stars as I might've gotten lucky and your mileage may vary with cheap guitars so keep your expectations low!