Harley Benton TE-70RW Deluxe Series Reviews

Good with Reservations.

Received the guitar in good condition and was satisfied with the sound of the pickups. The guitar definitely could have been set up and assembled better, with many annoying little things that are reflected in my rating.

The action was very high and needed adjustment, the pick guard was installed really sloppy and warped, fret ends were sharp and uncomfortable and strings were not centered on the neck too well. I have 2 other HB?s and have to say this sample is a disappointment. Any ?Rosewood? look was invisible beyond a couple feet and the look of the body color was more dark brown.

If this had been my 1st Harley Benton, I might have been tempted to make it my last, but I know that HB can do much better than this.

Incredible guitar ... at any price.

I am a beginner on the guitar and as such, when I received my HB TE-70RW I took it to a professional musician of my acquaintance for his opinion. He played it in his home studio. He was VERY favourably impressed by the guitar. When I told him the price he was incredulous!

I watched many video reviews and they were all positive prior to my purchase. I was concerned about buying such a "personal" item sight unseen but I needn't have been, as it arrived after 3 weeks and many 1000's of miles, with perfect setup. Thanks to LGQ in Q.C. and (I think) 7657 in their inspection crew. Hard to decipher but seriously appreciate their skill.

Pros:

Looks; It's just beautiful ... to ME.

Build quality; Even on minute inspection can find zero flaws.

Sound; Sounds like his $3500 "T" style guitar. To both of us.

It holds it's tune for days and the control knobs are silky smooth to turn.

Cons:

None so far.

I wish I could come up with SOMETHING but, so far, I can't.

Well, except I can't do it justice ... yet.

I'd recommend this guitar to anyone. Unreservedly.

HEAVY

Sooooo happy, it took me two days but now I'm hooked, never had a Tele before so wasn't sure on what I was waiting for and I don't think this is not the typical alder or ash body sound either.

Sound felt heavier that I would expect, specially on the neck, and the neck has a bulky attitude but on the comfy side. I have an Affinity HSS strat. HB neck sounds better and bridge far less twangy so two for two.

Playing on the sitting position is comfortable and not as heavy as per some youtube reviews, sounds great unplugged as well.

What I am getting used to is the volume difference between neck and bridge, as the bridge sounds much more louder in comparison so need to dial sound down a bit as the bridge sound a lot higher.

Colour, sound, hardware as per website description, most reviews would say that is good for the price, I just say it is good overall with its own personality, don't buy it to try to sound like Tele X buy it if you like the clip sound, for the standard Tele sound though be aware you may need to go for a non basswood model.

I would also buy Harley Benton TE-30 as it sounds a bit brighter but I would keep both to complement each other, the colour is cool and intonation easy to achieve, for my taste no setup required.

Middle position is my favourite so far as it takes the twang and power from the bridge and colour from the neck.

I would also have gone for the black paisley but could only get one, specks seem the same.

So far only negative is the volume difference between pickups

As beautiful as well made

I ordered one after seeing and reading good feedback about it.

I didn't know what to expect but I have to say, it's not disappointing. The guitar is a very little lighter than a standard telecaster, well balanced and well finished. Looking through it I didn't see any flaws. Body well finished, frets are good, neck is straight and the Wilkinson bridge plate is more than satisfying.

Tuners could be upgraded if you plan playing concerts but are enough anywhere else. The neck is a little thicker than a Fender and "C" shaped.

I managed to get a very low action and intonation is on point! It's a beautiful guitar and plays well. Could not expect better at this price point. Fully satisfying.

I would make few mods to get it to my tastes : Change pickups for something with just a tad more punch and bass. Maybe tuners but for now they are enough. Oil the fingerboard a little dry and maybe satin the back of the neck a little sticky to my taste. Maybe I wish they used the same Fender's pickguard screws placement , so I could easily change it.

I strongly recommend this guitar ... actually, to anyone willing on a Telecaster (with super low budget). This one will not go back !

Pretty solid guitar, even if it were twice the price

Im way away in Texas, about 2 weeks to ship to my house. Thankful for double boxing, outside box in bad shape, inner box was fine, A+ for shipping considering. Intonation and string height was uneven all around. The tone of the pickups is better than expected. Some buzzing all around the fretboard, even after setup, have to look further on that. Had some blemishes on the binding, the neck, and string holes on the back, and this was not b-stock.

My luthier asked if I had tightened all the screws, i hadnt, said all were super tight compared to many other brand new Fenders, another A+ there. String holes on the back wanted to come out with every string, so had to wood glue those. Intonation great now, but still has some fret buzz and high E wants to slip off the neck a lot.

Overall very happy, looks great, plays good and sounds great when plugged in, buzzing mostly just noticeable when unplugged. Would consider buying another HB in the future, maybe a LP or PRS copy. EDIT - got the buzzing fixed without fret leveling, plays great now, intonation and tone awesome.

What a guitar

I am a massive fan of George Harrison and his telecaster. I would dream about having the guitar, however I don't have the money for the custom shop on, so I went to Aliexpress but no luck. I was about to give up and just get a gretsch, then I saw this. I took a risk and bought it. Took about 6 days to get to me (I live in Britain). When it arrived, I ripped the box open to see one beautiful guitar, with some high quality hardware. Nearly 6 months on and I'm still very happy with it. My only issues with the guitar are the scratchplate and the thick lacquer on the neck. Both fixable though. All in all it's one terrific guitar.

Awesome

This is a GREAT guitar.

It is stunning, beautiful. In dark places, it could be mistaken by an all-black guitar, but once the lights shine on it? Wow. The finish is incredible and the matching headstock (the headstock with the same color as the body of the guitar) is a great detail that is found only on high priced guitars (and Harley Bentons).

This guitar sounds great. Very classic ?Nashville?. The bridge, the metal plate and the pickups, all work together to give the right bright twangy tone that you expect from this kind of guitar.

It is very versatile and can play a wide variety of styles from gorgeous cleans to classic rock. Keep in mind that those guitars have a bright bridge pickup and it can be very microphonic.

The neck in this guitar came perfect. Clean, with all frets leveled and shiny The feel is very good and there are no sharp edges. I hope the quality control remains this way for in the future.

Out of the box, the intonation was not perfect and the action was not as low as I like, but this was very easily corrected.

I performed some minor operations in all my guitars: Cavity shielding, new Nut (BlackTusq) and roller string trees. If you experience feedback in your bridge pickup, you can try to secure (silicone, glue?) the metal plate in the bottom of the pickup.

After those mods, this guitar became perfect. However, as I sayd before, this guitar is very good right out of the box.

Keep in mind that even guitar from top brands and with much higher price ranges needed those mods to make them shine.

Great for the price

This guitar is brilliant. This feels like a guitar worth twice the price.

Pros :

- feels lovely

- the body looks astonishing. The pictures really don't do it justice

- its quite light weight

- sounds very nice

- bridge pickup is bright neck pickup is very "telecaster" like

- the neck finish feels very nice

I honestly can't find any cons for this guitar and recommend it to anyone who maybe doesn't yet have a telecaster and wants to get the feel for them or maybe wants something new for a good price.

Fabulous

Really great guitar for the money, I dont know how they can sell them for this price, well worth it

Fine with a set up

The guitar looks great!

If you are intending to use it professionally it does need a better set up - just smoothing off the frets, adjusting pick up and string height and truss rod tension.

The pick ups aren't great at high gain but sound good for lower gain styles.

All in all, great for the price and can easily form the basis for a good looking and playing guitar with a bit of work.

Almost like stealing...

I've owned many guitars of different quality and value, but this rosewood Tele is right up there with the best of them. Okay, the pickups are not the best in the world, but for home play through a modelling amp they're plenty good enough. There's plenty of quack and the neck pup is lovely and smooth for creamy leads.

The finish of the guitar is excellent. From a purely cosmetic viewpoint it's almost flawless and the double binding sets it off wonderfully.

As many have said, the fingerboard was very dry on arrival, but a good soaking with some lemon oil brought it back to life and made it look great. The frets seemed a little sharp, but after playing for a few hours I've barely noticed them so perhaps that was just me.

The only thing that lets this guitar down is the tuners, but for the price I'm happy to replace them. They hold tune fine, but they're very inconsistent in stiffness and quite hard to tune effectively.

all in all, this guitar feels like you're stealing at the £135 delivered to the UK price I paid. If I'd paid three or four times as much I wouldn't have been complaining.

Upgrade Machine

I bought a TE-70 deluxe just to mess around with, little did I know I'd be gigging it weeks later with a new set of AVRI 58s installed.

I'll start from the beginning:

I saw these guitars all over the internet and always liked the look of them. A rosewood top guitar for £135 total? Surely not!

Well I decided to take the plunge and buy one.

Straight out of the box, the setup was immaculate with a medium-low action and perfect intonation. Tuners fell okay and usable, but I absolutely love the option for through body stringing or top loading. The neck feels wide like a Gibson neck, and the fretboard radius flat enough for smooth bending.

The pickups sounded decent, but were unfortunately micro-phonic which wasn't ideal for my gain habits. After investing in some new pickups, the guitar is now a polished gem, a guitar that people have to look twice at (in a good way).

The only issue that my guitar had after several performances was that my not-so-delicate friend managed to pull the top strat button off the guitar, resulting in it not being able to be put back in, but a larger screw solved that problem.

Would I recommend this guitar? YES.

Surprisingly good T-style guitar.

Having owned another Harley Benton (custom line cld-41) guitar I was already aware of the quality of the brand. I ordered this guitar because I was looking for a T-style guitar for some recording that I was doing. This is a great example of that style of guitar.

The TE-70 styles itself as a Rosewood telecaster, It is a rosewood veneer, though a solid body. It is certainly beautiful, even more so in person than in the photos. My initial thought when I removed it from the box was that it was a stunning looking guitar. It is a good weight guitar, feels very solid. I played it straight away, and I was extremely impressed by the playability and set up. This had (like my other Harley Benton) a very well set up action, at least for my playing style. The next is more of a modern slim shape than a thick type. Again this may or may not suit your style, it certainly does mine.

The only issue i found with this guitar (and it may well be only with guitar) is that my bridge pickup is microphonic and will pick up taps and knocks on the body. I acually haven't found this to be too much of a problem as I use this guitar for recording and haven't had to deal with feedback issues on stage. I was planning on changing the pick up out eventually anyhow to something more of my taste. Other than that I cant fault this guitar.

For the money this is an incredible guitar and very playable. The hardware is not top of the line but for this kind of price you really shouldn't expect it to be. I dont think there is better guitars out there for the same sort of money. These are way better than any of the squires or similar in the price bracket. You would probably have to go to the Squire vintage modified series to come close. Great value for money. I will definitely be buying a few more.

Amazing Guitar

Owned a Fender modern player strat, This sounds equaly as good. Action and set was perfect from out the box, Only criticism is that the fret-board is dry as a bone.

Im starting to replace my more expensive guitars with these as they as so well made and play amazingly.

Just hope the prices dont increase,

Great value for your money

This guitar is a great budget instrument.

I have her for one year now, and after changeing some parts it has become one of my favorite guitars.

The stock guitar is extremly good value for money.

But with new pickups it will really shine.

The finish is ok, but the it's rather cheap looking when you look at it closely.

Impossible to Fault

Absolutely awesome pro-level guitar.

I'm leaning more towards rock and blues at the moment, so I don't reach this down very often. When I do, though, the quality takes my breath away.

OK; I understand why some people may want to spend £750+ on a tele in pursuit of a certain feel, character or sense of heritage but they won't be buying a "better" guitar than this. Set-up, playability, the way the guitar just sits and accepts your work... these are all top-notch

The pick-up selector is prohibitively stiff but it just seems like robust engineering rather than a fault.

I cannot see ANYONE being disappointed with this guitar.

Fantastic Guitar for the money

I loved the look of these rosewood teles and really hoped it would have the quality of build and sound to match and I have to say I wasn't disappointed in the least. The neck is great, the quality of finish is really high and it's got that tele sound you would expect.

The real bonus for me is the look of the guitar, it really stands out and I've had lots of complements and interest from other people about the guitar too. I'm not a pro or even a full time guitarist, drums and bass are my thing really but I've been around musicians with great instruments for years and played them too so I like to think I have some idea of what I'm talking about.

Harley Benton rosewood Te-70

Iv bought two of these so far my dad liked mine so much I bought him one as well, the guitar sounds phenomenal for the Euros it costs, with great attention to detail, straight out of the box the guitar was set up great apart from a slight tweak of the truss rod,very aesthetically pleasing to the eye, rosewood veneer back and front lovely slim radius easy to play neck, matching headstock with veneer, without a doubt a very impressive addition to my ever growing collection,neck pickup: very responsive, I roll the tone off the treble,as it can be a bit bright, sharp,but easily fixed just roll the tone off a little bit, overall for the price point this guitar is outstanding guitar for the euros buy 1 and find out for yourself, highly recommended,

Incredible value for money!

This guitar looks absolutely beautiful! And when you start playing it you will be amazed by the sound too!

Tuners work like a charm. The tone knob has a long range and given lots of options, from smooth jazz sounds to compressed country twang. At this price, I am totally blown away! Highly recommended!!

Incredible Bang For The Buck

I bought the Harley Benton TE-70 Rosewood Deluxe as almost more of a curiosity. I had read good reviews and couldn't believe the praise being given to a "budget" instrument.

Now I get It. It's very versatile, sounds like you'd hope a Tele would, and it's a beauty to look at too!

I play mainly classic rock and tend to use guitars with humbuckers more, but this quickly became my go-to because of the versatility.

It arrived already set up perfectly...literally took it out of the box, tuned it, and it was good to go. I thought I might have to swap out pickups, but the Wilkinsons that come stock with this guitar sound VERY nice.

The only cons are easily fixable. When I first bought the guitar the tuning pegs were tight and stayed in tune well, but after a few months they loosened up a lot. I'll be switching them out. The other negative is personal taste; the linear pots are not my favorite. Most of the "play" is in the 1st 3rd of the turn. If you don't use your volume knob much it won't matter, but if you do the pots should be switched.

All in all this guitar, judging by quality, should sell for twice the price. The quality of this guitar convinced me to buy another HB Tele clone...that's how great it is.