Harley Benton TE-90FLT SB Deluxe Series Reviews

Very good guitar !!!

I was very surprised by the quality of this guitar. It is very well made for this price. This guitar is very good for those who play in the styles of rock, blues, jazz, funk. She sounds very convincing, she has her own unique sound. I really like to play it.The only thing that upset me was the work of the tuners. Two of them had a very big free move and setting was a big problem. I removed them all and smeared inside the WD-40. Now they all work smoothly and tuning is a pleasure. I made the setting for myself, changed the strings, as 1 and 2 were in rust. I did it all with pleasure. If you have hands-on skills, then this guitar is for you. I will gladly buy something from Harley Benton

Definitely different

Not going to lie, the reverse headstock is going to take some getting used to. Volume knob is stripped, and the nut was a little rough (some gentle filing solved that) and the ferrules are uneven to say the least. All that being said, this little youknowwhat kicks some serious butt. The neck is buttery smooth, if a little chunky, The pickups are the star of the show. They eat distortion for breakfast. Great value. (That headstock though).

Amazing

This guitar is awesome!

It's an absolute pleasure to play.

With a little bit of tweaking it turns out great, much better than anything else you can find for the price, and sometimes even double the price. That by itself should tell you a lot!

Here are the pros:

* The frets were levelled, dressed and crowned very well. They needed polishing, but that's to be expected and is easy work that you can do for 15 minutes in home when you change your strings.

* The neck joint is really tight, the neck itself is well centered

* The guitar resonates as every guitar should.

* The tuners are better than I expected, they are somewhat smooth (for the price). You certainly won't find a guitar with better tuning keys for the same amount of money.

* The FLT (we all know what that stands for lol) pickups are probably the best feature of the guitar, it just sounds amazing! As someone who hates single coils but needed clarity I couldn't be more satisfied. The guitar is suitable for everything from super clean stuff to stoner/sludge. Don't expect to play death metal on it though.

* The guitar looks gorgeous altogether.

There are a few cons, that are easiliy fixable though:

* The tone and volume pots are very.. "sudden". The changes in volume and tone are somewhat abrupt. But you can easily change the pots or if you are like me - not really use them except for muting the guitar.

* The tuning keys, albeit smoother than expected, still can be changed for better performance.

* The string trees MUST be changed for higher quality ones or at least roller ones. I replaced mine with Goldo Roller string trees and the difference is big.

* Two of the pickup screws were screwed aslant. They work, but it looks a bit ugly when you happen to notice it.

Still, I'd buy that guitar 10/10 times.

Unless you are completely ignorant or an absolute cork sniffer, you know every guitar has it's flaws, and some work will be done in order to make the best out of it. With this guitar - certainly not a lot.

Great guitar

This is a really fantastic guitar at its price point. I'm really blown away by how much I enjoy playing it.

Mine is as pictured (including the belly cut - something other have reported not having). The only differences are that it also has the sunburst finish on the back and the bridge saddles are a slightly different design.

The good: The body finish is flawless and beautiful. The neck and fret board have a nice satin finish that feels really good. It sounds great! Even the first time I strummed it without amplification I said "wow" to how it sounded. The pickups have lower output for humbuckers (which is what I wanted) and sound fantastic. They're on the darker end of the tonal spectrum, but still sound clear and warm with good midrange. A few of the frets have a barely detectable sharpness to their edges, but not nearly like you would expect for a sub 200-priced guitar - and they were easy to dull with a bit of sandpaper. Setup - the guitar came out of the box with a pretty good setup. Only had to make a very (very) minor truss rod adjustment to provide a bit more neck relief and had to adjust the intonation a bit.

There were a couple of minor quality issues, but nothing major: The pickup selection toggle was loose. One of the pickup height adjustment screws is in slightly crooked, so it sticks up a little further than it should above the pickup. One of the tuning machine heads was so badly misaligned that tuning that string was difficult because of its resulting proximity to the the adjacent tuner (this was easy to fix by loosening the screw on the back and rotating the machine head. There was enough play between the shaft of the screw and the side of the screw hole that I didn't need to fill and re-drill the hole).

Overall, I'm extremely happy with this purchase. Don't expect a $2000 custom shop kind of instrument at this pricepoint. But it is DEFINITELY a better guitar than a couple of Mexican Fender Teles I played a couple of days before this arrived.

Great value for money.

the guitar is fine and overall i'm very happy.

only flaw i noticed was the string ferrules weren't lined up well at all but they were functional and i'm not the kind of person to be looking at crooked ferrules all day especially as the guitar plays well and sounds great.

the guitar didn't have the tummy cut but i'll soon fix that.

apart from those minor niggles all good, hardware, pickups, neck and frets etc. all very acceptable, i only stopped playing it because the oxidisation on the strings was wearing off on my fingers and beginning to stain the maple.

i think i will buy me another Harley Benton before too long.

Superb value, great sound, lovely guitar

First of all, this is an amazing guitar. For the price, it's an absolute no brainer and can easily hold it's own with the bigger name brands.

However, mine doesn't look exactly like the photos on the website. The main difference is that there is no belly cut on the back of the body. As it turns out, the guitar is very comfortable to hold and lovely to play so it's not a deal breaker, just not what I was expecting. Also the sunburst colour goes around the back as well, which is a bonus as it's very nicely done.

It's heavier than my other guitars but I don't see that as an issue. The neck is very comfortable 'C' shape and slightly slimmer than other 'C' shapes I've played such as Squier Teles. The joint between the neck and body is a little messy, but for this price I can let that go as it's structurally sound.

The guitar arrived well set up. I lowered the action a touch, but that's just personal preference. The intonation was perfect and it holds tune just fine. The humbucker pickups aren't as hot as some, but it has a great tone and I love the simplicity of the single tone and volume knobs.

Overall a great guitar and I thoroughly recommend it.

Amazing for the price, great guitar in general

This is my second Harley Benton, and this one came to me even better out of the box. Stock hardware and electronics are way better than you would expect and mine had a flawless finish.

Pickups sound like true filtertrons, and it is still possible to get that real tele twang if you want. Great AC-DC, rockabilly and blues tones too.

Only minor niggle is the fretwork is not quite as good as a proper high end instrument but is still every bit as good as a £1000 guitar, and miles above its price point.

I will likely change the nut to a compensated model but other than that, I doubt I'll change a thing. I could quite comfortably gig with this as my main guitar.

Great guitar for the $$$

Unbelievable quality and workmanship for the price. Like the reverse headstock.

Disappointed

Disappointed as all previous items ordered were superb. This guitar however had rusted strings and the scratch plate looked like it had been used by Edward scissors hand. No protective film on item either which I presumed there would be as I did not order b stock.

Love It!

Pros

Sound Sound Sound... Neck pickup is inspiring. Gilmore...oh ya.. Finish is perfect.. Frets level and intonation good after my home setup. Hold tune fine. Put new strings on since the ones that came with a bit corroded. Slight truss adjustment. Dropped the action as it was way high and adjusted the pickups to taste.. Love the weight. Balanced. Lighter than my Mim Tele. Love the reverse headstock.

Cons

Tuners feel a bit close together ..Not a issue.. But some might be annoyed.

Volume pup was acting up. Intermittent crackling for lack of a better term.. Cycled it a bunch of times and took the back plate off and blew it out ..Fixed it up :)

P.S. I brought it in to my local shop and handed it to a very accomplished musician. He never heard of HB. After he played it he looked up at me and with Smirk.. Asked if it was under $500. When I told him he laughed and said it cost him almost that much to ship a guitar to another province.

Very happy with the purchase..

This is great!

Very cool guitar, for the price it's incredible.

It sounds like a Tele, but with a fatter tone.

It's just a rock Tele, so if you are looking for that feeling, go for it.

Neck is quite fat too, I like it in this way but I know that it's not for averyone.

Pay attention to pickup screws, one of mine got spanned while tuning the height of the pickup. Not a big problem, but just pay attention.

Tone is great, not for a cheap guitar, is truly great.

Body is one piece of wood, it resonates extremely well.

Bridge, tuning pegs, pickups, switch.. everything works fine.

Painting is flowless, and the wood under the colour looks better than in photo.

The feeling is that of a guitar which costs 1.000? more at least. I'd buy it again without any doubt.

a great guitar

nice guitar great sustain

good action

good bright tel /p90 sound clean and warm

the sunburst finish is a little dull

but over all a very good guitar

Different take on the Tele

Bought this on a whim really, liked the look and was interested to hear what the Roswell 'toaster' pickups sounded like.

Bought the sunburst model and I was pleased with the build quality and looks; flawless out of the box. A solid, quite heavy guitar that feels good to hold. Good neck, everything feels solid and reliable.

Interesting tones. NOT a Telecaster sound, smoother and more natural sustain than a tele; in fact I was surprised just how smooth the Roswells are, nice Santana, Gilmour tones possible, clear and warm on a clean amp but can put out some grunt as well with some gain. The toasters give a nice even output across the strings and though not really powerful do a good job with good clarity and nice bluesy sustain when needed. Finding it great for blues playing.

Overall, a nice well-made guitar