Harley Benton TE-90FLT VW Deluxe Series 4-stars Reviews

Great for its price

Mine parcel came damaged but i kept it anyways because its still playable i'm in love with pickups they can handle glass bright clean tones and harsh drive tones as well not a totally humbucker nor a single i totally recommend

Not Quite as Expected

I chose this guitar on the sounds due to the pickups and reviews I have heard. I notice not mant written reviews mention the actual SOUNDS but lots of other issues. The Guitar was my Christmas present and it came poorly packaged and the box it was in too shallow for this model. the volume Tone and selector switch all punctured the lid. Not good but however no damage to the guitar but that was luck,. The guitar is not beautiful in my opinion. Too much whiteish paint and the wood beneth is not particularlygood grain with differences in the grain pattern and some black or dark graining. The neck is a very white bland maple and the matt finish makes it look very cheap. I prefer a Gloss finish. Fender introduced matt neck finishes as a cost reduction then found a "reason" But 70's guitarists were not slowed down by the finish and protecting the instrument is my top priority hence gloss finish is prefered. Maybe if you are Steve Vai you could claim a speed advantage but the feel of the neck is cheap compared to the TE52 and the TE90FLT VW boasts on the headstock Delux which it is not. The Pickguard is rough from the CNC machine, I got £90 guitars with a better pickgurd. The feel of the neck is not HOME for my hands and string tension is on the high side.. The machine heads are fine I never had poor machine heads on a Harley benton. The rest of the hardware is good quality but the guitar is not lookinganywhere near std let alone delux. The sounds are more or less what I expected and this is a diferent sounding guitar to the TE52. The pickups are of reasonable output and give some nice sounds for blues ad funk. However dont expect ritch bass notes to roll off those filtertron style pickups. Also full chords can be a bit cluttered compared to Gibson pickups which articulate every note. The sound is what I got this guitar for and it delivers the difference to compliment my other guitars. So I am Happy but not over the moon. The JA60 for example is far more Delux than this is and will blow you away with feel accuracy and sheer versitility. The TE52 is also a bigger bang for buck.

Low output pickups are cool

These pickups have a bit more grit than Broadtrons. I like the way they sound. The fretwork is perfect. The setup was good. There's a routed cavity under the scratch plate that serves no purpose. If it's purpose is weight relief, it is unnecessary and only serves to makes the guitar unbalanced on the shoulder. Same with the String Trees, take them off for better tuning stability.

Impressive

The quality and tone are quite impressive for me. Easy to play and it looks cool!. I would recommend it for the person who loves Fender style but with more cost-effective for the gear!

Harley Benton TE-90FLT VW Deluxe Series

If you can handle the reverse head stock yea go for it. It has a lovely slick neck feel. It certainly gives a few extra telecaster sounds. Great for finger picking. Hey there is a tone control unlike the Cabranita thank you for that Harley Benton. I changed the pick guard to tortoise shell and it looks supper. It is a guitar that i pick up ever day out of my collection and play so there is something good in there. I have been playing for 45 years and i am particular about the finish and build quality . The finish quality on this guitar is good a creamy see through to the grain look. Unusual but nice, All in good value,,,,

Good value

Despite receiving a damaged toggle switch, the sound quality for the amount you pay for this guitar seems to be suitable for this price range. I enjoy playing it.

Great deal

it's really great guitar, but needed some corrections to work perfectly!

Good alternative guitar for the money

If you want to get that rockabilly sound for less, this a great option. I've got single coil guitars and humbuckers guitars, so whilst looking for something different this caught my eye and the price tag was too good to pass.

You might need to do a bit of set-up work to get the guitar the way you want it, but in general it plays fine out the box and sounds really cool, like a tele, but less nosiy and a bit thicker.

This guitar makes a good tweakers guitar as well, with some options to change out the electronics and hardware at a later date to get a high-end feeling guitar for less than a third of the cost.

Bridge was slightly off center but overall the guitar has been good.amazing guitar for the money.

Brilliant guitar

Let me start of with my disbelief at this guitar. Last time I held a Harley Benton was one of the old ones. Unlike fender the first models are not what you should be looking for. I will mostly be using this guitar to travel with and play at home. Everything this guitar has shown me thus far makes me believe it will be a good guitar for the road too. I would bring a spare but that is true in any case.

The quality of the guitar is excellent. I have as of yet to find any real blemishes in the finish which really surprised me as it was something I was expecting for the price and the brand. All of the hardware seems sturdy but nothing special. It holds tuning well.

At arrival I had to do two things. One is understandable while the other much less so and would it not been for everything else seemingly being on spec it would have been a real worry.

1) some strings jumped out of the string trees but was almost in tune. I just put them back and re tuned. Would have just guessed it was a shipping thing if it wasn't for almost being in tune. Weird!

2) The bridge pickup was lose. As in one of the screws was fully lose and the pickup was attached to the low e-string. The screw was there so I just attached it. Doesn't seem to have caused any scratches or other damages but I felt pretty uneasy about it.

All things considered it's a great guitar that sounds like nothing else I have. I bought it for the filtertron style pickups and was not disapointed. Very surprised of the overall quality after the quick fixes. Will get it properly set-up at some time because the guitar is worth it.

Great for students

An absolutely stunning guitar at an unbelievable price. Straight out of the box, it had a great action and the intonations were mostly acceptable. However, the tone knob was loose and wouldn't spin so i had to pull it off and tighten the screw. The machine heads are just OK, I'd recommend getting an upgrade down the line though. So far no other imperfections.

Overall, you still get way more than you paid for. The guitar plays beautifully and feels amazing. This is a perfect choice if you're a college student like i am.

Really good guitar for the price

This guitar sounds really fine with both pickups, specially with the bridge one. As others have said it has its own thing going on, it's a great option for someone who wants to try something new from single coils and traditional humbuckers. However the quality gets a bit in the way to have real fun.

Cons:

The frets feel like sand, it really needs work and it's a bummer if you don't have the time or are just not willing to learn how to do it.

Fret ends not well done, but passable.

Tuners don't feel good but there are no problems with tuning.

Pickups are not properly fit in place, but no problem in sound.

Pros:

Guitar sounds good, I mean not just for the price. It's not amazing though, keep your expectations in check.

Overall quality is just amazing for the price, if you don't expect a top end professional instrument, this is actually unbelievable for the price. For the bedroom guitarist, fun guaranteed.

I wanted the pickups on this model but do not like reverse head stock so swapped necks.

Also electronic scratching on pick guard not cool had to insulate. Other wise and especially considering $ turns out one of my favorites. Very spunky (do the kids say that?) P.S. Trump sucks send help!

Great guitar for the money

I would recommend this guitar to anyone. It is great deal.

Pros:

- Beautiful look

- Solid finish, almost no flaws

- Great neck

- Bridge pickup is great .

Cons:

- Crappy string trees, tuners, nut. I replaced string trees immediately with Graph Tech and I plan to replace tuners and nut as soon as possible.

- Neck pickup sounds muddy, especially with higher gain. Clean is not so bad

- Volume knob is installed too low and it is scratching the body. Knobs are very good in general, run smoothly except the above mentioned.

- Toggle switch is probably the worst that I ever seen, its shaky and feels very cheap comparing to the other components.

All in all, this is one of the best guitars for the money that you can buy. Look, finish, color, neck are top notch. With upgrades (string trees, tuners, nut, toggle switch, neck pickup) of ca 150-200 EUR you get 300-350 guitar which looks and sounds as 1000 EUR instrument.

Great Buy.

Sweet Looking Unique Tele

My second Harley Benton telecaster. I purchased this for its unique look - reverse headstock, Cabronita style pickguard, TV Jones style pickups and the translucent finish. Setup was great, straight out of the box.

Buy it.

I am an experienced guitar owner and I have played A LOT of guitars.Nuff said about this.

I bought this guitar for 2 reasons:

-It is a beauty.

-Wanted to check the quality of an HB guitar.

First of,if guitars like this,with that price,were being made in the 70's-80s' some well known brands would have closed their BIG factories...

Beginners and guitar freaks are extremely lucky with the guitar production nowdays.

Cheap guitars are extremely well built.Better than some ''rare'' guitars of the old times that worth some thousands.

Buying those guitars has a completely different reason.

The TE90 is a well built guitar and it is just unbelievable that you can have this thing in your collection for under 200 euros:

-Neck is awesome and easy to play.

-Finish 99% perfect(I never care about this though)

-Fret job is professional

-Tuners:They have a cheap feel but it comes as a surprise to realise that they hold the tuning extremely well.

-Pickups:Hmmm..The neck pick up is marvelous.

There is something that I don't like in the bridge pick up.

It's good for chords BUT when it comes to leads it's a little bit harsh.

2 screws were not straight and there is a slight difficulty in setting the desired height.

Too bad they can't be replaced by a normal size humbucker.

Sound wise they are vintage sounding.

The overall sound is something between a Tele and a LP.

NOT something to die for but with a character of it's own and good enough to enjoy playing.

Conclusion:

Don't hesitate to buy this guitar.

Life is short and (unless you have expensive rent) we need cheap,beautiful,quality products that make us happy.

I guess the price will be good for after sale too.

In case you want to add some cash for the rent...

for the money its great

using it as a one song guitar with open b tuning and it does its job perfectly. The fretboard has a good feel and I am pleasantly surprised by the sound of roswell pickups.

Good side-bad sides

Hi, i had so many guitars even big g-f names.This guitar has nice sound ,good looking. I love especially pickups.

But bad sides , poor fret job.It has holes under frets ! I see like this first time. Some high frets .Classic sharp edges but easy fixed.

Pretty heavy but you want light guitar you have to pay ten times more.

Sound:Nice and clear a little bit weak bass .

Nice woods.

overall good for money.