Harley Benton TE-90QM Trans Red 2-stars Reviews

I guess it's the only option at this price point.

Why did I buy the guitar?

I was looking to get something with P90's. I liked the look of the guitar. The positive reviews and the cheap price sealed the deal.

Finish:

The back of the guitar looks really nice with the translucent red and the wood grain. Back of the neck has a nice smooth finish.

The binding has black scratches on multiple locations, both on the f-holes and the body. Binding chipped at the neck pocket. The "flame" top looks nothing like it does on the pictures. If I didn't know better I would say it is a sticker/painted pattern, it does not look like a veneer. It just makes the guitar look ugly.

Hardware:

The tuners are already slipping. Tuners loose. The bridge is pretty good for this price point.

Electronics:

The pickups are really noisy for some reason but not as high output as other P90's. Only usable in middle position even if playing with a clean sound. The pot's are crackling. Pots mounted tilted so the buttons have scratched the finish. Pickup selector switch is damaged, needs to be replaced. The 1/4" input socket is somehow not to spec, the lead will stick out about 4mm when fully inserted. The neck pickup and socket loose with screw holes stripped. one neck pickup screw hole not deep enough.

Setup and feel out of the box:

Firs impression out of the box was a lot of fret buzz but relatively high action. Nut needs filing. Intonation was off, but easy to fix. Back of the neck felt nice, fret ends sticking out a lot more then I would expect. Strings rusted.

How does it play after a setup?

Once I started setting up the guitar I quickly found the reason for the high action combined with fret buzz. I can't even describe how uneven the frets are. Checking with a fret rocker and feeler gauges I can find several that are >0.5mm higher/lower then the next fret. Also uneven height from Low string to high string. Some of the frets are loose, but others are seated properly and still messed up. My regular luthier suggested a full refret as the cheapest option. And this is where I put the whole project on hold to think about it.

Conclusion:

So I bought the guitar because of the P90's and the way it looks. The P90's lack the oomph of a traditional P90 and the guitar doesn't look anything like the pictures.

To make the guitar actually playable I would have to pay more then the price of the guitar to a luthier. To make it gig worthy I would also need to swap out the tuners and all of the electronics. And after all of that work it would still be an ugly guitar worth about 100€. Not worth the investment, I'm just gonna cut my losses and try and sell it to anyone willing to buy. But it does get 2 stars, because if you want a thinline T-type with P90's, there isn't anything else out there at this price point. Your next option is a Squier that costs more then double the price of this and has no binding and no flame top.

Maye I got a lemon, or maybe the quality has dropped in the last couple of years, I don't really know. As Ben Gibbard sang: "I hope you have more luck with this then me".

Borderline value-for-money

The guitar generally feels and sounds mediocre for its money. It has a quite comfortable low action and a general soft fretboard feel. The intonation was pretty much ok just right out of the box. Some tuner keys have a little bit of slack, but it's not an issue. The P90 pickups are satisfactory - provided that you are ok with the humming at high gain situations. The "f" holes are completely ornamental and don't add anything to the tone and feeling of the instrument.

Now the not-so-pleasant remarks: there's a general feeling that this instrument was assembled in a sloppy and uncaring way. The tuner keys have smudges on their back surface, the neck has some dents, some frets are dull and oxidized, and the controls are poorly assembled into the body. But the most annoying thing is the setting of the frets: I don't care if this is a "value-for-money" or "low-end" instrument or whatever - it's unacceptable to sell guitars with rough and sharp fret edges, forcing me to repair them the moment I get the instrument out of the box... For me it was the first - and likely the last - time I bought a guitar online, without playing the instrument beforehand.

Bottom line: the price is attractive and one could gamble ordering such an instrument online - but don't expect to be blown away by either the feeling or the sound...

BUDGET GUITAR WITH FAULTS.

PROS.- Very well packed, fast delivery.

CONS:

1. Rust on the strings.

2. Hole in the fretboard, approx. . 3/16ths.

3. Heavy filing scores on three frets.

4. Bridge radius incorrect.

5. Intonation incorrect.

6. Body finish poor, near binding.

7. Very sharp fret ends.

I habe changed the strings, and used wood filler to fill the hole in the fretboard. It took 3 hours, to polish out the heavy scoring on the frets, and smooth all of the sharp fret ends. The bridge radius was reset, and the intonation adjusted.

I knew that was not going to be a top of the range, hand made guitar, but to arrive with so many faults, is not good enough. I was thinking of ordering a Harley Benton Acoustic Guitar, but after this experience, I will look elsewhere!