Harley Benton TE-90QM Trans Red Reviews

Another gem from Harley Benton

This is my second HB purchase, having previously reviewed my TE-40TBK.

The guitar arrived in good condition with a couple of (very) minor defects to the finish. The guitar is a deep red and the quilting quite stunning, nicely set off by the cream binding.

The fret board was very dry and required 4 treatments with lemon oil over 24 hours to rectify, but all frets were finished nicely and did not require any polishing. The neck was very flat with little relief and a lot of fret buzz that was quickly rectified with a couple of tweaks of the truss rod. Strings were changed to my normal regular slinkys.

The neck is really nice, slightly slimmer than the TE-40 with a very comfortable feel - a joy to play with the set up as above. The electronics all work well and the Wilkinson P90 sound great. I am a fan of P90s and have recently fitted a pair to the TE-40. I will not be changing the Wilkinsons, which seem to have slightly more output and bite, possibly being due to the plastic 'soap bar' covers as opposed to metal covers on pups in the TE-40.

Great sound, usable in all 3 switch positions, loads of sustain (mahogany sustain block and through the body stringing). The bridge is very solid and a joy to work with.

Currently my go to guitar and as long as you can carry out or arrange for a basic set up, for £150 - why wouldn't you?

awesome guitar

I am a working musician who needs guitars that are no-frills and of good quality, Harley Benton hits the mark every time. This guitar is GREAT for Reggae.

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!

Great look and sound.

I bought his guitar purely because I had read so many positive reviews, and seen so many positive reviews on youtube videos.

I've had dozens of guitars over the years but never one with P90 pick ups, so was interested to see what they were like.

Straight out of the box, the guitar looked great. On closer inspection there were a couple of tiny flaws in the paintwork and binding, but most of my guitars are pretty beaten up so I'm not too bothered about 100% perfect aesthetics.

The neck was as dry as a bone, and the frets were protruding and quite sharp. I oiled the neck and left it for a few hours. I gently filed down the sharp fret ends and now these problems are gone.

The guitar has a good weight and feel to it when standing up with a strap. I am a solo guitar vocalist playing hotels and bars, all styles of music, with backing tracks.

In my first 3 hour gig with this guitar, I played everything from jazz, blues, funk, rock and even a bit of metal! The guitar sounded amazing and the action, although a little high for my liking, was low enough for me to fly up and down the (now smooth) neck, and I can lower this next time I change strings and put on a heavier gauge set.

The tone control is very responsive...the volume not so much. The tuners worked fine...I always stretch my strings aggressively before each set so I've never had tuning issues with any of my guitars (apart from a Squier HSS Strat that hated hot weather!).

I'll lower the action when I change to heavier gauge strings if need be.

To sum up, this guitar is great value, you can't go wrong.

It covers all the styles of music I play, feels good, looks good and at 170 odd euros is a bargain.

One big, mostly plesant surprise

Let me start with saying that the level of workmanship can vary from sample to sample, so my experiences aren't necessarily true for you if you decide to buy one. I waited a few weeks before publishing a review, because it takes some time to go over all the details.

This guitar costs 179 euros, but looks like a guitar that could easily cost 10 times as much. The finish is breathtaking. It's actually a pity that they didn't match the headstock ? that would have been absolutely awesome!

The body has a seamless binding which exactly matches the aged white of the Wilkinson P90 pickups. I don't know it it's a real binding or just paint, but I couldn't care less. Even the F-holes have the same binding!

I have another semi-hollow guitar, a Höfner, which is as light as a feather and quite loud when played acoustically. This guitar is not lightweight by any means. It actually feels rather heavy, and when you look into the F-holes it's clear why: there's a massive center block in the middle, and the sides of the body are solid wood too.

The lack of a scale prevented me to weigh the guitar. In any case, this is not a flimsy construction, which I appreciate very much.

When hitting the low E while holding the guitar body to my own body, everything resonates in a very pleasant way. Maybe the 'string-through' system has something to so with that, not sure. Yet it is acoustically just above average, the guitar doesn't 'push much air'. It's enough for practicing though.

The neck is typical for a Telecaster model. It's not as thin as your typical Ibanez shredder, nor as thick as the ones found on a Gibson Les Paul. I think it's just perfect. It's a one-piece neck, so there's no scarf joint. Instead Harley Benton opted for two string trees to get the necessary angle. The string trees are the cheapest you can buy, but they appear to work well.

The neck was too straight out of the box, which resulted in fret buzz here and there -- in spite of the relatively high position of the saddles. No biggy, the necessary tools are in the box. I like my necks ever-so-slightly concave.

The tuners were a bit stiff at first, but accurate. They loosen up quickly. The nut is well cut for strings up to 010-046. For anything beyond that all bets are off.

All frets on my sample were perfectly level, but needed polishing and were *really* uncomfortably sharp at both ends. I had to polish them all, which is a LOT of work. This is something I find annoying, but it is fixable.

The fret board can use some lemon oil or, even better, Dunlop 02 'Deep Conditioner', which will bring back the beautiful rosewood color. In the end I even used a generic 'dark wood conditioner' which made the fret board even darker. Just a matter of taste.

The (Wilkinson?) bridge on my copy is fine. Intonation was a breeze. On almost all guitars I own the action was too high for comfort 'out of the box' and this HB is no exception. Just take your time to adjust the saddles to your own taste and don't forget to keep the radius of the neck in mind.

The sound of the Wilkinson P90 pickups come amazingly close to those on my $$$$ Gibson Centennial Les Paul Special. While these are single coils, there's hardly any hum unless I plug my amp into an AC outlet without a ground pin. Interesting.

In short: apart from the obvious things (general setup), you might have some work cut out for you to fix some annoying flaws. Yet I kept the price tag in mind, price/performance is what counts here.

When all work is done, this is an amazing guitar which can face any competition.

Excellent Guitar

I bought this guitar and wasn't sure what to expect for the price. I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised.

The guitar arrived promptly and was well packed.

Out of the box it was pretty well set up and very playable.

The range of tones that the guitar produces is good and it has quite a bit of punch.

Generally the guitar is well built, but there are a few minor cosmetic flaws. If these weren't present then this review would be five stars all the way. However considering the price I paid I can overlook these faults and I won't be returning the guitar. It represents excellent value for money.

Pretty Guitar

This Guitar is fantastic although mine is dark in color it still looks great this is my second purchase and they have been a wonderful surprise for the money that alone gives me bragging rights straight out of the well packed box all I needed was a drum roll Ta Da thanks a million ....

Great guitar

Very nice neck on this guitar, looks good and sounds even better, very little setting up required to bring the action down to my liking. No one can believe it when I tell them the price

Excellent Value Guitar

I've had this guitar for a day now and I've had time to try it out and check it over. All I can say is that I'm really happy with the guitar. It looks much better in real life and is a really nice instrument to play. The pickups are responsive and the tone and volume controls work nicely. I can't make comparisons with high end Fenders and Gibsons etc as I have never played them but it wouldn't be fair to do that anyway given the price of this HB would it?

I am very pleased with this guitar and would recommend them to people looking for a value priced well made guitar.

Classic sounds at an unbeatable price

This is a very nice guitar.

Although the TE-90QM looks like a Telecaster, it doesn't sound like one.

The two Wilkinson soap-bar pick-ups give this guitar a fantastic retro/P 90 twang which places it in a different sphere altogether.

For players who are into Rock 'n' Roll, Country, Rockabilly and Blues, this lovely instrument will peel away the years and give you the sounds that defined those seminal genres.

Configured like a tele, the two pick-ups are selected with a toggle switch for neck, bridge or both.

As a lover of the above noted styles I don't use any overdrive or distortion on my amp - I like it clean. When played that way, the TE-90QM sings like a bird. The range of tones available is impressive.

On the neck; nice, chuggy rhythm tones come across as full and meaty. (I use 10 gauge strings.) Roll off a bit of the treble and you're in a nice, blues lead mood. (A tiny touch of gain and you're sounding 'Chicago' style).

Using both soap-bars allows the bridge to contribute and the combination of the two pick-ups gives the axe heaps of middle. You'll be able to do whatever you please whilst there. Rock 'n' Roll 'double-stops' are fat and full.

Switching to the bridge sharpens everything up. With all the treble rolled on you can breeze through country leads and bends. What I really like about this position is that the sound is pure country but it isn't the usually tele sound. It's different and very distinctive. Authentic but not generic.

As for looks and finish, well I think that the TE90 is a stunner. The rich colour, dappled finish and body contour make for a very attractive instrument. The headstock is 'tele style' and the neck and fingerboard are clean and true. The 'f' holes reveal an expansive, chambered interior; and the guitar feels nice and weighty.

The Wilkinson bridge/tailpiece is solid and reassuring; so too are the machine heads.

On receipt I changed the strings from 9's to 10's and only needed to adjust the intonation on the B string, the rest were all spot on.

The delivery and package of the instrument were excellent.

In sum, this is an incredible guitar for the price.

GREAT SOUNDING ..

THESE ARE AN EXCELLENT VALUE GUITAR...SOUNDS EXACTLY AS IT SHOULD AND THE BUILD AND FINISH ARE REALLY VERY GOOD FOR THE MONEY...HARD TO BEAT.

Harley Benton TE-90QM

Very nice guitar. Well made, and a very nice sound.

I am very impressed with Harley Benton Tele's. Recommended.

Beautiful guitar that's very comfortable to play

This is an amazingly beautiful guitar for the money. It is actually even more attractive in reality than in the pictures here some how!

The only negative as far as looks go was that, on unboxing, mine had one of the wires running right across one of the holes in the body. Not very attractive! I was planning on putting a bit of tape or something in there to stick it to the side, out of sight but I haven't bothered yet. I just pushed it to one side and it's stayed there since I got the guitar a few weeks ago now, completely invisible.... A very, very minor issue! Otherwise the whole guitar looks great. The red colour is real nice and deep but the detail of the wood underneath comes through just perfect too.

The guitar came set up very nicely. I haven't yet changed the strings (it came with a decent set but I usually prefer slightly heavier gauges). They took a while to settle tuning-wise but that's obviously to be expected with new strings! Now they've been played in a bit, the tuners hold them in place pretty well. It's a nice guitar to play, the neck sits well in the hand.

Sound-wise, for me, this guitar really suits lead playing. It's not a very bright guitar, even on the bridge pickup with the tone dial cranked. That's not necessarily a bad thing though! It'll never have the bite required for metal or heavy rock sounds, or indeed super-jangly traditional Tele styles, but I assume that's not really it's aim, and it can get a wide range of warmer tones, good for clean rhythmic stuff and smooth, bluesy lead lines. The neck is nice and fast, it's easy to jump around the frets, and with the provided strings, bending is a dream!

In short, I'm very impressed with this guitar! For the price, it's ridiculously nice to look at, and also very fun to play. Happy customer here for sure!

So pleased I grabbed this !

This guitar, which I have owned for a couple of weeks now, continues to astonish me on a daily basis. It is a joy to play. The variety of tones amazes me - I use a Hotone Ravo through an active PA speaker - the P90 pickups go from clean to quite dirty without fuss. I own a PRS SE 245, which cost considerably more, and the TE-90 holds its own.

For sheer value for money I rate this instrument as outstanding. Forget the price, its just one very nice guitar.

I really like this

Another pleasant surprise from the recent Harley Bentons.

Extremely playable from the off, the individual bridge saddles gave the flexibility to set the action wherever you want it, A few quick tweaks and it was there.

Apart from looking superb, it's no slouch when it comes to sound either.

As with all the recent HBs, you get a very playable guitar with good woods for very little outlay. The stock Wilkinson P90s are more than adequate, but should you feel the need to do so these can be upgraded to the soapbar of your choice.

A little gem of a beast.

Great guitar!

The guitar was delivered within 5 days from the order date.

My expectation weren't too big for the price. But upon taking the guitar out of the box and test play, i was convinced differently.

The guitar looks beautiful, with no scratches from the outside. You can play it directly from the box, as you don't need any setup.

The setup is made as if guitar was built for me. There is no buzzing from the strings.

The guitar is well balanced.

Great and noisy P-90 Wilkinson pickups are set perfectly for 2 of my amps.

The guitar is easy to play and the neck is soft. Height of the strings is perfectly set for my way of playing.

The guitar has great noisy deep sound with gain, but on clean mode it has crystal clear sound.

The guitar is very universal and well rounded when playing jazz, blues, funk, classic 70's rock and roots of rock, even heavy metal and punk.

I am very glad I bought this guitar.

For the low price of this guitar, I would definitely recommend it to everyone who likes P-90 pickup sound as with this guitar you will get the best value for your money.

Pretty nifty guitar

Loved the aesthetics of this guitar and bought it. I won't go into the appearance of the guitar, we can all tell most people would pay £130 for that alone. To start, it has very little (to no) resonance in the body for something that is listed as semi-acoustic. Probably due to the body being only 2/3 acoustic, with a solid piece of wood running behind the pickups to give it weight, if it weren't there it would be neck-heavy so I understand.

The stock pickups are surprising, sound pretty good despite lacking a little-high end. I was very impressed with the blend, however. It sounds absolutely amazing when clean, and the neck handles distortion very well for P90s. Bridge pickup has a lot of kick to it, too.

Guitar feels great, you have to give it a little to get a decent sound. Neck feels like a D-profile to me, but I've never been good at telling. Perfectly weighted, feels around 8-9lbs so a good weight. Came perfectly set up, no complaints on the quality of the guitar.

Overall, an absolute steal. Feels great, sounds like a £300-400 guitar. I doubt anyone would be disappointed.

It's hard to complain!

So look... friends posted a link on social media, and the price seemed ridiculous and absurd to me. I was in the market to spend approximately $200 for a "practice" guitar that I could take out into the desert, camping, wherever... and not particularly worry about damage and the reviews convinced me it was worth the risk. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

To cut directly to the chase, this is NOT a cheap take-to-burningman guitar! It plays magnificently! In the price range I can say, I am beyond impressed with the stability, workmanship, and playability of this guitar.

I'd say the only real detractors I can present are slightly thin tone on the P-90 pickups, and I didn't want to wait until August for Blue, and settled for the Red. Well, the tuning pegs make it hard to get extra windings on the way I usually prefer, but the sustain of this body really doesn't require my extra wraps either.

In short... BUY THIS! You won't likely be disappointed.

Pleasant Surprise

The reviews were great so I ordered one. Everything was perfect out-of-the-box. This is my first P90 guitar and I am extremely happy with the sound and build quality especially for the money.I am so satisfied by the quality that I have just ordered a Harley Benton ST 70 rosewood.

I would happily recommend this guitar and I give it five stars easy.

With such low prices they are a bargain.

Highly recommend it.

Plays, sounds and looks great. I don't know how they do it, but I've got 3 Harley Benton guitars now, and none of them disappointed me. At this price-range, you can't go wrong.

I might install some other pick-ups, not that there's anything wrong with the ones it comes with, but I like experimenting, and these guitars are cheap enough to allow me to do that without risking ruining an expensive instrument.