Harley Benton TE-80 NT Deluxe Series Reviews

Fantastic for the price with a few caveats to consider.

I've been craving a T style guitar for a while but wanted something that sounds more akin to a strat than a traditional tele. Lo and behold I spied the TE-80. In person the guitar is even more gorgeous than the photos, the one I received has the wood grain matched really well on the front and back. The binding on the neck and body has a few blemishes and are the only part of the finish I have any issues with, but with a bit of tactful wearing in these areas they will be hidden over time. Out of the box the guitar played ok but not well enough for anyone with a feel for how a guitar should play herein lies the caveats to this guitar. I lowered the action myself as it was a bit high out of the box and this improved things but as expected with a guitar of this price it required a visit to my luthier to set up properly. The guitar required the following issues rectifying:

-Full fret levelling and removal of sharp fret ends some of the binding had got onto the ends too so this was filed off. Some of the frets weren't seated properly introducing buzz as well.

-Truss rod adjustment, the neck was concaved out of the box- expected

-Intonation was out but only slightly would have been done regardless as the truss rod adjustment was essential

-The nut fitted on the guitar was rubbish so I had this changed out too

-Electrics all cleaned properly

-Action set nice and low (personal preference)

All in this cost me around £100 extra but with these adjustments the guitar now plays like something triple the £266 I spent on it. It sounds amazing and I'm still experimenting with different tones with some fiddling I have got some nice punchy strat tones and you can get the twingy twangy tele sound with the selector switch on the bridge or middle position. Also really nice for funk sounds as expected for a prince copy. I'm using 0.8's on it again this is personal preference but they sound very nice. Finally as it has an ash body it is really heavy (almost 3x the weight of my epiphone les paul) I'm in my early 30's and have a couple of shoulder/back issues and it's right on the cusp of being too heavy for me for long periods so if you are playing on using a strap its worth considering.

Fret board

I didn't care for the finish on the fret board gets black residue from strings and doesn't clean off

Great Purchase

Hi, I am a fairly new guitar player and decided to look for a guitar close to what my favorite artist "Prince" played. What an awesome experience all the way from initial order to plugging in to play. Arrived from overseas with no issues. Customer service was excellent as is the product.

Thank you!

Richard

Fantastic Guitar, Great Price

If you want to play a Prince style guitar but can afford the full price version then this guitar is for you. Great design, fantastic finish and a good weight, you'll be busting out some great licks in no time.

Delivery was good, excellent communication. I will be buying more HB guitars that's for sure.

Surprising high quality

The guitar is made quite well and has several features which make it ‘deluxe’— bound fretboard, walnut centre wood stripe down the back of the body. The neck pickup stands out as very musical, and the neck/bridge combo cuts through well

So awesome it's a dream.

Simply the best tele you can buy for this price.

A recommended purchase

A very good purchase for the quality / price ratio. The sound is impeccable. the visual aspect is very good and beautiful. Let's say... it's different from other tele models. The Roswell mics came in poorly printed, but they sound great.

real close

great guitar, not a pro or anything just love guitars

Wield a Princely Axe

I waited for some time for this particular guitar to come back in stock, and it was well worth the wait. A sweet sounding and playing guitar...I usually play through two or three guitars during a practice session, but if I pick this one up first I rarely use another that hour+. My particular guitar came in as a heavy-weight as ten pounds...not a problem, however, as the tones make up for it. The back of the neck felt a bit rough initially, but it has smoothed out just rubbing it up and down with my hand. I tracked down a faux-leopard strap for the full effect. Cheers!

I love this guitar.

This is my first Harley Benton. I can't believe how much guitar I got for the money.

Looks great, feels great and plays great. Love it. Better than some of my more expensive guitars.

So impressed with the quality that I have since ordered 4 more Harley Benton guitars.

not a big price

looks amazing on photo.

very bad looks .very poor performance. made on the knee. the wood is dirty under the varnish. the edging is terrible. the neck seems to work. but I do not advise .. before the quality was much higher ..

Very Heavy but….

I love the neck. Swapped Roswell pickups for Mojotone Lee Dickson (Clapton guitar tech Black-E neck and bridge, replaced the tortoise shell pickguard with legit Prince leopard and had my luthier take 2 lbs out of the back and it is incredible!! I LOVE IT! That being said, making a $180 guitar into a $700 guitar as my choice but….

A really solid guitar

When I unboxed the TE-80 NT I was struck by the beauty of the maple finish.I was also struck by the weight. It is one solid guitar. I did have to adjust the bridge to get the guitar to tune up over the full length of the neck and to improve the action. I also replaced the nut with a bone one to my taste. Sounds better!

I am very happy with the way it's worked out. Sounds great and plays well.

A really Beautiful Guitar

Simply stunning a great weight this is a very soiled guitar with great looks setup and action perfect out of the box pickups sound awesome to my ears at this price point you would be hard to beat this funk machine

Harley benton Rocks

Great guitars....for any level...thanks Barry D

This is one sick looking , awsome sounding, incredable feeling wild cat.

Ok i got one, waited a while as these would sell out often due to the popularity. It dont feel cheap but its cheap it dont play cheap , it plays as good as any that cost thousands more, I dont know how they do it, but they keep producing some of the best guitars for the money ive ever put my hands on. ive owned almost ten of these HB. And everyone was a gem. Only two have i had to have a professional set up due to fret buzz. This is one of my fav Tele's ive ever played. i have a problem now, i cant stop buying more HB. God help me stop before my wife chucks me out on the street.

Prince Guitar Riffs

Awesome style and action on this guitar, only issue is the weight of the guitar, heavy funk playing rhythm sounds super.

Nice 335 model

Beautiful guitar and with new strings it played great. A few minor fit and finis issues but not bad for the price.

very nice

It was really good out of the box. I spent some money to have a real luthier set it up and and wire a series/parallel for a forth pickup option on it. It is a $1000 dollar guitar now. Sounds great/plays great. Solid guitar. I'll own it for the rest of my life.

Excellent guitar

For the price it's awesome. Some rough edges, but the neck is really fine, and the guitar looks stunning.