Harley Benton - have I been living under a rock?

But now you're comparing them to top of the line guitars, akin to comparing a cheap Toyata to a Ferrari. That's no contest. The true comparison should be to the entry level guitars of Fender, Gibson and Ibanez. Which you often also need to upgrade.
Absolutely right, i was just refering to the initial statement, that they could rival professional instrument, which i would honestly say, they don´t.
And to me they´re just good entry level instruments that are propabyl a tad better than those of other brands and HB has for certain a wider product canvas.
I´m really flattered that they have roasted mapel necks or stainless steel frets on 400,-€ guitars.....
 
I have three:

  • Harley Benton Fusion-II HH EB OCT
  • Harley Benton SC450 GT P90
  • Harley Benton PJ-74VW (Bass)

Except the Bass, that was bought because I wanted a cheap thing for tracking my stuff, the others were bought compulsively, since I have already many guitars (13 in total)

Maybe I am just lucky and got excellent units but I have to say that my HBs are FANTASTIC for the price, and very good in absolute terms. And I can compare them against my top notch Jackson USA SL2H, Gibson Les Paul Std 2016, Fender Strat USA V-Neck and Fender Telecaster Standard USA, so I am not trying to justify any "bargain" or so, it is that honestly the guitars are crazy good for the price.

In the The Fusion II I dropped in a set of Bareknuckle boot camps and sounds fantastic (stock electronic was Alpha Pots and the soldering work and wiring routing was impeccable), stays in tune after using the Wilkinson Tremolo, the fretwork is simple flawless, and most finish aspects are comparable to guitars on the 800 euro range.

The SC450 is kind of a Gold Top copy, it is extremely cheap (149 Euros) and has some finish flaws, the bridge could be upgraded (I feel some parts are a bit "bitting" my hand when resting it over the bridge) and the tuners are not very precise, but if you upgrade these two components, still probably would be below 300 euros and again the neck is just great, and the fretwork excellent. I will probably replace the P90s at some point, but not before having tried some more renowned, for proper comparisons.

Obvviously they don´t feature the hand made bindings of the LP or the Jackson neck, no compound radius, in general are not meant to be flawless but for the price .... if you want something that sounds great with potentially some upgrades, and don´t need to worry about their reliability on the road (and I don´t say here that they aren´t reliable, just didn´t have a chance to test them), are an excellent choice.

I happen to live two hours from Thomman by car, and have tried a bunch of them, 80% of the times I was just amazed.

In my honest opinion many of the high end electric instruments are horribly overpriced, 2000+ euros or dollars for them, really, no way. This is a market were we have been sold myths and snake oil for decades.
 
I have three:

  • Harley Benton Fusion-II HH EB OCT
  • Harley Benton SC450 GT P90
  • Harley Benton PJ-74VW (Bass)

Except the Bass, that was bought because I wanted a cheap thing for tracking my stuff, the others were bought compulsively, since I have already many guitars (13 in total)

Maybe I am just lucky and got excellent units but I have to say that my HBs are FANTASTIC for the price, and very good in absolute terms. And I can compare them against my top notch Jackson USA SL2H, Gibson Les Paul Std 2016, Fender Strat USA V-Neck and Fender Telecaster Standard USA, so I am not trying to justify any "bargain" or so, it is that honestly the guitars are crazy good for the price.

In the The Fusion II I dropped in a set of Bareknuckle boot camps and sounds fantastic (stock electronic was Alpha Pots and the soldering work and wiring routing was impeccable), stays in tune after using the Wilkinson Tremolo, the fretwork is simple flawless, and most finish aspects are comparable to guitars on the 800 euro range.

The SC450 is kind of a Gold Top copy, it is extremely cheap (149 Euros) and has some finish flaws, the bridge could be upgraded (I feel some parts are a bit "bitting" my hand when resting it over the bridge) and the tuners are not very precise, but if you upgrade these two components, still probably would be below 300 euros and again the neck is just great, and the fretwork excellent. I will probably replace the P90s at some point, but not before having tried some more renowned, for proper comparisons.

Obvviously they don´t feature the hand made bindings of the LP or the Jackson neck, no compound radius, in general are not meant to be flawless but for the price .... if you want something that sounds great with potentially some upgrades, and don´t need to worry about their reliability on the road (and I don´t say here that they aren´t reliable, just didn´t have a chance to test them), are an excellent choice.

I happen to live two hours from Thomman by car, and have tried a bunch of them, 80% of the times I was just amazed.

In my honest opinion many of the high end electric instruments are horribly overpriced, 2000+ euros or dollars for them, really, no way. This is a market were we have been sold myths and snake oil for decades.
Thanks so much for taking the time to post this detailed response. Your experience accords with countless other reviews I have read/watched on different HB guitars. It seems like when they first started years ago there was a lot of problems, but now people arer saying they are unbelievably good - particularly their 'more expensive' models (which are like $400 lol).

The general consensus out i the wild seems to be the fit, finish, frets are fantastic and very high end but some of the hardware is mediocre. But I always replace pickups in my guitars anyway and it is easy to swap out tuners and electrics etc (can even just buy loaded pickguards etc these days and drop in replacement bridges etc).

Not sure if I would buy one (I have enough guitars already to keep me happy) but the price is just so stupidly low you could buy a bunch of different models and upgrade them to high spec for the price of one premium lone guitar from the big brands.

People need to get paid, and things cost money, but I agree that the price charged for some high end guitars is just ludicrous.
 
Yeah well I think they have an Achiles Tendon on QC so you have always a chance of getting a bad unit, although they are taking care of it too but a proper QC would multiply the cost.

For example I had to return the first unit of the Bass because one tuning machine was broken, and it was evident.

Other than that, really honest instruments, aimed to really work, not shit stuff like it was sold in the 80s / 90s for that price.

As you can see in this image, the finish is not the Gold one of a Gibson, and the carved top has some irregularities, so as I said before, not perfect finishes.hbgold.jpg
 
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Yeah well I think they have an Achiles Tendon on QC so you have always a chance of getting a bad unit, although they are taking care of it too but a proper QC would multiply the cost.

For example I had to return the first unit of the Bass because one tuning machine was broken, and it was evident.

Other than that, really honest instruments, aimed to really work, not shit stuff like it was sold in the 80s / 90s for that price.

As you can see in this image, the finish is not the Gold one of a Gibson, and the carved top has some irregularities, so as I said before, not perfect finishes.View attachment 60062
Looks pretty good for a few hundred dollars.
 
Hi Guys

have 7 HB, and the game was for me to modify electronics with nice PUs with CTS pots, wiring, etc.
CST24HB: Railhammer PUs
ST70: Kamel Chenaouy, Seymour, Iron gear
TE QM 90: tone riderHot P90,
TE70: seymour STR3/STL3
SG Custom: Irongear Dirty Torque/TeslaSHark
JA60SB: Epiphone PUs
Fusion Pro HSH: Seymour miniHB+SSL7

And guess what: they all sound great as a good 600/800 $ guitar. All my friends coming home and grab one are pretty impressed.
It is not intend to compete with high end "luthier" guitars, of course, but for the price, and with nice PUs these are really great guitars.
Some need neck adjustments/strings height by my luthier, but when I bough 800-1200E guitars, I have the same to do ...
 
In my honest opinion many of the high end electric instruments are horribly overpriced, 2000+ euros or dollars for them, really, no way. This is a market were we have been sold myths and snake oil for decades.

I fully agree on the overpricing, myths and snake oil parts, but as said I like to build my own guitars and as I factor in parts, tools, consumables and work for free I still can't build guitars for the price of a HB. If I want to get some good quality wood alone it probably costs me as much as your Gold Top. And I'm not talking rare woods, just plain alder and maple. A friend of mine asked me for a quote on what it would cost for me to build him a bass guitar, just a P-bass, and I think about €500. I could probably drop it down a €100 by getting cheaper woods and cheaper hardware, but still. And I'm not even charging him for my time and use of my tools. I can totally understand that a decent luthier would charge you at least €2000 for a basic guitar. He has to pay his bills, taxes, eat and feed his family too. Factories like Fender of course work with economy of scale, so they can produce at lower costs, and tone woods are just a bunch of myths and snake oil, but you have to have incredibly cheap labor, economy of scale, shipping costs and overheads in order to produce a decent guitar of €149.
 
Yes, I fully agree with that. I mean if I had the time, skills and tooling to build my stuff, I would do it too. I don´t think building electric guitars requires an extreme level of craftmanship like, for example, Flamenco guitars ( I am Spanish and have some references about that). I am not saying though it is easy.

There was a video on Youtube were a guy ran one by one over the prices of electric guitar components/parts and about wood, he said exactly what you mention. I am not blaming or bashing luthiers of custom shops, this is a free market and if they charge 3000 euros for an Strat and people buy it, fair enough for me, but it amazes me that then there is people who say all cheap guitars are shit, which is not the case, the same as expensive ones don´t have tons of mojo that make you a guitar god from one day to the other.

Some months ago I ordered this custom made by a luther in Spain, it costed me round 500€ without electronics, and it is built like a rock, lovely fretwork, compares one to one with my Fender Strat USA, on all aspects.
 

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what really gets me with guitar pricing is the up charge on things like exotic woods, relics, or special run models selling for double or triple prices. An exotic wood instrument cost the builder maybe $50 more for materials, it is exactly the same work (some woods and stainless frets do wear more on tools) but instead of a $2500 guitar you now sell it for 4 to 6k because you spent 50$ or less up front? Insanity IMO
 
Yes, I fully agree with that. I mean if I had the time, skills and tooling to build my stuff, I would do it too. I don´t think building electric guitars requires an extreme level of craftmanship like, for example, Flamenco guitars ( I am Spanish and have some references about that). I am not saying though it is easy.

There was a video on Youtube were a guy ran one by one over the prices of electric guitar components/parts and about wood, he said exactly what you mention. I am not blaming or bashing luthiers of custom shops, this is a free market and if they charge 3000 euros for an Strat and people buy it, fair enough for me, but it amazes me that then there is people who say all cheap guitars are shit, which is not the case, the same as expensive ones don´t have tons of mojo that make you a guitar god from one day to the other.

Some months ago I ordered this custom made by a luther in Spain, it costed me round 500€ without electronics, and it is built like a rock, lovely fretwork, compares one to one with my Fender Strat USA, on all aspects.
very nice guitars. Have to check this spanish luther...
 
Yeah, you can find him in Facebook, he builds almost everything relic style, he lives in Mallorca I believe.
 
I fully agree on the overpricing, myths and snake oil parts, but as said I like to build my own guitars and as I factor in parts, tools, consumables and work for free I still can't build guitars for the price of a HB. ...

Was thinking exactly the same thing.. You can't even buy decent wood stock for the price of one of these finished guitars. ...I can't really knock-them for that. Everybody competes for market share, and, as has been said, they are not pretending to be Handcrafted, Top-O-The Line Works of Art..

As for quality, even if the hardware is something that could ideally do with upgrading, that's still just an option you have. It's not required that a first guitar have Genuine Gibson Parts. :0) ..but, if a person wanted to buy a guitar just as an upgradable platform, HB are still value for money, I think.

If the bones of a guitar are good - you have a solid body and a straight neck - you still have what you paid for at those prices.

I haven't heard anything horrible about HB. "Good value for your money" seems to be the general consensus. A consensus I agree with.
 
I'm glad that there is a reasonably priced instrument line available for people that want to play and not spend a lot of money. Making anyone interested in learning spend thousands of dollars is no doubt limiting the potential market. Once upon a time there were Sears and the like catalog guitar brands that filled this void, while pros and serious players always had the premiere brands. There will always be a market for premiere brands (albeit a somewhat smaller number in that space).
 
I’m considering buying a 7 string just to give it a shot. Even if I have to have it setup or frets touched up would still be a hell of a deal.
 
They can't be any worse than the Charvette I got as my first guitar. I have about 14 guitars now. The most expensive one is my 94 PRS Custom 24, and I still play the Charvette sometimes. There is no shame in cheap guitars, especially when you play the pants off of some arrogant tone sniffer with a $5000 Gibson who only puts 30 minutes a week into it lol!- (no offense to the other arrogant tone sniffers who are actual practicing musicians). Also check out Agile guitars at rondo music. They are Korean built and have a pretty good lineup. A little more expensive than the Harley Benton line, but you get things like real MOP or abalone inlays and Graph Tech bridges on a two or three piece body, usually for $400 or less. I have owned several and they are pretty solid guitars.
 
Yeah, but are you buying wood stock for 10,000 guitars at once?

No. ...and that would be the point. ...You cannot compete with these guys on price. They - all of them - Fender, HB, Ibanez, Jackson etc., - all buy in massive quantities, or contract with those who do. Hardware, wood, electronics - even paint.. Realistically, no small builder can compete on price with any of them due to the massive purchasing power of these major players... So, small-time builders have to compete on quality is all.

But if the bones are there; and you have a-little know-how; anybody can turn any cheaply made guitar into a first-rate professional instrument.

Luckily, a guitar is a sum of it's parts, but also the labor it takes to finish that guitar. Labor is expensive.. Just like anything, you can pay somebody for their time, and get a first rate finished instrument, or buy a few parts and finish the guitar yourself ... or complain about sharp fret-edges, etc., while otherwsie enjoying a bargain basement guitar. They're all choices to be had buying cheap guitars.

Alternatively, we can also choose to pay 5k for an instrument somebody has put real effort into.. Or 10k for bragging rights on an overpriced instrument somebody put roughly the same amount of effort into.

Choices, choices! :0) ..But I do think you get good bones with HB. I have not seen anything to otherwise negate that opinion.

Buy a cheap guitar, fix it up, you still have a better guitar for you money than many options. Or, as a first guitar,. buying HB? ...I would have killed - or at least happily done a lot of heavy labor for one, back in the day.

Credit where credit is due. They're doing a good job bringing forward more than reasonable quality at great prices.
 
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