Harley Benton TE-70RW Deluxe Series

Před zhruba dvaceti lety jsem skončil s muzikou a prodal jsem nástroje i aparaturu, měl jsem americkou Fender Telecaster. No a teď jsem se během té chřipkové karantény začal bavit doma v kuchyni, nahrávám si pro zábavu nápady a buduji takové malé home studio.

Od Harley Benton mám již basovou kytaru a kopii Les Paul, toto je má třetí kytara. Zpracování je čisté a profesionální, mechanika drží a struny se nerozlaďují, snímače jsou v pořádku a dokonce i fendrácký zvuk. Ta kytara je fakt skvělá a za tu cenu opravdu stojí. Navíc je opravdu hezká, ale to je otázka vkusu.

Když porovnáte cenu a kvalitu nástroje, není, co řešit.

Kytaru jsem musel demontovat, podložit krk podložkou cca 1mm z důvodu seřízení dohmatu. Struny E6 a E1 zněly slaběji z důvodů kovové kobylky a tvaru U. Vyměnil jsem kobylku která neměla tvar U z chrované mosazi a s možností seřízení jednotlivých strun a závada byla odstraněna. Na ovládacich potenciometrech byla zemní smyčka, která způsobuje brum na výstupu signálu. Nástroj jsem vyčistil od pilin. Otvory v těle nástroje pro struny byly 2x převrtány z výroby, protože nebyly proti otvorům kobylky. Nástroj i bez úprav je funkční.

Ok, another stunning review for a very inexpensive Harley Benton electric guitar... I am a hobby guitarist, drummer, pianist, and I do all my jamming at home in the basement man cave. I've read all the reviews like YOU have too, probably, because I just couldn't believe all the great things said about the incredibly inexpensive Harley Benton line of guitars. I finally had to "Jump In The Fire" ;) and I purchased this Tele copy, the TE-70RW Deluxe. I also bought a B stock Nashville Line Nylon solid body but that's not the focus of this review.
The TE70-RW has the following traits, in my opinion:
Pros: super inexpensive, flawless fit/finish, arrived with ZERO damage from Germany to Kentucky, U.S.A. in 9 days, good setup on arrival, NOT microphonic, NOT high action, NOT a returned item re-sold to me, the guitar for the $ paid is an OUTSTANDING value. Out of the box & wiped down then plugged in it sounds great. sounds every bit as nice as my Made In Mexico Deluxe Roadhouse Stratocaster and sounds better than the Fender Baja Tele my friend brought over to have on hand for immediate comparison. The Roswell pickups are fine, nothing special but NOTHING at all wrong with them.

Cons: the guts of the guitar are obviously 'cheap' but by no means are they LOW quality, the strings and fret board was 'dirty' and I had to do an extensive wipe down on the guitar. I would love to have a little higher quality fret board wood but that would increase the price.

Bottom Line: You can not beat the quality for the price paid. The CONS that I listed have nothing to do with the guitar tone, playability, or 'function'. I would not expect this guitar to be a 'gigging' axe for a professional but for the normal everyday guy/gal who just loves to play... it is A O.K.

If you are considering a Harley Benton guitar, any model, but are scared of the low LOW LOWWWWWW cost you are just like many Americans and other guitarists from countries outside the 'immediate' are of Thomann Music and that's understandable. Unless you've already done business with Thomann you just don't know if you can trust the reviews online and all that.... Well, there's only ONE way to find out and that is to bite the bullet and give them a chance.

You will not be disappointed.
I had ordered a Ritchie Kotzen signature Telecaster just a couple of days before this purchase. It's made in Japan and is at the top of Fender's 'non custom shop' food chain. I cancelled the order for the Fender and bought 2 Harley Benton's for 1/3 of the price I would've given for the Kotzen model Tele.

I'm extremely glad I did cancel that order. I have Tele sound, tone, feel, and more for a lot less money. Couldn't be happier with Thomann and Harley Benton.

So, this has caused me a problem or a dilemma at least. To be honest I bought this for one reason, to strip it for parts for my other Tele’s and so far it’s much, much better than expected, way too good to use as a donor guitar for parts. I now need to get parts in a different was as it’s erm,.....better than most of my other Tele’s.

The action is too high, way too high but I know that this is down to personal preference and entirely subjective yet needs adjustment. The tuners are ok, it depends on your perspective, they’re not amazing compared to a Schaller locking fender set yet for the money, I don’t get how they can do this, it’s surprising how good they are. The bridge tuner rattles too much at the moment but a setup may fix this.

Overall my neighbours were expecting to see something far from playable yet they didn’t believe that this was supposed to be a donor parts item. Me? I’m keeping this as is, I’ll change the bridge pickups as they rattle too much but overall, this is like modern magic. I wouldn’t expect anything playable at this budget but I am wrong , surprised, and actually really impressed.

Now I need to explain that I have a new guitar and no parts as expected, thanks Thomann, please send new tuners so I can avoid having to justify another guitar.

A quick update----
The tuners turned out to be awful. Dead spots everywhere, slipping, too much dead movement, they rapidly became as bad as the set on my Affinity. So I've made a few mods. I added a set of HB locking tuners, added Göldo string trees, cleaned and lemon oiled the neck twice, graphited the nut slots, and then swapped the strings for a set of Ernie Ball 9's. Now, it holds a note as well as my PRS.

The TE70 is a great base to make some basic changes, adding less than €100 in parts for such good results is worth it. It's still only cost around the same price as my affinity Tele but the results are much better. Next time I buy another HB I will make the same changes out of the box.

Finally, if a female can do all this work in a few hours, surely a chap can do it quicker ;)