Harley Benton DC-60 Junior Polaris White

This is a really nice guitar. Purchased in August 2022. Packaged well with no case. No shipping damage. Double boxed with plenty of protection. Received in about a week after order was placed. Shipped to Barnhart, MO in the USA. The one I received is NOT Polaris White as shown in the image. Mine is more of a vintage white that has a tiny bit of a yellow tint which I'm ok with. The overall finish was almost perfect. There is a small dent on the fretboard. It does not affect the playability so I am not that worried about it. The string height out of the box at the 12th fret was approx. 2mm on the low E string and approx. 1.75mm on the high E string. I did lower this to 1.5mm on the low E and 1.25mm on the high E. Plays great with no buzz. I did tighten the truss rod about a 1/4 of a turn. Fret ends are smooth. The nut is cut well. No issues there. Intonation was spot on. I did put a small shim under the pickup to get it raised closer to the strings. Pickup sounds great with a lot of overdrive. This is my 2nd Harley Benton. The other is a SC-DLX Gotoh which is also a great guitar. Both play as well or better than the big name brands that I have also owned.

I've had this guitar for about six weeks now, so I've had a bit of time to collect my thoughts. First of all, there's a lot to be impressed about. The vintage white finish looks great in the flesh. There were only some very minor flaws in the lacquer on the edge of the fretboard, and a small imperfection under the paint on the inside of one of the horns. The tuners work well and the intonation can be easily adjusted on the bridge.

The first issue I have with this guitar is the weight. At 8lbs 4oz, it's much heavier than I was expecting for a Junior-type guitar. By comparison, my HB DC Ltd Gotoh Black is 6lbs 7oz.

The second issue is the angle of the set neck. The steeper angle of the neck leads to the strings being further away from the dogear P90 pickup (why most people add a shim to lift it). It also means the wraparound bridge has to sit quite high on the studs and away from the body (even with a low action). Under string tension, you can see a gap under the rear edge of the inserts for the tailpiece mounting studs, as they are pulled towards the neck. A flatter neck angle would cure both of these problems. I'm guessing that the full thickness body and steep neck angle designs are common with other HB humbucker/stoptail guitars. I'm also guessing that is why HB chose to fit a tall, Badass-style bridge to this guitar instead of a slimmer lightning bolt type.

Issues aside, I am happy with this guitar, and feel inspired to pick it up and play it as often as I can (which is the real test, I guess). If you can forgive the compromises that have to be made to keep the cost down, it's a great little rock machine!