d
Silver beauty
Ordered this one a few days after Fusion III series was announced, so there were no reviews
TL;DR: it's a great guitar! Especially for its price
Now let's dig into details
PROS:
- Look. Visually it is amazing, WAY more beautiful in real life compared to photos. Sparks and shines like fireworks, so gorgeous
- Also, top finish does not collect fingerprints or dust
- Spec list. You get roasted maple neck, steel frets, coils split, two point trem, truss rod adjustment wheel at the last fret, locking tuners, nubone nut and that top finish - so many features - for only 400 eur. You heard me
- Roasted maple neck feels fantastic. Smooth, convenient, nice profile, satin feel. Also - do I need to say this - it's beautiful
- Frets aligned well, fret ends are nice, but they are not smooth out of the box. I've polished them and they are soooo good now
- Really like matte finish on trem, pickups and furniture. Feels nice too
- Pickups are great, coil split sounds great, maybe they have slightly low output, but I really love their tone, both clean and distorted
- Tuners are fine, no problems with them so far. Nice to have locking mechanism - works great, very convenient
- Trem is fine (except one problem - read the cons), works great, set it up in a floating position, holds tuning perfectly, no matter how wild your divebombs are
CONS:
- Trem was the main problem. When I initially set it up, it worked really weird. It got stuck in random positions when you use it. It absolutely didnt want to return in its balance point, it didnt flutter and I could not control it at all. It took me some time to figure out the problem. Basically, the size of the cavity for tremolo in guitar body did not match the size of tremolo (if it makes sense), so inner part of the tremolo rubbed the wall of this cavity. My guitar tech have slightly increased this cavity (tenths or hundredths of a millimeter) and problem disappeared. It was tricky to find out the problem, but now i have no questions to tremolo, it works as intended
- Pickup switch made some strange sounds while switching, but one spray of oil contact cleaner took that away
- If you want frets smooth out of the box - you need to polish them
- Have some question to retainers, not sure if they work well, hear weird noises while tuning
Neutral thoughts:
- Out of the box it needs tuning and adjustments (as every other new instrument) - action, truss rod, trem, frets etc. You should keep it in mind. Strongly recommend going to your guitar tech
- Change strings immediately - stock ones are not good (old and rusty)
- Took one trem spring away - think with 10/46 strings 3 springs are too much. With two trem works great, no problems
- Tone push/pull is too loose - common problem with push/pulls, but sometimes when you use coil split, your tone knob turns around, prefer more tight pots
- Volume pot is very close to the bridge, it is hard sometimes to change volume when you use whammy bar
- You should know that almost everything is inherited from Fusion II series, these two versions are basically the same guitar. Not sure if it bothers anyone (not me)
All being said, I absolutely LOVE this guitar. After fixing this annoying bridge problem guitar feels nice, plays nice, sounds nice, looks fantastic. Everything is just so good, when you pick it up you just want to play it and do not let go at all. Love this guitar
TL;DR: it's a great guitar! Especially for its price
Now let's dig into details
PROS:
- Look. Visually it is amazing, WAY more beautiful in real life compared to photos. Sparks and shines like fireworks, so gorgeous
- Also, top finish does not collect fingerprints or dust
- Spec list. You get roasted maple neck, steel frets, coils split, two point trem, truss rod adjustment wheel at the last fret, locking tuners, nubone nut and that top finish - so many features - for only 400 eur. You heard me
- Roasted maple neck feels fantastic. Smooth, convenient, nice profile, satin feel. Also - do I need to say this - it's beautiful
- Frets aligned well, fret ends are nice, but they are not smooth out of the box. I've polished them and they are soooo good now
- Really like matte finish on trem, pickups and furniture. Feels nice too
- Pickups are great, coil split sounds great, maybe they have slightly low output, but I really love their tone, both clean and distorted
- Tuners are fine, no problems with them so far. Nice to have locking mechanism - works great, very convenient
- Trem is fine (except one problem - read the cons), works great, set it up in a floating position, holds tuning perfectly, no matter how wild your divebombs are
CONS:
- Trem was the main problem. When I initially set it up, it worked really weird. It got stuck in random positions when you use it. It absolutely didnt want to return in its balance point, it didnt flutter and I could not control it at all. It took me some time to figure out the problem. Basically, the size of the cavity for tremolo in guitar body did not match the size of tremolo (if it makes sense), so inner part of the tremolo rubbed the wall of this cavity. My guitar tech have slightly increased this cavity (tenths or hundredths of a millimeter) and problem disappeared. It was tricky to find out the problem, but now i have no questions to tremolo, it works as intended
- Pickup switch made some strange sounds while switching, but one spray of oil contact cleaner took that away
- If you want frets smooth out of the box - you need to polish them
- Have some question to retainers, not sure if they work well, hear weird noises while tuning
Neutral thoughts:
- Out of the box it needs tuning and adjustments (as every other new instrument) - action, truss rod, trem, frets etc. You should keep it in mind. Strongly recommend going to your guitar tech
- Change strings immediately - stock ones are not good (old and rusty)
- Took one trem spring away - think with 10/46 strings 3 springs are too much. With two trem works great, no problems
- Tone push/pull is too loose - common problem with push/pulls, but sometimes when you use coil split, your tone knob turns around, prefer more tight pots
- Volume pot is very close to the bridge, it is hard sometimes to change volume when you use whammy bar
- You should know that almost everything is inherited from Fusion II series, these two versions are basically the same guitar. Not sure if it bothers anyone (not me)
All being said, I absolutely LOVE this guitar. After fixing this annoying bridge problem guitar feels nice, plays nice, sounds nice, looks fantastic. Everything is just so good, when you pick it up you just want to play it and do not let go at all. Love this guitar
19
0
Report
LA
Pleasantly Surpised
This is my first review of any product I've ever owned. I purchased a Fusion III SSP about 2 months ago. I was expecting to have a decent guitar that would probably need a setup (as most guitars do from the factory) and have an adjustment period before getting comfortable with it. How wrong I was!
I gave the guitar a few days to adjust to my climate. The guitar needed to be tuned, it came a few strings a half-step down. Once tuned I check the nut, intonation and string height. The nut was cut to perfection. There was no snagging or binding. The intonation was spot on. String height was a nice 4mm from the 12th fret. The neck didn't need a truss rod adjustment. Speaking of the neck, I've never played a smoother neck in all my years of playing. There were no fret ends poking out or sharp edges. The Flame on the back of the neck has nice variations of large and small flame patterns. The fret-board has a more nuanced flame that appears in certain lighting.
The Sparkle finish is quiet something to see in person. I've seen other sparkle finishes but they usually have small flakes and this Fusion has large flakes which for me is more pleasing. The finish reflects light in a similar way to disco balls or a fine Christmas tree topper. I like the wood binding as a transition from the sparkle to the natural transparent finish. I don't think a cream, white or pearloid binding would have looked appropriate.
The pickups are good if a bit dark for my taste. I adapt to this by adding some mids and top end. They are not muddy. They have good clarity and note definition, especially so when coil split. They do a good job at being able to get those strat like tones. They excel at being able to crank the gain to get a vintage rock/metal tone.
The Wilkinson bridge is rock solid with moderate trem use. As I don't "dive bomb" the guitar stays in tune and remains stable. This guitar is my first with locking tuners and I will never use standard tuners again. I did have to change the strings as I tried too hard to be Malmsteen and broke a high E. I've never had a easier time changing strings.
Honestly I'm probably forgetting to mention a few things, but overall I've been impressed with how good the Fusion is. Since getting it I've played more in roughly the last 2 months than I have in the previous 8 months. The Fusion has in a way inspired me and reminded me of why I love playing guitar. For me it's that good of an instrument.
I gave the guitar a few days to adjust to my climate. The guitar needed to be tuned, it came a few strings a half-step down. Once tuned I check the nut, intonation and string height. The nut was cut to perfection. There was no snagging or binding. The intonation was spot on. String height was a nice 4mm from the 12th fret. The neck didn't need a truss rod adjustment. Speaking of the neck, I've never played a smoother neck in all my years of playing. There were no fret ends poking out or sharp edges. The Flame on the back of the neck has nice variations of large and small flame patterns. The fret-board has a more nuanced flame that appears in certain lighting.
The Sparkle finish is quiet something to see in person. I've seen other sparkle finishes but they usually have small flakes and this Fusion has large flakes which for me is more pleasing. The finish reflects light in a similar way to disco balls or a fine Christmas tree topper. I like the wood binding as a transition from the sparkle to the natural transparent finish. I don't think a cream, white or pearloid binding would have looked appropriate.
The pickups are good if a bit dark for my taste. I adapt to this by adding some mids and top end. They are not muddy. They have good clarity and note definition, especially so when coil split. They do a good job at being able to get those strat like tones. They excel at being able to crank the gain to get a vintage rock/metal tone.
The Wilkinson bridge is rock solid with moderate trem use. As I don't "dive bomb" the guitar stays in tune and remains stable. This guitar is my first with locking tuners and I will never use standard tuners again. I did have to change the strings as I tried too hard to be Malmsteen and broke a high E. I've never had a easier time changing strings.
Honestly I'm probably forgetting to mention a few things, but overall I've been impressed with how good the Fusion is. Since getting it I've played more in roughly the last 2 months than I have in the previous 8 months. The Fusion has in a way inspired me and reminded me of why I love playing guitar. For me it's that good of an instrument.
4
0
Report
C
Amazing guitar and quality
Coming from only playing high end PRS, Suhr and Parkers Most my life I figured it was time to try something different that didn’t break the bank. Been watching this brand for a couple years and finally decided to pull the trigger on one after some research. Guitar showed up pretty much flawless minus some frets that were a bit rough. Nothing major.
Was set up decent and the intonation was bang on. Neck is unreal and the flame is as nice or nicer than some of the suhr and Ernie ball guitars I’ve had. No high frets, no fret sprout, no sharp edges and a Nicely rolled finger board.
The guitar is a pleasure to play. Stays in tune without perfectly.
I’m not saying this is on par with my $5k guitars. But for 1/10 the price I’d put it up there with some of the $1500-$2000 guitars I’ve had.
The pick ups are just ok but totally usable. A little darker and smooth sounding than I’d like but that’s what eq is for.
Hardware is as good as any American Strat and maybe better considering this has roller trees and locking tuners with good ratio at 18/1
Tusq nut and stainless frets on a flame roasted neck and board is unheard of at this price.
Anyways I like it so much I just ordered the tele version.
Was set up decent and the intonation was bang on. Neck is unreal and the flame is as nice or nicer than some of the suhr and Ernie ball guitars I’ve had. No high frets, no fret sprout, no sharp edges and a Nicely rolled finger board.
The guitar is a pleasure to play. Stays in tune without perfectly.
I’m not saying this is on par with my $5k guitars. But for 1/10 the price I’d put it up there with some of the $1500-$2000 guitars I’ve had.
The pick ups are just ok but totally usable. A little darker and smooth sounding than I’d like but that’s what eq is for.
Hardware is as good as any American Strat and maybe better considering this has roller trees and locking tuners with good ratio at 18/1
Tusq nut and stainless frets on a flame roasted neck and board is unheard of at this price.
Anyways I like it so much I just ordered the tele version.
8
2
Report
RS
Would be great regardless, but price makes it an absolute must buy.
The guitar arrived very well packaged, and in perfect condition. No dents, nicks or scratches. Good start.
The feature set on this guitar is top shelf. Roasted maple neck, stainless steel frets, locking tuners, Wilkinson trem, nu-bone nut and roller style string trees. The only other instruments I could find with that same list of features cost over £1,000 each, and let’s not forget that until 2 or 3 years ago roasted maple was something reserved for custom shop or limited edition runs from the big brands.
The guitar plays really well. Very comfortable neck with a fretboard radius that is perfect for my preference - I don’t like anything too flat and thin. The satin finish makes the neck very smooth, no sticky hand issues which are common with high gloss necks. The fretboard edges are nicely rounded - no sharp edges or rough fret ends that I have found. There are some minor tooling marks on the fretboard edge, but they absolutely do not detract from the look or feel - you have to put your nose on the thing to see them.
The sound of the guitar is straight up 80’s hot rodded strat territory. The bolt on maple neck and fretboard makes for some very satisfying snap to the high end with plenty of midrange warmth. Bass response is a little light, so I wouldn’t recommend using this guitar for modern metal - but look at it, that’s clearly not what this guitar was made to do.
The pickups are the only area of the guitar where I have any complaint and it is a minor (ish) gripe which is that they are very inconsistent across the range of the volume pot. Rolling off the volume even a little completely loses the punch of the pickup, along with a lot of the high end and while using the coil split mode it makes the pickups almost inaudible by comparison to the full humbucker mode. Leave the volume and tone at 10 and shred away, but I will almost certainly replace these pickups down the road. They look nice in brushed metal though.
In terms of setup, the guitar comes in a very ‘raw’ out of box state. There is dust left over from manufacturing visible around the frets, neck joint and around the trem cavity and the guitar required some adjustment before performing to it’s potential. For me this meant putting 1 1/2 turns on the truss rod, lowering the bridge by a turn on both sides, tightening the locking tuners and adjusting the bridge saddles for the D,G and B strings to nail the intonation. If you have any experience maintaining or setting up guitars this is easy to do and took me about 10 minutes, plus another 10 minutes for a clean and polish. I don’t count any of this against the instrument BUT beginners may not be able to get the best out of this guitar without a trip to their local guitar shop to get it setup properly.
Finally then, there is the price and I guess that this is where the story comes together. For £349 (and free shipping!!) I got a great looking instrument which plays just as well as my Epiphone and PRS SE instruments both of which cost twice as much and has a list of features that neither of those guitars come close to. This guitar sounds awesome (bearing in mind shortcomings of the Roswell pickups) but this is easily solved with some light soldering and a set of Seymour Duncans one day in the future.
All in all, this would be a good guitar for £800. A great guitar for £500. For £349 it raises the bar for every other manufacturer still selling ‘Professional’ instruments with plastic nuts and generic trem systems (*cough* Fender and Gibson *cough*).
Buy one. With experience and a little TLC this thing is an incomparable value.
The feature set on this guitar is top shelf. Roasted maple neck, stainless steel frets, locking tuners, Wilkinson trem, nu-bone nut and roller style string trees. The only other instruments I could find with that same list of features cost over £1,000 each, and let’s not forget that until 2 or 3 years ago roasted maple was something reserved for custom shop or limited edition runs from the big brands.
The guitar plays really well. Very comfortable neck with a fretboard radius that is perfect for my preference - I don’t like anything too flat and thin. The satin finish makes the neck very smooth, no sticky hand issues which are common with high gloss necks. The fretboard edges are nicely rounded - no sharp edges or rough fret ends that I have found. There are some minor tooling marks on the fretboard edge, but they absolutely do not detract from the look or feel - you have to put your nose on the thing to see them.
The sound of the guitar is straight up 80’s hot rodded strat territory. The bolt on maple neck and fretboard makes for some very satisfying snap to the high end with plenty of midrange warmth. Bass response is a little light, so I wouldn’t recommend using this guitar for modern metal - but look at it, that’s clearly not what this guitar was made to do.
The pickups are the only area of the guitar where I have any complaint and it is a minor (ish) gripe which is that they are very inconsistent across the range of the volume pot. Rolling off the volume even a little completely loses the punch of the pickup, along with a lot of the high end and while using the coil split mode it makes the pickups almost inaudible by comparison to the full humbucker mode. Leave the volume and tone at 10 and shred away, but I will almost certainly replace these pickups down the road. They look nice in brushed metal though.
In terms of setup, the guitar comes in a very ‘raw’ out of box state. There is dust left over from manufacturing visible around the frets, neck joint and around the trem cavity and the guitar required some adjustment before performing to it’s potential. For me this meant putting 1 1/2 turns on the truss rod, lowering the bridge by a turn on both sides, tightening the locking tuners and adjusting the bridge saddles for the D,G and B strings to nail the intonation. If you have any experience maintaining or setting up guitars this is easy to do and took me about 10 minutes, plus another 10 minutes for a clean and polish. I don’t count any of this against the instrument BUT beginners may not be able to get the best out of this guitar without a trip to their local guitar shop to get it setup properly.
Finally then, there is the price and I guess that this is where the story comes together. For £349 (and free shipping!!) I got a great looking instrument which plays just as well as my Epiphone and PRS SE instruments both of which cost twice as much and has a list of features that neither of those guitars come close to. This guitar sounds awesome (bearing in mind shortcomings of the Roswell pickups) but this is easily solved with some light soldering and a set of Seymour Duncans one day in the future.
All in all, this would be a good guitar for £800. A great guitar for £500. For £349 it raises the bar for every other manufacturer still selling ‘Professional’ instruments with plastic nuts and generic trem systems (*cough* Fender and Gibson *cough*).
Buy one. With experience and a little TLC this thing is an incomparable value.
2
1
Report
B
Excellent playability, great value
I ordered this guitar because I wanted a guitar with a roasted maple neck, strat-style, that didn’t break the bank - and it looked great!! Shipping was quick ( 5 days to the other side of the globe) but held up at destination for a further week due to Covid lockdown causing logistics delays. The guitar arrived in one piece, despite the travel, and intonation was perfect, only requiring the action to be slightly lowered. Plays great, and the neck…. Oh the neck. I just love the feel of it. The pickups are Ok, but you can always swap them out for whatever you like (and upgrade the electrics at the same time) - get handy with a soldering iron! Frets were a bit scratchy but after a week I don’t really notice it, but if it annoys you then tape off the fingerboard and use some 1200 then 1500 then 3000 grit sandpaper to make them glassy. Or just keep playing and let the strings do the job over time! Anyway, guitar was immaculate other than that and I highly recommend Harley Benton/Thomann for your next guitar.
4
0
Report
MW
Played two shows and more to come - Harley Benton Fusion III
When the guitar came, I played it for about 2.5 hours having a lot of fun. The tone is great and the guitar has great response to the touch. I was scheduled to play two shows this month September 2022, back to back. I'd been playing another favorite guitar, but decided to take the HB Fusion III with me. Guitar sounded great and the tone cut through. My buddy wanted to play my HB Fusion III and broke the first string, and that's where the convince of the locking tuners came in, I replaced the stock strings with a new set DAddario 10's in about 15 min including stretching. The HB Fusion held it's tuning great through both performances. My HB Fusion III is a very solid guitar and I will be taking it with me for many more performances. I highly recommend using this guitar for more than a backup guitar. It did very well. The styles played during the shows are rock and funk, the Harley Benton Fusion III handled clean funk and rock perfectly for my style of playing .
Thank You and God Bless
Best Wishes
Thank You and God Bless
Best Wishes
0
0
Report
G
Worth it? Definitely
Overall I'm happy with this guitar, although some tuning by guitar technician was required and I plan to replace the tremolo first and then electronics.
Thanks to Thomann, DHL and Meest for safe and fast delivery to Ukraine - only 3 weeks, no problems with customs clearance.
CONS:
* Rough frets (now polished)
* Tremolo bridge and strings action was too high (the neck angle was adjusted using the shim)
* Poor quality of tremolo material - after few hours of using the dents are already present on tremolo points and knives.
* Tremolo does not return to zero - I've tried everything including changes stock springs to Gotoh. Probably I'm not lucky, many do not have such problems.
* Pickups switch cracking
PROS:
* Looks amazing!
* Great finish
* Incredibly nice neck feel
* Quite good pickups and coil splitting
* Locking tuners works well
Advice - take off the string trees straight away, they are not needed thanks to staggered locking tuners
Thanks to Thomann, DHL and Meest for safe and fast delivery to Ukraine - only 3 weeks, no problems with customs clearance.
CONS:
* Rough frets (now polished)
* Tremolo bridge and strings action was too high (the neck angle was adjusted using the shim)
* Poor quality of tremolo material - after few hours of using the dents are already present on tremolo points and knives.
* Tremolo does not return to zero - I've tried everything including changes stock springs to Gotoh. Probably I'm not lucky, many do not have such problems.
* Pickups switch cracking
PROS:
* Looks amazing!
* Great finish
* Incredibly nice neck feel
* Quite good pickups and coil splitting
* Locking tuners works well
Advice - take off the string trees straight away, they are not needed thanks to staggered locking tuners
6
0
Report
RB
Very good guitar for the price
Was a bit skeptical about the guitar and reviews on other fusion like models but once arrived, it took 2/3 days of deep testing to take the decision to keep the guitar. The major thing I was disappointed at first was the string action too high and my doubts about the impossibility to lower the bridge since there is simply no space available (the bridge at minimum height lays on the guitar body). I solved the action problem by simply half turning the truss rod screw.
Another cons is about tuning stability but this also can be solved with few tricks here and there (add some lube on friction points and follow Galeazzo Frudua's tips for tremolo setup).
Once fixed those main issues I can say I'm fully satisfied!
CONS
- String action too high (can be fixed)
- Tuning stability (can be fixed)
- Tremolo bridge cannot fully dive because of small cavity (can be fixed routing a bit more the cavity)
- Volume pot not so precise (maybe it is exponential, I prefer CTS 500k linear taper)
- Push/pull on the tone knob (I prefer push/push)
- No fluorescent side dots
PROS
- Headstock, neck and body finish is fantastic. Almost no imperfections in overall finish (just a little imperfection on the contour of the 3 way switch slot)
- Stainless steel frets finish comfortable and precise intonation, no buzz (tested all frets)
- Pickups good, a little over the average of cheap guitars
- Tuning machines very good, also string trees
- Bone nut
- Tremolo bridge solid and does the job
Another cons is about tuning stability but this also can be solved with few tricks here and there (add some lube on friction points and follow Galeazzo Frudua's tips for tremolo setup).
Once fixed those main issues I can say I'm fully satisfied!
CONS
- String action too high (can be fixed)
- Tuning stability (can be fixed)
- Tremolo bridge cannot fully dive because of small cavity (can be fixed routing a bit more the cavity)
- Volume pot not so precise (maybe it is exponential, I prefer CTS 500k linear taper)
- Push/pull on the tone knob (I prefer push/push)
- No fluorescent side dots
PROS
- Headstock, neck and body finish is fantastic. Almost no imperfections in overall finish (just a little imperfection on the contour of the 3 way switch slot)
- Stainless steel frets finish comfortable and precise intonation, no buzz (tested all frets)
- Pickups good, a little over the average of cheap guitars
- Tuning machines very good, also string trees
- Bone nut
- Tremolo bridge solid and does the job
4
0
Report
G
Fusion-III HH Roasted SSP is a winner!!!
This guitar is truly amazing. I'm so blown away. Great price too. I've been playing over 45 years professionally and I highly recommend this guitar. I only had to change to my strings, adjust the action and bridge, tighten the truss rod and adjust pickup height. I love the neck. I might change pickups, but that's a personal thing. I will be gigging with this. Thank you Thomann for the fast shipping!! Very good communication too.
3
0
Report
s
AWESOME GUITAR FOR THE MONEY!
The Harley Benton Fusion-III HH Roasted SSP, is an awesome guitar for the money. In my 45 yrs playing guitars , I have played many different guitars. Charvels and Gibson LPs are my favorite. This guitar ranks right up there with my charvels, without the higher price tag so much that I have 3 HB fusions now. Great fret work, paint jobs, the roasted neck, wow! just wow! and sound is right on spot. Even the floyd Rose stays in tune with a minor set up.
GREAT JOB Harley B ! You won't be dissapointed at this price point. Shipping is fast and customer service is great!
GREAT JOB Harley B ! You won't be dissapointed at this price point. Shipping is fast and customer service is great!
1
0
Report
