Harley Benton JA-60 OW

I read a lot of reviews, and watched several videos, on this guitar before I took the gamble. I was not remotely disappointed.

Context: I've been playing guitar for about 20 years, and have owned and played a pretty good range of mid-high end guitars. One thing I've noticed in the last 5 or so years is the steady increase in quality of the cheap guitars, such as Squire, Laguna, and of course, Harley Benton. That said, this thing rises above even the best of the cheap "great" guitars

What I got was a guitar that was still 90% still in tune despite a trip across the ocean to the US and through a series of package processing facilities. It needed very little setup (could be none at all for some people), except for a small change of the action, and felt phenomenal.

The sound that came from my speakers after plugging it in and playing it for the first time was far beyond what I ever would have expected from a guitar at this price point. The overall sound maintained an excellent bottom-end without becoming muddy, while the high-end sounds (notes and natural sound of the strings) were bright without becoming shrill. I can honestly say I probably will not replace the pickups, which is first for me as far as factory pickups go.

The electronics are solid - no noise when turning knobs or flipping the pickup selector, and the jack stays pretty solid.

I have now gigged with this guitar several times over and found the tuning to be extremely stable, even in extreme temperature changes. My favorite example is when I took it out of my air conditioned car onto an outdoor stage when the temperature was 95F degrees and the humidity was about 80%. My ESP LTD EC-1000 Deluxe slipped out of tune a couple times in that show, but the Harley Benton did not - it held its tuning throughout the entire performance, was still in tune the next day.

Overall, the only thing I would change is the tuners, which are split-shaft for string-locking. They definitely work well, but they are a pain to work with when re-stringing. I will likely end up switching to proper locking tuners in the near future.

I use this guitar for playing at home. I am a hobbyist guitarist and don't play in a band. However, I would use this guitar in any band or live event and be very proud that I own it. I cannot tell you how impressive this guitar is for the price. I feel like I should buy every single HB guitar I can before the price jumps. Unbelievable value!

Pros: I live in Midwest USA and it is winter here currently. This guitar was shipped through the winter weather and was more than likely warm and cold many times during this process. The guitar was almost completely in tune and the setup was very very close. I didn't have to adjust the neck at all. The finish on the guitar is perfect, the neck is beautiful and all the hardware has a great finish and no corrosion on the crome.

Cons: I love to work on guitars and I was planning to completey take the guitar apart upon delivery. I would say for a beginner this guitar would be great to play out of the box but there is a little work that needs to be done. The frets needed a polish and the intonation was a little off. I also needed to re-solder a connection on the tone pot. One typical comment is that the tuners are cheat on these guitar. I would say they are a little cheat but if you work with them they will improve. No you cannot do too much adjustment with a vintage style tuner but readjusting the screws did actually help. I will be adding shielding to the cavities so that will help one the noise.

Overall look at the price. You should be paying at least 500 for these guitars. I would be very happy with this guitar if it cost more than it does. I would still feel like I got a great value. But 138 come on that is crazy for this guitar! Get one and have fun, I am going to get a burst one just because of the price and amazing value I have now seen in person.

I started playing guitar in 1965...I have had all the great classic electric guitars over the years...I have built and repaired guitars for years...I was so impressed with this guitar I have ordered a LP Jr style...the fit and finish are excellent... the neck and fretwork are a thing of beauty...all the hardware are top notch....pickups are amazing... you get 3 wonderful tones....well balanced between the 3 positions.... wonderful, very inspirational sounds between the 3 pickups....I have a 2000 Fender Jazzmaster that I am putting up for sale as I like this one so much...Love the color....Great job Harley Benton.

I needed the iconic asymmetric 1960's look and the P90 sound for classic rock, and I chose this over the F-branded stuff purely based on the price point. I was prepared to put in the extra work I suspected a guitar of this value would need, but frankly, even straight out of the box it was a perfectly decent instrument, well balanced, nicely finished, properly set up, and with that old school tone I was looking for. Including the single coil hum of course. Definitely awesome value for money.

Even though straight out of the box the guitar was totally alright, I of course had a go at upgrading it. I took it to pieces, I shielded the cavity, I leveled, profiled and polished the frets and filed away any sharp ends (of which there were very few), then I added a treble bleed to the volume pot (Harley Benton 220pF capacitor), and as I always do with Harley Benton stock tune-o-matic style bridges, I replaced the factory one with a Gotoh GE103B-N. A thick lemon oil wash for the fretboard, a blob of Loctite thread locker on the strap button screws, and that was it.

Now I have the ultimate vintage looking hard tail Jazz Master sort of axe in my arsenal, and it truly plays like a charm. Much better I should say than some of my similarly upgraded "Sq###r by F#nd#r" guitars. If it had humbuckers and a longer fretboard, it could even do the occasional stint into metal territory: The neck, while not very thin, is still fast and comfy, and the cutaway would easily give access to another 3 frets if there weren't just 21 of them. Great piece of gear, very happy with it.

This guitar is light, easy to play, and sounds like a dream (well, for the most part). The pickups make it sound somewhere a Gretsch and Strat with a jangly quality typically delivered by a Tele. Very nice guitar. For all of you Cure/Smiths/Echo and the Bunnymen fans (especially Cure), this guitar produces that PERFECT 80s sound. Also great for generating that noisy My Bloody Valentine sonic dissonant blur (also good for Blur songs, by the way).

The minus? Well, there's a buzz that might drive you crazy. But that's the Jazzmaster for you: they're inherently "buzzy." But, if you don't care too much, then this Alternative Axe is a good buy.

Enjoy. It's worth the price!

I now own 5 Harley Benton guitar's. And I have to say they are all great !! They all played and sounded great right out of the box. Some of them required very slight tweaking, but for the price, I don't think they can be beat. They are certainly better quality than the fender squire's. And they cost way less. I really do not need multiple guitar's, but I might buy more just because the price is great and they are that good. I own the ST-62BK Hotrod, the SC-550II PAF, the HB-35 Plus, the TE-62DB LPB, and the HB-JA60 OW. My wife thinks I am crazy but who cares what she thinks ?

This is my fifth Harley Benton guitar, and its definitely a keeper. Arrived in western USA very quickly (like 3 days!!!) and in pristine condition. Also, intonation was spot-on, and it was practically already in tune. The finish is completely flawless, the fretboard is well-dressed and comfortable, the volume and tone pots each have full range of sweep....I honestly cant find a single fault. Oh, you know that plastic film that covers the pickguard on new guitars? Well, I peeled this one off and the pickguard was still kinda hazy and dull. Turns out there were two layers of film. Peeled the second off to reveal a gorgeous, deep, and natural looking pattern.

Plugged in, the guitar has a warm, yet snappy, spanky, twangy clean tone. Even the slightest touch of gain adds a really nice breakup with clarity and warmth. Not as edgy as my telecaster, not as bright as my Stratocaster. Just a cool, mellow, vintage tone, better than I expected. Add some fuzz distortion or dirty overdrive and you're instantly into Radiohead meets 60's rock territory. Super fun guitar! If you're reading this, you know you need one! Do it.