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Harley Benton TE-52 NA Vintage Series
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A couple of very minor issues. Fitted strings show some oxidation and feel a little rough.Frets look and feel like they could do with a bit of a better dress or maybe even just polishing up will fix this . Some grime or gunk on frets which may be the cause and greyish blob of what I guess is polishing compound on the fingerboard which looks like it will pick or polish off. Also control knobs seated at very slightly different heights and volume a little bit off being true parallel to body. The very highest black dot fret marker is a bit smudged around the edges which again may well polish out.These are very very minor and wouldn't normally even notice them. Any of the above issues I'm sure could be found on guitars 2 or 3 times the price.
Who should by this ?
I have a few mid lower range electrics ?92 Squier Strat MIJ , Epiphone LP Special, Yamaha and promised myself my next guitar would be a ?proper? TE. However, when I heard about HB guitars and what you get for a very low price I changed my thinking. I'm an occasional home player who likes to have variety of guitars for different moods and tones etc. I don't gig and whilst this may not be the sort of guitar that would survive years of touring without some upgrading, it does what I need it to and does it very very well. Seriously when you look at what you get for the money, its amazing how HB are doing this. Forget the name on the headstock, based on feel, tone and build alone you would think you're playing something a lot more expensive . I've never played a ?real? TE or vintage or custom shop model so can't say what they?re like but it's hard to see how the big manufacturers justify some of their prices when you see what you get with this HB.
Get one !!!
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One other thing I wanted to state is that with this instrument coming into the US from Germany, the first one I ordered ended up having major shipping issues and never being delivered. None of this is Thomann's fault and I just wanted to express how thrilled I was by their staff and interactions in getting a replacement instrument out after Us mail verified it would not be coming. Thank you again for all the help.
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The guitar came in perfect condition upon arrival and was well packaged. upon investigation the body looks to be made of 3 pieces of ash. The maple neck and maple fretboard are separate pieces but you can only notice if you look closely. the pickups sound great too.
First this i had to do was take the old strings off as they felt disgusting but wherever you buy a guitar from i would always recomend buying and changing the strings anyway.
All the knobs and switches feel solid and the volume and tone pots are crackle free. but all the cavities are un shielded so you can get a bit of noise because of that. but for the price of the guitar i wouldnt expect it to be shielded. the pickup height needed adjudting slightly lower as when played on the high frets the strings would hit the neck pickup.
The neck was straight and the fretworks was ok. the strings trees are crap so i would replace them but they cost a few quid to replace anyway. the nut is very well cut with no buzzing .
The action was too high but action is to each players preferece and in the box provided was the tools to adjust the action and also the truss rock. unfortunatly when i lower the action enough the screws in the saddles now stick out to much and cut my hand. it could do with having shorter saddle screws. i went down to my local DIY store and bought some same diameter but slighty shorter in length screws to fix this.
The tuners seems to not do anything then all of a sudden change the tuning when used but once it is tuned it hold it well.
All in all i was going to mod the guitar but i will keep it as it is, play and sounds nice and all the above stuff i had to do were either me being very fussy of a matter of preference but 30 mins later of adjustments and it played to a standard of a squire classic tele.
Would definatly recomend to buy before they sell out or thomann realise they could charge more for these as they are that good !!
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I really liked the clear sound of the telecaster. Very intense. With overdrive, it sounds good, with a classic germanium fuzz, the sound just blew your brains out. With distortion, the sound turned out to be a little simpler, but here, probably, you need to choose a different distortion. For the price, this guitar is just a gift.
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First of all the bad points...
When the guitar arrived it was difficult to bend strings due to the roughness of the frets. When I removed the strings three of the ferrules fell out of the back. However these were easily glued back in place. It was a bit of a pain masking off the fretboard for polishing the frets but the actual polish was done quickly and easily.
It's all good from here...
Once restrung I plugged it in and it played like a dream, no problem at all with the frets. The guitar was very well set up with a nice low action. Playability gets 5 stars. The Roswell pickups sound superb. The bridge pickup provides that classic T-type bright, biting twang and the neck pickup is lovely and warm. 5 stars for the pickups. The tuners are OKish but once tuned the guitar stays in tune. I haven't weighed the guitar but it is a heavy beast, as heavy as my Gibson Les Paul.
I have owned two Fender Telecasters in the past and this Harley Benton is just as good. The TE-52 plays great and sounds great and at this crazy price I have no hesitation in recommending it. Superb guitar!
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However, mine showed up with obvious issues. First, the input jack nut was obviously loose when shipped and at some point during shipping it came off allowing the jack to fall into the body. Also, there were two deep scrapes in the finish caused by the nut bouncing around inside the bag.
The guitar was packaged in a guitar box that was placed inside a shipping box, the packing materials used to secure the one box inside the other was insufficient. The guitar box inside was moving freely within the shipping box. This allowed for what appears to be two major impacts to the guitar itself. The most notable being a 1.5cm ding at the very top of the headstock and two very small stress cracks at the neck joint. Honestly, I am only adding these things in hope that changes will be made for better protection in shipping & to attest the durability of these guitars!
The guitar plays & sounds great & built like a tank!
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very confortable to play , great fat neck like a fender , Tuners do the job, no need to replace them . The lacker is good and even, no huge deals, on thing that bugs me is the parsley model have a wilkinson brigde with brass tunning pegs, this one for more 10 euros could have one to . Ill buy a wilkinson bridge and put it there (the bridge that came is fine ok), the brass saddle give it more entonation and sustain , the Nut is plastic , like in many guitars under 500 euros , so have to go, replace it for a graphite one, the sound is Ok , i think the roswell pickups will do the job, so no need to replace them , ill replace the tone and volume control for a CTS ones with more quality, that will change the sound a lot with a little money, the frets are good but have some sharp edges, nothing that 10 minutes with a file dont do the job , i do that on all my guitars, have to do it in my Fender strat of 600 euros so....
Overal very good for the price, it put a smile on me, its 4 kg more a less, i?ve guitar more heavy and more expensive, it ash, so its a Bright Sound tele, its great. Buy it , you dont regret it , and with more 50 euros you can transform the sound and the playability of the guitar like a more expensive fender that cost 5 times more.
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So the only thing i dont like is the pickups, they sound clean but lack the punch i was looking for its great for rock and all. i will change it. Also the weight its a tad heavy not because its ash but maybe just a different type of ash used. Total score was 4 because the shipping cost is a bit more expensive now due to ups services. It did arrive faster than a guitar i ordered a month before this one.
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Overall, I am happy with the purchase. It arrived in Virginia Beach from Germany really fast - shipped Monday and arrived Wednesday. It was very well packed. Fit and finish is excellent. The neck is nice. The pickups and controls are good. I like the way it sounds - 3 distinctive tones from the three settings. Volume and tone knobs are solid and provide good adjustments. I've been making some GarageBand recordings that sound really pretty good.
I think the finish on the body is a little glossy for my taste but nothing I would change. It is a heavy guitar but not quite as heavy as my peavey. Beefy neck but I like it.
The tuning machines were rather poor quality - very loose and didn't grab right away. I replaced these with an inexpensive set which is much better. The nut was not good - third fret up on the lower strings were out of tune. With a new nut, string trees and tuners (~$40) I'm good to go. Would buy it again.
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Specs:
Mine has the Roswell pickups, a 3-piece body and Strat pickup routing in the neck position (I am mentioning this as there are variants with Wilkinson pickups and humbucker routing). The reason I bought it was because I have another guitar with a floyd rose and wanted to have a second one with a fixed bridge.
Pros/Cons/Middle
Pros:
-Tone: It sounds great out of the box(sound wise, we'll get on the setup later). The pickups won't go anytime soon. I love the neck pickup, sounds really bluesy. The bridge pickup has a lot of grit and when overdriven, it can get heavy.
-Build quality: I feel it comes on par with other budget teles, costing a hundred euros more
Cons:
-Electronics(not the pickups): they feel cheap. Welding seemed ok but the switch feels really cheap.
-Bridge: I changed it with a Wilkinson with brass saddles. Tone improved, the metal is of better quality.
-Tuners: functional, a bit too stiff.
Comments:
-Setup: The frets are a bit sharp. The intonation was already fixed and stock strings were not bad, however. Came almost tuned out of the box.
-Weight: This is a heavy guitar, period. I kinda like that, others may not. I have not measured it, definitely heavier than my Ibanez RG (basswood).
Conclussion:
Overall, I really like this guitar. I have already spent about 30-40 euros on it, I will take it to a professional to have it setup, maybe change the nut to a bone one. I highly recommend this guitar for modding. If it is your first guitar, take it directly pro to fix it up for playabillity and you will have a fine instrument in your hands.
Edit: After 2 years of owning this, it is still my go-to guitar. After installing a bone nut, the next improvement will be to change the tuning pegs.
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Strengths
Alnico pickups sound the part, the sound is close to that of another great copy like the Squire Classic Vibe. The neck is very nicely stained or coloured so it looks like real old maple. The body is nicely put together. Electronics work well (no issues). Tuning stability is great, very little to complain about regarding the tuning stability.
Weaknesses
The nut slots may have been a little small and the string was not resting properly in the nut (causing some intonation issues on the first three frets). After playing for a few hours, the strings seated themselves correctly in the nut (so the intonation problem corrected itself). The neck where it joins the head is typical asian (not as well formed as the Big F), not a problem possibly stronger that the American guitars. The frets are very rough (only a concern for players who bend alot, nothing a fret polish can sort out). Action is a little higher than I like (I will drop it soon).
Overall
For the money this is amazing. Very usable guitar with a little work can be great. I can definitely recommend it.
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For the price I would totally recommend it!
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The only real downfall in my opinion is the tuning heads. They have a vintage style slotted peg which is a massive pain in the you know what when restringing the guitar and in my experience so far, contributes to poor tuning stability so I think I will be swapping them out in the future. Having said that, for the price you cannot really complain about something like that. For a beginner this is a dream guitar and will serve you well for many years. For more advanced player its a great guitar to modify and add upgrades to as it will keep your spending to a minimum.
Overall I highly recommend this guitar to all levels of musician.
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I advise everyone to take this and other Harley Benton guitars. For such a price, you can forgive all the minor flaws. Overall a very beautiful tool.
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Ended selling it for what it cost me to a guy who loved it.
The neck is chunky and unfinished, and I'd probable end changing the pickups for something a bit more close to the 50 ones, but hey, is a cheap axe that plays and looks amazing, and probably my superheavy one was just a rarity.
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Issue 1 is a very minor issue. It needed a little setup. But, that is to be expected. It was more a matter of personal preference than playability. For most people, the setup right out of the box would have been fine.
Issue 2 was not major either, but it drove me crazy. When playing with higher gain you can hear a ringing noise after you blunt the strings. If you listen closely, you can actually hear it on the Rock Audio Example on the TE-52's page. Luckily, my son is an aspiring luthier and easily replaced the springs on the pickup adjustment screws with bits of tubing (either nylon or silicone, I don't remember). That solved the problem. It did alter the tone ever so slightly, but the ringing is gone and the bridge pickup still twangs nicely with a little overdrive and snarls angrily with a little more distortion.
I am enjoying this guitar.
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- Body is next to perfect (bridge mounted off angle)
- Neck was great with 14" radius. Issue with neck is in finish should have been done in a gloss to match the body (I did this to mine n retinted it).
- Pickups you'd swear where out of the squier CV 50's neck vintage tones, bridge vintage but slightly hot to handle heavier gain/lead work.
Im a home player/hobbiest on n off for 20+ yrs now. This guitar has brought me the closest to owning a single coil tele yet !! Sounds great thru all my vypyr vip2 patches !!
Modded mine with black locking tuners, black wilkinson compesating bridge & refinished/reworked neck & its a beauty to play !!
Must buy weither playing it stock or to mod out !!
Thanks Thomann for the great deal !! The few things I mentioned would just make it perfect !! =)
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AMAZED!
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