V
Very impressive bang for buck guitar
I've been playing guitar for 50 years, have 11 other electrics inc original USA Fenders, Gibsons, PRS, Patrick Eggle etc. I was knocked out by the overall quality, playability & tones from this budget 'Tele' guitar. The finish, neck, electrics & tone were just excellent. I bought it based on several youtube reviews that were spot on.
I have a 1988 USA Tele Standard & I've played various custom shop Tele's and the pickup tone from these Roswell pickups is blindingly good, especially the neck p/up that sounds better than my USA Tele & the Custom Shop Tele's I've played. A few things to note: these guitars are quite heavy and can vary between 8.5 to 9.5 lbs - mine weighs around 8lb 12 oz. But the neck is superb and makes it amazingly comfortable to play. The stock tuners are serviceable but not great. I upgraded mine to Wilson Deluxe to keep the same vintage vibe but with superior 15:1 smoother tuning. I also had to polish the frets and there were a couple that had to be smoothed down a touch at the ends, but for a guitar at this price point that was no biggie. The chrome 3-piece saddle is fine and intonation was pretty good, but purely out of personal preference I put on Wilkinson brass compensated saddles for more accurate intonation. The only real issue I had with the guitar was that it had microphonic feedback on the bridge pickup. Originally I thought it was the pickup itself and (great service from Thomann) they sent me a replacement pickup. But I found out on 'The Fretboard' forum that it was actually the pickup base plate vibrating - a common theme even on USA Fender Tele's that have the same thinner vintage style base plate. All I had to do was take the base plate off and put some very thin foam or blutac (I used the latter) between the base plate and guitar body, and voila, problem completely fixed! If you should need to do that, you'll need a good power screwdriver as the 6 screws holding the plate are very tight...it will save your wrist and avoid the risk of you ruining the crosshead screws.
Overall this is a terrific guitar, and punches way above it's price-point and it is my go to guitar that's been on my guitar stand almost constantly since I've had it.
I have a 1988 USA Tele Standard & I've played various custom shop Tele's and the pickup tone from these Roswell pickups is blindingly good, especially the neck p/up that sounds better than my USA Tele & the Custom Shop Tele's I've played. A few things to note: these guitars are quite heavy and can vary between 8.5 to 9.5 lbs - mine weighs around 8lb 12 oz. But the neck is superb and makes it amazingly comfortable to play. The stock tuners are serviceable but not great. I upgraded mine to Wilson Deluxe to keep the same vintage vibe but with superior 15:1 smoother tuning. I also had to polish the frets and there were a couple that had to be smoothed down a touch at the ends, but for a guitar at this price point that was no biggie. The chrome 3-piece saddle is fine and intonation was pretty good, but purely out of personal preference I put on Wilkinson brass compensated saddles for more accurate intonation. The only real issue I had with the guitar was that it had microphonic feedback on the bridge pickup. Originally I thought it was the pickup itself and (great service from Thomann) they sent me a replacement pickup. But I found out on 'The Fretboard' forum that it was actually the pickup base plate vibrating - a common theme even on USA Fender Tele's that have the same thinner vintage style base plate. All I had to do was take the base plate off and put some very thin foam or blutac (I used the latter) between the base plate and guitar body, and voila, problem completely fixed! If you should need to do that, you'll need a good power screwdriver as the 6 screws holding the plate are very tight...it will save your wrist and avoid the risk of you ruining the crosshead screws.
Overall this is a terrific guitar, and punches way above it's price-point and it is my go to guitar that's been on my guitar stand almost constantly since I've had it.
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M
Terrific Value, as ever.
I've owned a few HB's over the last few years, all great guitars and unbelievably good for the price. This follows that trend with a couple of small irritants that could easily be rectified.
As everyone says, it's heavy, but I don't mind that so much. Fit and finish great, except for two things:
The tuners are "vintage" type, which means no hole through the side of the shaft so you have to stick the end of the string in the hole down through the centre. I've never been a fan of these, but with this version the hole isn't very deep so it's all but impossible, without the aid of a matchstick-as-plug, to keep the thinner strings in place whilst wrapping them round the pegs. Not ideal if you break strings regularly at gigs. Secondly, the ferrules on the back for the through body stringing are very loose in their holes, and simply fall out if there's not a string to hold them in place. Again, not great if you break a string gigging, and the ferrule falls out on stage. Maybe that's why they give you the option of stringing through the rear of the bridge assembly itself....... The right size holes would help immensely. I took the drop of superglue approach.
Anyway, other than those minor problems, all fine. Action out of the box needed lowering a lot (and I don't like a particularly low action), but intonation was pretty much as good as it gets from the 3-saddle vintage-style bridge assembly without need for adjustment. The fingerboard is quite patchy in colour, but not unattractive.
So a solid four stars.
As everyone says, it's heavy, but I don't mind that so much. Fit and finish great, except for two things:
The tuners are "vintage" type, which means no hole through the side of the shaft so you have to stick the end of the string in the hole down through the centre. I've never been a fan of these, but with this version the hole isn't very deep so it's all but impossible, without the aid of a matchstick-as-plug, to keep the thinner strings in place whilst wrapping them round the pegs. Not ideal if you break strings regularly at gigs. Secondly, the ferrules on the back for the through body stringing are very loose in their holes, and simply fall out if there's not a string to hold them in place. Again, not great if you break a string gigging, and the ferrule falls out on stage. Maybe that's why they give you the option of stringing through the rear of the bridge assembly itself....... The right size holes would help immensely. I took the drop of superglue approach.
Anyway, other than those minor problems, all fine. Action out of the box needed lowering a lot (and I don't like a particularly low action), but intonation was pretty much as good as it gets from the 3-saddle vintage-style bridge assembly without need for adjustment. The fingerboard is quite patchy in colour, but not unattractive.
So a solid four stars.
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R
TE-52 blackguard
Very good for the price and the specs. Really happy with my blackguard, but of course I needed to put it the way I like. Need fret works, new string trees, brass saddles and sand off the shine glossy body. Now, she is the one!
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R
It's Ok
For the price it's ok, it plays well and looks cool, nothing really wrong with it. It's quite heavy and a nice round neck profile. It just didn't sing for me, I was looking for a snappy country sound, but it just didn't "snap" or chicken pick the way I felt a Tele should, I could have changed the pickups but i felt the body just wasn't resonant enough to get the results I wanted from it.
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Q
WOW! JUST WOW
Hands down, for the money, you can't beat this guitar! After unboxing, and tuning it up, I started playing. The intonation was perfect! I stretched the strings a bit, re-tuned, and she stays in tune perfectly. Tuners are smooth. Sounds great through my little home practice amp nice twang and bite, everything you'd expect from this style guitar. Some people have commented that the guitar is heavy, and it is, but I don't think it's to bad. The only other thing is the frets on mine were a bit rough, but I'll file the ends and polish the tops when I change the strings. Really glad I bought this guitar!!
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D
Geweldige gitaar voor deze prijs!
Mijn eerste Harley Benton, en zeker niet mijn laatste. Ik heb de gitaar nu een maand of 4. Speelbaar out of the box. Ik heb enkel de actie verlaagd. Geen scherpe randen frets, frets zijn mooi glad, de intonatie was zo goed als perfect. Bendings zijn makkelijk op deze gitaar. Sliden gaat als boter! De nek is dik en voelt fluweel zacht. Ik kan weinig negatiefs zeggen. Enige minpuntje is het gewicht (aan de zware kant) en de tuners. Al blijft de gitaar wel goed gestemd. Pickups zijn goed. Warme diepe klanken zijn mogelijk op de bridge pickup en de typische scherpe Tele-sound heb je met de neck pickup. Als het gewicht voor jou geen rol speelt, niet twijfelen om deze te kopen. Prachtige gitaar! UPDATE na 1,4 jaar: Het gewicht hield me wat tegen om de gitaar dagelijks te gebruiken maar ik speel er nu bijna dagelijks op en dit weegt niet op tegen het geweldige gevoel om op dit instrument te spelen. Ik sta nog steeds versteld van de kwaliteit voor deze lage prijs! Niet te geloven eigenlijk! Wil je een kwaliteits-Tele tegen een belachelijk lage prijs? Kopen dan! Als ik zelf een prijs op deze gitaar zou plakken: minimum 500 tot 700 euro waarden. Zonder twijfel.
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V
I’m happy!
I bought this because I wanted to add a telecaster to my collection without paying Fender dollars and at the same time, try these Harley Benton guitars that I have been seeing all over the net.
The guitar is heavy (not an issue for me) but for some it may be.
The tuners feel a little weak but so far everything works as it should and
I’m happy with the sound, build quality and dealing with Thomann was great.
I will not be buying another telecaster, this one does what I was hoping it would!
The guitar is heavy (not an issue for me) but for some it may be.
The tuners feel a little weak but so far everything works as it should and
I’m happy with the sound, build quality and dealing with Thomann was great.
I will not be buying another telecaster, this one does what I was hoping it would!
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f
Scratch plate askew
I have changed the pups several times the original ones sounded great on low volumes but not too great when cranked up. The scratchplate was askew but was an easy fix. For the money, it's well worth it.
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vg
Mooi afgewerkte gitaar zeker voor de prijs.
Mooi zware gitaar, mooi afgewerkt.
De pickups zijn ok maar mochten ietsje krachter zijn vooral de halspickup, de brugpickup scoort beter!
De pickups zijn ok maar mochten ietsje krachter zijn vooral de halspickup, de brugpickup scoort beter!
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V
Not bad at all
I purchased this guitar as a low cost option for a Telecaster, a guitar type that I am not a huge fan of, but since I had read so many good reviews I thought I'd give it a try. I am not a very experienced guitarist (I play other instruments and only recently I re-introduced myself to guitar, after about 40 years) but nevertheless, I am very pleased with the sound of this guitar, as it is rich in tones and an excellent choice for genres such as rock 'n' roll, blues rock, country, funk and even some styles of hard rock. Having said that, quite a few of my guitar's frets buzz all over the place and the fretboard is not so smooth - not to say it is not pleasant to play, but it feels somewhat wide and rough and the strings a bit too heavy, so it's definitely not ideal for shredding (I am not a shredder myself, but I'm sure you know what I mean). But gradually I'm getting used to it. Overall, I like this guitar, especially its sound which is great, and for the price it is a solid instrument, but I think mine could use a good set up right out of the box. IDK, maybe I got unlucky, so I'll give it 4 stars.
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