Harley Benton JA-60CC Lake Placid Blue

I am truly shocked by the quality of this guitar. No joke.

I've owned lots of Harley Bentons, many of them came with oddball QC problems but I'm not exaggerating when I say there is none of that here and the model I received was flawless. Aesthetically the neck is GORGEOUS, feels so smooth, the finish is amazing, and the blue colour is a looker!

No sharp fret ends, nut seems to be cut decently, was setup really good for E standard right out of the box. I played it for hours and had no complaint with the setup. The tuning stability was rock solid. I genuinely cannot come up with a single complaint. Even the pickups aren't microphonic like I was expecting, I've been playing mostly the bridge pickup on my Boss Katana MK2 head and 4x12 cab with the presets I use for Thrash and Doom and while there is "hum" like all single coils, they're not reacting horribly and even sound exceptionally competent and usable to someone who's normally and EMG 81 guy!! This is a personal bias comment but even that the guitar has only 21 frets has actually made me more inspired to create music as I have "less to distract me" and let's face it, I'm usually playing in E minor or A Major and generally never go higher than fret 20 when soloing.

I've fallen in love, and I can see myself getting this exact guitar again in other colours for different tunings. To anyone on the fence, if you're looking for a guitar with rock solid tuning stability, the most versatile set of stock pickups I've ever tried, 25.5" scale with a tuneomatic bridge (which is unique in my opinion for JM style guitars) and no nonsense features in between to distract you from making music, then I strongly wholly recommend this guitar!

@Thomann, I really hope you keep this model in stock and production for a really long time, and that the QC stays this good because this is genuinely one of the best guitars I have ever played and probably for the best price I have ever payed for an instrument. Well done!

A few months ago, I purchased the Seafoam Green model and I was blown away by the quality. Playability and sound quality was amazing.

So, I decided to try another one. This time the Lake Placid Blue model. I am delighted to say, it has the same great build quality. I have never seen such attention to detail on the Neck, the neck pocket is so precise, the carmalized finish is smooth as silk. Perfect profile. I am also amazed at the fretwork. Beveled and rounded edges and polished (not gritty). The fretboard is very nice and the fake pearl block inlays are done well.

The Nut is cut great. Just the right depth and nice fit and finish.

The vintage style tuners look great on this guitar and they are smooth and accurate. They are not locking tuners, but they work great and they fit the vibe of this guitar.

The neck binding is a nice touch with dot markers.

The body being Basswood is light, but still has decent sustain. The paint job on both the seafoam green and the Lake Placid Blue is very good. I like the sparkles in the blue.

The pickups are SUPER. They are alnico V P90 style by Roswell. They sound fantastic to me. I find the true Jazzmaster pickups to be a bit too thin and bright for my taste. These pups have a smoother top end and a nice full bottom end. Not dark. More balanced.

Setup from the factory was very good. All I did right out of the box was tune it up, then play for a while. Then I lowered the action about a half turn on both bridge adjusters. Re-tune, make a slight intonation adjustment, re-tune and play.

Shipping was amazingly fast from Germany. I ordered it over the New Years weekend and got it today (Tuesday 3 Jan 2023) in Colorado USA. Double boxed and wall packed. Now, shipping is not cheap in this day and age, but that was amazing.

I have all kinds of guitars from Gibson Les Pauls to PRS CEs to Charvel Pro Mods to more affordable brands, like Hagstrom, Fame, and Sire, and I have to say this guitar is not just a good guitar for the money, it is a GOOD guitar PERIOD!

PROS:
- Beautiful, vivid, calm blue colour with flawless finish.
- It has a belter of a neck! Dark, roasted, beautifully figured and professionally finished. Playing it is a joy.
- Binding looks decent.
- Tuners do their job.
- Frets are well-polished. I didn't detect a single scratchy fret, which is huge for a guitar in this price range.
- Pickups sound great for my taste. I always disliked the Jazzmaster's shrill bridge pickup, but the bridge pickup on this guitar is mellow yet punchy (and has higher output).

CONS:
- The binding is a bit filthy in some spots, but within expectations.
- The body is smaller than that of a Jazzmaster and can look a bit too small compared to the neck, but it's not off-putting in anyway.

If I didn't know that this is a $150 guitar, I would have guessed it's worth around $700 minimum!

Please keep in mind that I ordered this guitar as soon as it was announced, so I believe I received mine from the 1st batch.
HB are known for dishing out batches of slightly inconsistent quality, but judging from what I have in my hands, this is one hell of a deal!

Been hording guitars for at least 40 yrs, and have a collection of a wide range of brands and styles.
This is one of very few instruments which just needed tuning, and nothing else. Neck was straight, frets was leveled and without any sharp edges. Intonation was spot on, even the nut was cut correct. I don't understand how it's possible to set up a cheap guitar so well from the factory.
Pickups sounds great, and all the electronics works fine without any scratching or buzzing.
I will probably change the pots for getting a bit brighter sound, but for the price, this is a really bargain - outperforming guitars several times more expencive.
Super happy with this one, thumbs up !

Wow. I'm pretty floored by this guitar. I received an instrument that comes within shooting distance of my Squier J Mascis in terms of tone and playability.

I'm a Jazzmaster-style guitar enthusiast, and this is my third J-style guitar purchase. I've got a Fender Player Series and the J Mascis, and this baby measures up pretty well against both. (To be honest, though, the J Mascis easily takes the cake among the three. If you're considering one, I say nab it!)

Having no trem makes it feel a little bit like a JM imposter, but for 200 I can look the other way on that. There are excellent after-market drop-in trems available that would render that issue moot, and it would still come in at a lower price tag than the Squier Classic Vibe vintage-style JM.

So glad they went with a tune-o-matic style bridge on this guitar, as I've really found the vintage JM-style bridges to be a bother. Also, the pickups are pretty darn good for budget-brand factory drop ins. The neck is super smooth and the laurel fretboard, while not quite as nice as the laurel on my J Mascis, is serviceable. Frets are clean and smooth (no sharp edges) and every note rings out.

The look of this guitar is pretty spectacular for the price-point. Neck binding, perloid block inlays (love em or hate em; I love em), roasted maple neck and seemingly decent vintage style tuners... not standard features on most budget guitars.

QC seems to have done its job on my instrument. Only gripes are a tiiiiiiny finish chip on the edge of the neck pocket, a slight chip on the edge of the nut, and a little fret glue on one of the frets. All of these are easy to address and/or ignore, so QC gets a solid 9/10.

Upgrades I might consider making are: locking tuners, full-size potentiometers (this guitar has dinky little pots) and a drop-in trem. Otherwise, it's pretty dang good.

Given the price, the guitar is an absolute winner.

Before I give my further comments, let me start by saying that I have a vast experience with guitars of all price levels: from basic Squiers up to US-made custom shop instruments. So...

1. Craftsmanship: Exceptional. I really could not find any flaw whatsoever.

2. Materials: All is very decent. Even the tuners are pretty good, which is not something you'd expect on such a low-budget instrument.

3. Sound: Pretty typical P90 sound, maybe just a tad thinner than expected. These pickups are probably not so good for heavier styles of music, but this is holds true in relation to any singles.
4. The ergonomics of the guitar is probably its only "flaw". When I play sitting on a chair, I feel that the lower cutaway does not rest quite comfortably on my knee (same as a Jazzmaster and unlike a Strat or a Tele) and tends to slip backwards.

All in all, bravo, Thomann!

Update: After a few months of using this guitar and having been able to compare it to same model guitars but in different colours, I noticed that the weight is not always the same (same as with guitars from other brands). This particular blue Benton weighs about 400 grams more than its siblings. So, if you are sensitive to weight, make sure to control this parameter. The "standard" weight for this model should be about 2,9-3 kg.