Harley Benton TE-52 NA LH Vintage Series

101 Customer ratings

4.7 / 5

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Harley Benton TE-52 NA LH Vintage Series
$144
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Available at short notice (usually 2-5 days)
Available at short notice (usually 2-5 days)

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DT
Looks, sounds and plays amazing with some cheap mods
Den The Men 21.03.2020
I could not believe how great it looked when I took it out of the box, there were no visible flaws, looks much better in the flesh. The neck has a great feel to it. The pickups are great, I thought that would be a definite mod - the tone is pure tele, even the tuning pegs are passable, they hold their tune and look great, however I may change them for higher quality ones. It’s quite heavy, but I personally prefer that. The pots a smooth and nicely weighted.
The only real negative is that the cavities do not have any form of shielding. All single coil pickups, unless you buy noiseless ones are noisy, especially with high gain. There are loads of YouTube videos that teach you how to shield the cavities to greatly reduce the noise. I purchased two A4 sheets of copper self adhesive shielding for £8.00 and followed instruction carefully on a hand picked YouTube tutorial from an expert - you need to do some soldering and adding earth wires to the pots And output jack, but the rest if the work is quite easy. I also tightly twisted the hot and earth wires from the pickups and to the output jack, this also reduces the hum. When completing this task I was amazed at the difference, it virtually got rid of any hum, the difference was literally night & day - I would defiantly recommend this mod. The only other thing I did was to file the fret ends and polish up the frets, which were quite scratchy, this is quite normal for a cheap guitar, but easy to rectify yourself - again there are loads of top luthiers that show you how to this on YouTube. It’s worth taking your time doing this and after filing, use varying grades of sandpaper for smoothing the fret ends only, doing so will make the fret ends ultra smooth, just like on any high end guitar. To finish the frets, I used an automotive metal paste polish to shine them up. The frets now are super smooth and shinny. This guitar is a no brainer, even if you are a skilled pro player, with a few cheap mods you can have a quality tele costing over 10 to 15 times than the cost of the HB, even with the mods.
I also purchased some brass saddles, they are supposed to give you more sustain, but to be honest I did not see a great difference, so the stock ones will still be OK, but I do like the look of the brass ones, another cheap mod, about £7.00 for a left handed set too.
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TE-52 left hand is the guitar you want
Anonymous 17.11.2016
Ordered sat , arrived Wednesday , as always thomann are a delight to deal with, tracking is great and email letting you know it's arriving that day is very handy. I bought this guitar as a back up , I use a USA standard for gigging and I need another tele in case something goes wrong , well it's gone very right .
First though what's wrong , I don't know how they do it but with all 3. Guitars I've had from thomann the strings are all tarnished so expect to change them straight away , I'm a stickler for new strings so I change every month or every third gig so you might be ok with a bit of a clean with some fast fret.
The nut is always too high , this is common on every guitar , i put a capo on the first fret , have a play , if there's no buzz then the height of the string above the 2nd fret is the optimum height , remove the nut and sand the bottom till it's the right height and put back, if you take too much away use a strip of wet and dry sandpaper to shim , the higher the grade the thinner the paper so you can get it perfect.
The frets are tarnished , polish out with some 00 wire wool and while your at it have a run down the back of the neck with the wire wool as well.
I had a set of compensated brass saddles which I added as well )7.99 eBay) and then I did the string height and intonation.
These are all common faults with guitars 5 times the price of this one so it's nit picking to the extreme m now onto the good things about this guitar.
EVERYTHING ......seriously it looks great, the body is a lot lighter in hue than the pics on the site but that's the only thing light about it , it's a heavy body and you need that for sustain , the neck is lovely ,it's the first HB i haven't had to fret level or anything , it feels like a much more expensive guitar and it looks like a much more expensive guitar and here's the kicker it sounds like a much more expensive guitar , I seriously think these wilkinson pickups are better sounding than my American standard , that's fitted with a SD humbucker in the neck slot and I was planning on putting the old fender one in this but no chance , it sounds exactly like a tele should , the tone and vol pots work perfectly for once with great taper . I was playing this till 2am last night and when I stopped I just looked at it for 10 mins in shock , I'm a pro musician with lots of guitars at the high end so I was doing comparisons using a looper to go tone against tone and this knocked it out of the park.
Forget about getting that classic vibe or that Mexican , go for this and spend the money you save on an valve amp .
I was going to relic this , reshape the headstock and put a fender sticker on it but no way , I'm using this live next week and I want everyone to know this is a Harley Benton guitar that cost £120.
Buy this , go for the brass saddles as well as it improves the sound and intonation and youll have a guitar better than a triple the price classic vibe with an hours work.
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TP
A deserved upgrade...
Tony P 22.10.2017
This is the second TE-52 NA LH I've bought, having very regretfully sold the first one I bought (review below). Big mistake. The very fact that I've bought a replacement is testament to just how good a guitar this is. The build quality is excellent, and the rest - well, here's my original review:

I write this review with the price firmly in mind. I was looking for a rhythm guitar, and having bought the outstanding CST-24T, I decided to give the Harley Benton TE-52 a go. At around £115, I didn't think I could go far wrong. When it arrived I was knocked out - this truly is a great looking Telecaster copy, with a really lovely finish. I expected a little setting up would be required; however, I decided that I'd simply tune it first and give it a try. The action was a little too low but the intonation was pretty good. But the first time I did a string bend, well... The string grated horrible across the fret, as did any bend in any position. The fret ends were finished well, but the top surfaces were a bit rough. I am going to set the guitar up and fit heavy gauge strings, but I will have to deal with the frets first, which is a little disappointing considering the quality of the CST-24T I bought. However, when considering the price, this Telecaster copy really is a great guitar and is highly recommended."
I have to say, I'm upgrading my review to 5 stars. I polished the frets and set the guitar up. And now, well, I just love it. I can't put it down.

And as I said last time: all I can say is, just get one. You will not regret it.
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R
My first Thomann adventure
René_L 05.01.2019
Got this on a whim, because I wanted a basic Telecaster-like platform and to see what the Harley Benton rumors were all about.

Though it arrived apparently well packaged I'm guessing the UPS monkeys managed to somehow squeeze the box into too small a space which ended up bending the axle of the tone pot. Operating it during play was extremely awkward. Customer service at Thomann was on the case though, they sent me a complete spare control panel so I could make the instrument (near) perfect again.

Because now it really is almost perfect. The body is flawless. The neck perfect. A slight bulge in the pick guard though. The tuners are great and feel very precise. Nut is cut very well. It even arrived in tune. Fret work is great from the first to the last fret. No high frets. Action is on the high side of medium. Intonation is good. The neck feels as good as it looks. Neck pickup sounds just like it should. Bridge pickup is probably this quitar's only (slight) weakness. It sounds good but the neck pickup is so nice it makes the bridge pickup look bad :). I may end up replacing it (and the bridge) for something else, though realistically speaking there's really no need.

There's one flaw at the back. The string holes are not in line. No big deal but it does look sloppy. Also, If you're looking for something light you're going to be in trouble with this guy though, mine feels really really heavy at 4254 grams.
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m
most "authentic" Tele for the money
mr.Pryce 04.06.2020
vintage features and looks - good sound

I play strats and I needed a Tele to try. In this price has all the goodies. Ashtray bridge (string through- - unusual for a cheap instrument) with 3 saddles, Alnico magnets with base plate and vintage style tuners. The neck is on the thick side very nice feeling and the radius is modern (definitely not 7.5).

The quality is good, frets were ok the finish is nice although is more dark (not that intense) than a traditional natural Tele finish. I don't like the knobs much, are plastic (but it's easy to replace them).

The only downside on this instrument is the heavy body. It is ash but on the heavy side. So if you want to play alt rock and and jump on the stage (song 2...) maybe is not the perfect choice. But remember, there are Teles from the 70's that heavy.

As for the sound, I don't have much experience in Teles, the bridge has the twang, the sustain is excellent.

I think this is the perfect ticket to enter Tele world. All the key factors of the original are here. For rockabilly, country players is an ideal instrument.
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Amazing overall, apart from a few quality control misses
w4term4n12 02.04.2021
The guitar has a great tone with the included pickups. Selector switch feels solid and the volume and tone knobs feel nice. Nut was cut nicely and fret ends were not at all sharp and were nicely sanded.

Tone Knob: The tone knob is a linear knob so it really just feels like one or the other in terms of changing the tone.

Tuners: Tuners are of course nothing to celebrate about but they do work well as can be expected from this price range. However, my tuners came misaligned and not very straight so I had to unscrew they slightly and line them up.

Quality control issues: Probably the biggest let downs from this guitar are the QC issues. My Guitar came with a 12th side fret marker also on the 9th fret. This can make it confusing sometimes where I think I've gone to the 12th but I'm actually sitting at the 9th. some of the pickguard screws were drilled in at an angle so some of it protrudes out and isn't flush against the pickguard.

Overall non of the QC issues affect the sound, so overall a great guitar, just wished the QC could've been slightly better.
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Excellent Introduction to Telecasters
Krossfire 19.12.2023
From the get-go, I have to admit that this was supposed to be (and it is) a secondary guitar, meant to be used occasionally. I use an Ibanez as my main guitar and a Harley Benton JA-60CC LH as my back-up.

I won’t go into details, but I have to admit that the JA-60 proved to be a beast of a guitar (I reviewed it in the past) and this is what increased my confidence in Harley Benton’s line-up. Was the TE-52 NA LH a similar surprise, given that it’s a Tele and that it was cheaper? Yes and no…

The Great:

- The build quality is absolutely amazing for the price, and so are the materials used here. For 150 euros, you get American Ash and Roaster Mapple, no wood chips, chromed tuners and excellent packaging.

The Good

- The bluesy sound of the Tele is all here, and so is the famous “twang’’.
- The single coil from the neck position can be absolutely delightful on clean channels.
- Great for blues and country, as expected.
- The guitar came with an included cable. Good job #Thomann.

The Not so Great

- Some of the frets were a bit sharp. The guitar is perfectly playable though, and this is nothing 10 minutes with a file won’t fix.
- The guitar is heavy. I mean… really heavy. It’s heavier than my other guitars and heavier than mahogany-build guitars such as the PRS. This is not a problem if you play standing, but it’s impossible to ignore if you play sitting up.

Would I recommend it to other Harley Benton collectors? Definitely. Would I recommend it to people looking for the Tele twang without paying the extra bucks? Also yes. Is it a great guitar for beginners, as many claim? No, unfortunately - it’s way too heavy and HB has better necks in production. I would go for the JA-60 in this case, as it is lighter, easier to play and a bit more flexible in terms of what genre you can play on it.
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F
A Real Beauty
Fredi2 02.12.2022
Never owning a Tele, I decided to find out what all the fuss is about. This is surely one of the most cost effective ways of doing so. It is a real looker with the natural wood and that neck! Change the name on the headstock and at a multiple of the price folk will still be happy. The pickups go from in your face twang to jangly with a slide of the selector. Sustains forever spinal tap style 😃. With small adjustments can get a nice action, neck radius is very nice. Feels very classy in your hand with the setup, weight and finish.
What may put people off, the weight is substantial but that is user dependent. The tuning could be more stable, will monitor as I break this one in - tuners have slightly different feel high to low. Thicker neck can make it slightly more difficult to thumb over an F chord - practice.
Super Tele - whether to buy another one 😁
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CE
Nearly (but not quite) perfect!
California ExPat 06.03.2019
I wanted a left-handed telecaster, and after reading lots of reviews, the TE-52 seemed like a good choice. Shipping took 3 weeks after placing my order, and after I unboxed it and have played it a bit I am not disappointed!
Pros: the fit and finish are, with two exceptions, outstanding. The satin neck has a great feel and the fretboard is nice and smooth. The frets are level, and the tuners, pots, and switch all have a nice solid feel. Some recent on-line reviews have complained about the tuners-I don't know if Thomann changed them, but they seem great on this guitar. The body is beautiful - it is three pieces (I think) but you cannot tell from the top. It is a bit heavy, but that's fine with me.
Cons: There is already a bit of fret sprout in the neck. When I run my hands along it, I can feel a little bit of the tips of the frets poking out past the wood. Also, the bridge and saddles seem to be of a slightly different size - the barrel saddles are right next to each other, but the strings seem to be wider in the grooves on the saddles than the holes in the bridge. These minor concerns are only concerns.
Set up: Out of the box, the action was fairly high, but that's easy to adjust. Intonation was great, and the guitar was nearly in tune. The strings looked brand new, with none of the dust or corrosion I would expect from a guitar that had been in a warehouse.
Summary: This a great looking looking, very playable guitar that was pretty well set up right out of the box. This is a no-brainer for a lefty player looking for a budget priced tele-style guitar.
Well done, Thomann!
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D
Good guitar for a start
Daniil_Metelkin 18.08.2021
I ordered this guitar a few months ago and I do not regret it. the guitar has an excellent price, accordingly, many people can afford it and this pleases. I liked the design, I love the classics. a good sound adds advantages to this instrument. in the segment of inexpensive guitars for the left-handed, this one is clearly one of the leaders. I recommend it for purchase!
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Harley Benton TE-52 NA LH Vintage Series