Harley Benton TE-62DB LPB

I already own a TE52 vintage and I am delighted with it.
My family decided to surprise me with this 62 for my birthday as I was so impressed with it.
The finish is flawless. The double binding makes it look really classy.
It is as some have pointed out, slightly lighter than the pictures show, but that is probably down to the metallic effect of the paint.
The frets are well set and polished. I will lower the action as it is a little high for my taste but it was playable out of the box (after tuning). The tuners are fine. They feel solid and hold the tuning well.
It feels like a totally different playing experience to the 52, which is a good thing.
It is good deal lighter for a start. The neck has a different profile which I suppose makes it feel different in hand. The Roswell pickups are the same as on the 52 , and provide everything from a lovely crisp twang on the bridge, or a full sound on the neck, almost like an acoustic, when used with the tone control. The different wood in the construction must make a difference to the sound because it is different to the Te52 , but not in any bad way.
On clean, through my Fender amp, it sounds great, and playing around with the drive channel allows a more crunchy bluesy feel to it .
The problem now is finding the time to play both of them.
In my review of the Te52 I mentioned how it is far superior to my son’s Squier, something he confirmed, although he was surprised by the difference in weight. The 62 is nearer to the Squier in weight but I still think it leaves it trailing in terms of build quality and sound despite costing less.
I am delighted with it.

I bough this with some skepticism in mind but man was it a worthy purchase. Can not believe how good this feels and sounds. The finishing is great, could not find any faults there. Roasted maple neck is very comfortable to play on. Set-up was also not bad, I just had to lower the action a bit to my taste, but that's subjective from player to player.

The only improvement could be the pickup selector, feels a bit flimsy, but works just fine. Also, removing the protective peel/sticker was not an easy task, I still have some small pieces left underneath the bridge pickup and the tone and volume knobs, which I can't seem to take off, I think I might have to open some screws to get them out.

Overall, this guitar would be a clear recommendation from my side. It's hard to believe I got such an amazing instrument for such a low price. It looks incredible and plays very comfortably.

Body: Beautifull, no flaws, perfect binding.
Neck: Perfection. Beautifull neck. Superb color combination of neck wood and fretboard wood. Among all the neck type's I already have (Gibson, Fender, Squier, HB, G&L) and the ones I played (Epiphone, PRS, Ibanez), this is the most comfortable neck my hands touched. Producing no fatigue at all. Whoever choose this neck design and profile should get bonus on paycheck. Frets done almost perfectly. Nut was cut perfectly.
Tuners: So, so. Work as intended exept that low E has some gap in mechanism hence causing problem while tuning. They will be changed in near future.
Bridge: Usuall quality for a budget guitar. Fine and usable but I changed it because I wanted brass compensated barrels. Perfect match was Gotoh InTune classic tele style bridge here at Thomman.
Pickups: Not my thing. Neck was okay but bridge..uhhh. To harsh. Not working in my setup at all. I replaced them with Fralin's blues special. Maybe in diferent amp/speaker combo they will work great. (mine is Marshall JVM+4x12Greenbacks and I could only use them on crunch red (wich is dark sound chanel).
Electronics: Do not understand why they installed 500k pot with single coils especially with bright pickups light this. Tone pot camed loose and it couldn't be screwed. I changed pots to 250k and leave switch since its ok.
Weight: 3.7 kg. Right now this is the heaviest guitar I own.

To summerize: Really great guitar. Worth the money and more. Respect to HB team. They did great job again.

Oh yeah..Since binding is cream color I really do not understand why they put white pickugard. I bought cream pickguard and now guitar is a real beauty.

Rock on!

The guitar arrived within 1 week to the UK. It is stunning. The fit and finish is excellent, not a mark or scratch anywhere. The frets are really good and highly polished. The action is perfect. No crackly pots. The volume and tone knobs feel great. The tone is gradual,no on off effect you get on some pots. Overall, I am extremely pleased with the guitar. The colour looks great, the neck and head stock looks beautiful, looks like the roasted maple neck I have on another HB, which cost a lot more. The nut is cut beautifully and the tuners feel good as well. I have a HB paisley Tele, and that is quite heavy. The weight on this one is just right. Absolutely over the moon with this one. Highly recommended.

The impression on opening the box is positive, it looks just as good as it does in the pictures. It also sounds great, the pickups are quite good, I'm comparing them to a Fender Player Strat and they stack up well. The bridge is the weakest position, but it's still a nice, clear sound.

The tuners work great, neck is lovely, frets in good shape and the finish is beautiful. No problems with tuning or any of the hardware except one minor thing - a ferrule from the back of the body dropped out when changing strings. Pretty minor because it's held in by a string being on there anyway, but a little annoying.

The main issue I had though was the electronics. There was quite a lot more than the usual single coil hum when plugged in - it was loud even at low gain and volume. After opening up and fixing the ground solder it's fine, but not ideal on a brand new guitar. Thomann assured me this was normal hum, but I can directly compare to another single coil guitar and it was LOUD. It's quieter now, but this is not a silent instrument. It's got a vintage sound with vintage hum so even working as intended, you may not like how much noise these pickups generate when your hand isn't on a metal part of the guitar.

I would rate the quality higher if the QC was a bit better, but the guitar is good - sounds good, looks good. It's not going to beat a more expensive Telecaster, but it's a lot of guitar for the price.

This is my first Harley Benton guitar, probably won't be my last.
I'm not a super high end guitar player though I've played some belonging to friends. I've been playing about 20 years or so. When I first heard about Harley's they weren't spoken of very highly however I'd noticed they were getting some great reviews, after some thought and skepticism I decided to give them a try.

I'm glad I did, the item was shipped to my door in a week with no extra UK import charges, nice😊
First impressions were very good, no issues, beautiful finish and the hardware and quality are better than the big F's budget S range. Everything was spot on for me. Nothing really needs changing on this guitar, it's so easy to believe if we change things it will be better. It is great as it is, the tuning machines are very good as is the bridge and the pickups sound great to me. Out the box the action was about 2mil at that 12th fret, a little high but not excessive I took the action down to 1.5 mil by lowering the saddles and I loosened the truss rod half a turn for a bit more relief.... Bingo perfect. The nut is well cut and the finger board is very nice, it looks the same as rosewood to me. I've really bonded with this guitar and it's got me inspired again after struggling with fat neck epiphone 56 Les Paul that was collecting dust.

I really can't fault it at the price, it doesn't feel or perform like a budget priced guitar. It punches way above it's weight even the graphics and the headstock look really cool.
Harley Benton are kicking ass with this telecaster.

I have been following Harley Benton for some time know and finally decided to take plunge and purchase one. Turns out I should have done it earlier as this is one excellent guitar.

Needed a little setting up straight out of the box (nothing major) but lets face it, Ive purchased several guitars through the years and not a one of them didn't require this - some more expensive brand purchases requiring a lot more.

I immediately gave the neck some TLC with a light fret clean and oiling which it thoroughly loved, bringing out an excellent colour to the fingerboard in the process. There was no rough fret ends to address and I must say that for me this is without a doubt one of the most comfortable necks I have played in a long time.

The pickups fitted are quite adequate and up to the task. I did however (and again personal preference) remove these and fitted some OBL's that I had aside which sounded like they were made for it.

After putting the strings back on it was just a mater of lowering the setup slightly (again personal preference) , the slightest of truss rod adjustment and away we go.

I can not praise this instrument enough. The look, finish and feel is excellent with an outstanding double banding fitted as a finishing touch. Add to this the low asking price for an instrument of this calibre, its just amazing.

If you were a beginner and this was your first guitar you would not have a worry and at the other end of the scale if you were an experienced player your also on a winner.

My only criticism which is again a personal choice is that I would of liked to see the pickguard (bright white) matching the banding (cream) and also if possible (as available on the standard 62) the choice of having it available with a roasted maple neck fret/finger board as an option (that would have made it a little slice of heaven for me).

That said though, well done Harley Benton - Thomann. I look forward to seeing what other delights are to come.

This is my fifth Harley Benton, and even with it being the most affordable it was the best out of the box. After a truss rod adjustment the guitar was playing great and action was low. Fit and finish was very good, and especially the roasted neck was super smooth. Frets were polished, fretboard, neck finish and joint were all great. There are a few high frets that might need some attention as I like my action low without any buzz.

PROs:
- Great look and feel, satin neck with a lovely fingerboard
- Decent pickups
- Comfortable saddles and ok intonation
- Well cut nut
- Overall feels great to play and a perfect base for some upgrades

CONs:
- Tuners are very low budget and not smooth at all. Needs an upgrade.
- Three-way switch works fine, but feels flimsy

Regarding the neck shape, it's a modern C but quite wide with a very flat radius. Not the best for thumbs-over playing, but a little extra rolling of the edges will make it extra comfortable I think. The frets are a happy medium size, but I wish they were a little taller. All in all a mind-boggingly good guitar for the price. With a new set of tuners and perhaps an electronic/pickup upgrade you'll have a guitar that'll keep up with anything.

Overall I give it 5*, 1 star off for quality as the frets are a little sharp and the included strings were blackened and corroded.

I bought the green variant of this guitar a few months ago and have really enjoyed playing it. The comments for this one are much the same:

Really nice neck and playing experience apart from the frets.

Tuners are ok, they work, are a little hesitant in places, stiff in others. I will replace them eventually.

Nut was cut ok, I got my luthier to replace with a bone nut on the other guitar, and will do the same on this one.

The string trees are cheap and don't really do anything- I replaced them on the other guitar with roller string trees and will do the same here.

Eventually I might replace the pickups but I'm not in a rush with any of these, I will enjoy the guitar as-is for a while.

One other comment- the switch on the other TE-62 I bought was very poor, it wobbled from side to side from day one, the switch on this guitar is better. All to be expected- slight variations in QC, if you get a poor one Thomann will make it right.

Almost forgot- sounds- I have owned the TE-70 and TE-52- same pickups I think, none or very little difference to my amateur ears. If you have a great amp, great fingers and great ears there might be some subtle differences between the other T models and this. The main difference for me between this one and the others is the neck and body weight, this guitar plays really well for ages without fatigue. I loved the TE-52, but if I was playing standing I would go for the TE-62 all day long

Hope that helps