Harley Benton…

  • Thread starter Thread starter JackBootedThug
  • Start date Start date
Heard a lot of good things about HB these past few years.

Never seen or played one but the brand's definitely on my radar.
 
A buddy of mine has a Harley B Les Paul look alike and I was surprised how good it was for the price.
 
I've been wanting to check out some Harley Benton models for a minute now. Too tempted by the pricing and features. The ones I have heard sound decent, not that you couldn't just try to swap pups, but I've heard they also have a great feel/playability. I wish I could have one pop up local to check out but nothing yet.
 
If I'm not mistaken, HB is Thomann's house brand. They're basically having an import line built to their specs, the same way bigger guitar companies do. Then they can retail them direct without having to go through another layer of distribution and markup. I think they're a decent bit better than the price would lead you to believe.

Just the usual caveats like with other economical guitars. I'm usually not surprised if I don't end up liking the pickups, it's gonna need a proper set up, etc.
 
If I were to order one "blind" (I don't think I have any choice do I?), what're the chances the neck won't be straight?

I have to ask 'cause the most-expensive guitar I have has a kink that'll require an SS-fret dress and even then, the neck's bump will still be there.

How consistent are these things when it comes to HB? I 100% require super-low action due to hand injuries.
 
Monkey Man said:
If I were to order one "blind" (I don't think I have any choice do I?), what're the chances the neck won't be straight?

I have to ask 'cause the most-expensive guitar I have has a kink that'll require an SS-fret dress and even then, the neck's bump will still be there.

How consistent are these things when it comes to HB? I 100% require super-low action due to hand injuries.
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All three of mine are great guitar and needed nothing right out of the box. The stock pickups even sound great.
 
Monkey Man said:
If I were to order one "blind" (I don't think I have any choice do I?), what're the chances the neck won't be straight?

I have to ask 'cause the most-expensive guitar I have has a kink that'll require an SS-fret dress and even then, the neck's bump will still be there.

How consistent are these things when it comes to HB? I 100% require super-low action due to hand injuries.
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My Fusion was fine, and just need setup. My cheaper ST-HH Active required a fret level and setup.
 
JackBootedThug said:
I’m going to be honest…there’s a couple models I would not mind owning at all. I was talking to headlessdeadguy and he showed me a sweet explorer. Then there’s a couple of their fusion models that are just crazy. Anyone play or own one? The one fusion 3 had a earvana nut, roasted maple neck with stainless frets. And emg’s for like 350…. How’s it possible?
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Cheap wood overseas, poor qc and slave labor maybe?

Honestly not sure. I have owned the 2x12 and an Amarok guitar.

Definitely not bad for a new price this day and age. But to do it again I'd get a different brand used over a new HB.

My Amarok sounded excellent, played pretty decent too. Was the heaviest weight guitar I've ever owned and was not fun to stand with for a long period of time.

The qc, fretwork and cracked board were so bad I'd have returned it in any other circumstance but considering I'd be shipping a guitar back across the world only to get another one with probably similar issues..... it just wasnt worth my time so I traded it for a cheap Bass.

My take on HB with my limited experience.............

If you want a good sounding, ok playing boat anchor of a beater that you could throw onto the ground without giving a shit HB is the guitar for you.

If you want something NICE then meh, don't buy HB.

Im aware there's dozens of other models and maybe they don't always have poor qc and excessively heavy weights, just my experience.

It did sound really good though.

With all that said, I've also had horrible QC issues on 3 brand new 1000 series LTD guitars (that were double the price of an HB) before I gave up fwiw.
 
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JackBootedThug said:
The one fusion 3 had a earvana nut, roasted maple neck with stainless frets. And emg’s for like 350…. How’s it possible?
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Screenshot_20241028_161418_Chrome.jpg
 
OldGtrGuy said:
Cheap wood overseas, poor qc and slave labor maybe?

Honestly not sure. I have owned the 2x12 and an Amarok guitar.

Definitely not bad for a new price this day and age. But to do it again I'd get a different brand used over a new HB.

My Amarok sounded excellent, played pretty decent too. Was the heaviest weight guitar I've ever owned and was not fun to stand with for a long period of time.

The qc, fretwork and cracked board were so bad I'd have returned it in any other circumstance but considering I'd be shipping a guitar back across the world only to get another one with probably similar issues..... it just wasnt worth my time so I traded it for a cheap Bass.

My take on HB with my limited experience.............

If you want a good sounding, ok playing boat anchor of a beater that you could throw onto the ground without giving a shit HB is the guitar for you.

If you want something NICE then meh, don't buy HB.

Im aware there's dozens of other models and maybe they don't always have poor qc and excessively heavy weights, just my experience.

It did sound really good though.

With all that said, I've also had horrible QC issues on 3 brand new 1000 series LTD guitars (that were double the price of an HB) before I gave up fwiw.
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Yep. Don’t buy one. They suck so bad.
 
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