Harley Benton MR-Modern MBL

This guitar might look a bit strange in photos, but the overall impression changes drastically once you get your hands on it. It's a beautiful and (as opposed to what I was expecting before I received it) comfortable instrument. The frets look great, they are sticking out just a little but, but only to the point where you can barely feel them, they won't cut skin. I believe this has something to do with the way guitars are being deposited in their warehouses because the bass I ordered this year had the same issue. The frets can start sticking out when a guitar is deposited in improper temperature/humidity conditions, and the fretboard was extremely dry when I got it.
I like the way it sounds, the pickups are rather hot and snappy, unlike anything I've previously owned. They're sort of a weird blend between single coil and humbucker. The bridge sounds great for distorted rhythm and leads, but the neck gets dirty really fast. I've managed to clean them up quite a bit by lowering them, it's helps a lot if you want to get a subtle breakup from this guitar, as the pickups are medium-high output.
Its biggest drawback is probably its uncertain tuning stability. Sometimes it stays in tune very well, sometimes not, I'm not sure what the cause might be. I think it might happen because it has the spring plate mounted at a very abrupt angle, causing the trem springs to rub against the plastic cover, thus producing unwanted noises when diving a bit harder into it and probably messing with the tuning too. The bridge is floating (this is the way it was set up from the factory) but it goes out of tune instantly if you try to pull it the other way (to be expected though, it's not a floyd rose). I tried lowering it to the max, so I could get the low action that I like, but when I started diving the strings, the paint around the low E bridge pole cracked a bit. I don't understand why because I've made sure that the bridge was not touching the body and moved it slowly during the whole process. I've managed to lower the action quite a bit by using the saddles, but it's not ideal.
Also, the neck doesn't seem to sit perfectly in the neck pocket, I suspect a neck shim underneath it, but I will check when I swap the strings out and let you know.
UPDATE: The guitar went back to Thomann, the reason being that either the trem was not properly mounted or the cavity was not properly cut. Initially, I thought that was the reason why it did not stay in tune, but it turns out that this is most probably a design flaw. Because the strings are not crossing the nut at a straight angle, it is impossible to make this thing stay in tune and you can't mount a string butler either because of it's shape. Even though the replacement guitar had the bridge correctly mounted, the tuning stability was just as bad and it also had 5 dead frets between the 15th and 20th fret. And I don't mean like fretting out, or buzzing frets, they were so badly leveled that you couldn't play anything between those frets. I will try my luck with a Squier 40th anniversary Jazzmaster this time and hope this one will be in proper working condition.

I purchased the HB MR modern, as soon as I saw the first photographs and read it’s specification, and on the whole I have not been disappointed. Locking machine heads, tusk nut, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, stainless steel frets, a Wilkinson 2 point tremolo and an Alder body are all premium parts.
The only unknown elements were the Artec AHC-90 soap bar Alnico humbuckers. I had never come across these, splittable pickups before and although I have now watched several YouTube reviews indicating that these are the weakest part of the package, being fairly cheap items if bought off the shelf, they do produce considerable variations in tone, with one criticism from me and that is the need to significantly increase the volume of the amplifier, if, while playing as a humbucker, you switch to single coil mode.
I hope Thomann release a different review showing the varying tones and uses this guitar is able to achieve, rather than just the “ Mossrite,” punk demonstrated on its release, as I think it limits its appeal....

I first purchased this guitar back in October as i had always been a fan of the univox hifliers and Mosrites. When it arrived, the action was slightly high but after i put 10-52 gauge strings and then adjusted the truss rod, it’s been fine ever since. After playing a few shows with the guitar i noticed a high pitch hum in the bridge pickup, it was microphonic. So i carved out the bridge cavity and switched it to a high output humbucker and it has been amazing ever since. The tuners were also not holding tune very well but after switching these too, i finally have the guitar if my dreams