Harley Benton TE-90FLT VW Deluxe Series

A good quality guitar for the price. I bought it for the ringing sound of these pickups, and they really ring. Tuners are OK but I will probably replace them at some point. Mine has some beauty stains on the top, actually the back looks nicer :-) However, Thomann sells a LOT of these, so the really nice ones might have been gone. So in conclusion: nothing fantastic, but a good guitar with a unique sound and great to have in your collection if you are a Telecaster fan. With these prices, almost anyone can afford to try out even the odd Tele-type models :-)

This guitar far exceeded my expectations as a guitar in sound, affordability, it's unique look, feel and balance, and playability. I am still amazed by the finish, the pickup sound, and high quality craftsmanship of this guitar. At first, I was trying to figure out how to play this guitar, because the action was low and soft, which I like and love but I was used to really working a guitar to get sounds out of it. This guitar simply sounds like one of the $1,000 plus (I'm from the USA) guitars from a USA company (made in Mexico/China/USA), just in regards to the material let alone the sound in that it almost sounds equal, like a 9.5 to 10 on a 1 to 10 scale. I mean I've played other expensive guitars and the TE-90 FLT VW is amazingly light action, so it's hard to get adjusted to the feel and playability. But it's great for jazz, chords. I know it's not expensive, but it feels expensive and I really want another one just so I can play this one hard. I baby this one as if it was a $1,000 guitar, because it just sounds, plays, looks, and plays like one. It's very unique sound, since it's chambered under the pickguard like other another USA guitar style from California with FLT humbucker but this TE-90 sounds equal if not better. It has a jazzy kind of vibe and sound or a little blues or rock too. Really it plays everything, but I love it for chords. The neck just feels right (I like thin/slender necks) since my fingers are not long. Also, the headstock is really unique and you may not like it but I do for it's uniqueness. The weight is perfect, not too light or too heavy. The fretboard is a good flatter radius but not too flat. When you play this you will be able to feel and hear the high quality right away. I'm glad I have this one guitar in my arsenal/toolbox because it has a really warm sound with the two humbuckers and chambered pickguard area. The look is very unique/cool. The fretboard is so playable, once you get used to low action and soft touch, that you can play for hours and forget about the time. The maple fretboard and frets are a bright sound. It really begs you to play it. You can also really shred on it too or go slow and jazzy. I love the belly cut. The only con I have about this guitar is the pickguard does get scratched easily (but it's a pickguard after all); I think it might just be the plastic is not glossy enough, but that's a good thing too, it gives it a different softer look. I'm getting the Three Tone Sunburst, when I have the change because it's a really excellent guitar overall. --Marco, USA

After researching different Tele and Gretsch clones, single coils and humbuckers, I found optimal point between different worlds, something universal.
Pros: Guitar sounds very clear on clean with no hum and has something "brand" in its sound, after what I decided to measure frequency responce on both pickups using white noise and multimeter. I've found 99,5% coincidence whith Filtertrons (AC/DC rythm tone) in all parameters, even resonance frequency peaks. I have Ibanez RG-8 with great sustain, compared to Gibson's. That little Tele has sustain compared to my 8-string wide neck guitar, and far more sustain than my old 1991 Japanese Charvel STX Custom. I was very impressed. Frets are polished, neck is smooth and total feeleng of guitar is frendly for fingerstyle, strings do not out of tune when You push accords on the neck. I think it depends on coming by default strings (9-48 combined d'Addario set). Dirty sounds on bridge are also very good, close to EMG 81, but a bit less fizzy. Neck is good for overdriven solos whithout annoing grit, very careful sound, neck also is useble to play riffs. On both pickups You get a very good clean sound for plaing acoustic-like rythm patterns. All three pickup's combinations are great and useful for clean and overdrive sounds. And one thing more: this guitar has phenomenal distortion sound beeng dropped! That's why I bought it.
Cons: It was needed to tighten the tuner's screws on the bottom and tighten the nuts on the top sides of the neck for guitar to stay in tune. After it was done all came to normal. Tone potentiometer is ALPHA, Volume pot is standard cheap. I think I need to swap them, ALPHA is very good long-live non-crispy pot, it should be on Volume position. Pot's knobes are good-looking, but
do not hold well on, I put two balls of paper inside the knobs so that they do not fail.
Averall I recommend this guitar for every style of music, from jazz to metal. It sits perfect in the mix.