Harley Benton TE-62CC IS

When I received the Harley Benton TE-62CC IS, the first thing that struck me was how perfect the neck is. Zero fret sprouting perfectly smooth and flush. The satin finish is a joy to use. The colour is profound and so vintage looking. the fit of the neck to the body is perfect as well. The metal knobs are excellent and have excellent resitance. I am sure that the strings on my guitar are 09-42's and NOT 10-46's which I prefer. they are D'Addario strings. The tuners are excellent. My low E string tuner was just slightly out of line with the rest which I rectifies a bit, so it is a more aligned now. The pickups sound totally Telecaster like. The pick-guard is NOT three ply as they state in their description. It is a single ply white which is truer to the vintage 50's look. I have ordered a mint green three ply pick-guard and will see if it works. Not sure if it will but could be nice. My only critique is that the three way switch although very solid switching between the pickups, but laterally there is some give and feels a bit troubling. But they do click solidly between each setting. So, not a big deal. I saw another review on YouTube and they mentioned it as well. So I think it is the nature of the switch used. All and all and incredible guitar, that if you stuck a Fender Telecaster Made in Japan decal on the head stock it would pass with no problem. At 3x the cost, it would still be reasonable.

Positive points
- Roswell pickups are usually good and they do their job here; if you roll off some highs, it sounds like a tele.
- Neck profile is comfortable to play.
- Guitar is not too heavy.

Subjective thoughts
- Inca silver colour is not close to the original. It could have been called Coca silver or VW beige instead.
- Satin neck finish is a bit rough and would benefit from polishing; though it's better than a gloss finish.
- A black pickguard would be more elegant than this piece of white plastic but as the dimensions are not standard, I'll have to live with this.

Negative points
- Slots in the fingerboard are cut 3 times deeper than necessary for inserting the frets. The fretboard is almost cut in several pieces of wood. The slots have then been filled with a whitish wood paste which ruins the aesthetics of the roasted neck.
- After 3 months, frets ends are becoming a little sharp, although a roasted neck should be less sensible to weather change, which is clearly not the case here.
- On the body's back, in line with the screws holding the neck, there is a 10 cm long "wave" under the finish. Bad sanding, bad gluing of 2 pieces of wood, unseasoned wood? I don't know, I just hope it is not a crack.
- Square jack plate is screwed at an angle with the body. A correct placement would have required a little more attention, about 5 seconds. I can not correct it due to the existing holes.
- Jack was loosen; not a big deal but should not happen fresh from factory and after control quality.
- As noted by other customers the switch wobbles laterally. Crappy part. Has to be replaced with something better.
- Curiously, pickups hum is not cancelled in the mid position. Electronics to be checked.
- Some frets are roughly crowned and need polishing.
- Like other low cost instruments, the body is just an assembly of poplar, one of the cheapest woods on the market. As I have seen many more matches made out of poplar than violins, I am not totally confident in the long term.

Conclusion
This guitar is certainly playable.
But remember that building a correct instrument is easier now thanks to CNC machines and robots making a good part of the job.
Several parts are of low quality: switch; copper is exposed on the bridge plate; TEA Pickups are from Roswell but in a cheap version with plastic wires instead of the old fashioned clothed wires.

Most of all, the handworking is terrible on some points (was the guitar assembled by a kid or by a drunken worker? not both I hope).
Unfortunately some of the bad things can not be easily corrected or upgraded.
This might sound as a severe appreciation, but what could I say when a factory is not capable to fix 4 screws at the right place?

Update:
- When I took off the original strings, I noticed that the nut was broken near the A string. In need of a replacement.
- The neck was definitely not straight, with several bumps. It had to be carefully filed, sanded and refinished.
I can just confirm the poor workmanship of my exemplar.