Harley Benton MR-Modern SB

Zuerst: Lieferung wieder sehr pünktlich und zuverlässig. Schon nach dem Auspacken fragt man sich, wie ist es möglich für diesen Preis eine solche Anmutung der Gitarre zu schaffen. Fehlerfrei lackiert, Hardware und Tonabnehmer einwandfrei, Mechaniken präzise in der Funktion und die Potentiometer funktionieren ohne Fehl und Tadel. Es gibt jedoch auch Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten. Die Bundenden könnten eine Rundung vertragen. Die Saitenhöhe kann noch optimiert werden. Ein Ärgernis bereitet die Entfernung der Schutzfolie auf dem Schlagbrett. Ohne Entfernung aller verbauten Teile ist es rückstandsfrei nicht möglich. Der Hals musste nicht nachgestellt werden. Hat mich überrascht und gefreut. Der Sound lässt Erinnerungen an die "Ventures" aufkommen. Etwas Lautstärkeabfall beim Coilsplitting. Gering, aber man merkt es.
Was soll ich sagen: Die Fertigung in Indonesien hat für diesen Preis ein tolles Instrument hinbekommen, dass keinen Vergleich mit wesentlich teureren Gitarren scheuen muss.

Allora, cominciamo con i difetti, così sgombriamo subito il campo dai dubbi: è pesante. Massiccia.
Alla mia tenera età è un male, la schiena protesta, ma c'è da dire che il sustain del corpo in Ontano (in 4 pezzi) è ottimo.
A parte questo la chitarre non ha particolari difetti: la mia è arrivata in ottime condizioni, senza problemi apparenti, con giusto un paio di quarti di giro da dare sul truss-rod. Ottime meccaniche, molto precise e tengono bene l'accordatura anche con un utilizzo "intenso" del tremolo. Che, di suo, è anch'esso ben massiccio, e per me va bene così. In caso, se per qualcuno fosse troppo duro, dovrebbe bastare togliere una molla.
Potenziometri molto efficaci, elettronica di buon livello "nei limiti del possibile", forse con lo switch e il push pull un po' rumorosi.
Pregi. Prima di tutto i pick-up: spettacolari. Come HB suonano "gruossi", con una forte predominanza dei medi, molto "p90si". Splittati hanno decisamente il suono gritty dei single coil P90, in complesso forniscono sei suoni veramente belli, ricchi di personalità, soprattutto sui medi. Il manico, poi, satinato, è veramente piacevole: la scelta di non riprodurre il manico ultrasottile ma "complicato" delle Mosrite si rivela vincente. I tasti sono ottimi. in acciaio.

Alla fine la chitarra si trova bene su qualunque genere, dando una sfumatura "gritty" a tutto quello che fa.. Poi con gli humbucker è veramente una macchina da Punk, mentre il suono splittato, particolare ed incisivo, sorprende e meraviglia allo stesso tempo: in pieno territorio P90 dà dei suoni caldi e presenti che se danno il meglio di se con il surf, ma che riescono a trasportare in un bel territorio di giacche di pelle e occhiali scuri anni '60-'70 senza problemi.

Infine, l'etetica. A tantissimi non piace, io la rovo splendida e quindi...

"Gabba gabbba hey"

It's my first Harley Benton. I was encouraged by quite positive online reviews to try the brand. QC was supposed to get much better recently and their guitars offer features usually seen in much more expensive guitars. Well, I guess I wasn't lucky.
But I'll start with what I like about it. I went for the look as it is so different. I love sunburst and the finish on this one is very nice. The body is 3 piece but in real life it isn't as visible as on the pictures which is great. After the setup (look below) the guitar plays really nicely. And most importantly it sound great. The online reviews don't do it a justice. The neck pickup is clear, not too boomy and it sounds great with the coil split. The neck has a bite and nice smoothness about it but it doesn't benefit from coil split; it sounds too thin. I'm usually not a fun of running 2 pickups at the same time but on this guitar that option sounds great (with the exception of coil split again). I'm still to test the sounds in my band contexts so my perception might change. I don't expect unpleasant surprises there though. After lubricating the nut it stays in tune nicely.

The price of this guitar might tempt someone not very experience and not able to do a setup themself. And the setup required goes far beyond what I believe could be expected when a new instrument, and not DIY project is purchased. And I would advise to take that into consideration if you want to enjoy tour instrument straight out of the box.
The guitar came with a number of issues that should have never passed even a basic QC. Volume pot suffered from cold solder, it wasn't working correctly and it required re-soldering ground wire. The neck wasn't installed correctly and it was facing upwards making low strings too close to the edge of the fretboard. Fortunately it's a bolt on neck so relatively easy to fix. Otherwise the guitar would have to go straight back to Thomann. The frets did not see any polishing whatsoever, they were really scratchy and they were unpleasant to play before I addressed that. The fretboard was covered with unknown dark substance and it stained my fingers when I first tried to play. I couldn't believe how much of it came off when I cleaned the fretboard. I managed to setup guitar with action I like, which is quite high, but I don't think I could go much lower without fret buzz. I didn't check that precisely but I suspect the frets aren't levelled perfectly and 5th fret seems to be seated lower than others. The neck has a scarf joint and I can feel it under my finger. Not a big issue but it's there. Tone knob came off as soon as I tried to use coil split and the shaft had to be adjusted. Luckily the tone knob has a split shaft so it was an easy fix. For those of you that care, the guitar is not very light and it weights 8.2 pounds.
Would I recommend it? It depends. If you are ready to deal with the issues, sure. It is cheap so I didn't expect a miracle. I like that guitar quite much.

Let's start with the good things, which are many.

I really enjoyed the sound of the pickups both in split coil mode and as full humbuckers. There is a loss of volume when splitted but the sounds are very useable. Lots of clarity, note definition and bite.

Playability is pretty good once you setup the guitar. Mine required only minor tweaks to the saddles and neck. Frets job was pretty good.

Definitely excellent features for the price. It even has full size volume pots and full block trem that my Ibanez AZ made in Indonesia doesn't feature.

Now the bad things. The first one arrived with the neck pickup staying in split coil mode regardless of the push-pull status. The second one had the ground cable unsoldered to the bridge. Minor defect, but the QC should have fixed that as it is clearly noticeable.