Harley Benton TE-62CC SFG

I sold off a tele I loved after it developed issues which just wouldn't go away, and decided to purchase a budget Tele until I could afford something more high end. I'd heard good things about the TE62 and decided to give it a shot.

Well, this is now my go to guitar! I can't stop playing it.

The neck is fantastic, very solid with decent fretwork. They needed a bit of a polish but that's to be expected. No fret sprout and the back has a lovely satin feel and caramel colour. Not too thin but not a baseball bat either. Great to play.

The nut is plastic but well cut and easily replaceable if necessary, but it's been a few months now and it's holding really well, no issues at all.

The stock tuners were ok, but I always upgrade these on budget guitars, so I replaced them with harley benton locking tuners at an extra 40e. After reaming the holes slightly larger they installed nicely and have added perfect stability to the tuning which was already good with the originals.

The paint job is flawless and colour gorgeous! The neck is well fit into the pocket with no gap which is very pleasing since you sometimes see this on lower priced instruments and the bridge, saddles and knobs are sturdy and look great. I upgraded the saddles for brass since i like the look and tone, but this wasn't necessary as the intonation is great with the originals.

Sound wise these Roswells do a great job! A lot of clarity on clean channels and they handle gain very well. They're quite well rounded on the high ends and not shrill, which is nice since Teles can often be quite piercing. I intend to upgrade them not brcause they're poor but because I already know this guitar is a keeper, and want the best tones possible from it.

Out of the box the action and intonation was good, it is likely you'll need to give it a good setup in any case.

I highly recommend this guitar for both beginners and experienced players. If you're like me and like modding, this guitar is an absolute solid base for project work. The bones are there and I know it's going to be a guitar I can keep growing with, even though I've been playing 20 plus years.

A fantastic instrument in build and finish which punches way, way beyond it's weight. Kudos to HB for a great guitar.

The initial setup was surprisingly good straight from the factory. No sharp fret ends, and overall playability was very nice. The color looked great and neck profile was very comfortable and easy to play. The nut was the part where you could spot some “hickups” considering craftmanship, but nothing too bad considering the price of the guitar. Overall, for this price I was very impressed with the quality.

I made many mods on the guitar, and here’s how the process went:

Tuners: replaced with gotoh SD91-05M Relic. It was not a direct replacement. First you have to take out all the original tuner bushings, then file the bore holes just a little bit larger, and then you can install the new bushings and then the tuners. You must replace the bushings even if you didn’t want to, because gotoh tuners won’t fit though the originals. Be aware, that screw holes on back of the headstock might not be 100% aligned with the gotoh. You must also be VERY careful with the screws, as they are bigger on the gotoh than on the original tuners, and if you are not careful, the new ones might break inside the neck. I used the screws from original tuners to install gotoh ones. All in all, installing new tuners worked out ok.

String trees: Replaced with gotoh ones. Broke one screw inside the headstock during installment, because new screws were just a little bigger than the original ones. Be careful with the screws, you might need to drill the screw holes a little bit bigger or use the screws from the original string trees instead.

Nut: If you wish to replace the nut, I’d recommend taking the guitar to a local guitar shop, where you can look for a nut that matches the string spacing on the original. For example, a Graph Tech nut’s string spacing was different, and couldn’t use that one. Replaced the original one with a bone nut.

Bridge: This was a direct replacement with a göldo vintage t-style bridge with brass saddles. No additional work was required.

Pickups & pickguard: Replaced stock pickups with Fender Yosemite pickup set. If you wish to keep the original pickguard, you must file the neck pickup hole on the pickguard a little bit bigger, so the new neck pickup fits in. If you wish to swap the pickguard to another one, you pretty much have to order one as a custom order, or order a blank one and drill holes and do some filing on your own. Thomann DOESN’T SELL any pickguard for this guitar that is a straight replacement. Which is a real bummer.

Electronics: The control cavity is quite small, so you must use smaller sized potentiometers If you wish to replace the original ones. A Fender 3-way switch fits barely in the cavity.

This guitar is great value for money and plays nicely as it is. If you wish to mod it, it can be done, however, it may not be as easy job as you expect!