Harley Benton DC-Junior FAT Benton Blue

I bought this thinking it would be a nice, cheap guitar to have knocking around the house and not have to worry about the kids or dogs knocking it over. I really wasn't expecting it to be as good as it is. This isn't just a good guitar for the price, it's a damn good guitar full stop.
It arrived on Tuesday last week and I gave it a once over, trying to find any shortcuts or basic flaws. Nothing. Tuned it up and had a play, decided I wanted to lower the action a little, changed this and kept playing.
Friday night came around and I'm on my way out to a gig. I'd normally take a couple of very nice telecasters, but decided to give this a run out. I fully expected to play a couple of songs and then revert back to the telecaster, keeping this as a backup. I ended up playing the whole gig with the DC Junior.
Very impressed and it will be coming to this weeks gig too.

A lot of the reviews on the internet make it sound like this guitar is an absolute steal. I agree that its value for money but I was less enamoured, I think I paid the right money for it.

I bought it as a project guitar so none of the issues [below] are a problem for me and nothing I wouldn't expect to see on a budget guitar anyway, I just think that buying online its worth knowing what sort of thing you might find, that a picture online cant/wont show you. Also, I'm only going to point out the extremes, good or bad, if I don't highlight then it was ok/good.

The first thing that I noticed (probably the way I unboxed) were the tuning pegs. Very plasticky with obvious mould lines and dirty. On closer inspection the dirt was actually the plastic, like it had been tuned by someone with acetone on their fingers. I had so sand them to get rid of the dirty markings but that got rid of the mould lines too, and they look ok now. Otherwise the tuners are holding the strings in tune ok and are not particularly gritty or scratchy.

The frets were very scratchy and there was a small amount of fret sprout (but maybe I'm just sensitive to these things). The paint on the neck was visibly rippled. It was also super glossy, the kind your sweaty hand will stick to, so sanding sorted out both issues (although, even after sanding there are still low spots in the paint where its still glossy).

There were small blemishes in the paint on the neck and body (3-5mm black marks that are in the paint). As mentioned, I sanded the neck to remove the ripples so I know the marks were in the paint; not on top. Probably wouldn't be notable if the guitar wasn't bright blue, to be fair any blemish will be immediately obvious.

I wanted to use the black livery (gimmicky, perhaps, but I do really like the fact you get to choose, btw) but unfortunately the scratch plate doesn't quite fit properly, there' a couple of mm gap between the neck and the scratch plate at the top end and about 5mm at the bottom end. A gap is probably normal, but its the fact its on a slant. Barely noticeable, can be sanded even, I just point it out because there was no gap with the white scratch plate. Also one of the white knobs broke on removal, my fault I guess but I was using a knob puller that I've used on all my other guitars no issues. There was a bit of foam packing under the pick up that I initially thought was odd but that's apparently quite normal; in lieu of springs.

The tone knob does nothing until you get to about 2 and half, then it kicks in abruptly. There is no tone control, its on or off. The coil split didn't do anything either, but that may be a faulty pot since the tone does nothing either?

Overall I really like the guitar, I like the tone, I like the colour, I like the fact you can choose between black and white livery. I think its good value for money, I don't think its a steal, I think you get what you pay for. Its a solid guitar that you can play out of the box, at a low enough price you can bash it around a bit or modify without worrying about damaging; as you might a more expensive instrument.

Hi,

This guitar punches above it's priceclass. The neck is smooth and fretwork more than capable.

You can't get the action down at shredders lever, but setting is at 1.8 mm (12th fret, thick E string) is easily doable , but can't see it getting lower... It did need a setup tho... As all bentons kinda do in my opinion... I needed to lower the bridge, but there was also to much relief in the neck.

pro's:
-Feels at least like a epiphone level quality guitar
-Sounds rocknroll.. Has very nice and usable clean sound... Has a lot of grit with gain. I even use it for metal stuff.

Cons:
-For mine , there were some paint flaws (Black dots in the back of the neck above the blue paint) .
-The tone pot is really "wobly" if you turn it. It's like there is something that needs no be tightened inside , but I can't find it (It's not the hex screw)
- The tone pot knob also gets off really easy by accident if i'm trying to coilsplit.
-For some reason, my "thicker" sound gives a little more hum, or noises, that the split sound... But still very usable and not that bad.

All in all, despite the "cons" list, I like it very much, it's got that "something special" guitar that sets it apart from a strat, Lp, Sg, Tele , ... Even for being a doublecut, it is original because it has some fenderish style colors, but plays more like a gibson... So it's something different :)

I have been playing for over 30 years and currently front the band Black Cats NYC. Over the years I have played many different guitars from many different brands. I am old school so the classics are the guitars I tend to gravitate towards. During the pandemic and not being able to play live, I did a lot of YouTubing and that's where I first discovered Harley Benton.

I pulled the trigger on the HB DC-Jr Fat in Benton Blue.... what a great guitar!!! Fist of all it looks phenomenal, the color jumps out at you and the fretboard is beautiful. Second it plays great, the neck is fast and inspiring. Third it sounds unbelievable, that Roswell P90 has great tone!

The jr. came perfect out of the box, no paint flaws or fret issues, decent strings, and it comes with both white and black pickguard, backplate, trussrod cover and knobs... it's like getting 2 for the price of 1 ha! The hardware is real good quality and doesn't look or feel cheap. The tuners (15:1 ratio) don't slip, the bridge intonates great, the nut is graphite, and the P90 is stacked! (you can go from single coil to humbucker) This guitar really cuts through the mix, not a "true" P90 but it growls and has its own unique sound that I absolutely love. Inside the soldering is spot on and the wiring is neat and tidy. I have a "real" dc special and in comparison, the HB is slightly thicker in the neck and body, and a little lighter.

The only thing I had to do to this guitar was change the strings due to personal preference, they come with .10 gauge and I play .11's. Setting this guitar up was easy and it now plays even better. My band is recording in a couple of days and I will be using this guitar on one of the songs!

I highly recommend the HB DC- Junior FAT to anyone looking for a great, fun to play, rock 'n' roll guitar.