Harley Benton Fusion-III HSS Roasted WH

I ordered this guitar on 29.12.2022, and it arrived to my home in Hungary on the 03.01.2023., so it was a quick delivery.
At first sight everything was OK with the guitar, I saw no issues, the guitar looked a bit dusty, the roasted neck looked a bit "pale" and there was the "usual problem" with HB guitars (I have 3 of them) - a relatively dry fretboard. There were no fret spouts. The electronics worked fine. The strings were a bit rusty in places(??).
But as I started to play I noticed a crack in the body (or just the paint?) where the neck end ovelaps the body at the neck pickup. You could only see it from a playing position. Maybe the paint was chipped of when the atteched the neck.
I took some photos, sent them immediately to Thomann, telling them, I would like to have the guitar replaced. They were quick once again, I received the posting papers app. one hour later. So the guitar went back to Thomann on the same day it arived. I took almost three weeks but I got the replacement (mostly due to Hungarian post service being really slow). First I was scared, because there was I big dent (caused by the hungarian post service) on the big box, but luckily, the box of the guitar was ot harmed.
The replacement guitar has no major flaws. Once again, the fretboard was dry, the neck and headstock looked pale. But a fair amount of lemon oil cured the fretboard, which looks amazing now. I cleaned the neck and the headstock with a cloth dampened with a little lemon oil, it is really pretty now.
Routing and painting of the pickup cavity could be nicer, the backplates are shielded, but the cavity for the electronics is not (there ar some kind of black layer, but it is oversprayed with the white paint of the body.

The neck relief was perfect for me, the string height was OK. The neck pickup was set very deep, I had to it move up app. 2 mms.
The frets are OK, I could find only one fret, that is a little bit high. All fret needed a quick polish, especially on the high E side.
The pickups sound decent ( A bit muddy compared to my Fender Player Strat stock pickups), a coil split function on the bridge pickup works well.

Overall, I am pleased with the replacement guitar, a better quality controll would have saved me a lot of time for me.

One more thing to mention: the white, matt finish is really sensitive, even a little bit of dirt from your hand (like after playing half an hour) leaves a mark.

As soon as i picked it up and played it. It immediately became my favorite guitar. It is that good. But that are some flaws with harley benton quality control and that is the reason i won't give it 5 stars.

PROS:
- Extremely confortable.
- Looks amazing.
- Sounds amazing.
- Stable tunning, but i do advise on using a lubricant if your planning to use the bridge in the floating position.
- Lighter then i expected (3.2 kg / 7.06 lb).
- Has a nice smell of roasted mapple. A bit strong in the beggining but it gets weaker after a couple of weeks.

CONS:
- The frets are not polished (Easy to fix not a big problem).
- The push pull pot feel extremely cheap.
- My guitar arrived with small dent on the plastic backplate. Almost looks like someone hit it with a flat screwdriver or a soldering iron at the factory. I don't mind it alot because i only see it if i look for it.

Guitar finish: It's like a satin or matte, not gloss but I really love a gloss finish. Before I placed an order, I had chatted with one of Thomann customer services that said it is gloss. Anyways it looks great and stunning in a way that white favorite person will love it.

Guitar neck: Very nice roasted maple neck with stainless steel frets, no fret buzz. The neck and frets tasks are really perfect. No sharp at the end of the frets, but the flame maple isn't so clear.

Guitar Setup: The action is just right to my preference, not too high or too low. but tremolo springs is a little bit too hard.

Guitar Pickup: Decent sounds and enough juice for different music style. I still feel it is not as clear and bright as I expected, compared it with my PRS.

It’s fairly light to carry it for 2 or 3 hours. Playing it for a long time will probably leave a sweat stains on the body. I have another satin finish guitar that leaves sweat stains and It is difficult to remove stains, even using liquid cleaner. That is why I prefer a gloss finish.

Finally, it is a very nice good-looking guitar with very excellent roasted neck and stainless steel frets that makes me feel good when I play it, as well as a good sounding is suitable for different type of music.