I've had this guitar for a week now and I have to say I'm impressed, it looks good, it plays good, it sounds good and i am very happy about it. I am not affiliated with Thomann in any way, I'm just a customer from Italy and I was even a bit skeptical, but here's my impressions.
Before purchasing this one, I tried on the same price range and style a Squier Bullet, a Squier Affinity, and Ibanez Gio.
This one is at least on par with the Squier Affinity, probably a bit better, while the Bullet and the Gio don't even come close.
Now on to some details.
LOOKS
Absolutely nailed it, paint is fine, the color is stunning and hard to find, the guitar actually looks better than in the pictures. The pickguard is a 3ply mint green, greener than it looks in the picture, which I like it very much. Love it, 10/10.
WEIGHT
I didn't find this info anywhere: this one is kinda on the heavier side of strats, it weighs around 3.2 kg. I'm used to a Les Paul and its 3.8 kg so to me this is an upgrade anyway.
NECK
I love it! It took me a couple of hours to get used to it but then it has been lovely. It's satin, which is exactly what i was looking for.
I find it neither too thin nor too thick. It's just right for me, and very comfortable once you set up the guitar. More on that later.
For reference about my hand size, I'm 184 cm, so I'd say my hands are average.
There are no sharp frets and I didn't need to polish them. Fine and playable right off the box.
SOUND
Long story short: it sounds good. That's it. Mess around a bit with pickup heights until you find the sound you like, but it's good. I don't mean good for the price, I mean good in general. Having a blast playing some funk last week, can't put the guitar down.
SETUP
I spent a little more than an hour doing a setup, WHICH IS NEEDED in order to make the guitar really shine.
I did everything easily, and you should be able to do the same searching a couple of youtube videos on how to setup a guitar properly. All you need is a screwdriver, a tuner and a string height gauge. Everything else is in the box.
About the setup.
- ACTION: The guitar was set with a ridicolously high action so you'll need to lower it, no big deal, the guitar comes with the tools you need in the box.
- NECK
Needed to adjust the truss rod 1/4 counter clockwise and let it rest for a day, it is now perfect with no fret buzz anywhere.
- BRIDGE AND INTONATION: It was surprisingly in tune to be honest, just a couple of adjustments after setting action and truss rod. You will probably want to replace the bridge screws with some 8 mm instead of the 12 mm, or they will scratch your hand when you lower the action. 15 minutes operation and 4-5 € for the screws.
The tremolo keeps the tuning very well and better than some more expensive guitar. I'm actually very impressed, I can dive bomb with this??? Amazing.
NUT
- I think it's a plastic one but it's well cut and doesn't need a replacement. Put some graphite with a pencil on it when you change the strings and you're good to go.
ELECTRONICS
- Didn't need to do anything, good pots, good switch, good pickups, nice soldering, no noises.
It took me a bit more than an hour to do all of this but it's totally worth it, I already love this instrument.
CONS
I have no major complaints. Maybe in the future you will want to upgrade the tuners? Not the best in the market, but they're good and they do their job. There's no need to change them for now, and in any case that would be a 50€ purchase, so no big deal.
I've read about some QC issues about Harley Bentons and I was a bit worried, but either mine is a very good specimen, or thomann has upgraded their QC.
CONCLUSION
I am more than happy with this guitar, if you're looking for a strat style, this HB punches way above its price range. Great purchase, so I guess thank you Thomann!
