Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Brown

The brown DC Junior looks and feels absolutely great. The weight is comfortable - solid but not too much of a burden for the gigging player. The finish is very well done and really looks the part. Fit is neat and accurate.

The electrics are neat: full-sized Alpha pots and tidy wiring. The control cavity is shielded with conductive paint and the cavity cover with aluminium foil.

The Roswell pickup sounds really good. Not exactly a classic P90 sound but somewhere between that and a Tele bridge pickup vibe. A nice sound in its own right. One odd thing is that the pickup is very low beneath the strings and would benefit from spacers or shims to raise it up a few mm. I'll do that to mine next time I change strings and I expect it to improve the pickup's performance.

I play mine through an Artist Tweed Tone 20 R tube combo and it sounds exactly as I'd hoped it would.

The one slightly weak point is the bridge. It has a fairly sharp corner on the low E string saddle which makes for uncomfortable palm muting. Also, the available adjustment in both height and intonation are only just sufficient to get a good action and good intonation - several other owners have also noticed this - but both ARE achievable. Still, many players will want to replace the stock bridge with a third-party bridge that's a little lower in height and which allows the saddles to be move a fraction further back. Such bridges are available for £20 or £30 so it's no big deal.

While the basic guitar is an absolute spectacular bargain at this price, where it will really shine is as a high-quality platform for modification and customisation.

So far I'm really loving it. If it got stolen or lost I would immediately buy another one - or maybe two!