Harley Benton TE-70 Black Paisley

Trochę o gitarze, na którą trafiłem:
-elektronika w pełni sprawna
-klucze toporne, kiepskiej jakości, ale trzymają strój
-progi gładkie, co było dla mnie miłym zaskoczeniem
-przyszła z bardzo wysoką akcją strun
-menzura dobrze ustawiona
-siodełko dość wysokie i topornie nacięte, jednak nie wpływa to negatywnie na strojenie instrumentu
-potencjometr tone jest kiepski - działa prawie jak on/off

Akcję strun dało się obniżyć, niestety uwydatniło to niezbyt równe progi. Obecnie mam ją ustawioną tak, że gra się dobrze, choć do w pełni komfortowej gry wymaga ona regulacji lutniczej i wyrównania progów.

główne zalety (biorąc pod uwagę cenę):
-wygląd
-brzmienie
-mostek kompensowany, pozwalający dokładnie ustawić menzurę
-wystarczająco solidne wykonanie

wady:
-niezbyt równe progi
-waga: 3,9kg - dla mnie sporo, jednak innym może to nie przeszkadzać
(lub mogą trafić na lżejszy egzemplarz)

Dźwięk:
Przy dobrze dobranym/ustawionym wzmacniaczu gitara brzmi świetnie jak na swoją cenę i daje spore możliwości ustawienia barwy dźwięku. Należy jednak wziąć pod uwagę, że bridge pickup posiada bardzo jaskrawe brzmienie i na niektórych wzmacniaczach (szczególnie tranzystorowych) może wymagać sporego zmniejszenia wysokich tonów.

Ogólnie gitara prezentuje dobry stosunek jakości do ceny. Po roku użytkowania nie spotkałem się z żadnymi awariami osprzętu. Za stosunkowo niską cenę dostajemy ładną gitarę o przyzwoitym brzmieniu. Komfort gry mógłby być lepszy, jednak regulacja lutnicza powinna rozwiązać ten problem.

You'll excuse me if at first I was really skeptical about this guitar. Even after reading a number of "high praise" reviews, I was still not quite sure if I should pull the plug and order one. I watched a number of Youtube videos [and there are quite a few], and all of them raved about the quality of the product, compared to the price. Anyway, I bit the bullet and ordered one. It arrived this morning by UPS, on time, and in great condition. I have to say that $138 Canadian dollars shipping with UPS was a little on the expensive side, but with the pandemic and Thomann's regular shipper closing shipments to North America, UPS was my only choice. This should in no way reflect on Thomann, as they were an absolute pleasure to work with, and because the product was back ordered by a couple of weeks they kept me well informed on how the sale was progressing.
Although many said that their guitar was playable right out of the box, mine needed some minor adjustments so that I didn't have to fight the action. I'll get into those in a moment.
I checked the guitar over quite closely after unwrapping it. I took a neck gauge and found the neck did not need any adjustments to the truss rod. The finish I would describe as something you would only find on much more expensive guitars. I'm not much of a paisley graphics lover [never have been, even when it was in vogue years ago] but I think it will grow on me. I was going to order the Rosewood model and then after reading a couple of reviews that were a bit negative on the finish, I opted for the paisley. I'm glad I did because it is excellent. Not a single blemish. Neck joint attachment to the body is flawless, and most of the electronic components seem to work really well other than a few small adjustments. The neck pickup was slanted towards the neck at a slight angle that looked, well, a little weird. Easy fix. The tuners have sharp inside edges, but they seem to work amazingly well and at this time I don't think I'll change them. Although the intonation was just about perfect, the string height had to be adjusted on the 1st to 4th strings on the bridge. That was about a 5 minute job and now the guitar is really, really playable. I'm kinda shocked. You're not fighting the fretboard and even though the strings were a little high, all the adjustments made a world of difference. I didn't notice any rough frets, and this guitar didn't need them polished like I've read on many reviews. I will change the strings to the ones I've been using for years, just because I'm used to them and like their sound.
I plugged it into my practice amp for the first time and I have to say I'm really impressed. The Roswell pickups are just fine. I'll stay with them for awhile as I can always make a change latter if I get bored with them. The volume and tone controls were smooth and worked well, as did the selector switch.
If I had anything to complain about it would be the plastic they used as protective covering over the neck pickup. I don't know what they glued it with, but it was a pain in the a** to get off. Again, just an annoyance and nothing that I would call a quality issue. I have been playing for many years and have never come across such a great product at such a reasonable price. If your on the edge about buying one I would highly recommend it.

Firstly i live in Scotland I ordered this on Thursday , Today is Tuesday and it was delivered this morning all for £144.00 including delivery.Ordering online was super easy and i received updates on confirmation and delivery
I cannot believe how good quality this guitar is for what i paid, visually it is stunning looking like something easily 5 times the price.
It sounds awesome much better than i had expected and i cant fault the Roswell pick ups. Straight from the box it just needed a quick tune up and it was playable. Action a little high for me but that,s an easy fix
Now i realize i probably sound like an advert for Harley Benton but genuinely there are no bad points. I am getting on a bit in age nearer 60 than 16 lol,but if i had got this as my first guitar at 16 i would have been over the moon , However it is by no means a cheap beginners guitar. The overall component quality is very good and i think where the money is saved is in production time so its has good quality components but has not had the time spent on it to make it perfect.
The frets are a bit scratchy and the fret ends whilst by no means bad could do with a polish so ill play it for a bit then change the strings and polish the frets it has a plastic nut which is cut okay for depth but protrudes slightly proud of the nut so ill probably change it when i change strings, as for tuners they feel okay and guitar holds tune well so ill leave them alone until i have any problems then ill upgrade them, volume tone controls pickup selector all feel good so again ill leave them alone until i have any problems, although i have to point out that i have a strat copy that i got 42 years ago with cheap electronics and its still going strong with all the original electronics and tuners so dont go replacing stuff just because its not branded if it works and sounds good leave it alone.Pick ups i see no reason to change these if what youre looking for is that tele sound there great.
So overall this is a fantastic guitar for the money just buy it spend a little bit of time not money on it or if you want to go the other way you could buy it and mod the hell out of it and still not have spent a fortune
One final note i have to say i am super impressed with Harley Benton
so if you can get passed the snobbery of Big Brand names there unbeatable