Harley Benton Victory-BK Classic Series

For the price of this guitar, I can't argue that its great.

The neck is a really nice thickness, its fast, and the frets are a good size to allow for comfortable chords and easy riff and lead work.

The balance of the body is better than nearly any V shaped guitar I've played. Absolutely 0 neck dive, even if the top strap pin feels like its in a slightly.. odd place. But it doesn't get in the way for me.

The pickups are bright and agressive, I use them for punk/black metal tones and they cut well for recording, they're quiet and have plenty of clarity. I will say, if you're into crystal clean tones, this probably isn't gonna be for you.

The tunes are fine, nothing special, but they do the job, not having to retune often. I might change them out in future, but until then, they're good enough for me.

The whole construction, fit and finish are all top notch, especially for something that cost just a little over £100, I've owned more expesnive guitars that can't contend, this and my other HB's are great. Especially for experimenting with new shapes and styles without busting the bank.

There is however, one tiny little issue.

The pickup selector doesn't like to stay in place. It loves the middle position, but will sometimes ping back from the bridge setting, or flat out refuse to stay in place in the neck one.

Its not great, but I'm fine with it. I take the neck pickups out of most of my guitar because I don't use it at all live, and have a bunch of options for neck pickups when recording. I'd obviously prefer if it worked, but worst case scenario a £2 part and 10 mins soldering as and when I may change the pickups and its fixed.

Very pleased. Nice one, Harley Benton.

Love it, better as i expected!
You can't get this v from gibson anymore*, but the HB is great fun!!!!
*Well..now they have one for 16 x and one for 34 times this price...

Good looks, plays well, frets are nice, good electronics: pots turn nice, switch is ok, , sound is really great: blues, jazzy, rock...(All on a full tube Marshall and a handbuild 5 watt tube job )
Had to do some set-up of course, not much. Looks as Thomann has a really good quality control, at least with my 2 guitars.
Will have to give the fretboard some oil treatment, but not yet: the strings are in good condition! * well after half a day i oiled and cleaned the neck and put 010 d'addario's on. Way better.
The nut is a tiny bit wrong, not a big problem, i will change it in time. You can't have it all for ?99, Edit: the nut has settled in now. ok.
btw: Humbuckers are open, with sort of silk tape protection. Might be like the real thing.
* after checking the internet: originals look the same. Plastic protection foil took a long time to get of, broke a pot trying to get a volume knob of... Lucky i had a 250K spare :( (yes, they are 250K)
For home use it's lots of fun. will probably try it with the band, but with a flashy axe, you have to play really well :)

It's not as heavy or massive as a mahogany Gibson of course, rather lightweight. Better not bump into things, but it plays well sitting or standing.

EDIT:
I changed the stock pot for 500k log ALPS, large.The capacitor for a 0.22 (mallory), the toggleswitch for a gibson switch, the input plug for a neutrik (Switchcrafts is really good too)
More dynamic sound, since it was original 250k and 047.
The nice knobs fit exactly on the ALPS, had to clear the holes for the pot a little bij hand (8.5 drill)
Volume replaced to the long side, tone nearest to the bridge.
Damped the pickup cavity with old foam my telephone came with.

This one is now such a great guitar!!!! And the humbuckers are very good indeed. ;)

This one is different but just as nice as the more expensive HB gold top/P90. And that is a really good guitar.

i'm still having fun, from T-rex to Metallica ;)
Are there no bad things? No, not for this price. Wishes: the highs notes, 20 fret and up on the e and b string don't sustain as long as my 35 year old strat.
Long enough of course, and with a pedal you won't notice it at all. The neck and tuners had some trouble with the hot weather last month, but are settled in nicely.

I had been eyeing this guitar from Thomann for a while but was a bit hesitant to order it due to the international shipping. I was worried that the guitar might arrive damaged or that I might have to deal with a lot of hassle to get it in working order. But, I finally took the plunge and ordered it. To my pleasant surprise, the guitar arrived in perfect condition and was packaged very securely.

When I opened the box, I was blown away by how beautiful the guitar looked. The craftsmanship was outstanding, and it was clear that a lot of care had gone into making this instrument. I was even more thrilled when I picked it up and played it for the first time. The sound was incredible, and I didn't have to make any rod adjustments at all. The string's action was perfect, and the fretwork was impeccable. I could tell right away that this was a high-quality guitar.

Overall, I'm extremely satisfied with my purchase. The Thomann guitar exceeded my expectations in every way possible. It's clear that this is a product that's made with a lot of care and attention to detail. I would highly recommend this guitar to anyone who's considering a purchase. Don't let international shipping scare you off. This guitar is worth every penny and will provide you with years of joy and musical inspiration.

Musikhaus Thomann customer service is top notch. Other companies wish they had the Thomann staff. The guitar itself is good with some minor manufacturing flaws that I will go over in brief and include possible solutions for those who purchase the instrument. Keep in mind that it is entirely possible that mine suffers from these problems but yours may not.

The Action. When viewing the guitar from the side, the neck is set too low. This creates a high action even with the bridge flush against the pickguard. To remedy this problem you will need to cut a hole in the pickguard under the bridge, in the shape of the bridge, to allow it to be lowered further. Alternatively you could shave the bottom of the bridge so it is flat. If the neck were set roughly 4mm higher (when viewed from the side) this problem wouldn't exist.

The Bridge. Speaking of the bridge, the bass side is set too far away from the neck, making it virtually impossible to intonate the three low strings (e, a, d in standard tuning). A solution is to remove the bridge saddles on these strings and flip them around, which will give you a little more room to move them toward the neck; remember to remove the black washers from the inside of the bridge with a pair of tweezers first. If the bass side of the bridge were positioned 2mm closer to the neck this wouldn't be a problem in the first place.

The Tailpiece. Because of the problem with the neck height, and ultimately having to set the bridge flush against the body of the guitar, the angle of the strings between the bridge and the tailpiece is poor. I'm considering feeding the strings through the tailpiece in reverse and wrapping them on the under side to improve the string angle to the bridge.

Despite these flaws I am very happy with my purchase and if I had to do it over again I would not hesitate to buy it. I absolutely recommend this guitar, it kicks ass, just be prepared for some minor flaws that you will need to find solutions for or just learn to live with.

Thanks, Thomann!

Recieved the guitar yesterday and have only had a little bit of time to play around with it. First impression is very good! A great looking guitar for a very economic price!

Pros:
Extremely economic for the sound quality and build
Feels robust in the hand
Good balance with the guitar strap
Well done with good finishing
Well rounded frets
No fret buzz
Tuners seem to hold the tuning fine
Good guitar tone and sound

Cons:
Pickups could be better but still sound good

Suggestion:
It would be great to include a generic Harley Benton guitar strap with the guitar

First off, my ratings are based on what you get for the price, as obviously you can't fairly compare a $160 Harley Benton to a $3,000 Gibson.
So here we go.
I can't believe this guitar costs only ~$160 Canadian! Do I have better guitars? Yes, but they all cost $600 or more. This guitar is easily on par with my ~$400-$500 Epiphones. The finish is great, with only a few barely noticeable defects, the pick-ups are a tad muddy, but do the job just fine, the tuners work very well and feel solid and smooth, fretwork was mostly quite good. No fret sprout or sharp edges to speak of, the frets are all levelled well (NO fret buzz at all!) but they are a bit rough to the point where string bends are more difficult than they should be. Easily fixable. The action is a bit high, but still very playable. Again, fixable. The guitar arrived from Germany to Canada in 4 business days set up, tuned and ready to rock!
Very happy customer. Will buy Harley Benton again and I would tell you if you are thinking about it, DO IT. These are good guitars.

So where do I start with reviewing this guitar?
It's nothing short of amazing (especially for the price)!

It's sleek, plays very well (and fast!), looks and feels like a dream.

Use: Although this guitar looks like your typical metal axe, the stock pickups are versatile enough to cover a wide range of styles (Blues, Jazz, Rock, Pop, Metal, you name it!) [Though I want to clarify I changed my pickups out to Dimarzio Evolutions for preference and it sounds great with a wide variety of different pickups)

Pros and Cons

Pros:
*Price - Can't be beat for how the guitar is setup, honestly I could expect to spend another $500 for something that plays and looks like this.
*Playability- This thing is my favorite guitar to play, it's neck is that perfect balance between fast for shredding, but fat enough to easily and clearly voice chords I can honestly say I can switch to a variety of different styles of playing EASILY on this beaut.
*Feel- The guitars neck doesn't dip, and it's lightweight but still packs an incredible sound, it's also HUGE for such a short scale length!

Cons:
*The initial setup could have been a tad bit better, had to do some fretwork and change the action to get it where I wanted but they were easy and quick fixes.

If you're looking to get a new axe but don't know where to start, then go for a Harley Benton, even better go for this V maybe you'll fall in love with it like I did!

Thank you Thomann and Harley Benton for my new favorite guitar!