Harley Benton TE-52 NA Vintage Series

The sound of Telecasters has never really impressed me but I just wanted one to fill a gap in my collection, which is mainly hollow bodied, (with the exception of a Tokai strat). I play as a hobby so my guitars never leave the house and I really don't demand top-class instruments, although I would certainly be happy to own one! I first researched the options from different makes and suppliers but wasn't impressed with what was on offer for the £200 mark. As I've bought Harley Benton's before, I was confident I could find a Tele at the right price. After comparing them I ordered the TE-52 but to be honest, at just £122 including delivery, my expectations were not that high, despite glowing reviews on the Thomann site and on YouTube. After all, it's a guitar that sells for £113! It was ordered on a Friday evening and received in the UK on Wednesday at 10:00am, tracked all the way.

My first impression was that this was a stunning looking and a very well made guitar. When I checked it over and played it this is what I found:

~ There were no blemishes on the finish and it was pretty perfect.
~ The neck relief was perfect with the strings just sitting above the frets at the 7th fret.
~ The intonation was perfect on 4 strings and slightly off on the D & G strings, which took 30 seconds to put right.
~ The body looks like a 2 piece body, judging from the join at the base.
~ The neck looks like a one piece neck.
~ The dot markers are sitting central on the edge of the fretboard.
~ There was no shielding inside the control panel, pickups and jack socket.
~ The tuners are fine and hold the strings in tune, but I do find there is some slack spots in them,
~ The control panel is 34mm wide so buying a new control panel would be hard to find, (the American version is 32mm).
~ The pickguard is also not a standard American size so it would be harder to find a replacement, to align the 8 screw holes and have a 34mm gap for the control plate.
~ The cavity at the neck position beneath the pickguard is large enough to fit a humbucker or mini-humbucker at the neck. So if you want a new pickup set-up you will need to find the Asian version of the pickguard, (see above).
~ The C shaped neck plays like a dream.
~ The nut is plastic.
~ The neck was seated into the body perfectly, with not the slightest gap.
~ The Roswell pickups sound good enough to me to keep them in the guitar.
~ The guitar strings were slightly corroded.
~ The frets were not polished - so initially no string bending!

I have had the guitar just over one week and I have replaced the bridge and saddles with the Wilkinson compensated brass version. I was just going to replace the saddles but thought it easier to replace the whole bridge. This upgrade isn't really needed but I like my guitars 'just so'. It has had an effect on the sound and it has now, to my ears at any rate, more of a Telecaster 'twang' . While I was at it, I also shielded all the cavities with black shielding paint and replaced the string trees with roller string trees. I fitted a bone nut which was re-cut to eliminate the sharps on the first fret. The strings were initially cleaned up with some WD40 on kitchen towel, which worked fine, but I put another set of 9's on when I replace the bridge. I polished the frets at the same time. If anything the tuners could be replaced, but at a much later time.

This guitar far exceeded my expectations. It's great looking and it was playable straight out of the box. The quality is amazing for the the price paid - if it was twice the price it would still be good value. There are some very small faults but nothing that can't very easily be put right. Most new guitars need properly setting up but this one didn't. Although I fiddled around with it to get it playing exactly how I like it, my upgrades were not really necessary but for the cost involved, I think they are an improvement.

This is my 4th Harley Benton. I've never had anything except the smallest problem with the build quality on HB guitars and this one is about the best I've ever had. So, from being indifferent to Telecasters I am now a convert and I really love this guitar. It's great value and a great player.

I must say that my first and overall reaction on receiving this guitar was one of pleasant surprise. There has been much written about this particular Harley Benton but I wanted to make my own mind up and tried to be objective as I could. I would add modestly that my guitars are all top notch models from premium makers so my bar is set high. What is undeniable is that a so called ‘budget’ guitar has been taken to another level. The wood on the particular guitar I received is excellent. The fit and finish of the component parts impeccable. My tuners are all good and functioned without fault with no issues whatsoever. The pots turned evenly and the selector switch had good resistance. I was surprised too at the fair quality of the hardware. Not perhaps the best money can buy but far from being cheap and nasty that would need immediate replacement.. In respect of the neck, arguably the most important part of any guitar, all good. In fact very good indeed. The profile is more of a medium u shape. The frets were installed perfectly with no low or high spots anywhere on my fretboard. My example played perfectly straight out of the box. Some people may wish to polish the frets but this is a personal thing and not a criticism and on my example certainly not necessary. Perhaps I may give them them a light polish when I eventually need to change the strings. The strings were D’addario 9’s and in perfectly new condition without a sign of rust and rang clear and true. I had a new set ready to install but was simply not necessary. I was impressed by the resonance that I could feel vibrate through the ash body of this guitar. I would add that thought that the action at the factory had been set a little high for my personal preference. I used my allen key and lowered the six saddle screws one complete anti clockwise turn and now for me, was much better. I will fine tune this when I get the time. I’ve read that the TE-52 is heavy but I certainly don’t find this. Certainly not light but prohibitively heavy? No.
I am not going to comment with regards pickups as this is purely subjective and with so many variables. Many purchasers of this guitar will certainly keep the stock pickups and many may change. Voila!
This is a good guitar. I get the impression that perhaps Thomanns have been sensitive to previous criticisms of Harley Benton guitars and have taken these on board and have resolved them with the factory and as I said before, bringing ‘budget’ guitars to another level.

I have been playing for 30+ years and have owned around 40-50 guitars (I lost count) and still own 11, from cheap to custom shop models. This guitar is simply unbelievable for the money. It feels and plays like a guitar 5x or 10x the price. I was skeptical at first, having owned three Bentons prior to this and selling all of them super fast. First was a Harley Benton DC copy of an SG some 7 years ago - which was a "cardboard" disaster. Other two were Strat types, both failing because of pickups and electronics. Mind you, this was years ago and Harley Benton now makes much better instruments. This guitar is a keeper, but It does have it's downsides too.

THE GOOD
Construction quality is great, so is the paint and neck. Electronics are surprisingly good, pickups are simply great. True vintage tele tone both positions and sweet sweet sounds in middle position. PUPs are quite hot! Also very pick attack responsive and volume knob responsive. They sound amazing on my EL84 powered amps, not so much on the EL34 Marshall, where they can sound thin and brittle. EQ fiddling and a good equaliser pedal can fix that though. Pickups sound great through a TS9. Paint job is great, neck is very comfortable to play and very straight. I compared this guitar AB to a J&D tele with upgraded Dimarzio pickups and the difference is light years in favour of the Harley Benton. Coming from a J&D to this TE-52 is like a quantum leap in overall playing experience. I wasn't expecting I'd be saying the Roswells sound better (they sound more telecaster correct) than Dimarzios, but they absolutely do. The ash body looks great and gives the guitar that fast sound attack with crisp mids and highs and tight bass. The sustain is very good, but I imagine it will improve further if I swap the bridge, tuners and nut which is what I plan on doing in the near future.

THE NOT SO GOOD
Guitar is heavy as a mo..erfu..er! I may try to shave off some weight by making a belly carve and arm rest contours. As with almost any mass production guitar (PRS SE excluded), this guitar will require some intermediate luthier skills. Truss rod adjustment, nut adjustment or better nut swap, fret levelling and polishing, fret edge polishing, bridge adjustments are a must on this guitar. Frets are properly seated, but very harsh and uneven. Action way too high, truss rod too loose, nut slots high and uneven. It will take some work, but I can do all of this myself luckily with many years of experience and all the proper tools. But a luthier would easily charge what the guitar costs just for the work. If it makes any future buyers feel any better, my 1500 eur Gibson SG was no different in this aspect.

THE BAD
The only thing really bad (as mentioned by others) are the vintage style tuners, which go out of tune if you so much as look at them in a bad way. These will of course be replaced.

OVERALL
With some minimal luthier skills, new tuners and proper adjustments this guitar is far better than Squiers and can easily rival guitars at 10 times the price. Considering the price I cannot believe this guitar is as good as it is.
Harley Benton have really stepped up their game and I will be checking out some other more expensive HB models in the future...but first I need to sell some of my other guitars

Having recently popped my Harley Benton cherry with the Fusion T EB BK, (which I absolutely adore) , I decided to go try out the TE52, which is one of the really affordable HBs on offer, to see if the quality is comparable across the range, plus the fact that I love T style guitars!
Straight out of the box, the guitar is stunning and (not too) heavy, the finish is beautiful, the grain on my model is really nice, 3 large sections for the body and a 2 piece maple neck, which is chunky, but VERY PLAYABLE (and I have quite small hands for a guy), so don't be put off by people saying the neck is too thick! The setup was ok out of the box, action needed lowering, and I swapped out the saddles for compensated brass ones, but honestly, this is my preference, and I would not consider this upgrade as necessary, as the supplied saddles work just fine; as do the machine heads on my particular model, nice smooth action, holds tune perfectly.
The frets were well finished, like most posters here, they did need a good polish however, but that is all,,,, no sprout or sharp edges on this one, and all the frets are beautifully level: btw, the edges of the fretboard look and feel "rolled in" and is very comfortable, a feature usually reserved for much more expensive instruments!
At some point I will probably swap out the nut for a Tusq, but again, personal preference, as the supplied plastic nut is cut and set perfectly, no issues.
The main thing that has once again impressed me no end, are the Roswell AlNiCo-5 T-style pups, which are a revelation. I have owned MANY T guitars down through the years, I just love em, and have played them professionally and for fun for over 30 years, and I assure you, the sound from the TE52 is PURE TELE! The sustain is amazing (that weight in the body helps) , there is just the right balance of twang, honk and grunt, which is astounding, given the price of this thing; £125 including delivery at the time of purchase!
The TE52 is a comfortable, accurate and pleasing T style guitar to play; something I've realised with both of my HBs is that, more than anything, it's that these guitars are so much FUN TO PLAY! ,plus, with a few minor tweaks you will have an instrument that is going to sound, feel and play like a "F" guitar at a fraction of the price; certainly their MIM or Squier offerings.
Good on you Thomann and HB, keep knocking it out of the park like this, and you'll start giving the "big boys" nightmares! I can definitely see more HBs in my collection!
Rock on!