Harley Benton TE-62DB BK

Tried to source a surprise birthday gift for a colleague on a pooled limited budget. I started looking at what I could get, and after scouring Thomann's website and checking some YT reviews I decided to go for the HB TE-62 DB 62. The guitar arrived super fast from Germany to Sweden in 48hrs. The guitar itself is very light weight but well screwed together. The Poplar body is seriously light and is slightly thinner than a standard big ''F'' tele body modern or vintage. The double binding is very well applied and the paint black and glossy with no obvious blemishes. The biggest surprise I did get was from the neck. It is very nice indeed with a lovely mid size profile and flat radius fingerboard. The caramelised maple neck is comfortable and feels great. The medium frets are fine and could do with a little finishing on the edges and a polish but were acceptable. The neck pocket fit is extremely well executed. Downsides, well you get what you pay for don't you? Tuning pegs are little cheap feeling when turned, the 3 way selector switch is flimsy and the scratchplate could be finished better, however, these are all things that are easily fixed with an inexpensive upgrade or two. Sound wise the bridge pickup is tele twangy, the neck pick up is a bit wooly, both thin sounding but ok, overall acceptable but again easily upgradable. If you are in the market for your first T style guitar or lookin for a tele upgrade project to mess with, then you could do a lot worse than this guitar. The neck alone is worth the money imho.

I am doing this review after having the guitar for a few months. I wanted the TE-62DB in Lake Placid Blue, but it was out of stock for 2-3 weeks, so I got the same guitar in black, which was my second choice. I should have waited.

The good- The guitar looks great if you don't look too close, it sounds very good, and the neck is really nice. I also like the weight and overall feel.

The bad- I purchased 3 guitars from Thomann at the same time and had them shipped to the USA. They all came in one box and there was no padding between this guitar and main box itself, and the guitar came with the rear pot stem stripped. Thomann gave me a credit and I replaced both pots with a Mojotone (solder-less - because I'd just moved and had no idea where my soldering iron was). The credit only covered about 40% of the cost, which was fine, because it was an upgrade -though I am not sure if I would have done it, it not for the damage. I also had to buy USA standard plate and Fender knobs, because Mojo has no metric ones.

The frets on the neck were only a little sharp when it arrived, but after a few weeks, the fret-board shrank, and they became so sharp, I could not play it. So sharp it hurt. I had to buy a file and file them down, which took about 1 1/2 hours and gave me a giant blister on my thumb. Now they are very nice, but it was a lot of work.

The guitar has a quarter-sized wood knot under the paint, below the bridge, which sticks up. I am pretty sure it came out of the factory this way, but it appears to be getting worse as the wood ages. At some point, if it keeps going, it will crack. Very disappointed about this - unlike the other things, I cannot fix it.

The paint on the rear of the guitar is thin and you can clearly see and feel where the three pieces of wood were joined together. Also something I cannot fix. Not a deal breaker, but still kind of sucks.

The guitar should never have passed inspection and never been shipped from the factory. It is not even blem quality.

For the price, I expected I might have to do a little work, but I spent more on the new pots, knobs, plate and the fret file, then the guitar cost, and I still have a guitar with finish issues. I should have shipped it back, but thought I could resolve the issues, but more appeared as the guitar aged. I really didn't notice the finish issues until I did the fret work, because the room I play in is pretty dark. In strong light, they really stand out.

So bottom line, I got a lemon. Most people don't, but I did. Very disappointed. The other two guitars are great.

This beautiful black double bound T style guitar arrived in pristine condition all I had to do was lower the action, tune up and play.
Nut has been cut really well and the guitar rings like a bell.
Frets were all level and polished with no fret buzz.
The laurel fingerboard has a nice dark grain not too dry but I will condition the fretboard once it needs a string change.
The comfortable caramelized satin neck is smoother and very similar in feel to my Classic Vibe Jaguar….not too chunky not too thin…very nice indeed.
The vintage style split shaft tuners work smoothly and hold tune great also the string hole depth on this particular guitar is fine.
Guitar came equipped with compensated brass saddles instead of the chrome barrels on the older models and intonation is very good.
The Roswell alnico pick ups on mine measure 6.8k on bridge and 5.9k on neck and I get great tele tones on all positions, very similar in tone/output to the Tonerider vintage plus set in my other tele. The Toneriders have slightly more clarity clean but not much. The Harley bridge pick up has a bit more bite than the Tonerider bridge but backing off the tone knob a little had them sounding very close. The neck pick up has a punchy clear round tone and doesn’t have the wooly tone that some tele neck pick ups suffer from. Both pick ups handle clean and driven tones admirably and after adjusting both pick ups to balance the sound I feel no need to change them.
3 way switch and volume/tone knobs work fine no buzzing or crackling when in use.
The fit and finish on the guitar I received was near perfect, the binding and gloss black finish is beautiful. At this price point I expect some small imperfections to be present however the workmanship on the one I received is faultless.
My only plans are to swap out the saddle screws for shallower ones and try and source a cream pick guard that matches closer with the cream binding.
The sustain on this guitar is impressive even when picking/strumming unplugged it rings loud and clear….this one is a keeper.
Over 40 years playing guitar I’ve seen quite a few come and go in my collection and honestly past caring about the name on a headstock. In my opinion this low priced Harley Benton competes very favorably with the classic vibe Squier range.
Overall a great T style guitar and an absolute steal at this price ….Thanks Thomann.