Harley Benton TE-62DB BK

So I´ve order this guitar because of the hype of Harley Bentons... Long story short, I´ve order a hb35 plus that I´ve had to returned twice already, because of an awful fretwork from HB. Plus, their quality control doesnt work either. So, I am giving one more shot and wait for a 3rd hb35plus and see if it will come better this time.
About this model in particular, it came almost flawless, everything in the right place, fretwork is great, finnishing is great but there is a big but... the pickguard is so awfull cuted that is completly out of the shape. I was thinking to return it but I am so tired already with HB guitars, that I am just done with it... It´s a russian roullete their guitars, so better be still with this one.

Now, the neck is not as confortable as people say it is... It has a very weird shape, doesn't feel good on the hand. And I like 12" radius and fat necks but it has a weird shape. The shape of the neck on hb35plus it is much better shaped and much more confortable years ahead.

The pups are very dull, even with new strings... they sound ok with an overdrive but as soon you go back to a clean sound, it sounds awful, very dull indeed.

So why I am keeping it? Because it is a very good looking guitar and I´ve change the pickups with some good american pups they i´ve from an american tele, and now it sounds better. So I will keep it.

But do I recommend this guitar, even for the price? if you are looking for a good looking guitar, yes. But if you are looking for a guitar that sounds ok or good, I wont recommend it. Even for a student. There are better options out there for almost the same price.
Plus, the guitar doesn't resonate that well.

I am music teacher, so I think I can give a neutral opinion about it.

Hope it will help,

Vou começar por dizer que não precisava de mais uma TE, já tenho a TE-52 da Harley Benton que é excelente e preenche todas as necessidades.
Mas estéticamente esta guitarra, por este preço, é irresistível e encomendei.
Serviço fantástico da Thomann, como de costume.
A guitarra veio com um bom setup, acção relativamente baixa, bem entonada e quase afinada. Bom trabalho da Thomann que faz o setup das HB antes de enviar.
Farei o setup normal, com hidratação do braço mas isso faço sempre a todas as guitarras.
As primeiras impressões são: Uau!
A côr é muito boa e fica excelente com o double bound (especialmente porque é um vintage white), o braço caramelizado também é muito bonito nesta guitarra e o fretboard é um pouco mais claro que rosewood mas gosto muito.
Os acabamentos são perfeitos, todas as superficies estão como deveriam estar, nem uma marca no sitio errado. O encaixe do neck no corpo também está impecável, os frets no sitio e sem arestas.
A guitarra é bastante mais leve que a TE-52, tem um peso confortável, sem ser leve demais (talvez ronde os 3,50/4Kg)
De cima para baixo:
- Afinadores iguais aos da TE-52, parecem piores do que são na verdade;
- pestana de plástico mas bem cortada, com todas as cordas a assentarem tal com devem;
- A pickguard tem 3 camadas e de boa qualidade;
- os pickups são os mesmos da TE-52. Bons pickups que sacam bem os tons de uma Tele, incluindo o twang (talvez os mude só para ter uma opção sónica diferente nas duas TE) e lidam bem com overdrive ou ganho mais alto e têm um excelente tom limpo.
- A ponte é boa mas podia ter selas de cobre/latão de origem. Se bem que estas selas de origem não são más de todo e dão para entonar da forma clássica.
- os botões rodam com suavidade e o switch funciona bem, embora "dance" um pouco lateralmente.
Os botões são de metal cromado, com interior de plástico. Sim, não são de plástico rasca.
- As cordas são D'addario e isso é bem simpático numa guitarra deste preço.
Prós:
tudo o que disse acima e o facto de ser uma guitarra superior às Squier Afinity por um melhor preço.
A tocabilidade é muito boa e o braço bem confortavel.
No que é importante esta guitarra tem as caracteristicas de uma Tele dos anos 60.
A HB é surpreendente na capacidade de produzir uma guitarra destas a este preço.
Contras:
só a quantidade de plástico que envolve a pickguard, placa de controle e pickup do neck.
Não existem na verdade mais contras. Podia haver selas em brass, podia ter afinadores diferentes... sim, mas não é relevante e são upgrades simples, relativamente baratos e que fazem desta guitarra algo ainda melhor.
A guitarra aparece no website da HB e Thomman como sendo da série Deluxe mas no Headstock diz que é da Vintage (que faz mais sentido, tendo em conta o preço e hardware).

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.

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.