I have to agree with you. I got a Fusion III and Fusion T this year and they have to be the most perfect roasted necks I’ve played of the 100’s of guitars I’ve played. Absolutely nail the sweet spot between too thin and too thick. They feel amazing, are fast and mine never had scratchy f frets that people talk about. I haven’t played my Charvels or Ibanez’s since the Harleys came on the scene. I’m gobsmacked at how great they are. I think if they had better (prettier) tops there would be no reason to buy anything else. Thomann also has mastered customer experience like Sweetwater has so you can’t go wrong with a Harley.
Mine (soon to be), has a 5-way Switch, push/pull control, tremolo, locking tuners not lockers @ start of neck. I told my wife this axe would’ve cost $2k-$3k 30+years ago. Mine has Medium-Jumbo Stainless Steel frets. I looked at the Cutlass (Sterling by Music Man) CT50-HSS & opted to go with the HB,
I bought the Fusion 2 a couple years ago. Super nice guitar. Looks exactly like the one you reviewed. Not sure the differences but it plays nice, looks nice, and price was great (before inflation started!). I know some people are not fans of the pickups but I typically play through a Fractal FM3 and that thing makes everything sound great.
Mines going to be here Monday! Yeah, I said the exact same words & here I set waiting on the HB Fusion HSH III, in Blue Flame Maple, roasted maple neck!!!
Excellent review as always Tony…I never understood all the fuss over ss frets until I got a guitar with them…now I know…I’m sold, they really do feel different…that is a very spec’ed out guitar …nice job 👍
On a whim I bought the cheapest Ibanez guitar that I could find and I liked the look of to play thrash and metal. I think I paid 300 for it and it’s always been my go to guitar. I have 4 other guitars too. The tone is awesome. It stay in tune ( hardtail ) and the neck fits my fingers perfectly
i have one in the bengal burst, and i got lucky because its the best top ive ever seen on a fusion 3, its very good, does everything its supposed to just fine and its gorgeous to look at, if i was to nit pick i would say the belly cut could be bigger and deeper and i prefer if the whole guitar had a satin finish, but its fine, i tell you what i like more though, my black harley benton HH, its noticably lighter, and the ebony fretbaord neck fits my hand better
Just got the Max signature edition, and it is wonderful same setup as the fusion 3 with the reverse head stock, and tesla pickup instead. Long wait. took about a year to get it.
Bought the same one a week ago, played it yesterday, its almost perfect, I'm keeping the pickups I think they are solid! I took down a touch of sprout but I expect to do little things like that when I buy a $500 guitar that has primo specs.
Yes I will as long as it doesn't fall apart. It is my only FR guitar with a normal body and more than one pickup. I will probably play this more than my others going forward. It did well yesterday.
Looked hard at some of these last year, but don't care for the thick clear finish and flat part of the neck that sticks out past the body soo much. Black backs conceal all the pieces of wood used for the body. There's other brands doing similar things to way more expensive guitars.
Wow that roasted neck is sweet..the entire guitar is a beauty and if you say it plays well ..i will definitely consider this ..i only had one trem guitar and i blocked it ..i had no patience...if its eual or better than my tele harley then this is is on my list...and roswell pick ups i found are very good..cheers tony !
Have you tried Ibanez AZ’s? Was wondering if the neck profile of this Harley Benton is kind of similar to AZ’s? Coz they say it’s gotta chunkier neck. Love Az’s neck. Any info on the neck profile would be super helpful. Thanks.
As a beginner, that's not too concerned or oriented with the type of music I'm going to be playing, I just want to have fun and versatility. Should I grab this HH with FR or the HSH with Wilkinson? I most certainly wouldn't even know how to take advantage of the FR any time soon, but it's gonna be hella fun making whabumlance sounds with it.
Where did they cut corners compared to let's say a EVH wolfgang standard? Electronics and picups maybe? I'm not a huge fan of the rosewell pickups when I've compared how these sounds to more expensive guitars. But I'm thinking of maaybe order one of these out of curiosity. But I have never heard anything recorded with one of these guitar that sounded great. At best "decent" I'd say.
It sounds like you definitely will want to upgrade the pickups if you grab one in your case. For me it's great since I'm still a beginner and I know I will upgrade them down the road, but not yet. However if the pickups on this guitar came slightly better but still not all that good, then I'd probably less inclined to upgrade and end up being stuck with mediocre pickups.
looks like divots near the fret ends where a person beveled the frets by hand and dug out some of the fretboard by accident. That's not professional. The fret ends look uneven (hand beveled one at a time with some file). I also wonder how level those frets are because the only real way to get perfectly level frets is to level them all with a file then you have to crown them one at a time to regain the round top THEN you have to polish them if you want a non-gritty sound while bending. I can't see all that happening with this guitar. anyone have any thoughts about these two comments of mine?
Hello I am an intermediate player and I wanted to buy either the Harley Benton Fusion with FR trem or the Jackson JS32Q also with floyd rose... Do you have any opinion on these guitars? I live in europe, so harley benton shipping cost would not be an issue for me...
ever since the late 80's when I got my grubby little hands on an 84 sig Jackson I've been absolutley floored by the idea that people are out there suggesting that a bolt on neck guitar of any kind is worth more than a grand, I just think masses of idiots survived to maturity Is the hardware 10k or better gold? did Odin play it? i mean its a frigin' bolt on 🤣
Bit late to the party bro. 🤣. Been using this model for a while, once you get past the initial shocking state it turns up in and you start sanding the neck, straight edging the neck, changing the action, restringing, polishing the frets (Which they do not in the factory).....the guitar is decent. I've abused it on my channel enough to know it stands up to any Satriani abuse thrown at it.
@ADDICTED TO GEAR - its a mixed bag tbh, some people are OK others like me not so much. It looked like mine came straight off the factory line, thrown in a box and shipped out. I had to fo some graft to get it where it needed to be. All in all though, it's the best Benton they do hands down.
Do suppose people affected by climate change will join a class action suit against those who buy things made of wood grown along the equator, Indonesia, India, Central America, and Congo; along with people who burn oil sands derived fuels, which are deemed too harmful for the environment in the US.
I have to agree with you. I got a Fusion III and Fusion T this year and they have to be the most perfect roasted necks I’ve played of the 100’s of guitars I’ve played. Absolutely nail the sweet spot between too thin and too thick. They feel amazing, are fast and mine never had scratchy f frets that people talk about. I haven’t played my Charvels or Ibanez’s since the Harleys came on the scene. I’m gobsmacked at how great they are. I think if they had better (prettier) tops there would be no reason to buy anything else. Thomann also has mastered customer experience like Sweetwater has so you can’t go wrong with a Harley.
I love my fusion. I have the charcoal version. I have too many H.B's & this was my last one, last August. Happy shred'n ladies & gentledudes 🤩
Mine (soon to be), has a 5-way Switch, push/pull control, tremolo, locking tuners not lockers @ start of neck. I told my wife this axe would’ve cost $2k-$3k 30+years ago. Mine has Medium-Jumbo Stainless Steel frets. I looked at the Cutlass (Sterling by Music Man) CT50-HSS & opted to go with the HB,
Did you get the HSH Fusion III? If so, which color?
I bought the Fusion 2 a couple years ago. Super nice guitar. Looks exactly like the one you reviewed. Not sure the differences but it plays nice, looks nice, and price was great (before inflation started!). I know some people are not fans of the pickups but I typically play through a Fractal FM3 and that thing makes everything sound great.
Mines going to be here Monday! Yeah, I said the exact same words & here I set waiting on the HB Fusion HSH III, in Blue Flame Maple, roasted maple neck!!!
Excellent review as always Tony…I never understood all the fuss over ss frets until I got a guitar with them…now I know…I’m sold, they really do feel different…that is a very spec’ed out guitar …nice job 👍
BLAST N' KABOOM 🤘🎶💖 Holy Smackeronie, ... super strat redivined. Nice review 👍
Looks like a killer axe. I’d get one but I think I’m already set with my Schecter and Ibanez.
On a whim I bought the cheapest Ibanez guitar that I could find and I liked the look of to play thrash and metal. I think I paid 300 for it and it’s always been my go to guitar. I have 4 other guitars too. The tone is awesome. It stay in tune ( hardtail ) and the neck fits my fingers perfectly
i have one in the bengal burst, and i got lucky because its the best top ive ever seen on a fusion 3, its very good, does everything its supposed to just fine and its gorgeous to look at, if i was to nit pick i would say the belly cut could be bigger and deeper and i prefer if the whole guitar had a satin finish, but its fine, i tell you what i like more though, my black harley benton HH, its noticably lighter, and the ebony fretbaord neck fits my hand better
Great opening line Tony .Great title for a second channel 👍
Have tried this one with my wife… didn’t go well 😂
Just got the Max signature edition, and it is wonderful same setup as the fusion 3 with the reverse head stock, and tesla pickup instead. Long wait. took about a year to get it.
Does it look gorgeous in real life?
Bought the same one a week ago, played it yesterday, its almost perfect, I'm keeping the pickups I think they are solid! I took down a touch of sprout but I expect to do little things like that when I buy a $500 guitar that has primo specs.
Yes I will as long as it doesn't fall apart. It is my only FR guitar with a normal body and more than one pickup. I will probably play this more than my others going forward. It did well yesterday.
Mine had zero fret sprout. Maybe I just got lucky
I had sprout on one HB guitar until I left it in the uk climate for a fortnight… fret sprout gone and never came back :)
I also had 6 other fusions with zero fret sprout… actually they’re all identical and flawless in the fret work, that‘s why I bought seven of them!
thanks for the presentation, as always detailed, I was really interested in trying one.
Thanks for watching!
That is sharp! I'd definitely get one.
Just bought this. Lets fucking go.
Very tempting 🤘 so many great features
Definitely!
I'm not a "clean" player, but I must admit, the cleans from thid HB sund awesome!
Has a nice resonance to it
Oh no. Don't say: "So Sue me." Next thing you know Gibson will be serving you papers.
Looked hard at some of these last year, but don't care for the thick clear finish and flat part of the neck that sticks out past the body soo much. Black backs conceal all the pieces of wood used for the body. There's other brands doing similar things to way more expensive guitars.
I agree. My last 3 guitars have a hard tail bridge.
H/B dose have some nice guitars. I recently got a LP/Jr. Style guitar from them. Love it.
Wow that roasted neck is sweet..the entire guitar is a beauty and if you say it plays well ..i will definitely consider this ..i only had one trem guitar and i blocked it ..i had no patience...if its eual or better than my tele harley then this is is on my list...and roswell pick ups i found are very good..cheers tony !
Thanks for watching! It’s a sweet guitar
😅@@addictedtogear
I want the Max signature green version of this guitar.
Does it have neck dive? I see in other videos other Fusion models do have neck dive, I'm not sure about this model.
Unbelievable level of features for the price.
" I don't need another guitar, I don't need another guitar, I don't need another guitar,," lol.
You need another guitar LOL
Used to had this same model but in the Fusion 2 series.
Is there Any upgrades in these new ones?
Lovely playing by the way;)
Have you tried Ibanez AZ’s? Was wondering if the neck profile of this Harley Benton is kind of similar to AZ’s? Coz they say it’s gotta chunkier neck. Love Az’s neck. Any info on the neck profile would be super helpful. Thanks.
The ebony fretboard is slightly thinner than the roasted neck, I prefer that one, it's called to Ibanez
Looks really good. I like the neck on it and it's features. Sounds great.
Glad you like it!
Are those Floyd’s a notch better than the FR Special? If so, that’s better then the FR that comes with the Player Series Strats. Nice video Tony.
the 1000 series is the same specs as original but made in Korea. They work fine I've never had an issue with them.
I think they are better than the specials. It’s a really fun guitar.
Yes, the 1000 is better than the Special.
I like this guitar would love to get one.
As a beginner, that's not too concerned or oriented with the type of music I'm going to be playing, I just want to have fun and versatility. Should I grab this HH with FR or the HSH with Wilkinson?
I most certainly wouldn't even know how to take advantage of the FR any time soon, but it's gonna be hella fun making whabumlance sounds with it.
I love this model. I am not a big fan of the HSH configuration as the middle pickup tends to get in my way.
Your playings getting even better Tony .Consider starting a Van Halen type band👍
LOL I wonder what I’d sound like if I’d practice ?
Where did they cut corners compared to let's say a EVH wolfgang standard? Electronics and picups maybe? I'm not a huge fan of the rosewell pickups when I've compared how these sounds to more expensive guitars. But I'm thinking of maaybe order one of these out of curiosity. But I have never heard anything recorded with one of these guitar that sounded great. At best "decent" I'd say.
It sounds like you definitely will want to upgrade the pickups if you grab one in your case. For me it's great since I'm still a beginner and I know I will upgrade them down the road, but not yet. However if the pickups on this guitar came slightly better but still not all that good, then I'd probably less inclined to upgrade and end up being stuck with mediocre pickups.
Blue is nice, but as of today the red one is 50€ less.
Ordered a red one today at... 399!
Unbelievable
I'm sure it's a good guitar. I've got the guitar Maxx signature guitar and it's an amazing guitar.
looks like divots near the fret ends where a person beveled the frets by hand and dug out some of the fretboard by accident. That's not professional. The fret ends look uneven (hand beveled one at a time with some file). I also wonder how level those frets are because the only real way to get perfectly level frets is to level them all with a file then you have to crown them one at a time to regain the round top THEN you have to polish them if you want a non-gritty sound while bending. I can't see all that happening with this guitar. anyone have any thoughts about these two comments of mine?
The frets feel and play fine IMO
@@addictedtogear are you using the .010 gauge they come stringed with? Thx!
@@TruthSurge yes, he is using the 10 but will eventually switch to 9.
03/26/2023: Have you ever tried an Eart guitar?
EART Guitars E-TT Semi Hollow Humbucker Pickups Fixed Bridge Electric Guitars
4.7 out of 5 stars $399.00
Top Material Type: Maple Wood
Body Material: Rosewood
Back Material Type: Mahogany Wood
Neck Material Type: Mahogany
Fretboard Material: Rosewood
Guitar Pickup Configuration HH
String Material" Stainless Steel
Fingerboard radius: 9.5’-14’ compound.
Pickups: Eart E-TT custom humbucker set Controls: 3 ways switch, 1volume, 1tone(500k). Split coils: HH to SS.
Truss rod: Dual action wheel at Bottom, Bridge:
Eart custom mini fixed bridge.
What's the neck like? It looks like a bit of shredders guitar but does it have a shredders neck....
Not a shredder neck at all. Quite comfortable.
Hello I am an intermediate player and I wanted to buy either the Harley Benton Fusion with FR trem or the Jackson JS32Q also with floyd rose... Do you have any opinion on these guitars? I live in europe, so harley benton shipping cost would not be an issue for me...
I really like the Harley Benton.
@@addictedtogear is the neck too fat? I like to play some heavy styles
@@GuilhermeSantos2003 no it’s very comfortable to me.
How does it compare to the EVH behind you?
I built that EVH so it’s my baby LOL
is that top a photo-veneer or is it real?
Its a real veneer
ever since the late 80's when I got my grubby little hands on an 84 sig Jackson I've been absolutley floored by the idea that people are out there suggesting that a bolt on neck guitar of any kind is worth more than a grand, I just think masses of idiots survived to maturity Is the hardware 10k or better gold? did Odin play it? i mean its a frigin' bolt on 🤣
Bit late to the party bro. 🤣. Been using this model for a while, once you get past the initial shocking state it turns up in and you start sanding the neck, straight edging the neck, changing the action, restringing, polishing the frets (Which they do not in the factory).....the guitar is decent. I've abused it on my channel enough to know it stands up to any Satriani abuse thrown at it.
I didn’t experience any shocking state with mine. I may have just got lucky..
@ADDICTED TO GEAR - its a mixed bag tbh, some people are OK others like me not so much. It looked like mine came straight off the factory line, thrown in a box and shipped out. I had to fo some graft to get it where it needed to be. All in all though, it's the best Benton they do hands down.
Can't see any models with grovers any more, at least on german site....
Very nice
aaaaand ....how much was it ?
449€, 399 in red!
Ordered a red one today
Wasn't this guitar built for Max ? To his specs ?
This doesn’t have the reverse headstock. Thank god!
@@addictedtogear lol 😆
Would be beautiful with blue headstock.
Natural roasted maple MUCH better looking..and a roasted FB??
Icing on the cake
And the natural look binding??...Errem' grrrrd😍
They make one with a matching headstock without a roasted neck though.
I had a Fusion 3.. Loved everything about it except the Roswell pickups were poor.
it's in your head, most pickups are 99% the same. Use a little eq and they are all pretty much the same.
@@rickhammel9541 said someone who's never changed pickups in a guitar 😂
Do suppose people affected by climate change will join a class action suit against those who buy things made of wood grown along the equator, Indonesia, India, Central America, and Congo; along with people who burn oil sands derived fuels, which are deemed too harmful for the environment in the US.
Its a shame that there is not a 22 frets version.
What’s wrong with 24 frets?
I tried once,
I don't get used to it. Hit wrong notes on high frets 😂.
@@zeppo20 ok LOL
if you don't use the last 2, it's a 22 fret version.
@@rickhammel9541 It is not the same, the neck is different.