Why Guitar Snobs Hate This Instrument
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- Опубликовано: 28 июл 2024
- Quality guitars for an inexpensive price? BLASPHEMY!!! Here's a look at the Harley Benton Fusion guitar. Keep telling yourself you didn't waste 3 grand on an "icon" brand. Maybe you'll believe yourself. Get it through this affiliate link: www.thomann.de/intl/harley_be...
Disclosure: They sent the guitar, I get to keep it, but I had to pay import fees & am not collecting any money, aside from Thomann affiliate links, and that depends on you!
0:00 The Fusion
1:39 Unbox
3:15 that’s AWFULLY pink!
6:24 First sound
10:48 Whammy
11:18 Noise and Pickups
14:33 this DOES NOT Djent!
16:49 Thoughts
17:47 Other HB models I like
19:15 Check it out & Sign off
About Spectre Sound Studios:
I'm Glenn Fricker, engineer here at Spectre Sound Studios. I love making records, and after doing it for sixteen years, I want to pass on what I've learned. On my channel you can find tutorials on how to record guitar, bass, real drums and vocals. There's reviews and demos of tube amps, amp sims, drums, mics, preamps, outboard gear, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and plugin effects.
We've covered Moon on the Water, played Bias FX, given you the absolute best in Stupid Musician Texts, ranted & raved about bass guitar, and this channel is where The Eagle has Landed.
Everything you've wanted to learn about recording Hard Rock & Heavy Metal can be found right here on this channel!
I also respond to your comments & questions: The best make it into the SMG Viewer's Comments series of videos. Loads of fun, lots of laughs.
Thanks for checking out my channel & please subscribe!
oooooh...bubble wrap...yum yum
Personally I prefer the taste of silica gel but bubble wrap will always have a place in my heart
I thought the silica gel was just the seasoning for the bubble wrap
My favourite snack
Gremlin
Y'all philistines have no palette.
I wrap the silica gel in the bubble wrap, as they bring out the flavors in each other.
Harley benton are so good for the money. I have their "copy" of the jim root strat and for a sub 150 guitar I was so surprised by the quality. The pickups aren't the best but it's such a solid instrument.
if you want very high quality guitar for reasonable money go with fusions or amaroks (my superstrat amarok is the best guitar for low price i ever played)
@@TheAndostro I just wanted something really cheap but playable at the time and was pleasantly surprised.
My brother has a 6-string baritone Amarok and the thing is an absolute beast and not even just for the money, just all round great guitars.
Honestly get a good HB guitar build/finish, and give it some decent pickups and it will still be more vfm than paying for most "household" brands. I've planned on doing so myself on an sc-1000 progressive line (esp ripoff), and even the stock pickups sound... nice-ish. I'll still replace them with emg actives
I just picked up an ST-20 Root copy to do some mods and guitar work on. I will probably do a refret and all kinds of obscene things to it. No way I want to do my first job in years on anything expensive.
@@TheAndostro I was pleasantly surprised to see the Amaroks have neck through! I personally dislike bolt-ons so seeing something like that on a cheap guitar is insane. Could make an amazing guitar to work on like new pickups.
Wow, Harley Benton really stepped up their game. I remember getting the HB SC-200 back in 2016 which was a total piece of shit. But holy shit, I tried the new models and was really impressed with the quality of the guitars.
Surprised you bought another after the horrible experience
@@theophany1770 YEP IT'S IS STRANGE..Anyhow those guitars were OK since they were like 100$, they need some set up but for that amount even hen they were wow. Actually some older models were better since they had brilliant necktrugh tele models.
Moreover on superstars like 620 i think it's a model- they use HB Floyd's and before they used Special FR which is better IMHO. Some say they are the same but nope they aren't. Still for that amount of $ they superb guitars.
Some prices are strange, for example on a few models that are around 150$ you get a better tremolo and hardware then on some models which cost 200ish.
Dude those were guitars for 100$ back then and for the price they were superb, they needed usual setup and that was that. IMHO some of their models from 2016 were much better, because you could get some necktrough guitars for like 200$. They don't sell that model any more.
Also back in 2018 for 220$ you had super start with SS frets, tremolo with roller sad. 1st class guitar, that model was ''dynamic'' pro serial with spalted maple tops ( thick one not a veneer) and they don't sell em any more.
So they had amazing guitars in 2016 and before. Problem is if people expect to get pro guitar that can compete with boutique brands for 100$, but for 250-400$ for sure you can find such HB guitars and you could find 1st class guitars back in 2016 for a bit over 200$
glenn, you've GOT to try the HB victory classic. it's a 140 dollar flying V. it costs EXACTLY 1/20 of the mustaine V. it'll be HILARIOUS if it had just as good QC. i've been asking you since the mustaine V video. lmao
it'll be even funnier since it's the shape gibson goes around suing people over.
ps i love it when you give old priest some love! that riff 7 mins in was dreamer deceiver from sad wings of destiny, at 15 mins it was electric eye, and 16:30 it was heading out to the highway.
Yes we need this!
$140 for a guitar is a very bad sign.
@@everennui1 I got a bass by Harley Benton for around 110 Euros - and it's a damn good instrument. The pickup and pot wiring is a little weird, but it sounds and plays way out of its league - I even prefer it over one of my two Fender basses
@@everennui1 nah, my first guitar (an acoustic) was 175 dollars when i got it. unlike my electrics, it never felt underwhelming compared to other people's or stuff i saw on stores. i have no doubt someone can pull off a decent electric for 140 dollars.
that's why i want it reviewed. it is absolute crap, no one will be surprised or care.
if it is good, it might be better than the 20 times more expensive gibson.
@@bassstisb fender has a big overpricing problem. the instruments are consistently good, sometimes consistently great, but there is always a much better option for the same or less price.
I have a few Harley Benton guitars and I get surprised everytime with how good of a guitar they really are. they also make a great platform for a mod project.
Most certainly! I'm never giving up my EX84 model!
Been having this guitar (with the ''Guthrie Govan finish'' haha) for few years, and I love it! Very versatile, feels very good and was set up perfectly when arrived!
Thanks Glenn another great video. I always thought the fusion wasn't for me and your videos proved me right. Fearless gear reviews rules. I finally bought a gibson studio and my epiphones ended up blowing it away.
Looks and sounds great! I’m a huge fan of your honest reviews, and it’s nice that you’re a fellow Canadian (eh?) and that you disclose the shipping, import and fees in CAD $. Love your channel!!!
On these lower end guitars you could open the wiring backplates and look at the electronics, you'll see if the cavity is shielded (or not, so single coils get noisier) and since HBs are popular on the modding side of things it could be useful for tinkerers to know if the whole circuitry is due an upgrade or not. Also, I snagged one of the last hardail emg fusion HB, it's great for the money!
Yeah I was really considering that guitar! However, I went for an sc-1000 and I'll replace the pickups with EMG's, mostly cause I wanted the esp-like design.
I got a HB recently and modded the wiring, the cavity was very neat and completely lined with copper tape
@@stanleysdad nice.Thanks
@@ptr_does_music7042 I was lured by the slick matte paint, the stainless steel frets and the roasted maple neck. Stayed for the playability, tuning stability and sound when distorted. Great piece of gear, and the Tele style body? Super good. Reverse headstock? Ooooh boy. Can't go wrong with that one!
@@stanleysdad I swapped the whole pickguard on a strat style one with a pre-loaded one and that guitar sounds and plays wicked. I still have to open up the cavity on the fusion one
I had bought the SC-500 as I always wanted an LP style, and honestly my only complaint is the pickups get a bit unruly (hard ringing on certain harmonics, even in plug-ins through headphones) in high gain, but its probably just because I suck at playing. Super comfortable and make me enjoy some light jamming at least!
The Roswell pickup are not that good .
@@buffdaddy2032 the alnico v5 humbuckers sound nice but slightly muddy (more stoner doom sounding or great for crowbar riffs). Its easily fixed by equalizing the settings. Its also split coil
Roswell pick ups are not the best.. but had one Harley Benton guitar that surprised me... but ended up putting in Seymour Duncan jb-4 in its places.
Gleeennnn!!
Love the show never miss an episode, been tuning in since the early days.
Cool Guitar. Love these no holds barred reviews. They are all so helpful to a consumer like myself, and Your chops get better with every episode!! Keep rocking brother!
Keep on keeping on!!!
P.S. Super thanks to you for all the MoJo speaker plugs. Andrew is my younger brother.
I own this one. Bought it used from 2nd owner as my new band wanted to play some Megadeth pieces. Actually it stays in tune. The frets a bit sharp above the 12th on mine and one screw for setting of the string was round on its head, I changed that screw. It has 24 frets you can almost play everything on it... only wonder why the other guys sold it. The mid pickup is noisy but not as much you exaggerate. Maybe I will swap it for sth better. I own one with a roasted neck. The price is a bit higher but definitely worth it. Quite good instrument for the money!
Harley Benton user here, these are AMAZING!!! 🤘Especially considering the price point. 🤘
THE SINGLE COIL NOISE can be dealt with effectively with a little DIY, insulating the pickup cavity takes only a few minutes and it sorts it out completely. 🤘🤘🤘
I got one of them fusion IIIs, I was surprised how thick the neck was. Going for the charvel thing I thought it would be thinner. I flattened it out a bit with some sandpaper and upgraded the pick ups. I really love it now.
I love the baseball bat sized necks on the Harley Bentons, personally. That's pretty universal for them.
Thats way cool, the look kinda reminds me of a take on the ibanez RG's for the body. I may be wrong but I believe you may be able to top mount a floyd if you wanted to do that, depending on how much room the trem cavity has and the post spacing, plus obviously adding a locking nut
An easy way to fix the way the pickup is sitting is with the foam they ship pickups with in the case of Seymour Duncan or any other semi ridged foam blocks.
A lot of bass pickups have this style of foam under them, you can either just chuck it under there and tighten the screws or cut it to roughly the desired angle.
There might even already be foam under there and it just moved if you are lucky or its just a matter of taking the screw out entirely and screwing them back in.
I always love your reviews glenn super honest as always, I do have a suggestion though. Considering that this is a budget guitar and meant for a beginner, I think it would be safe to assume that a beginner doesnt have the really nice amps you have. I think it would be pretty cool to hear these budget guitars ran through some more affordable amps, for example the boss katana mk50. Thanks again and keep up the good content.
I just bought their brand new R-446 July 2022 model, and I have to say that it kicks as. Did some truss rod adjustments and some pickup height setup. It plays fantastic, it sounds fantastic, I have zero complaints. The blood red metallic finish was spotless and the craftsmanship was beautiful. Frets felt amazing to play on and is definitely worth more than it’s price. I own several other guitars from Ibanez and Aria, and the Harley Benton has no trouble with keeping up with those other fine instruments. Happy customer.
Yay!!! U won a prize!! 🤣🤣
@@tun-tunninc.6492 are these comments for real?
@@joshuablume807 only one way to find out 👀
@@joshuablume807 what makes you think they'd be real?
@@n00bje cause it sounds too good to be real. Lol
Honestly mate, i got a fusion two HSH, it's an outstanding guitar. It's got room for upgrades, some of which I've preformed, but stock it's a really amazing guitar. If anyone's curious as to the mods I've done, I've installed geaphtech saddles to combat the string breakage i had from stock saddles - probably just caused by me being a very aggressive player and bending way to much. I've broken one string since i installed those saddles a year ago. I've also made my own ~0.02185 PIO cap and replaced the stock tone cap with it. I also changed up the coil split circuit with a on/of/on 4P4T switch, in position one both pups are split, in the middle both are full, and in the third the bridge is full and the neck is split. When a coil is split, there is a circuit which changes the impedance to 250K. So the humbuckers get humbucker impedance, and the single coils get single coil impedance. I've wanted to change the pickups, not because they sound bad(They sound great for everything i play, which ranges from clean blues to indie to metal) but because of some feedback issues I have sometimes at high gain. I learned and am still learning to play guitar on it, it's taken me from a shitty cover of astronomy domine to a mediocre cliffs of Dover. Pretty good I'd say for a guitar that cost like 200, 300 bucks. Hell, pretty good for a guitar that costs much more than that.
i really love u making harley benton unboxing videos. Got one myself, and it's really great for the price. Keep it up man
I own 2 myself, and I must say, they are surprisingly solid guitars for the money.
I know you dont need your playing validated by random strangers, but youre improving all the time glenn, keep it up!
Ty!!
Just play your notes deliberately, and don't 'hope' that you like how they sound.
I actually got a harley benton LP kit once when I was starting out learning to build guitars. years later after I built it, I completely stripped it and redid everything and now it plays great. If the setup is done right and you got some decent pickups in there, any cheap guitar can be really good. it plays better than some of the more expensive factory guitars I got, and if I can find time I'll wind some new pickups for it.
The pickups the LP kit comes with now are absolutely fantastic, alnico V magnets, crunchy PAF sound.
Tone sounds killer!!! You’re getting better everyday.
Too many cork sniffers! Love both my Harley Bentons!!! Glad you are dropping knowledge on the masses!🔥🤘😂
I have the same guitar and remedied the pickup slanting issue by putting rectangular foam cut to the width of the cavity under the baseplates 🙂
I got their EC-1000 clone a couple years ago, and it's fully a joy to play. I haven't owned any full on ESP or even LTD guitars, but I have a higher range Schecter to compare with and I've played some nice Ibanez guitars over the years, and it absolutely holds up. Sounds really good for the price as well. I threw some Grover lockers on it after I got it and it's been a screamer.
I have picked up a Harley Benton TE-20HH SBK just a over a month ago, and was pleasantly surprised. The matt black finish was spotless, and after changing strings, lowering the action and adjusting intonation on two strings it was ready to go. It is crazy good value and I'm still super happy with my purchase. Of course the pickups aren't amazing and the thing that would benefit the most from an upgrade. But this tele looks great and I love it.
I want to tell you how much I appreciate you showing us how to open the box. If it wasn't for you mine would still be in the box. I was so puzzled but I just followed you and it was a peice of cake. Thank you again now I can actually play the God damn thing...
#METOO
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
My harley benton sc-1000 b-stock came yesterday and is tremendous, it cost me 160€, becouse it had a pair of scratches but functionaly is perfect
@Cameron well mine was perfect, it could be the shipping
I'm very pleased with my SC-1000 except (no surprise) the upper frets are essentially unreachable and therefore useless except for tapping. But the guitar sounds great, and it has the lowest action of anything I own.
I can't tell you how happy I am that I discovered a new band today because of your shirt....
Was not disappointed.
I had the same exact guitar. Played pretty well for what it is. The Roswell pickups weren’t great so I changed them out. Sold it after a month or so. Great for a beginner. Oh one thing I found was the springs on the trem were feeding back through the amp so I used some foam underneath them and problem solved.
I bought their LP custom copy a while back (SC-Custom II FR). Less than $400 for a LP copy with an authentic Floyd Rose, humbuckers with coil split. Amazing value for money. Also looks nicem satin black with all gold hardware, had no sharp fret ends or anything.
Any hardware that it came with was most certainly not authentic, China makes counterfeit grover tuners and Floyd Rose Tremolos. Probably made in the same factory as the "authentic" ones in many cases however. . . .I doubt the grover tuners on this Harley Benton are any different than the "grover" tuners that come on a chibson les paul.
@@snap-off5383 Floyd Rose are made in germany, where I bought the guitar from (Thomann, I live in europe). The rest of the guitar is however made in indonesia. Most of the price is probably the FR.
@@tungtobak REAL Floyd Roses may be made in Germany. . . .But I'd bet the ones coming on Harley Bentons are the same as coming on Chibsons. . . .counterfeit.
@@snap-off5383 I don't know. However the situation, since I didn't really put down money of any magnitude in it, and since it works, I don't really care.
@@tungtobak yep. Function trumps form.
Surprise surprise, it looks and sounds like a guitar. It's almost magical!
Shocking, isn’t it?
@@SpectreSoundStudios At least it's not a 2x4 😬
I absolutely love my 8 string fanfret from them. 236ish shipped. Figured it was an easy gamble to try getting into 8 strings and I find myself playing that more than anything else, even my old f series ltd that I put a Gibson iommi pickup in. The neck feel on the Benton for an extended range guitar surprised the hell out of me. It even stays remotely in tune getting lightly tossed around the room between playing when I don't want to put it away. I'm planning on getting better tuners eventually, but so far no complaints.
i have the blue version of this guitar and i love it. super easy to play, stays in tune with heavy tremolo use, stock pickups are average for cleans, weak for metal. neck feels thick but not as thick as my schecters. i put in a seymour duncan distortion set and it rips! also glens wrong you can set up the bridge to be able to do the flutter effect.
i bought a b-stock hb-35 plus, which is Harley Benton's ES-335, it costed $170, and it's amazing!! didn't even need any adjustments to the action or anything, but my band's guitarist being the Gibson simp he is was PISSED at me at first for buying it lol
Christ dude we get it. Gibson guitars suck. Even I owned a Gibson and hated it. Traded it in for an LTD bass and don't regret it for a single second. Your show has basically devolved into antagonizing Gibson fanboys and for what? More views? A couple extra clicks a week? The die hards are never gonna come around and the rest of us fucking get it. At the risk of being on 'butthurt of the week' can we get a guitar review that isn't made with the intent of just pissing of a subset of guitar players who aren't going to change their mind? I'm not gonna unsubscribe but goddamn I'm opening fewer and fewer videos these days.
That has to make butthurt of the week.
He said their qc sucked.
@@johndef5075 I can absolutely confirm it does. I'm just tired of the same video every other week. Dude needs to move on.
I'm from Germany and I bought Harley Benton Guitars and Basses. Most of them had some minor issues, but the quality you get from that price is still incredible. I visited their shop in Treppendorf once and although there was a lot going on the staff was very patient, friendly and we even had some laughs there.... I recommend Thomann and Harley Benton every time! Thanks for showing the world that a good Instrument doesn't have to cost 1k and above!
Brought 2 fusion 2's after going into quarantine and they are my favorite guitars and great for pickup swaps and mods
I just rebuilt my first chibanez jem kit build into the newer Ibanez Pia body.
I painted it amid 70s General motors deep blue green color, that looks fantastic against the black pickguard and gold DiMarzio pickups I got from Mad Hatter in Arizona.
Wish I could show you man this thing's awesome.
I custom shave down the neck too so it would be the same super skinny width as a real gem.
It gave it this unique flat back profile that I think is really cool.
I couldn't wait to get it all together so I rushed the paint prep bit, and didn't get the quality I was hoping for in the finish but it plays great and looks great from 10 ft away so that's all I care about.
Just bought the HB custom black with the Floyd Rose back in July its been badass since day one ! No tuning problems with some mad slayer type riffs.. Honestly was not expecting such quality but been highly satisfied !
Cool video Glenn! Thanks so much!!
HB Fusion-II HH was my first decent guitar and I absolute loved it and I still do. I have no idea how they manage to make such good guitars for this amount of money. If you really inspect it closely you may find some small flaws which are to be expected and the pickups aren't really high-end stuff BUT if you replace them you have a guitar that could cost twice as much and it would still be a steal.
Hey Glen a tip for mounting your pickups is to solder a small nut (if you have any, stewmac supply them) to the leg of the pickup for the adjustment screw to thread through this will hold it straight and give the adjustment screw a lot more thread. Wind the nut onto the screw then screw it in to the baseplate and solder the nut into position then remove and mount your pickup. It help transfer soundwaves into the pickup, how much difference that makes to your tone is for the internet to argue over
Glenn you really have gotten SO much better at playing! guitar is great too
Really, was it even worse before?
I’ve had my HB thru neck 6 string active bass at least 12 years, it’s lovely
Absolutely love the channel, been tuning in for many years. Would be really curious as to what you would think of the ESP ltd sn1000's. I have 2 and I personally think they are some of the greatest feeling guitars I've ever played.
Keep up the great work ma guy!
Great timing, just ordered a HB version of a L*s P**l DC Junior £169 delivered, a couple of friends have just got a few other models between them and have been impressed. I've had Vintage (Trev Wilkinson) JHS guitars and I was impressed. I do have Gibsons and have had no issues with them (only 3 have been bought new tho') Thanks for this.
First of all, your playing getting much better.
I have two Harley benton double cutaway guitars (PRS style) and after a pickup change and setup, I love, love, love them.
Kids these days don't know how good they have it! Back in my day, you had to shred fifteen bars with sharp frets, unstable trems, and particle board bodies!
I have 3 of these ...all varying in feel and all with attention needed to the trems. But once sorted and set up ... one of them flutters nicely while the others just play great. HBs can't be beaten on price and quality, especially of you know how to tweak them. I'm a huge HB fan now (and I still have Fenders, Ibanez and that other big American brand we are quickly losing favour with) ... They do thier job and are affordable enough to mod ... if you're into that kind of thing.
Love your channel BTW
Foam under the pickups keeps them in place and corrects the angle. Pretty sweet guitar 🎉
I’ve got a Harley Benton left gander. I’m a learner. It’s been a great guitar. Looks similar to the one in the video but older. The neck feels good to me. Better than my acoustic.
Oh hell yeah, I love Electric Eye! Its always nice seeing someone with good taste in music. I too recently purchased a Harley Benton Guitar. Its a gold top with P-90's. I figured I can jazz it up, and make look like a Mike Ness signature model. What I got was a bottom of the barrel, bargain bin crap! The paint job is runny, the back of the guitar was supposed to have a wood stained finish, looked like someone got lazy and just painted it black, and the strap button isn't even centered, but that's not even the worst part. There was a HUGE dent on the bottom of the guitar. Looked like someone dropped it from a two story house, or slapped it with a British Steel rod. I complained to Thomman, but all they did was return me my delivery cost, which was around $80. $150 for a kicker guitar with P-90's aint too bad. But seeing that dent...makes me not want to play it.
Man I gotta say I really love the content . 🤘
Electric Eye - always a good song to test a new guitar! :D It's really nice to see how much bang for so few bucks is available nowadays. I'm actually catching myself thinking about getting one of those guitars - despite being a bassist. And thanks for letting us know not to eat that stuff. It's just so delicious.
I feel like Harley Bentons went up dramatically in quality. I bought a jazz bass from them a few years back and it's absolutely fantastic! Great sound, great feel and it absolutely refuses to go out of tune.
I have been playing guitar forever, and one of these is now my main guitar. With guitars they only have to reach a certain threshold and all bets are off as to whether they are playable by everyone.
This is certainly playable and enjoyable by anyone at any level. It is great for blues, jazz, fusion and rock.
Glenn,
Pop the pickup out and throw a bit of medium density open-cell foam under it. Like the foam that comes in new pickup boxes. It'll straighten out the pickup, and as a bonus, it can reduce ringing (like what you'd get from trem strings) during palm mutes. I like doing this in every guitar I have.
I have a Harley Benton fusion 2 with a Floyd rose 1000 and stainless frets that was a gift from a close friend last year and it's awesome. I like coil splitting the pickups and it plays great. The pickups are a little microphonic, but I have picked what I want to swap in once I can afford to. I'm a DiMarzio guy.
A tip for leaning pickups is to put some foam under them, like the kind you get in pickup packaging and such. A sponge should also work well.
I'm just modding a BM-75 so it's actually to Brian May specs. The wiring is very tidy, the cavity is shielded and Alpha pots! Very impressed.
Yay a new specter sound studio video!
I'm in love with my Harley Benton, bought it around 2 years ago and I've had no issues whatsoever, no fret sprout and the fret ends aren't sharp at all
I'm more into Deep Purple myself love the budget reviews great Channel keep up the excellent content
I got the black stingray bass they do and it's absolutely phenomenal, especially for the price! Very happy with it. The low B is very clear too, which again is great considering how much it cost.
Maybe you should try one on the show 😉
I got the black quilted version with the Floyd Rose and roasted maple neck. It's a bunch of fun, but has the wacky slant on the neck pick up. On a side note, to offset the shipping I opted for the $25 thick leather Harley Benton strap, very nice. Thier cases, straps and gig bags are a great bonus that smokes any local retail jargon 🤘
I have the Harley Benton TE-20HH, which is a matte-black Tele-style guitar with two humbuckers, that looks great (especially when you switch the pickguard with a solid black one) and sounds really good. Retail price 99€. Crazy cheap but good quality.
This is epic. Was really hesitant to jump on the Fusion, definitely going to keep in this in mind. Also wondering of the HB BM-75, would love to see a review. Fucking love this channel
BM-75 is a great guitar, but not wired the same as Brian's guitar
I have a HB DC-600 VI (basically a SG copy with triple humbuckers). I absolutely love it. Only thing I’ve had to do is adjust the truss rod a hair to get the neck relief where I like it.
Hey great video. To do flutters with the trem, tighten the screw behind the trem so it stays where you want. Then the 2 trem mounting screws raise them a bit so it does float. That should work with the trem. If the action is high after that a small shim in neck will solve that. That's with any guitar with that kind of trem. BTW a great guitar and trem on their.
The wilkinsons are way smoother than Floyds imo when set to float (even a slight one )....Would replace ALL my floyds with a wilki trem and locking tuners if it fitted...fav trem ever
As someone who just bought two Harley Benton guitars, and a Fender Mod Shop strat, I can attest these Harley Benton guitars are the real deal and really are fantastic. Can not say enough good things about them. Will be ordering more guitar, a banjo, an amp. They are great!
I have one of their bound Teles in black. The neck plays really well but it does move a bit. Certainly not as sturdy as my US Strat but it was 1/10th the price. Sounds pretty good to me too. I also have one of their fretless jazz basses in the style of Jaco. Which I love. Always wanted a fretless and this just made buying one on a whim very easy. I will definitely be buying more from them.
You could set a piece of foam under the bridge pickup to level it out. It will also reduce feedback from vibrations.
I’m just glad that there is a decent offering at that price point after squire and epiphone went up in prices
GLEEENN Love the video Glenn. I’m thinking of getting my first interface/di box. What do you recommend(I play more ✨vintage✨ bluesy metal if that helps).
I have a guitar that i built with the same trem and i love the trem, but it was not easy to get the intonation set on it compared to others. So just a heads up. Thanks for the review and video as always. Greatly appreciated and happy new years. :-)
Oh and by the way, im very disappointed with the lack of cracking on this HB's finish near the neck joint. HB needs to get their act together !!! lol :-P
I have a Harley Benton Fusion ll with a Floyd Rose, I installed a Seymour Duncan Jazz JB humbucker set on it and I’m really happy with the results ( Luckily I can do this things my self, that saves me some cash)
To fix the bridge pickup lean you could take the strings off; unmount the pickup and put some thin foam under the side that is leaning and adjust to height… or put the foam forward of the side that the pickup is leaning toward and maybe that will keep it from leaning forward… I find that the thin foam that comes in Seymour Duncan pickup boxes and or EMG boxes works just fine…. You seem to have fixed the lean just fine so use this information if a simple adjustment won’t suffice on a different guitar with the same issue.
I just snagged one of there Beast copies. One pickup swap later and it's an absolutely AWESOME axe!
Love the Bad News t-shirt. Bad News, what a band. That lead guitarist/singer was awesome!
Just got a silver sparkle Fusion 3 HH with a baked maple neck.
Trem knife edges on the 50 are round and not hardened, so it does a bad job staying in tune, it’s like an FR Special, will replace it with a Gotoh VS100-N.
Mine came with a nut that has been cut to deep at the lower strings, also going to replace that with a tusq xl and cut it myself.
Removed the string trees since the locking tuners are propper staggered tuners.
The neck on mine is real good, much smoother than any of my Fender maple necks, and the fretboard edges are even rounded.
The stainless steel frets have good rounded edges and are polished, so the whole neck feels insanely smooth, think only cheap guitar I have seen with a better fretjob is from Eart Guitars, the fret edges are very round on those.
Paint job is good too without me starting to nitpick, would have liked if they had stained the sides and back of the 3 piece body to match the neck color though.
Pickups sound like PAF-70’s SD, so they work well for blues rock and 70-80’s hardrock/heavyrock, but can also do metal with some gain stage trickery and hard pick attack.
Not a fan of the coil split sound, for that sound prefer real single coils.
Definetively think the Fusion 3 is worth it even with the comming tremolo and nut change, since other brands would push the price higher to end up with the same features.
I just bought a new Schecter, I'm starting to regret not going with HB, I'm super impressed by some of their work.
I've been hearing good things about Bentons for a very long time since like 07. I just prefer to physically get my hands on the instrument before purchase. I would love to try one some time. I'm glad there are quality affordable instruments out there and Im a gibson owner.
Thank you being the only voice of reason on this platform and putting Gibson fanatics in their place.
My bass player wanted to leave a comment too, but he doesn't know how to write.
When I'm bored at work, I re-watch your vids, especially to go back for reference such as 13 things to avoid when recording guitar. I have Gibsons. Not an apologist or anything, I agree with your assessment of them about tuning. I've tried everything and I've come up with a process over time jaja! After 25 years playing guitar, I wish I knew then what I know now about taking care of your instrument. I think a lot of the problems with tuning is how strings are changed, how the guitar is treated and setup. I Initially have had them professionally setup at a luthier. Guitar Center charges $50 so unless you know how to or have a guy, it's worth it. Anyway, I change strings outside in from 1, 6, 2, 5, 3, 4. And, it does matter how they are wound at the headstock. Nice and tight with at least 3 laps on the big strings. This leaves room for tuning and stretching. I also manually stretch new strings by gently pulling at the 12th fret which also seats them. If I have to take all the strings off for pickup maintenance or anything, I use painter's tape to keep the tailpiece on and I tape over it before taking off the strings to always keep the tension on the tune-o-matic. I don't want to risk slightly moving the screws or wiggle the pieces in the bridge. I let the guitar breathe before rehearsal or just open the case while waiting for a band to finish, and I put it on a stand immediately on stage. This helps it to acclimate to the venue as I setup my amp before a gig. I store it inside my home but never in a hot garage or a vehicle (also I don't want it stolen). Seems like so much to do for an instrument but most people forget it's a wooden instrument and it needs to breathe. One final thing, strings need to be changed depending on your style and use, and most people don't know how to gauge that, but a proper guitar will tell you when that is by how out of tune it gets after a few songs. Love the show so fuuuuuuuck you, Glenn! -Rene Guitarrista
Sorry for long post, I know it seems like a lot, but I usually play a full 45 min set and unless I'm doing some crazy string bending solo, my axe stays in tune for the whole gig. Also, I like to change the strings a week before a gig so I can get in a full practice so when I do gig, the strings are spot on. :P
You can fix that bridge pickup issue by looking at what's underneath the pickup. Body-mounted pickups like that typically have a block of foam behind the pickup to prevent it from rattling, and in this case either the foam on the neck side is weaker or the foam on the bridge side is too thick/dense. Or there may be none at all. Bottom line is that you can fix it by either adding foam to the low side or removing foam from the high side.
TL;DR: check the foam under the pickup to get rid of the angle.
I have a Harley Benton Fusion myself,.. and it's a sweet axe !! Planning top buy another !
Glenn tryin to flutter the bridge reminded me of my first hand job 🙋🏻♀️
I have the te-52, excellent, and i just got one of their 1 X 12 cabs loaded with a Celestion V30. Excellent!
Glenn, did I hear a bit of Dreamer Deceiver in that demo? Love that song.
6:55
And more Priest with Electric Eye and Heading Out To The Highway.
Love it when a Priest fan throws in a few gems like that.
Glenn, would be awesome if one day you got your hands on a Parker, I heard it's a great Musicians Guitar, lights weight for sessions, solid enough body to maintain a solid string vibration for studio work, great design (It grows on you) and I think its shamefully overlooked for the quality. Far better American brand then Gibson and Fender and worth the cost. I just need that spectre flavor!
I have an acoustic and electric guitar, also a bass from Harley Benton. The two guitars are amazing, I might upgrade the pickups from the PRS copy I have for some Duncans, but it plays amazing and sounds pretty damn good with the Roswell pickups. The bass on the other hand, does feel cheap but to be fair, I got the P Bass that costs less than 90 bucks haha.
Looks and sounds amazing 🤘🏻
Just subscribed.. learning a lot from your channel.. and I’m one of those dummies that bought a 3200$ Gibson explorer 80’s ebony in black…
Great video,
Thomann's own brands seem to be quite good, what about their speakers. they any good?
Quite a bit of guitar for the price! Quality hardware, and tuners. Value based to be sure. One thing though Glenn, the pull switch is not a "coil tap." It is a coil split. A coil tap would require 2 positives, with one wire wired as a first output taken out midway through winding. The second positive wired normally as an output at the coil finish. Just a friendly tidbit from a retired touring tech from the 80's.
I'm a bit of a fan of Harley Benton. As a lefty, they give choice and I buy. I have 4 from Thomann and I got a used tele style locally. There's a Pro Series Fusion tele with an ebony fretboard, no name locking tuners, Wilkinson Hipshot bridge and stainless steel medium jumbo frets for $325 CAD. I have serious GAS on that one as it is a black maple top on mahogany body with the modern belly cut. Likely made in Viet Nam by In Yen Vena, who do the "Deluxe" Series.