Harley Benton TE-90FLT Blue Blast

I recently purchased this guitar, primarily because I've never had a guitar with filter tron pickups. I do have another 3 Harley Benton guitars however, a Fusion 1, a Fusion 2 and a DC Junior. Whilst my Fusions have been modified with GK3 synth pickups, primarily for LIVE use , this was a purchase specifically intended for use in the studio.

None of my HBs have had any fret issues. All totally level and tall enough to get a good grip of the strings. This guitar is no different. Probably the straightest neck I have seen on a 200€ guitar. Yes it's contour is very flat but that's good for low actions, string bending and I like that. The neck is 'fast' and feels quality and comfortable in the hand. The nut is also perfectly cut , as it was on my other HBs ..... and sound wise it has a nice smooth chime to it. Not overly bright but with more 'jangle' than a standard humbucker. Very useable.

It is however quite heavy even although it is chambered under the scratchplate and has an overly massive control cavity. I personally would have liked the body finish to match the headstock as the colours on the body aren't as vivid as the headstock. I understand that the headstock is a veneer and probably difficult to match up. I can live with it. It's close. I would have liked the option of a trem, but again I can live with a fixed bridge for the studio.

So, out of the box, the action was a little high but after a quick adjustment, it now plays like a dream. I absolutely love it. Even if you are not a big Telecaster style player, this is a great addition to your sound arsenal. When you realise that the closest alternative available from the big American guitar company is around 1600€ , this is a bargain.

This guitar is my go to for doing ambient. I even have a heavily modified Epiphone Les Paul Standard with splittable Seymour Duncan's that sounds amazing, but the handling of this guitar and the good sounding low output humbuckers, rounded but not dark, makes me always prefer it to my "more expensive" guitar. I bought it along with a Sterling Albert Lee, and I ended up returning the Sterling and keeping the HB. If I could swap a thing from the Sterling, was the 9,5" radius roasted maple neck, that was a breeze to play. Hey Harley Benton! Please do some more rounded fretboards please!!!

My first experience with Harley Benton. I’d heard such good things and the look and price of this guitar made it impossible to pass up. I was really surprised at how quickly it arrived (Eu to Tennessee US). Packaging was excellent, no shipping issues. I spent 30 minutes setting it up. The one drawback is the stiff tuners but at this price I won’t kick. The guitar feels really good. Seems very well built. Played acoustically it rings out very well. Plugged in it sounds very good. Playability matches guitars costing much, much more! I A/B’d it against a Cabronita I built myself with first rate components including TV Jones pickups - each of which cost more than this guitar! While I did hear differences in sound, I don’t feel like there was really any difference in the quality of sound. I’m blown away by this guitar and just bought another HB today’

Purchased after reading many positive reviews, had it for just over a week now. Summary: Played well straight out of box. Tuners are cheap but usable, neck is straight & true, frets are surprisingly well finished with no fret sprout/sharp edges. Action is low with NO buzzing! Pickups are perfectly usable without change. Pickup switch & output socket both fine. Controls could be smother but work fine. Body is a paint finish that portrays the grain of the wood but it not the actual grain of the body wood. It would be hard to find a better value for money guitar. Best points are the neck/frets/action, the pickups and the nut which is really well cut. Worst point is the tuners but they are perfectly usable in my opinion.

I have had this guitar for 6 months now.
I purchased it because I wanted to try the Filtertron pickups. The sound samples I heard online convinced me to buy it.

The pros:
The guitar itself is well put together with good finish and it arrived well setup.
The Blue Blast finish looks great.
The semi-hollow nature of the guitar makes it nice and light.
The neck is extremely playable.
The guitar sounds exactly like I had hoped. The Filtertron pickups definitely provide a unique sound.

The cons: The tuners are not of the same quality as the rest of the guitar. Having said that, they are perfectly adequate. They hold their settings. Whilst they aren’t Gotohs they get the job done. I play this guitar in Open D and Open G and therefore use them fairly often to change tunings without any problems.

In conclusion: I wanted a nice looking guitar with Filtertrons and that’s exactly what I have. It sounds like I had hoped for. I love playing it and I am pleased with my purchase.