Harley Benton TE-70 Black Paisley

I'm going to try to not to be too harsh because I realize this is much more affordable than many other guitars of a similar style on the market. However, I don't want to water down this review too much, so I will try to be as honest as possible, while still keeping the cost in mind. That said, here are my thoughts. ...

PROS
-SETUP
It came fairly set up. I did have to adjust the intonation, string height and restring it; but overall, it wasn't bad, and probably would've have suited a beginner as-is. This has the ashtray-style bridge so setting intonation is a bit of a pain, though.
-OVERAL APPEARANCE
Looks good (from a distance -- more on that later). I do love the color scheme of the brown and black paisleys.
-SOUND
Feels and sounds like a Tele.

CONS
-ACTION
I lowered the saddles as much as I could and tried many different neck relief positions, but the lowest I could get the action (12th fret) was a little over 2.5 mm. While this may be fine for some, I consider it to be a bit high. It's playable, but very uncomfortable to barre above around the fifth fret.
-FINISH
As I mentioned earlier, the finish looks good from a distance. However, if you are looking at it from up close (less than around 1.5 meters or 4-5 feet), the finish looks "pixelated." The paisleys are kind of blurry and it has a look of a low-resolution image.
-ELECTRONICS
Granted, it's a very inexpensive guitar, but it can be a bit annoying to hear static each time you switch pickups or adjust the volume or tone. I've tried tuner cleaner, which helps a bit, but the noise is still present.
-FRET
This has an incredible amount of fret sprout. A little is to be expected, I guess, but this is well beyond any acceptable amount, and is so bad, it nearly had my fingers bleeding.

I'll be honest. I had heard a lot of hype about the value of Harley Benton guitars before I made this purchase, which is one reason I wanted to be fair with this review and not sugar-coat it. However, this is probably the lowest-quality guitar I've ever purchased or played -- and my other guitars are Ibanez, Fender and Donner. That said, it's not terrible, but ... not great either. And I get that it didn't cost much, which is why I'm still giving it 3 stars. Had it cost much more, I would've rated it much more poorly. It's still playable; it just took a lot of time and effort to get this guitar to that point, and I'm still not entirely happy with how it plays.

Should you buy it? If you're a risk-taker, go for it. If you like a sure thing, maybe keep looking.

PRO's:
Affordable, basic T-style guitar
Solid built
Tuners basic but they work, esp after upgrade to roller spring trees
No fret sprout
Warm sounding neck pickup

CONS:
RIDICULOUS HIGH ACTION, BRASS SADDLES COULD NOT BE LOWERED FURTHER, NUT HEIGHT WAS OK. I HAD TO SHIM THE NECK 1.0 + 0.25 DEGREE SHIMS IN COMBINATION. I PERSONALLY LIKE TO "HOBBY AROUND" BUT IF THIS GUITAR IS THE 1ST FOR A NOVICE PLAYER, HE/SHE WOULD NOT BE HAPPY.
Heavy guitar (3,84 Kg's)
Shrill sounding bridge P.U.


OTHER:
Thick neck, yet flat radius. For me (still) a very playable guitar after having shimmed the neck.

OVERALL:
When you take pleasure in doing work on your guitar should the particular example arriving requires so, go for it. Soundwise there is not much against it. Had mine been more playable out of the box, I would have rated it ***/****/ *****

I was attracted to this tele by it`s relatively unusual paintjob, black paisley. When I looked up the specs and saw bass-wood body I thought I`d better leave it. I used to have bass-wood in my `beginner-guitars` years ago. Browsed on and found Fender Telecaster James Burton`s Artist Series Paisley Flame with bass-wood body for more than 2 grand. What`s good enough for James is good enough with me.
Inspected the Harley Benton (what a crappy name) on arrival and it was not perfect. There is a small laquer runner up in front where you can see it if you want and a few areas haven`t been buffed properly. Played through an American Fender Tweed Blues Deville 4x10 from `94 and the Roswell pickups were not pulling my socks off, not really here nor there, though I must admit I didn`t spend much time. Surprisingly good intonation out of the box and a very chunky feel of the neck although it`s a bit rough around the edges. It`s not an American Fender. The tuners are so-so but hold the tuning alright. The strings are new and need to stretch and are okay for a start. Mind you this guitar went by quality control in August if one wants to believe the little hanging tag and strings didn`t have much time to corrode. If you are into pimping then please note that the routing under the hood is for a single neck-pu only. The pods are on the cheap side, so is the bridge-plate which is seemingly slightly bent and on one side not entirely flush with the body. This Telecaster weighs in at 3.75kgs, not really a lightweight either but resonance compares quite okay with my American Standard Strat when played unplugged. It is easy to lower the strings at the riders for better action. With the small Allen-key provided in the set one can achieve pretty good results without buzzing.
A couple of days later I played this tele through my Vox ac 10 and the Roswells are coming to sound like egg-slicers, but it is the setting of the amp and the sound can be regulated reasonably well with the tone pod, just roll back. Different experience altogether. The Roswells are not
really made for each other though, having the pu selector in the mid position doesn`t blow me away but in general I guess you get your country-twang at the bridge. Then again the Vox ac 10 is a little wonder-box and I put the sound receiving down to that fact. I have already asked for a return form but don`t know yet will I. There is a certain charm to the TE-70 Paisley and I do have a few pus and pods to fool around with. I have enough of guitars really but all considered this may stay after all. Most people I know bring a cheapo to the jam rather than their American Fenders. Price is more than kinda acceptable for what you get.
Nov. 30th, 2017.... the pickups sound terrible.... played the tele last night through a small solid state amp jamming with friends in a pub.... gruesome... no matter which way one turns the switch or knobs the pus seem to be not compatible with the sound of other instruments... they have to be replaced...
05/01/18 ....I did replace the bridge pu with a very cheap Chinese twin rail hot (supposed to have 16k)humbucker bought on ebay which is giving the instrument a lot of punch and changes the original high-pitched sound to more mids and bass which is much better than before, however now she is missing the country twang a bit. I have a set of custom shop nocasters which I will put into this tele in the coming months. I`ll keep you posted. Here one more thing, the original telecaster ashtray can be fitted over the bridge although the pick-guard would have to be slightly altered to make fit 100%.
13/03/18 ... The Nocasters are in along with 250k pots from Goeldo. Nice looking and sounding guitar for Country, Blues and Rock now. Might at some stage even change the switch to fender or similar.