Harley Benton DC-Junior Pelham Blue

I'm very critical about guitars. I often find guitar setups to be less than average, out of the box. The first thing I normally do, when getting a new guitar, is get it over to the local guitar tech and get a professional setup - nut cutting and fretwork, if needed. This happens for about 90% of guitars, even high end ones.

I'm genuinely gob smacked how well this guitar has been built for the money.
- The fretwork is very good. Shiny frets, almost perfectly level. There is one high fret, but I'll take it to the tech to sort that out.
- The bridge doesn't have to be decked to the wood to get a low action, which can be common on this style of guitar.
- Amazingly clean fretboard (none of that usual black stuff that comes on on your fingers when playing)
- The nut is cut perfectly, no binding and cut properly to not give you out of tune cowboy chords, and even the dreaded F bar chord.
- Pickup is usable. Very much like a mellow tele pickup. I won't be swapping it
- The machine heads are very good quality, for the price
- A lovely, sparkly finish.
- Very smooth volume and tone controls
- Solid jack socket.

The only real con is that there is a slight ding on the top side of the neck, just near the fretboard, in the clear coat. You don't feel this, when playing, so I'm not too fussed about it.

On arrival, the neck had a bit of a forward bow, but the truss rod is good and it straightened up perfectly. I imagine this may be due to temperature fluctuations, or maybe the QC set it up this way as forward bow is better than back bow.

It may be that because this guitar was on pre-order, it hasn't been sat in a warehouse for ages and hasn't had time to develop any major faults. Either than, or Harley Benton have really up'ed their game on these newer models.

If this guitar was your first purchase, you would be very happy with the setup. I can't recommend this guitar enough. This is by far the best Harley Benton I've had my hands on. This guitar is the best is the best value for money guitar that I've ever purchased.

Very happy.

Since it arrived last Thursday I haven’t stopped playing it.
Build quality paint finish frets intonation out of the box is excellent.
I haven’t even bothered to change the strings yet.
The only things I will change are the two knobs because my fingers slide on them because of there finish.They are fine if you use a finger and thumb but I like to just slide with one finger.
£169 gets you one outstanding really fun playable great looking guitar .
It’s already one of my favourite Harley Benton guitars and I have a lot of them.
This Pelham Blue model is a limited edition 250 run.
Wonder how many Thomann have left ?

I've always wanted an authentic looking DC Jr, but without the crazy price of the original. I play various styles of rock/metal and wanted one of these to cover the more classic - heavy rock stuff.

I am totally amazed that this guitar was achievable at such low costs! i love it!!!

Total honesty and transparency now. I think this is easily as playable as some of my more expensive guitars. The neck is VERY comfortable and probably one of favourite necks that i currently own. Fit and finish was very good.

I'm not a fan of the Roswell P90 in my personal opinion. Not thats its a bad pickup, but I prefer hotter pickups for a bigger bottom end and tightness. For cleaner or more classic styles of Rock, i would imagine it to be a great suited pickup. Its pretty clean and jangly so in that respect, its pretty good - just not my personal style so i cant mark it down for that.

Tuners seem ok so far and Wilkinsons are generally pretty good. mine felt a little 'gritty' but that may just be from factory dust etc. A little GT85 sprayed inside should clean that out nicely.

I will list some honest opinions below for total transparency, although none of these would stop me buying another one at all!!

Pros:
Solid build
great finish
decent hardware
superb feeling neck
great fret work
individual saddles for easier intonation

Cons:
Not a fan of the low output Roswell P90 (personal opinion)
slightly gritty feeling tuners (not a deal breaker though)
i prefer the look of the speed knobs to the top hats (again, a personal opinion)

Overall I am VERY impressed and this stunning Colour DC Jr has scratched the itch of wanting this style of guitar without the massive price tag. The quality is on par with much higher priced guitars. The price easily allows the buyer to swap or upgrade anything to suit their styles or tastes if they feel they need to.

My star ratings are not a deflection on the guitar but purely based on my own personal preferences

Extremely happy and would definitely buy again (maybe i'll get the SC version next!)

This guitar just rocks. Overall the quality was fantastic. There weren't any finish flaws at all. The hardware is just OK, but fully functional and no real issues. The pickup sounded good, but I personally prefer something more raunchy and loud. The electronics were very clean and the pots felt nice when turning (had some nice feel in terms of resistance when turning). The bridge has a small lean forward on the posts, due to a loose tolerance of fit, but it didn't affect tuning or intonation. As is, this guitar is great. I'm a maniac, so I'm likely going to change everything out for hardware and electronics that I love, but that's just me. ROCK ON!

Shockingly good for the money. Paint and finish appointments are almost perfect on the guitar I received. There is a VERY small gap at the base of where the nut sits in the neck route. That is the only flaw I have found after intense scrutiny, and again, it is minor. P90 is great, nice clarity and a little more open sounding in the low mids compared to soapbar style. Not a huge fan of wraparound bridges, but it gets the job done. Set-up out of the box was good, all I needed to do was lower the action slightly at the bridge. On mine the bridge was pretty low already, so this does not allow me much adjustment to lower strings more. So far it's been not an issue after having the guitar for 8 months. My favorite thing about this guitar is the feel of the neck and fretboard. Even thought the neck is fully painted it feels nice and fast, and the board is even better. Nicely rounded and polished fret wire ends and board edge make this guitar feel like it's been played for 40 years! I own guitars that are 10 times more expensive that do not have as nicely finished neck and fretboard as this does. I have played this guitar live and It is truly a gig worthy guitar at an unbeatable price! Thanks Thomann!!!

What a guitar. Very good fretwork. Nice sounding pickup. Light and resonant body which is perfectly balanced. Tidy wiring that works flawlessly. Decent hardware that works well (tuners and bridge). The nut may need some tweaking for tuning stability, but is pretty good. All in all it's just what a Jr should be.
Mine played incredibly well out of the box - the action's right where I like it (moderately low, only buzzes when you dig in too hard). Perfect neck relief even after trips across multiple ponds from Indonesia to Germany to the USA. Pickups are full and sweet souding. Other P90's might be better, but these play the part extremely well. The frets are extremely well done - no high or low frets, and have nicely softened fret ends. The Pelham Blue finish is beautiful. It's darker, more vibrant, and more metallic than I expected, but I've very happy with it.
But... the big but.... the intonation was WAY off... as in only the high E was correct. The entire bridge needed to be adjusted away from the nut substantially, and all saddles including the high E moved to correct. Ten or 15 minutes with a screwdriver solved that, but really a bad setup.
It's a really good guitar. I'm not going to say 'at this price', it's just good. The price is just a bonus.