Harley Benton Fusion-T EMG HT Roasted SBK

...due to mixed reviews of HB instruments, but man, this one is perfect. Came in with perfect action height, only needed to extra intonate 2 strings, but it was a minor adjustment. Has some file marks on the neck, but it is a non-issue, because they blend in with the dark-roasted Canadian maple's finish. Will see how the matte black finish holds up to time. Haven't opened the electronic cavity yet to check the quality of the solders, but so far sounds great with no issues wired or wireless.

I had an Amarok baritone before with these same pickups but they sound a lot better on this Fusion-T. The cleans are absolutely amazing and the distortion is meaty. Nevertheless I bought this as a "project" guitar and will be adding a custom pickguard and swapping the pickups for EMG 57/66 set and maybe while in there, add some extra shielding inside.

Edit: After using this guitar for quite awhile, I noticed horrible feedback constantly, I had to mute the strings constantly. I basically stopped playing this until I saw Spectre Media mention his Matt black guitar wasn't grounded. Surely this would be the same with mine, not on a guitar almost costing 500 euro? But no, that's exactly what the issue was. How do they let that pass through QC?

This guitar comes with the bells and whistles of a guitar expected to pay twice this price. The sound quality is great and the whole style and finish is amazing. The cons of this guitar are the fretboard had gouges in it from the fret work and the guitar needed a setup on arrival, which is to be expected. After the setup it plays like butter and the neck is a pleasure to play on.

All in all, for the price of this guitar you're getting way more than you'd expect. Just with a few minor things that can be overlooked.

Some info, the mat black finish is the kind that will scratch "easily" bit just small, semi-visible surface only scratches from your pick for example. This is something I like because it quickly gives a subtle custom worn look to the guitar, but might not be appealing to everyone. Pick-ups are a bit mellow sounding? Compared to the EMG 81 and Fishman Fluence in my other guitars.. also be prepared for small, minor or subtle visual inconsistencies. It's a cheap guitar so it's what you can expect. Even my Schecter that cost 3x as much came with some visible scratches on the neck. Just something to bear in mind, but overall this guitar is incredible for the price.

Got this, Harley number three for me, as the spec looked excellent. The other two, a Fusion iii and the HP-42 Signature are utterly amazing, both re pick-uped though. All bought on a whim but gradually they found their way centre stage and now firm favourites.

Firstly the guitar is fantastic, but there were one or two minor fret issues which after five minutes filing work sorted completely. And i’m not subtracting any marks for that as many other guitars i have - big name brands - have randomly had similar issues too, and all at six and seven times the price.
The neck is to die for ( as is the neck on the HP-42) roasted and silky smooth, the SS frets allow for heavier strings which feel lighter and easier to bend.

The tuners and bridge are perfectly acceptable and work and sound great. They're upgradeable anyway if needed.
All in all its a beast of a guitar, incredible value, defying the odds.

Now the pick ups…….. EMG’s are a fav of mine for at least 25 yrs, i don't have them in everything but the guitars that do are savage, including this one. But my preference is for an Alnico magnet in the bridge ( EMG 85 ) - so I flipped them round and on doing so discovered made in Indonesia stickers on the Emg’s, and slightly different design to the US EMG website pics - no adjustable pole pieces.
Anyone clued in will be saying, but hang on the bridge pup is f spaced and blah blah………. doesn't affect the sound one bit, no string loss or anything from the different spacing which, is minuscule anyway. I’m around too long to put up with anything but perfect string audibility etc. I’d recommend experimenting, if you find the bridge pup a bit bright, as it makes a killer neck pup, and putting the Alnco in the bridge has more gain and sounds warmer.

BUT………I guess i’m just pointing out this as its not mentioned in the marketing end of things at all. Sound wise they’re pretty good and seem to have the same connectors as all other EMG’s so can easily be swapped around.
I would love someone to tell me about this. Am I right or wrong here? Are all EMG’s made in Indo or just these? A bit perplexed tbh but not overly unhappy lol! And I certainly have no issue with anything from Indo there is amazing stuff coming from there and has been for years!!
The Harley Benton brand offers incredible value and a wonderful range of equipment, and obviously keeping costs down is paramount.
I guess I would’ve liked to see it in the product description.
But don’t let this deter anyone from buying one, they are incredible.

I’m just around too long to be fooled, and I just had to ask 😎

Ive been intrigued by Harley Benton guitars for a while, I'm not hugely bothered by the name on the headstock, I'm more interested in how a guitar plays and feels. I had high hopes a Pro Series guitar would live up to the hype but I cant help but feel a little disappointed.

Out of the box it looked amazing, but...

On close inspection there are paint chips in the neck pocket which was very disappointing. They aren't small chips either and should have been noticed at inspection and the guitar then sold as B stock. They aren't a big enough of a problem for me to send the guitar back but they certainly shouldn't be there and it was disappointing to see them on a brand new guitar. At nearly £400 it wasn't cheap, just good value.

The 2nd problem was with the input jack. The jack would not stay in the guitar at all. When inserted it did not engage with a click and would then fall out. I managed to fix this myself by taking the jack plug out and bending the metal to engage with the jack plug correctly. Again if there was any QA by Thomann to test the electronics it should have been picked up and rectified before being sent out.

Another minor issue was with the frets; as many reviews have stated, this guitar comes with very scratchy frets. I expected this problem and after using some fret polishing rubbers on them they felt a lot better and I'm certain they will improve as I play the guitar over the next few months.

Aside from these issues, the guitar feels amazing, the neck feels great, not too thick, not too thin and has a really nice satin feel. It sounds great both clean and overdriven. The

Overall a fairly decent experience but the poor QA really concerns me. As the guitars are cheap anyway it would make sense to raise the prices slightly to then be able to guarantee that any guitar shipped to customers is in good shape. As it stands, whether a guitar you receive needs extra work or not does seem to be a lottery and provided you can fix the basic mistakes and live with imperfections, this guitar is really good value.