Harley Benton TE-20 BK Standard Series

First thing Ive got to mention is the shipping from Thomann, I ordered Saturday night after closing so assume it was processed on Monday. It arrived in the UK Wednesday, a record.

Anyway, about the guitar. This is my second HB, the 1st being the ST-62 which out of the four guitars I own is my go to player, its faultless. The TE-20 is not very far behind. I've never owned a T style before so bear with me as all I can compare to is the rest Ive had over the years.

The Good.
The finish is near perfect. For a £61 guitar it is unbelievable. Ive had guitars costing 4 - 5 times more with flaws in the finish, this has none. The neck is a satin finish and feels really smooth, again, no flaws. The fret-board was maybe a little dry but not bad, a dose of lemon oil brought it up to an almost black sheen. Really nice feel all round. No sharp fret ends, which I don't personally think of as a problem, but Ill mention it because the ST-62 had a few which needed stoning. No fret buzz, pups are good enough, the neck is quite creamy with a nice blues tone and the bridge quacks. The attack is impressive for what it is, a very aggressive bridge. The tone pot is also very responsive, the difference point to point is excellent. Sustain is not bad, not brilliant but good enough, maybe a pedal will be my next buy to just squeeze a bit more from her.

The Bad.
I cant call it bad so Ill call it not perfect. One tuner had faulty gearing and wouldn't hold tension, I expected more issues for the money, so I let Thomann know and I had a replacement within days. Brilliant service. If they hadn't sent me one, so what, I'd have bought a new set and still been smiling.

The Ugly.
Nothing, Nichts, Niets, Nada, Zilch.

Summary.
I wasn't sure what to expect from a cheap T, or any T to be honest, but I'm impressed. The body is a full 1 3/4" and comfortably heavy. The paint is thick & flawless, zero scratches, screws are in square, intonation nearly there (For a T style), sounds good and looks good. Would I buy another if it burst into flames, yes. The only problem for me now is I'm looking at a through body model like the TE-52 but at these prices why not? The ST- 62 is still my reach for, but the TE-20 is the next in line. This is £61 worth of grins.

Think again!
Bought just to see the difference between this and a £150 guitar. If you know how to setup a guitar then 30 mins of your time turns it into a £150+ guitar.
Truss rod needed 1/2 turn to put a slight forward bow on the neck. This also got rid of the fret buss and allowed the action to be lowered to an acceptable level.
Pickups are ok and bright.
Finish is very good.
Nut seems to be plastic but works fine although need filing down slightly, or replacing.
The neck is an absolute joy to play. It's smooth and just seems to fit my hand perfectly.
You can sit this on your leg with no neck dive, perfectly balanced.
Anyone who does not own a TE style HB, seriously get one. Bang for Buck you wont get better.
I am so surprised how good this guitar is.

Out of the box the guitar was pretty unplayable. I lowered the action at the bridge end as much as I could and still had no luck. The intonation was pretty difficult to get right as well. I bought a wilkinson brass saddle bridge for £15 and decided to give that a go, what a difference it made! Some of the frets around the 12 the fret needed some attention.
Pickups obviously are not fender standard, but hold there own, and give some pretty authentic tele tones.
The tone pot is pretty unwresponsive but you can change those easily and cheap enough.
After all the tinkering which only actually took about an hour, the guitar is a pretty decent player. If anyone has any complaints about this guitar, just ask yourself what do you want for £50?! Brilliant base for modding, and is cheap enough to not worry about the consequences if it goes wrong. Now I just have to stop looking at all the impressive and cheap Harley Benton guitars.

If you're looking for a decent starter guitar that won't put you off playing for life, or a cheapo back-up, this is ideal

It's a classic, no frills design and HB have kept the iconic features, including the lipstick pick-up. As with all the HB guitars I've used, this is built well - hardware is solid and functional. The frets are nicely dressed and you certainly won't cut fingers to ribbons on any sharp edges. My only negative criticism is that the white, one ply scratch plate was poorly finished, with some little plastic "hairs" coming off the edges. Two minutes with a bit of fine sandpaper and that was rectified.

It's got a nice clangy twang when you plug it in...no one's going to be fooled into thinking it's a "real" Fender, but for a shade over £50, you really can't go wrong. I would imagine it could sound even better if you swapped out the pick-ups, but it doesn't sound too shabby as it is. Action was nice and low, with just a little buzz on the top 'E'. I raised the saddle a fraction and it was gone.

The great advantage of a guitar like this is that you haven't got to fight against a cheapo tremelo system to get it into tune - it's the ultimate, basic "beater" guitar. Sounds good, easy to play with a nice, skinny neck and decent construction.

My main guitar is set up for drop tuning so I bought this one to be able to fiddle around in standard tuning (and occasionally in Drop D). I would say it is perfect to be used as a backup guitar or for somebody just starting out.
It needs a set up for sure, as the action is pretty high and the intonation seems a bit off. The sound is alright, if somebody is quite anal about that then they could just change the pickups, that would improve it greatly.
It's really not as bad as some people says, but bear in mind that you probably would not be using this for studio recordings or world tours. Great for experimenting, backup or to practice on.