Harley Benton EX-84 Modern VW

In the world of Explorer guitars, this might be a new price-quality champion.
Great Hardware: Grover locking tuners, full metal knobs, Good tune-o-matic bridge;
Tusq XL nut;
Active pickups.
Very nice fret work and already polished right out of the box;
Nice setup out of the box as well.
Came a little bit dirty here and there, but easily solved..
I'd prefer a more slim neck and more balanced weight distribution, but nothing out of the ordinary here.
That, and if the pickups sounded just like EMG (unreasonable at this price) it would be absolutely perfect.
But very good price-quality here, for sure!

I needed to grab an explorer shaped guitar for an opportunity that arose in a ZZ Top tribute band and I kept seeing HB’s come up in lists so I grabbed one as soon as I could.
Delivery was prompt and on time and corresponding with customer service at Thomann was a breeze and they were all so helpful.
Right out of the box the guitar was already set up pretty phenomenally and the only tweaks I made were adding higher gauge strings (guitar is used for down-tuned songs) and the subsequent intonation tweaks I had to make with heavier than stock strings. But everything else was perfectly set up and I haven’t even had that experience with more premium brand guitars so that was awesome. I didn't get a chance to even play it through an amp before I had to do two back to back gigs in Wisconsin this past weekend and as soon as I plugged it in for sound check i couldn't believe the sound that was coming out of it for such a cheap guitar.
I originally just planned to “put up” with this guitar and grab whatever was the cheapest explorer I could find on the market for this particular gimmick in my band but honestly this thing has blown me away and I’d recommend HB to people in a heartbeat

This is a very comfortable guitar straight out of the box, and I was happy with the condition and the overall playability. The horn on this explorer model is a little smaller than the original, but that's fine with me and barely noticeable. The position of the strap buttons does mean it is prone to neckdive if you attach a strap, so be aware of that. The pickups are Not Great though, so I'd either go for the EMG version, or just switch them out for something you prefer.

pros:
super fun to play!
great overall quality

cons:
pickups aren't great
neckdive

Look, you're here because you love explorers, right? You're not gonna get a better deal than this on quality so go for it!

I promised i would never buy a low budget guitar ever again
due to small frets and crappy pups till i saw this. The slim C shape neck
makes bending and vibrato a breeze. I also love the extra jumbo
frets which gives it a slight scalloped feel. In tune right out of the box
and still is after hours of jamz! Not disappointed with the pups either.
I feel i can keep these for a long time. Clean and lead sounds superb.

pros -
The neck
Locking tuners
Super fun to play

Con -
UPS shipping ( at least for southern italy)
Fingers crossed and patience needed.

I have had this guitar for a year now came with quite a few issues bought it as a project guitar so the issues didn't bother me to much, The guitar looks great for the price ideal if you are looking for a project explorer, has a nice chunky neck and light body with a good leather strap there is no neck dive,

pros
-Looks great
-set neck feels great
-pickups are decent but could do with a upgrade
-doesn't weigh much could stand and play it for hours
-it hold its tuning fairly well but the tuners aren't great sometimes they have gaps where it wont tune (worth looking into a upgrade to locking tuners)

cons
-pickups are decent for metal not great for cleans
-scratchy frets make bends feel horrible with a few sharp ones aswell towards the higher frets
-bad setup (was a quick fix)
-tuners don't turn great (planning on changing them to locking tuners)
-it feels a bit like a toy and doesn't sound great unplugged but i think after some upgrades to the bridge and tuners it might feel a bit better,

I know it can be hit or miss with mass production guitars and for the price its still a good guitar for a project, Hasn't been worth the hassle to send it back as i always wanted a explorer to upgrade just a shame about the frets from other reviews this doesn't seem to be a common issue.

I saw this guitar first on Spectre Media Group on YouTube. It caught my attention immediately. I like to have things that are different, fairly uncommon from the popular, and slightly cooler than the rest around me. This brand and shape is sure to be a rarity in my scene. I really love the cutout around the cord. I did some research and found others saying this gem rocks. I jumped on the buy and snagged the White version with Roswell pickups. Boy, am I glad I did! The price went up! Out of the box, this thing sounds great! It stays in tune brilliantly even with the factory strings. (I'm playing it in Drop C.) The weight and size of the guitar feels awesome! I feel really comfortable with it. I feel like it's the perfect size for me. (I'm lean and 5'8") I play this through a Boss Katana MKII. The sound is flawless just raw. I have no mods on this guitar at all. It really does rock. I can tell these are going to become bigger in America. I'm proud to be amongst the first with this HB revolution.