Harley Benton R-456FR BK Progressive Series

Stands up to comparison with my Aria Pro II (450€ retail) and Yamaha RGX721DG (750€ retail) from the 90's. Feels and sounds better than a Squire that I had. Intonation is set well throughout the neck, although I could probably get the action slightly lower. Holds tuning well. Sustain is good. It's light. It squeals easily when you want it to, and has good harmonics. It is well-shielded from electro magnetic interference. Pots don't scratch and feel good to turn.

Now the small criticisms, which are unwarranted considering the cost of this guitar. The volume knob cuts off quite abruptly near the zero mark. The tone is a little bit darker than I'm used to (but that's why we have EQ on our pedalboards). To get a completely clean tone I need to roll off the volume a little, but I tend to do that anyway. Otherwise there is a hint of saturation, and it's a bit fizzy (no I'm not clipping the signal). The trem is placed right above the volume pot - my other guitars have more separation.

Quality in the long term? Who knows how long the tremolo will last if you're heavy handed with it. I will be using it for subtle expression, not divebombs. If the wood warps within the next few years, it would still probably be worth it for the price anyway.

It would be perfect if Thomann could sell these trems as spare parts. I'd buy one right now for 80€ - 90€, as a future replacement.

Thanks as always to the purchase and delivery team, and to Correos, who are consistently awesome at delivering to small islands.

First, the pickups are excellent, they are a copy of the Duncan Distortion's with heavy bass and very high output that creates a little grit when regular pickups leave the tone too clean and bland. Metal is metal at high distortion levels.

Second, the bridge is very good, returns to pitch very well with stock strings and stock setup. However the knives needed some sharpening, and D'Addario strings improve the tone.

The most important components are lined up accurately, neck, pickups, and bridge, so no major rebuilding was needed. Only the string holder had to be moved 0.8mm to a side to center it. The fine E string was too close to the neck edge, and the palm of the hand would mute it, sometimes.

So I filled the screw holes with plugs and drilled new holes 0.8mm to the side. The jack retainer plate was held by small screws that I replaced with stronger ones. Pulling and pushing the jack stresses that part, so I like stronger attachments.

The neck joint is done very well, not a cigarette paper could be inserted there, no gap. The tuners seemed to have a little play but just tightening their screws solved that. The knobs have no play, no unevenness, no noise, they are true professional grade knobs. They are firm.

Same for the selector, it's the only selector in all my affordable guitars that makes no noise at all. One solder joint broke after two days so I reflowed it, and checked the other solder points, they're all good.

The bridge springs needed a bit of recentering, too, so, plugs, drilling, and voilà, screws and springs are square with the cutout in the wood, and with the bridge.

The truss rod moved silently and smoothly, no problem adjusting that. Tightening the string holder screws doesn't change the pitch much, no problem there. The trem arm seems thin to me, so I added three layers of heat-shrink tubing to make it fatter and more grippy, a totally reversible and easy mod.

The internal cutouts are made well, paint was not even but making it even was easy. The outside paint is applied very well, and doesn't scratch too easily, except I have seen harder (polyurethane) skins. But the Harley Benton has to be affordable, so the quality is adequate.

The neck finish is very good, undistinguishable from the finest Ibanez or Jackson axes. Only the frets need the usual polishing, nothing to blame here, they don't buzz at all from the factory, and their edges are smooth.

So five stars for the sound, five for the ergonomics, and four for the perfectible fit and finish. A bargain. Note that the guitar was totally usable, it's just that I do a systematic check on all my new axes, and improve what I can. For 200€ the overall factory quality was fine.

Most importantly, the main components, pickups, neck and Floyd Rose, are very good, and assembled right.

A Floyd Rose special bridge alone cost about €80!! So having an €80 trem system on a guitar that cost only €150 is the first thing that attracted my attention! Besides having heard good reviews of HB guitars, I decided to give it a try although in the past I've always been very apprehensive about buying low cost guitars with a Floyd Rose!!
It only took 6 days to ship to my doorstep!! I'm in Mauritius!! So having it shipped from Europe that fast was surprisingly satisfying considering the fact that most items I order online from anywhere else take way longer than that!!...
The guitar out of the box was perfectly set up!! Plugged it and was amazed that it was in tune!! Tuning stability is excellent!! No matter how hard and extreme I used the whammy bar, the guitar stayed in tune!! So it was a great relief as well as a great sense of joy!!
The pickups are high gain Humbuckers!! So it's not really a guitar for clean sounds!! With distortion however, the sound you get is absolutely perfect and it made me realise that the natural sustain of the guitar very very good!!!
If you are more into Rock and Metal stuffs and love the heavy distorted sounds, this guitar is a must have!! Not only for the price, but also for it's look, build quality and playability!!...

Harley Benton progressive series. Arrived Wednesday, but only today I've been able to have a play/set it up to my tastes.

So I thought I'd write a quick review for people - especially those who are looking at the Harley Benton range as a backup/spare etc.

(as always, this is my personal opinion, yours may be a different experience altogether)

First impressions out of the box - it's very well put together. No dodgy screws, wiring is perfect, no scratchy pots or buzzing/earthing issues.

The neck is a bit wider than I expected, but also quite narrow in depth so it's extremely comfortable overall. Frets are perfect, no rough spots or lifted areas. Fret ends are good too, I had one that was slightly protruding past the board, but a quick file sorted it out. I'd say it's somewhere between Fender and Gibson spacing, very comfortable and quite easy to adapt to as well.
I will say that the board was quite dry when I received it, so it's been given the VIP lemon oil treatment as well as part of my setup routine.

Pickups - they're pretty good for the heavier stuff, no loss of clarity in high gain, and really glassy/chimey sounding on clean. Sustain is V good also.

Floyd Rose Special bridge - not as complicated as I thought (Thomann has an excellent series of video guides on YouTube!) It holds tuning perfectly, and who doesn't love a good pinch harmonic into a dive bomb haha!!

Overall, I'm extremely happy with this guitar. Took a week for shipping (over UK Bank Holiday weekend too!) Total price including shipping - £159.

So in conclusion, I think it's a freaking fantastic guitar for the price, especially considering the FR Special tremolo can be £80+ on its own. The neck feels gorgeous, some lovely tones available and overall its just brilliant value for money IMO.

In conclusion, if you're looking for a backup/spare guitar for gigging or different tunings, you will NOT be disappointed with one of these. So much so, its now becoming my favourite guitar from my collection.