Harley Benton TE-62CC LPB

This is my second Harley Benton guitar, the other being the CST-24.
No issues with this one as well.
For reference, I’m primarily a bass player and play guitar on the side. I’ve played and owned more expensive guitars and basses like Squier, Fender, Ibanez, Washburn and Yamaha.

No surprises in the sound department. It obviously sounds like a t-style guitar.

Technically, the guitar is well built. Neck and frets are properly finished. Neck alignment and setup is very decent. No issues with the electronics either.
Besides tuning it didn't need any additional setup before playing it out of the box. Decent action, no intonation problems or buzzes.

Visually, it’s a very appealing instrument.
The caramelized neck came out nicer than I expected and feels very smooth.
I would describe the Lake Placid blue finish as kinda ‘soft’ with a vintage-ish hue (not as bright and sparkly as on some LPB guitars). In my case the images on the Thomann website give a very good representation of the color. Together with the mint pickguard and caramelized neck it really adds to the vintage aesthetic. Very nice!

In my case, the only thing that gives away that you are dealing with a low-priced instrument, is the 3-way switch. The switch on mine feels a bit flimsy, but it functions without issues.
I've had no problems with tuning stability, even after some extensive bending, which means the tuners and the nut do a pretty good job.

All and all a solid and well-built guitar that delivers way more than the price tag might suggest. It feels and plays like a serious instrument.
So far, I really enjoy playing this guitar, which is the most important criteria for any guitar, I guess.

So just a bit of background. I mainly play acoustic guitar and have two Gibson J45s, a high end Takamine and a Yamaha 12 string. I recently sold my two Fender Telecasters as I didn't play them enough. One was the PowerTele with the Fishman electronics and the other was a Modern Player. Having sold these Teles, I needed another one, so opted for the TE-62CC LPB.

It is an absolutely gorgeous guitar, plays really well and I've been practising my string bends on it all day, straight out of the box. The roasted neck is silky fast, the frets are perfect. No fear of sharp edges here. The chrome knobs are not plastic, which I assumed would be the case. They are some kind of chrome or metal and feel really good.

The neck joint is very well cut and fitted. No noticeable gaps. Looks really solid. I know others have said that they don't like the tuners but to me, they're fine.

The paintwork is beautiful. No blemishes or uneveness, just very well executed. The LPB is a flat colour and if I had the choice I would have opted for the blue on the TE-28MN BM. That Tele look like it has a blue sparkle finish but difficult to tell in the photos. Anyway, I opted for the TE-62 as it is fitted with better parts.

If there's one thing I could report that was negative is that the markers on the fretboard are no centred. If you look closely you can see that some are offset left and others are offset to the right. The markers on the side of the neck, the ones which a guitarist uses, are set uniformly, so no big deal. As I said, you have to look closely to see it.

Overall, a very happy customer.

I purchased three of these TE 622CC guitars in three different colors. LPB, SP, and IS. They arrived to the US in only a few days. During UPS shipping a large hole was cut in the side of the box and the corner was torn open. The SP, LPB were fine but the IS was damaged and returned. UPS denied the damage claim but Thomann sent me another one which had a neck pocket crack as well but no shipping damage. Great customer service by Thomann!

The negative first:
The LPB is nowhere near the blue in the images nor Fender's LPB.
The mint green pickguard clashes with this blue and looks pretty bad.
***Big Negative*** pickguards that fit T-Style Fender/Squier/MIM/USA/Vintage Do NOT fit these guitars. They cannot be modified to fit. You have to have a custom cut guard made for ~$50 or more. That is really too much for a $139 guitar. Come on Thomann! Offer more choices (black or white) or offer them separately for $20 to ship with the guitar please!!!
The neck pickup is VERY lackluster compared to the very nice bridge pickup. I know it's a "bottom end guitar" but it really doesn't belong on an otherwise nice guitar.

The Positive:
The LPB guitar was right straight out of the box! I stretched out the strings which are supposed to be 10-46 but I believe they are 9-42 on this guitar and the SP. The tuning gears were smooth and far superior to others on ≤$150 guitars I have played. The bridge pickup really sings on this model even with some gain thrown at it, but not on the SP or IS which indicates your mileage may vary. Full sized unbranded pots, a solid output jack, a properly cut nut, a heavy bridge plate and decent saddles make this a big step up from many junker guitars. The selector switch is quiet but seems flimsy. However, the barrel knob did NOT immediately fall off so obviously they are not using Fender switches! The fretwork seems good. Smooth edges, no dead spots and the intonation was right without compensated saddles. The guitar was heavier than I prefer but not bad. The color, while not as advertised was nicely applied and was clean and free of spots.

I really feel that I could have taken this guitar to a rehearsal out of the box and kept up with my Fender guitars. Before I would consider playing a show with it, I would put in some CTS pots, a Mallory capacitor, a switchcraft output Jack, a quality 3 or 4 way switch, and a new neck pickup. If I keep this guitar I will probably put a set of pickups in, as well as Gotoh vintage style locking tuners that drop right in, and InTune saddles. The platform of body/neck is really nice. If you could guarantee that they would all come out of the box just like this needing no fret work or set up it would be a no brainer for a beginner or someone moving up from a junker beginner guitar. However, I can tell by ordering three of these at the same time that is not the case. For this price I think it's probably worth the the chance. You can always take it to a local shop and have some set up work done and have a brand new quality guitar that's been set up by a shop that plays and sounds good for less than $240.

Unless you want to tolerate an ugly mint green pickguard that clashes with your finish colors then go ahead and expect to pay $50 plus for a proper guard.

I ordered this as I wanted to have a telecaster guitar. Before that I had the chance to play both the te-52 and the te-70rw. They are all good but I prefer the 62, mostly due to the weight (the other two might be heavy depending on the item) and the neck that fits me better. The quality is great, out of the box playable, lowered the action a bit, no fret buzz, no fret sprout, frets better polished than expected. Overall a solidly built straightforward tele with a classy finish. Nut, bridge and tuners all fine.The sound is characteristic tele, however I may experiment in the future with tex-mex pickups

Harley Benton TE-62CC LPB, it arrived within eight days to the UK well packaged via DHL delivery.
The guitar is well made with only a few minor imperfections, I mention these first- 1. The paintwork a few blemishes (highlights) above the pickguard within the metallic paint surface. and 2. The nut is cut a little deep for the B string. ( I have owned guitars costing many times the cost of this with more imperfection)
This guitar has many plus points the neck is very good, it's maple, smooth with a quality finish and colour. The frets are polished and on this example well put together. Tuners/ machine heads are fine, the action is good for me but others may want it lower. The single coils work well with the volume and tone knobs and switch worked with no problems. The guitar has a good tone, on all settings. It can be versatile and can be used for many genre of music. It has amazing sustain.
The lake placid blue is a lovely colour and works well with the contrasting mint green pickguard and caramelised neck. This is a £125 guitar that punches well above it weight.
You could mod this guitar, but get to know it first it might surprise you.
This guitar will please anyone, not just for a starter.
Seasoned players will appreciate it too.
This is this good instrument, and I have enjoyed playing it.
'It's a 3.2 kilogramme bundle of joy.'

A 3.2 kilograms bundle of joy.

I can only speak for my copy, so here it goes:
- neck: great shape, my left hand doesn't get tired from chords in standing position when using this one (12-inch radius). On the 95.-inch radius I get tired more easily. The colour is also really nice. Thin satin finish, smooth, but not Fender smooth.
- pickups: the neck pickup is really warm and quite loud, I had to lower it significantly to match the volume of the bridge pickup. At one point the screws just turn, but you do not see it go down: just push it down slightly and it moves. Resistance on both is about 5.6kOhm.
- electronics: mini pots, but they do the job just fine. The tone pot has a .022uF capacitor and has a wide spread. No shielding, but I think it is worth investing in it.
- body: great colour, not exactly like in the picture. not heavy
- tuners: just fine, they hold tuning; tested with D'Addario and Pyramid strings.
- fret work: leaves a bit to be desired. There is some scratching and buzz in a few places, but overall good.
-how it plays: really good. you can get used to it and not touch other guitars for longer periods. It likes overdrive, distortion and loud amps. Good middle position on the pickups as well.

All in all, I absolutely do not regret buying it. It is a fun instrument with a lot to give.

I was expecting a very light guitar with the Poplar body. It is heavier than expected but not excessively so. A comfortable weight for me. Out of the box the neck relief was almost perfect and the truss rod nut was just snugged up and not left loose. Action was fairly high but playable, however it needed saddle intonation before it sounded as it should. The fret ends are nicely bevelled and very well dressed for a guitar of this price and I have seen guitars at 4 times the price that needed fret end dressing. The frets crowns were a bit "scratchy", as should be expected for a lower priced guitar, but a few bends on the strings smoothed them out. The nut slots were cut nicely and to just the right depths. All screws were properly tightened and the scratchplate is neatly cut and smooth on the edges. The finish is flawless and the dark roasted maple neck with satin finish is lovely to play on. The neck pocket in the body is as tight a fit as I have seen on any guitar of this type. The tuning machines are smooth and positive. The bridge is of perfectly good quality and I was able to get quite good intonation using the non-compensated vintage type barrel saddles. Absolutely no need to think about upgrading pickups. These Roswell ones are "vintage" in output strength, but sound very good. The only thing I will change are the cheap quality vintage "butterfly" style pressed metal string trees. The plating is flaking and they are a bit angular on the undersides. I will replace them with ones that are more smoothly rounded on the undersides. This guitar sounds very resonant unplugged and provides a full range of sounds from the pickups when plugged in. The tone and volume controls only really work within the 10 to 5 range and changes are quite sudden during those settings, but this is quite standard on lower priced guitars. They are usable though, and feel nice and smooth to roll. An excellent guitar for the price, and still a very good guitar if it was more than twice the price.

I had wanted a Telecaster-style guitar but did not want to fork out a ton of money after having a negative experience with both a Squier Classic Vibe Stratocaster and a Fender Player Stratocaster. I had heard that there were QC issues with Harley Benton in the past, so I kept my expectations realistic. However, once I opened the packaging, I was blown away. The fit and finish, the satin feel of the neck, and the pickups were all on par with guitars that cost over three times the price of this one.

In my opinion, as the owner of a few Gibsons, Fenders, and higher-end Squiers and Epiphones, this definitely sits between a Squier Classic Vibe and a MIM Player Telecaster in terms of playability and feel. If you're on the fence, get one. The only minor issue I had was a slight intonation adjustment out of the box, but that was it. Zero fret sprout, very clear and punchy pickups, and an incredible finish at a fraction of the cost of its higher-end counterparts? I was a sceptic based on numerous YouTube reviews, but now I am sold on Harley Benton!

If you're on the fence and are looking for a telecaster-style guitar but don't want to spend over three times the amount, just do it. You'll be pleasantly surprised! One bit of advice if you're having this guitar shipped overseas; let the guitar acclimate for at least an hour; you'll thank me!