Harley Benton TE-70RW Deluxe Series

Ok, another stunning review for a very inexpensive Harley Benton electric guitar... I am a hobby guitarist, drummer, pianist, and I do all my jamming at home in the basement man cave. I've read all the reviews like YOU have too, probably, because I just couldn't believe all the great things said about the incredibly inexpensive Harley Benton line of guitars. I finally had to "Jump In The Fire" ;) and I purchased this Tele copy, the TE-70RW Deluxe. I also bought a B stock Nashville Line Nylon solid body but that's not the focus of this review.
The TE70-RW has the following traits, in my opinion:
Pros: super inexpensive, flawless fit/finish, arrived with ZERO damage from Germany to Kentucky, U.S.A. in 9 days, good setup on arrival, NOT microphonic, NOT high action, NOT a returned item re-sold to me, the guitar for the $ paid is an OUTSTANDING value. Out of the box & wiped down then plugged in it sounds great. sounds every bit as nice as my Made In Mexico Deluxe Roadhouse Stratocaster and sounds better than the Fender Baja Tele my friend brought over to have on hand for immediate comparison. The Roswell pickups are fine, nothing special but NOTHING at all wrong with them.

Cons: the guts of the guitar are obviously 'cheap' but by no means are they LOW quality, the strings and fret board was 'dirty' and I had to do an extensive wipe down on the guitar. I would love to have a little higher quality fret board wood but that would increase the price.

Bottom Line: You can not beat the quality for the price paid. The CONS that I listed have nothing to do with the guitar tone, playability, or 'function'. I would not expect this guitar to be a 'gigging' axe for a professional but for the normal everyday guy/gal who just loves to play... it is A O.K.

If you are considering a Harley Benton guitar, any model, but are scared of the low LOW LOWWWWWW cost you are just like many Americans and other guitarists from countries outside the 'immediate' are of Thomann Music and that's understandable. Unless you've already done business with Thomann you just don't know if you can trust the reviews online and all that.... Well, there's only ONE way to find out and that is to bite the bullet and give them a chance.

You will not be disappointed.
I had ordered a Ritchie Kotzen signature Telecaster just a couple of days before this purchase. It's made in Japan and is at the top of Fender's 'non custom shop' food chain. I cancelled the order for the Fender and bought 2 Harley Benton's for 1/3 of the price I would've given for the Kotzen model Tele.

I'm extremely glad I did cancel that order. I have Tele sound, tone, feel, and more for a lot less money. Couldn't be happier with Thomann and Harley Benton.

So, this has caused me a problem or a dilemma at least. To be honest I bought this for one reason, to strip it for parts for my other Tele’s and so far it’s much, much better than expected, way too good to use as a donor guitar for parts. I now need to get parts in a different was as it’s erm,.....better than most of my other Tele’s.

The action is too high, way too high but I know that this is down to personal preference and entirely subjective yet needs adjustment. The tuners are ok, it depends on your perspective, they’re not amazing compared to a Schaller locking fender set yet for the money, I don’t get how they can do this, it’s surprising how good they are. The bridge tuner rattles too much at the moment but a setup may fix this.

Overall my neighbours were expecting to see something far from playable yet they didn’t believe that this was supposed to be a donor parts item. Me? I’m keeping this as is, I’ll change the bridge pickups as they rattle too much but overall, this is like modern magic. I wouldn’t expect anything playable at this budget but I am wrong , surprised, and actually really impressed.

Now I need to explain that I have a new guitar and no parts as expected, thanks Thomann, please send new tuners so I can avoid having to justify another guitar.

A quick update----
The tuners turned out to be awful. Dead spots everywhere, slipping, too much dead movement, they rapidly became as bad as the set on my Affinity. So I've made a few mods. I added a set of HB locking tuners, added Göldo string trees, cleaned and lemon oiled the neck twice, graphited the nut slots, and then swapped the strings for a set of Ernie Ball 9's. Now, it holds a note as well as my PRS.

The TE70 is a great base to make some basic changes, adding less than €100 in parts for such good results is worth it. It's still only cost around the same price as my affinity Tele but the results are much better. Next time I buy another HB I will make the same changes out of the box.

Finally, if a female can do all this work in a few hours, surely a chap can do it quicker ;)

I am like a lot of the folks here purchasing a Harley Benton; I read the great reviews here, watched the tests on You Tube and I was compelled to pull the trigger and purchase a guitar to see what all the fuss was about.
I decided on the TE-70RW Deluxe Series Rosewood Tele as I loved the look of the photos, love Teles, and am a huge George Harrison fan.
I have not had one unpleasant moment with this guitar (other than my old fingers do not move as they once did). The finish is absolutely beautiful with the headstock matching the Rosewood Veneer body. The double binding is beautiful and dark fretboard are the perfect compliments to the appearance of the instrument. The frets were in good shape, nothing sharp, and the action was set almost as low out of the box as my Gretsch 6128 (which was professionally set up). The tuners are ok and hold tune; there may be a small amount of play as you tighten/loosen but I have experienced more wiggle in much more expensive Guitars than this one. The pickups are what you would expect for a Tele...neck smooth and sweet, bridge with the Tele twang. Absolutely no issues with the guitar to this point, it is very fun to play and comfortable (fairly heavy, but not LP heavy).
The Guitar travelled from Germany to my home in Michigan in a matter of 4 days damage free. The client support at Thomann were helpful and provided good communication throughout the process.
I understand now what the fuss was about; I have had many guitars produced by the "Elite" makers and I honestly believe I have gotten the biggest bang for the buck with the Harley Benton that I have ever experienced with guitars. I am beyond the years of gigging but I would absolutely gig with this guitar.
I will be a Thomann customer and a Harley Benton fan going forward; Give this guitar a try, you will be glad you did.

I've tried a lot of Chinese guitars over the years. Most of those guitars were suffering from some cheap parts (particularly tuners, pots or switches) and sometimes very poor overall quality control (finish defects, fretwork, etc). Honestly my opinions of Chinese manufacturers were not very positive. This changed about 4 years ago when I saw a Dean Dimebag signature model made in China (the one with explosion graphics). Then last year when I tried another Chinese guitar (a Yamaha RGX-520 FZ), I started to think that China is going pro on electric guitars business... This HB Deluxe Tele is not different from those good Chinese guitars, if not better, considering price/quality ratio.

Pros:
- Price. You get a good guitar, cheaper than most of Fender SQ Tele models.
- Very nice grainy maple neck with glossy finish. Very fast & comfortable neck. İt is not meaty nor super slim, right in the middle, just like the original.
- Overall finish is almost perfect. I really liked the matching headstock too. Very good QC.
- String-thru body with good quality ferrules. Sustain is good and whole guitar is sonically very responsive.
- Bridge pickup. It is very microphonic and catches a lot of noise all around, but that's my personal choice. I like it dirty.. It almost acts like a P90 and I really love it. Pretty melodious for good old school rock or some country style finger-picking.
- Durable. Although tuners look cheap they are working well and guitar stays in tune perfectly; not once out of tune for about 2 hours of constant playing on stage.
- Double binding on the body (front and back). Looks absolutely gorgeous from every angle..

Cons:
- Fret sprout. Interestingly, only lower ends of the frets are sharp. Not sure there is a QC issue here; it might be the wood itself. If you ask me, fingerboard (or whole neck) probably shrunk from low humidity and left the fret ends open on one side. It is not a big deal for me, I have filed them little bit and they are now sitting with nice ends.
- Not sure about the authenticity of Wilkinson bridge, it feels very cheap.. I will probably change it. I may keep the saddles 'though, they are good quality.

I bought this one mainly for gigging purposes and it already proved itself. Maybe not a recording piece, but it is reliable guitar with nice looks and good playability. And with this price, I think it is a steal!