Harley Benton TE-70RW Deluxe Series

Will talk about the guitar neck first.

1st issue : It tilts FORWARD out of the box, meaning the saddles couldn't even go low enoug h to get the action i was looking for (yes, the neck was a straight as it could)
I had to shim the neck to tilt back a bit which thets me to issues 2.

2nd Issue : The neck isnt bolted through a clearace hole, meaning the screw is screwed both inside the body and into the neck. it should only be screwing inside the neck and have wide enough space in the body for the screw to not engage. It lead to the neck not being pulled toward the body when being screwed into and all sorts of issues such as destroying the neck screw holes and not having the same fit each time you screw/unscrew the guitar.
Normaly not a big issue except for the luthier when you bring it to him for fret work (ou might as well just buy a new one for that price), but if you have to shim it like i did, you will take it on and off multiple times.
The neck pocket is also not fery tight so if you try to screw the neck back on you will fight both this screw issue and the string alignement which seems to be off no matter how i tilt the neck.

As for My Neck, this guitar is the HEAVIEST I own. I have a Schecter Omen-6 Walnut and thats not very light.
I'd say it was near or over 4Kg when i got it. put a lot of holes in it and its still comes a 3.2Kg. Even chiseled everything under the pickguard and a lot of holes in the back.

Was a good base for some luthery tomfoolery and moding as it made me not care at all for it at that price. If it was lighter i'd buy it again as i got to learn a lot about extreme guitar setup.

Maybe i'll scallop the fretboard in the future just to try it.

So the guitar is ok as I say in the title but. A few details about the guitar.
The finish is very good looks nice. The weight is ok but if it was a little lighter I wouldn't have a problem. Tuning keys are cheap but it seems that they hold tune. The nut is ok . Elecronics are ok too but the tone control could dail some change to the sound earlier and don't have to almost take down to zero so i can see the tone changing. The volume and pickup selector works fine. Now about the pickups. Their not bad but both are slightly microphonic .Especially the bridge. If toy tap the pick on the bridge or the control plate you can hear through the amp especially on high volume You can also hear the pickups change . But I didn't get any squealing with fuzz or overdrive.
The playability was not good.I had to polish the frets and set it uo from scratch in order to play soft and good. At first when i played my fingers hurt and the got black by the neck. Maybe it is painted? Don't know.
Overall the guitar sounds and plays good , with all the above that I mentioned
IF It is worth it.I Believe for the money it's ok if you can make some adjustments to the guitar.
Something I forgot the neck is quite flat radius wise so it takes some time to get used to it if you played in 9,5-inch radius all your life as I did. I didn't find it the most comfortable I must say. The most important I forgot is that when i changed strings all the string ferrules got out with the strings witch means I had to glue them back in . Also, a bad thing.
That's all as I mentioned It's an ok guitar if you can do some adjustments.

Received the guitar in good condition and was satisfied with the sound of the pickups. The guitar definitely could have been set up and assembled better, with many annoying little things that are reflected in my rating.
The action was very high and needed adjustment, the pick guard was installed really sloppy and warped, fret ends were sharp and uncomfortable and strings were not centered on the neck too well. I have 2 other HB?s and have to say this sample is a disappointment. Any ?Rosewood? look was invisible beyond a couple feet and the look of the body color was more dark brown.
If this had been my 1st Harley Benton, I might have been tempted to make it my last, but I know that HB can do much better than this.

I really love the rosewood veneer and the piping to front and back of the body... it looks classy, but the frets have sharp ends that will need filing and the neck has a weird paint finish.

Update: 6 months down the line now and I am having to change the neck as I can't get used to the weird glossy painted neck, plus it's been set awkwardly at a leaning forward angle because it had 'factory fitted' bits of wood added under the screws.
A new satin finished maple neck and a cream scratch plate have completely transformed this guitar... it looks so cool and plays really well now.

I use this guitar as a T-style alternative and I'm sure it would do a good job, but unfortunately the one I got has major problems with the neck. The sound is otherwise fantastic for the price and the feel of the guitar is also very good.
That said, the problems with the neck are not fixable. Firstly, the heel is not cut correctly and so a shim has been put underneath the heel at the heel joint. This has resulted in a gap between the heel and the body (I can fit a pick in the gap). The tuners are also problematic. They are very stiff in places and lock-up such that when you are tuning they suddenly 'jump'. There is also a glue mark underneath (so you can?t polish it away) the finish on the neck heel which is clearly visible. The nut is cut too high and so the intonation is out at the first fret. The low E string is also misaligned and touches the saddle screw piece (probably because of the misaligned neck). Overall, the quality is very poor, however if I got a new one without these issues, I'm sure it would be a very nice guitar.

Edit: I spent some time trying to fix as many of the above issues as Thomann were reluctant to replace it. In the end they agreed to send me a set of replacement tuners. All in all, after the additional work I put into it, it is quite a nice playing guitar, but it needed a lot of work to get it there.