Harley Benton TE-62 CC 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.

I have another Harley Benton (SC-450 Plus) which was great quality so I thought I'd treat myself to a tele. It's pretty perfect, plays and sounds great. The nut is well cut, the fret work is immaculate (I believe HB use PLEK to get perfect frets on their necks, and it shows). The frets are all polished and set perfectly, better than my Fender Strat which had a few poorly set frets. The neck and fingerboard finish with the roasted maple is lovely, really great grain character both front and back. The fingerboard is a separate piece from the neck, which isn't traditional Fender style, but it's not uncommon. It's a much nicer grain than my Fender's neck and maple fingerboard. Because it's roasted it's unfinished, or lightly oiled, rather than a thick lacquer (a la Fender) which is a huge bonus in terms of playability - nice and smooth. Roasted maple also is harder and drier so it won't go out of tune as easily with humidity changes. The LPB finish is flawless, slightly less saturated and bright blue perhaps than a Fender equivalent, but I like it. Comes with the updated brass compensated saddles which is a great touch. The pickups sound great, bridge sounds nice and twangy while neck is smooth and glassy. Tone and volume knobs rotate smoothly and the pickup selector has a nice sturdy feel to it. Only fault really is the volume knob is slightly higher than it should be. Intonation was spot on out the box and so is the action, which I measured as bang on Fender spec action height. My copy weighed in at just 3.4 kg which is 0.15kg lighter than my Fender Strat! I've instantly bonded with it and it feels great to play, especially as I prefer the flatter fingerboard. Once again HB have shown up the big boys for what can be achieved for a very reasonable price.

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.