Harley Benton Fusion-III HSH Roasted FBB

I bought this guitar as a live workhorse axe that I wouldn't be upset about if it gets some dings. Plus, I was interested in finding out what kind of guitar you can get for just 400 euros nowadays. Man, this thing is impressive.
To start, it looks killer. The flamed maple neck is a definite looker. mine didn't have any finishing issues so that's a big plus. Controls are smooth, well placed and feel sturdy and durable. No real volume clean up with high gain but hey.
Hardware all feels durable and well made. Tuners show now deadzones and stay in tune very well. I locked the Wilkinson down as I don't like trems, but it's one of the more comfortable bridges to palm mute as there no sharp edges to get caught behind. After some setup work the action is awesome and the neck plays like butter. The frets were a bit sticky in the beginning but after some playing this quickly went away.
The only real downside I can give is that the fretboard looks rather bland when compared to the flame maple of the neck and that there are some marks at the fretboard end from fret end dressing... But hey those are extremely minor complaints for a guitar in this price range.
To conclude, this guitar has everything you could wish for and more considering the price.
I don't know if I got a particularly good one but I own a few high end boutique guitars and dare to say this rivals them in some or more aspects.
Definitely worth the money, it will become one of my mains for sure!

I ordered this guitar late last week and as always the shipping was FAST! Awesome but spoiling kind of fast compared to any other online seller! Top notch.

The bad: This will be the 6th Harley Benton I’ve received. Of the 6 I ordered, one was an SC-550 B-stock and sadly it was in better shape than the Fusion III!! There’s a knick in the body on the top horn that was lacquered over, lacquer missing in two of the bolt on neck holes as well as a nice scratch and another apparent mishap with finishing on the cut away. Thankfully all the issues are on the backside of the body. But I will admit I’m a bit disappointed in the fact that I didn’t order a B-stock. One thing that I didn’t notice….because I like shiny things 🤩…..was the tuning keys. They are very close together (even closer than my Squire 50’s Tele), not a big deal but when you have sausages for fingers it can be difficult. Lastly the pots are very scratchy but unless you’re constantly adjusting the settings while playing (I’m not really that advanced) then it won’t matter.

The good: It arrived in almost perfect tuning, that darned G string……lol. This guitar sounds Amazing, by far the best of the bunch that I own. But it’s also supposed to be a “premium” guitar by HB standards. The neck and frets are a thing of beauty, the binding is beautiful and from the front this is one stunning guitar. Other than the few cosmetic issues, I would recommend this to anyone! But as with anything it’s a gamble on what you get when you open the box.

If it weren’t for the cosmetic issues and scratchy pots this would have been 5 stars across the board.

Cheers

This quality of this guitar is equal to any instrument I've ever played. I also own a Fender Strat and a Les Paul and it easily compares with them. I paid extra for the set up and it arrived in perfect condition, playable straight out of the box. The intonation, frets, string action were all superb.

I've no idea how the guitar would be without this set up, but if I buy another guitar from Thomann I will pay the extra again. I should say that a few months later, I bought the cheapest T Style guitar for less than €90. It also played extremely well and only needed the minimum tweaking to get it playing perfectly.

The Fusion guitar is completely unmarked, frets were finished perfectly and no buzzing.

The pickups are absolutely fine for me and I don't feel the need to change them but that is obviously a personal thing and other people will have different tastes of course.

I am extremely happy with this guitar and together with the usual high standard of Thomann service the buying experience is stress free.

A very happy customer....!

I ordered this on a whim! The list of appointments really impressed me! Received this very fast for an overseas shipping! When I got it I was a little underwhelmed. Frets were scratchy, needed to be finished properly. Needed a good setup. In my opinion, needed new pickups as well! Customer service was informed of the issues out of the box and I was compensated fairly! Since then... this guitar has been my "go to" player! The frets are now effortless! Slippery in the best way! It sounds massive! The roasted maple neck is absolutely perfect! Definitely a guitar worth easily twice the money I paid! My first harley benton! Will not be my last! P.s. just ordered my 2nd one!

Harley Benton just knock it out the park when it comes to high quality, usable, playable, reliable instruments at a much more down to earth, modest, achievable price range. The top finish is outstanding. The flamed maple neck and fretboard are reminiscent of that of brands like iconic guitars (Joseph Anidjar, Joshua De La Victoria) the pickup sounds are deliciously creamy and each pick up configuration has its place when recording or performing music. Locking tuners and stainless steel frets on a guitar sub £400. What is the catch. Well nothing apart from the fact that mine arrived with the split coil function not correctly working on the neck pickup. First world problems I know. Especially on a guitar as stunning as this at an INCREDIBLE price. Harley Benton just continue to blow my mind. Thank you for giving modern musicians a chance to own such incredible instruments without having to fall into debt