Well, i admit that i was pretty conditioned by reviews and video before trying out this beautiful guitar. I'm very satisfied by the over-all feeling of the instrument and i came out with different opinions.
First of all, i must say that it has been probably treated bad during shipping and in the warehouse, since fretboard and neck were dry as Sahara and with some minor bumps on them (especially on the neck and top).
Speaking of construction quality i must say that i'm quite impressed by the veneer, which i find astonishingly beautiful and polished mirror-like good. The guitar looks really nice and aggressive, well shaped and solid.
Less impressed by the bridge and mechanics, which i find a bit clanky and bad polished. Lowest string's blocker doesn't screw enough to touch the gear, doesn't block at all indeed.
The hole for output jack seems to be carved with a knife, there were wood splinters everywhere and i can see the carved bare wood underneath the jack plate. A little more care like with the other carved holes would have been appreciated.
I must point that the strings have only half a round on the pegs and are cut with no-mm excess, so when i tuned them (standard tuning) the higher strings just slipped out of the holes and i had to refit them in a temporary solution to even play the guitar itself when unboxed...it would need a string change very soon.
Despite that the actual setting of the guitar, action, intonation, etc...well, was made by someone who really knows what he's doing. God-like. Hand's flowing on the fretboard without even noticing that is fanned, pinch harmonics squeal like hell. A wonderful job.
Speaking about the sound, i will say the opposite of the other reviewers. I like the pickups and how they're set. Yes, they are passive and low on output, but it clearly depends on the amplifier as well. I play the guitar with a Peavey Invective head, which is known to be capable of extra-tight high-gain sounds, and i find the output awesome. Compared to the EMG 81-85 i mount on my main Jackson RR i clearly hear the volume difference, but i didn't find that complete lack of clarity that the others complained. Provided that bridge and neck are used for totally different purposes: neck pickup is really pleasant for clean channel chords and arpeggios (combined with tone knob, which makes a wonderful job), while bridge is perfect for riffs, shredding, etc. Those ramp up pretty high interference and the guitar itself is pretty resonant, i highly recommend to try it with a fretwrap and gate control on the amp turns the whole story into something you could record with. I'm impressed, i started with the idea of changing the pickups but i think they will stay there for a long time!
I think that Harley Benton's 7-String Multiscale is a beautiful opportunity to enter a different world of playing guitar, and i'm glad i had it. This obviously comes with some flaws, some of them we can justify with price, some not.
I didn't expect incredible locking mechanics for this price, but mounting strings cut so short that they slip off with a standard tuning makes no sense.
Everything of this guitar is however a very solid and beautiful base for upgrades, wood's good and if well treated i think it will last for decades.
Thomann service is impeccable as always!! Thank you!
