Harley Benton TE-20 BK LH Standard Series

I am big fan of Telecaster Type guitars. They have that certain unique sound that just chimes out so nicely. Being a left handed player, I was limited to this Harley Benton TE-20 Thomann offers at such a great low price. My expectations were not huge, given the price. When the guitar arrived here in the USA, upon opening the box, that all changed. First of all, this is a really nice looking guitar. The fit and finish are beyond good. Once I held it, the guitar felt great in my hands. It's got some heft for a Basswood bodied guitar. The neck felt wonderful and surprisingly, even with its low price, there wasn't a single rough fret end. It's super easy to get up and down the neck on this TE-20.

Now comes the real test. I plugged it into my Fender Champion 100 not knowing what to expect. I started in the bridge position, because that's how I know if this guitar has the Tele sound I love. I'm happy to report that there it was, all the TWANG one could hope for. The sound was true and excellent in cleans. I tried it with some gain, and sure enough, it still sounded wonderful. Next I worked my way through the pup selection switch and fiddled with the tone and volume knobs as I played. I could not find anything about this guitar to dislike sound wise. The build quality is very good, the guitar looks great, and most importantly it sounds really good. The one small gripe I might mention, the tuners a little bit small, but that's not a deal breaker at all. Oh and did I mention how well this guitar stays in tune? I did a lot of bending and hard playing, and much to my amazement, the guitar held tune really well. Another thing that really blew me away...once this guitar had come down to temp from the long journey, it tuned up really quickly. The action was just about perfect for me, and even with the 3 barrel bridge, the intonation from the factory was almost spot on. Are you kidding me? I have guitars that cost 10 times as much that don't come intonated that well.

So in closing, I have to say, I can recommend this guitar with no hesitation. I don't know how Thomann does it, but I'm glad they do.

Perfect service, great communication throughout, and the people at Thomann are wonderful to deal with. Thank you Thomann for getting my inexpensive TE20 to me in good shape. Now if you would only offer a Harley Benton RB 600 and a few more Strat and Tele types in left handed models, my musical world would be a better place.

I didn't expect to like this guitar so much given it was so cheap but I do!

Here's what I like
- The neck - nicely finished and snooth. Perfect C shape and width.
- The pickups - surprisingly great sound. Disclaimer - I'm not a country picker or obsessed with getting a classic rock tone but these pups are great for the indie-rock sound I like. Enough twang on the bridge and sufficient purr on the neck when the tone is dialed off.
- The nut - well cut and leaves the action just right after a little bit of set-up work
- Sustain - awesome sustain even without a string-through design.
- Tuners - they seem cheap but obviously do the job as I find I need to re-tune this guitar far less often than other guitars I have.

What I didn't like
- Fret ends - not the worst I've seen but just a little bit sharp at the ends.
- Electrics - the tone pot is a bit scratchy

finally - it's a pity us leftys don't get a better choice of finish/colour but I understand the economics of it and I'm more than happy to get a nice playable T-style for a super cheap price. I'm tempted to buy another just to mod.

To be fair, I didn't expect much for that price, but this guitar is pretty great.

Upon arrival I noticed that guitar is a bit dusty (like it would be hanging in a shop for a quite some time).
Pickups seem very cheap, both are also poorly installed into a guitar (a bit of space is left on one side), but they make it up with a great sound.
Pickup selector is also very cheap, but does its job.

But otherwise, a great guitar. Neck is great, no sharp fret ends, body finish is without faults, great, strong sound even without amplification. Te guitar doesn't need to be tuned frequently, since it stays in tune for a quite long time.

Also, kudos to Thomann for dropping in a cable, since I forgot to buy one and I could start playing right away.

TL;DR: Great guitar for its price, especially for beginners.

Bought a lefty HB Strat now a few months ago, overall quality and sound is surprisingly good, not just in view of the price I paid, but this guitar actually excels the Fender Squier Telecaster I also own.
It plays very light, ideal for chord-rhythm, and stays, out of the box without tweaking, perfectly in tune for a looong time. The only (minor) negative point I can possibly think of is it's weight; it becomes a bit heavy during long gig-hours. But I alternate with a hollow-body, which is why to me it's just a very small minor negative point. Value for money-wise: veeeeery difficult to make a better buy!