Harley Benton TE-70 Black Paisley

You'll excuse me if at first I was really skeptical about this guitar. Even after reading a number of "high praise" reviews, I was still not quite sure if I should pull the plug and order one. I watched a number of Youtube videos [and there are quite a few], and all of them raved about the quality of the product, compared to the price. Anyway, I bit the bullet and ordered one. It arrived this morning by UPS, on time, and in great condition. I have to say that $138 Canadian dollars shipping with UPS was a little on the expensive side, but with the pandemic and Thomann's regular shipper closing shipments to North America, UPS was my only choice. This should in no way reflect on Thomann, as they were an absolute pleasure to work with, and because the product was back ordered by a couple of weeks they kept me well informed on how the sale was progressing.
Although many said that their guitar was playable right out of the box, mine needed some minor adjustments so that I didn't have to fight the action. I'll get into those in a moment.
I checked the guitar over quite closely after unwrapping it. I took a neck gauge and found the neck did not need any adjustments to the truss rod. The finish I would describe as something you would only find on much more expensive guitars. I'm not much of a paisley graphics lover [never have been, even when it was in vogue years ago] but I think it will grow on me. I was going to order the Rosewood model and then after reading a couple of reviews that were a bit negative on the finish, I opted for the paisley. I'm glad I did because it is excellent. Not a single blemish. Neck joint attachment to the body is flawless, and most of the electronic components seem to work really well other than a few small adjustments. The neck pickup was slanted towards the neck at a slight angle that looked, well, a little weird. Easy fix. The tuners have sharp inside edges, but they seem to work amazingly well and at this time I don't think I'll change them. Although the intonation was just about perfect, the string height had to be adjusted on the 1st to 4th strings on the bridge. That was about a 5 minute job and now the guitar is really, really playable. I'm kinda shocked. You're not fighting the fretboard and even though the strings were a little high, all the adjustments made a world of difference. I didn't notice any rough frets, and this guitar didn't need them polished like I've read on many reviews. I will change the strings to the ones I've been using for years, just because I'm used to them and like their sound.
I plugged it into my practice amp for the first time and I have to say I'm really impressed. The Roswell pickups are just fine. I'll stay with them for awhile as I can always make a change latter if I get bored with them. The volume and tone controls were smooth and worked well, as did the selector switch.
If I had anything to complain about it would be the plastic they used as protective covering over the neck pickup. I don't know what they glued it with, but it was a pain in the a** to get off. Again, just an annoyance and nothing that I would call a quality issue. I have been playing for many years and have never come across such a great product at such a reasonable price. If your on the edge about buying one I would highly recommend it.

Firstly i live in Scotland I ordered this on Thursday , Today is Tuesday and it was delivered this morning all for £144.00 including delivery.Ordering online was super easy and i received updates on confirmation and delivery
I cannot believe how good quality this guitar is for what i paid, visually it is stunning looking like something easily 5 times the price.
It sounds awesome much better than i had expected and i cant fault the Roswell pick ups. Straight from the box it just needed a quick tune up and it was playable. Action a little high for me but that,s an easy fix
Now i realize i probably sound like an advert for Harley Benton but genuinely there are no bad points. I am getting on a bit in age nearer 60 than 16 lol,but if i had got this as my first guitar at 16 i would have been over the moon , However it is by no means a cheap beginners guitar. The overall component quality is very good and i think where the money is saved is in production time so its has good quality components but has not had the time spent on it to make it perfect.
The frets are a bit scratchy and the fret ends whilst by no means bad could do with a polish so ill play it for a bit then change the strings and polish the frets it has a plastic nut which is cut okay for depth but protrudes slightly proud of the nut so ill probably change it when i change strings, as for tuners they feel okay and guitar holds tune well so ill leave them alone until i have any problems then ill upgrade them, volume tone controls pickup selector all feel good so again ill leave them alone until i have any problems, although i have to point out that i have a strat copy that i got 42 years ago with cheap electronics and its still going strong with all the original electronics and tuners so dont go replacing stuff just because its not branded if it works and sounds good leave it alone.Pick ups i see no reason to change these if what youre looking for is that tele sound there great.
So overall this is a fantastic guitar for the money just buy it spend a little bit of time not money on it or if you want to go the other way you could buy it and mod the hell out of it and still not have spent a fortune
One final note i have to say i am super impressed with Harley Benton
so if you can get passed the snobbery of Big Brand names there unbeatable

My son was eying this up for ages, and finally, with the help of a birthday contribution, got me to get it for him. The reviews were all very positive, and for the price - what can you say?!

He loves it. It sits next to him. His previous guitar is now neglected and forlorn.

The good:
It looks lovely. Maple neck, skunk stripe. Nice hardware - Wilkinson bridge and pickups, and sealed tuners. Nice paisley finish, if that's your thing. Sounds like a tele - authentic sounding bridge pickup.

It came nicely set up. Needed a twist of the truss rod, and was good to go, good low action, no buzz, good strings. Fret ends not perfect, but good.

The not so good:
The finish, to me, is a little meh. Not the deep gloss I was expecting, and that it needs to really bring up the paisley. But only one minor paint flaw, barely visible. Neither a big deal. But the rave reviews perhaps unreasonably raise your expectations.

Tuning stability hasn't been great. Still sorting that - nut lubrication for starters; lots of winds on the tuning pegs for high strings (the main culprits). Lubricated the nut, its a bit better. May need restringing. We'll see.

The bridge pickup is very microphonic. That's a feature of many teles, some Fenders included, and possibly gives it the authentic character to the sound, but on high gain every click and clunk is picked up. But the main problem is the feedback, which kicks in unpleasantly and uncontrollably past a certain volume.

Investigating that, if you press on the neck end of the bridge plate it suppresses the squeal. The bridge screws are confined to the lower end, (and were actually quite loose, though tightening didn't help), and it may be the headstock end of the bridge plate is not making contact with the body. The internet has many such examples.

So it may mean modifying the bridge with two screws at the headstock edge, but not after I've tried some wax, or thin foam, or something similar to suppress vibration at that edge. But he won't let me near it - yet...

Again, the internet suggests this is a common problem with this model.

Conclusion? Sounds great, pity about the microphonic squeal, which may be fixable. Not perfectly finished, but for the price very good indeed. A satisfied son, a satisfied dad.

The Harley Benton TE-70 in Black Paisley is a beautiful look for the "Tele" style. It came out of the box with no finish flaws on either the body or the neck and has a smooth touch with fair action and ready to play with a quick tune. The quality is nice for any guitar. I have both expensive quality and inexpensive quality.
I bought this as a 4th guitar to get the unique sounds produced by the pickup/bridge combination that i don't have in my other guitars. Nice! It rings with the chime and the twang/crunch that we would expect and has added harmonics and tones flowing between the notes, on chords, that i did not expect to hear as well as i can. Impressive!
The volume level does not drop off the table when turned down and the treble turn down is smooth as well until u get to the last 10% of the pot. In the last bit of dial it does dramatically change the tone by removing the treble, but it is a sound we are familiar with and pretty much expecting when we bring the tone all the way down.
There is no noise in the switching, no points on the frets, no blemishes in the finish, no splits, cracks, or color blemishes with the maple neck. The neck is nice and is 1 piece bolt on with a C profile that is curved well and has a thickness to it that is different than my other guitars in the sense that it fills the hand when held in the ready position, almost perfectly. I expected a slim weak feeling neck but got a fullness instead. Each neck will have its own unique grain. This neck was naturally patterned well.
The bridge pickup is the only story if u are searching for faults in this lovely instrument. The bridge position will be slightly micro phonic and pick up your movements a bit. I expected as much, but it is less than i expected and still sounds good. You cant sing through it or anything but u can get knocks and metal taps if u look for them.
I would not hesitate to make some modifications though at this price, why not? The cost of this item gives u freedom to experiment if u have been looking to make your own changes this beautiful Paisley on black can be set up!
My advise is to purchase 2 or 3 of these guitars.
I am still looking for someone among'st my friends and others, that does not find this guitar to be a steal at Thomann's price.
Seven days from order date to arrival on my doorstep with only a $30 shipping fee? That is fast! I would have accepted double the delivery time without thinking twice about it. I will be telling my friends here in the states to order with confidence and expect it as fast or faster than many folks can get them their purchases from eBay, sent from just the next state over.
In conclusion, a 5 star rating is taking into account the price and is not strictly an indicator of build compared to the finest guitars that money can buy, but we all know this.