This is a very bad move by Thomann. It's even worse that they did this to KDH. This dude is always looking for a fight. And he wins!!!! 😂

Should have put the serial number in the notes so that the person that gets it can see that Thomson was told about the issue.

“If a guitar doesn’t function as it should, then it shouldn’t be sold as it does.” Amen.

As a guitar and pickup maker I can say with confidence the issue is very likely that the pickups weren’t potted at all. Also if the cover isn’t fitted properly the top of the cover can actually vibrate very slightly which causes instant feedback squealing. This is especially true if the pickup wasn’t potted at all but can even happen if only the coil bobbins were potted and then the cover installed afterwards.

You should record and post a song called "Thomann (As it should be)" and use that guitar as the microphone for the vocals.

I once had to return a Behringer combo amp that was meant to be for our little garden practice room, but something was loose and clacking around inside, so we sent it back for a repair/replacement. I painted a little dot on the inside next to the cable. This amp has been neither replaced nor have the loose insides been fixed. They simply sent it back to us

Funny to see a clip of my video pop at 8:13 🤣 Gutted for you that this happened and the way it’s been dealt with. I’ve always had really great experience with Thomann as a whole. My guitar is the only HB I’ve ever owned so can’t really comment on their QC but based on the active range design flaws and now this, it’s not a great track record in recent times.

I can't believe that Thomann have not followed this up and tried to resolve this, no way should this guitar have left the factory like this, and the so called experts saying this is how it should be.

If that's how it "should" be then Thomann need to add "Includes fully Microphonic pickups" in the product description...

Actually you bring up a good point there man- if that was someone's first guitar, it might be enough to put them off learning the instrument full stop. Hell if I can manage to remember where I bought my first guitar after 30+ years, I feel Thomann is not only damaging itself, but it goes deeper- we *all* lose out. Because that one person may put that instrument down for good and we potentially lose an astonishing guitarist and music that we never got a chance to hear.

I ordered two Harley Benton's, B-stocks no less, and they were both pristine and perfectly set-up right out of the box. Not a scratch anywhere, function perfectly, low action and good intonation like they'd been professionally set up. Fusion-t and a ja-60. Guess I got lucky, I can't believe what you went thru

KDH - KZfaq's #1 source of music industry drama.

"But...but but all of these youtubers who have affiliate links said they were a massive bargain and played as good as their $4000 custom shops!"

Their experts have basically instructed us to never buy their guitars. Good job, experts.

I’ve not heard of people having issues with Thomann’s customer care before. I suppose it’s bound to happen with such a massive company. Unfortunately for them they’ve let down someone who has a platform to talk about it.

They probably forgot to wax pot an entire batch in the factory and some lucky chaps end up with the full amount of toan.

Really pathetic of them to say thats how it should be, its their house brand 🤯

Man, I remember my first electric... 15 years ago. Squire Bullet, was like 70e new in store, regular price, my guitar teacher checked it out in store for me, no issues at all, even after years of use. I used it with single coils, for extremely high gain metal :D

I have around 26 guitars, including 6 HB guitars, Fenders, Gretsch, Epiphone, etc. Been playing for over 50 years. I have never had the types of issues you talked about with my HB guitars. I did have one that came in with a crack in the bridge. I took a photo, sent it to Thomann's customer service. They responded very fast, asked me if I wanted to return the guitar or would I accept a replacement bridge. I liked the guitar, so I went with the replacement. They two-day shipped me a new bridge, and requested that I retain the broken bridge for 6 months in case they saw a recurring issue. I replaced the bridge, and love the guitar. It's now been over a year and there have been no further issues. I am a fan of Thomann and Harley Benton.

It's a shame, i have that guitar and it's great. I've had to return guitars to Thomann in the past too and they were super helpful, I'm quite shocked at how they've handled this.

most likely their "experts" are offshore workers who have never used a guitar before

Yes, visit an actual guitar shop! They are usually perfect when looking for entry level/starter gear. Buy some strings and a strap too. We need to keep these local guys in business!

I've heard about quite a lot of issues with HB guitars. About a week prior, I bought JA Baritone as my first guitar, and so far, nothing too bad - there are some like minor scratches(a couple millimiters at best) on the body, but it is pretty solid in the other regards(I wish I could say same about my playing skills). I think HB is good for it's low price in some market niches, where the price is usually really big, especially for people from poorer countries(like, finding another 30" baritone for that price is almost comical). But I think it's fair to look for alternatives instead, if there are in the same price range.

Told ya they would say that . They kinda had no choice and its part of a much bigger problem of the. "We'll NEVER admit we're Wrong " era we're currently in .

By the way, if you buy more expensive guitars from other brands, you explicitly have to ask Thomann to check the instrument. I bought a Fender Player Plus Meteora this year and it had a bunch of issues. They confirmed me via email that they don't check all the guitars before sending them out. Maybe premium instruments (over 2k or 3k? No idea). Eventually, I got a discount (could've sent it back, but managed to fix all the problems)

I bought a single cut LP Junior style guitar from Thomann. The SCJR in limited edition silver sparkle. I didn't play it much in the first thirty days because I was doing other things. Eventually I started playing it and it was IMPOSSIBLE to adjust the action to have no buzz and be playable. EVEN AT 3.5 millimeters on the twelveth fret it buzzed. Upon close inspection, it was clear that the set neck was not mounted correctly. The angle was too steep. This would fall under the 3 year warranty. Thomann first asked for photos. Then they asked for a video. Then they had me take it to a guitar tech to get an estimate of having the frets leveled. THEN after they were told the price for the repair, THEY THEN CLAIMED THAT THE NECK HAD WARPED DUE TO HUMIDITY PROBLEMS! That was total crap. The guitar was fully covered in paint with the exception of the fingerboard. It was kept indoors and never left my room. There was no humidity problem to cause the neck to warp. IT WASN'T WARPED! So Thomann REFUSED TO HONOR THEIR 3 YEAR WARRANTY! So I had a guitar that cost $189 plus $65 shipping. NEVER BUY FROM THOMANN!!! They have ZERO INTEGRITY!!! Eventually I sold it to a guy who thought he could fix it. I lost $100 on it. NEVER BUY FROM THOMANN!!! At least KDH got a refund.

I bought one of these (exact same model/color) the first week they were released & they did NOT have this issue, nor has it developed in the time since. The pickups have been immaculate & the best thing about it for me :/

Everyone has been asking me to review these guitars. I think I'll just point them to this video. 😅

Nice guitar shaped mic you got!

Omg. This is my experience with Thomann all over again. A midi dj controller that malfunctioned out of the box and they were reluctant to allow for a replacement because it was “working as it should”… I’d watched hundreds of videos, I even contacted the manufacturer to make sure. In the end I had to ask the manufacturer to contact Thomann so they’d stop gaslighting me. They accepted the return, sent me a new unit and it’s been working perfectly ever since. This was in 2018…

Excusing it because of the low price is bullshit. If a kid saves up all summer to buy their first guitar, it's heartbreaking if it sucks that bad.

It makes ZERO difference how inexpensive a product is, it legally has to perform adequately for its intended purpose, or else it falls foul of (at least in the UK) the Trade Descriptions Act. And I’m pretty sure Germany/the EU has the same legal requirements

You should take that HB guitar with you on your guitar search and ask all the "professionals" you meet along the way if this is how it should be....

You should and please do show the serial number on that guitar so people know it was just put back on the shelf and resold without the issues resolved… love your videos brother….

I've bought two basses from HB, and watched a lot of reviews. It does seem basses tend to be more problem free than guitars, or at least I see somewhat more negative aspects of reviews for their guitars than I have for basses. Both the basses (Bass VI, and 4-string fretless) came with very little setup needed (none so far for the fretless), everything worked, good finishes, and good fit.

Thanks for this! I own the orange blast version and have absolutely no issues what so ever and the pickups are excellent.

There are two issues here . The quality of HB guitars which , in my opinion is unbelievable for the price , and the quality of Thomann's after sales service . Given their size I can't believe they weren't on to this like a shot . When your business model is based on trust and distance selling , as opposed to hands on trying out , it seems crazy to take a risk with customer's patience . If every rare dispute involves a 100% or even 200% loss it still makes sense to keep the customer satisfied .

Genuinely a complete interest killer in ever buying from them, and they deserve it for this

Did you take the bridge off and check that the ground wire is actually making a good connection? I had a bass once that had the string ground wire under the bridge slightly sunken into the paint, enough so that a connection was not being made. I just moved the wire a little bit and fixed the issue.

I had three £1000+ basses from Thomann and they all had issues. The first had cracks and flaking paint around the neck pocket, they offered £40 off if I dealt with fixing it. The second was obviously used, dirty and had dead strings, it had clearly seen a fair bit of use and I didn't want to pay full price for a clearly used bass. The third had the bridge installed in the wrong place, proper intonation couldn't be dialled in without repositioning the bridge, by this point I was so fed up of dealing with their customer service that I had a luthier rectify it and sold it on.

I had a very bad experience with them recently along the same lines. They refused to pay me back after they sent a broken guitar. I returned and they made me jump through so many hoops. Videos and photos and it was horrible. It took a month to pay me back. I had to threaten with legal matters. They are scum at the moment. Doesn’t surprise me at all you went through this. Almost the same for me.

I was about to buy a couple of HB juniors - I have now emailed HB and Thomann linking this - and telling them I will now go elsewhere. Thanks for the timely heads up!

It starts to look more like a Thomann's massive fail... I received my Fender Am Pro II Strat RW OWT with nut problems and poor quality fretboard. My assessment: I've made a list with jobs to be done in order to get a "Fender-certified quality assurance" instrument... nut replacement, fingerboard overhaul, fretboard edges overhaul, new setup... and then I remembered what I paid... full price, no discount. I am not the only one having this same problem on the same model (one guitar sold online with discount by Anderton's UK / rejected by customer) beginning of 2023. I was offered a replacement from Thomann and my request to do their own QC on the replacement was rejected... meanwhile model is out of stock... replenishment... with big chances of even longer delays due to holly days season/bad weather in Europe. Meanwhile I'm waiting in a limbo for Thomann's experts to give their assesment (probably overwhelmed by huge volume of returns lately) and to be allowed to play big money at the next lottery... maybe I will win a true "Fender-certified quality assurance" instrument... or maybe not... who knows... Yeeeyyy!!! Christmas fun... with Thomann

It happened to me with a Grestsch guitar. I also had to send Thomann's "experts" a demo video. After 2 or 3 days, they told me that it was "normal" for the guitar to have a big ground noise when the volume is at zero... I replied that I've been playing the guitar for almost 40 years and that's the first time I hear such BS and they seem to forget that there are customers who really know the subject when it comes to guitar. I was furious that they took me for a fool...

Missed a trick here. I would of secretly marked it with a bit of tiny yellow sticker somewhere, wait a few months and then mention where you put it in another video. See if the guitar re surfaces with a new customer. Someone I know did this before I knew him. He bought a tape deck for a C64 back in the day. It had a fault, he returned it to the shop, who then sold it to me a few days later. I bought it, then met him and made friends a week later and we ended up playing games at his house. I told him my new C64 tape deck didnt work well. He came round and looked at it, showed me where he put a tiny dot of yellow paint to mark it and it was there.

It is very interesting as my experience with Thomann is on the contrary. I have already bought 6 guitars from them, one Pro series HB, one cheap HB, PRS, Schecter etc. The customer support was always top notch. Very helpful, quick. I had one guitar replaced - worked like a charm. Another one refunded - worked like a charm. Any claims I have raised, they resolved professionally. Highly recommended.

My first guitar was an ibanez grx70 only cost £160. Never had a problem with it. Your first guitar can have a huge impact on whether you continue. I knew nothing, and tbh I would have thought i was doing something wrong when it wouldn't play. Regardless of the price point, a product should be fit for use the guitar in this was not.

Your move , Thomann . We are all watching ! Great video , Happy New Year !

Well - it's a typical problem with pickups that aren't wax potted. It can vary depending on how the wire sits inside the pickups so you can be lucky or unlucky with those pickups. And the reason why most modern pickups are wax potted these days. As those are replicas from vintage pickups it's possible they didn't get that treatment. I looked them up on the Roswell homepage (as those Roswell pickups are no Harley Benton specific pickups indeed) but that page doesn't say anything about that. So I think it's more a problem with those Roswell pickups than with Harley Benton indeed. And if they aren't wax potted it's also kinda true that's "how it should be" although it's bad in this case even for waxless pickups.

Im absolutely baffled by that response. Im a customer of thomann since well over a decade. Not only did i experience top tier customer support, they usually not only answer questions to products i bought, but also for things i planned to buy. Like a guy literally spent like 30 minutes explaining me stuff about different audio interfaces on the phone and i hadnt even bought one yet. Thomann should be double checking this ticket. Also Harley Benton should be double checking that. After all thomann is one of the biggest instrument sellers here. And if they are "on public record" now stating that "this is how [harley benton] should be" thats seriously bad advertisement. Yes Bentons are cheap but more often than not i was suprised with how much guitar you sometimes get for the price tag. And no matter how budget the brand is, selling non-functional guitars is not their standard. That might be "expected" when you buy a 30 dollar guitar on wish. But not 180 dollar guitar by a big player in the industry. As you explained for 180€ you have to expect some issues. Finish, not so great fretwork, nuts not running smoothly, tuners being not the most stable ones, maybe the jack coming lose after a while. Stuff like that. But not a guitar that doesnt work as a guitar.

Great video! Your channel is so cool, i love how you are unbiased and do investigative reporting

You need a multi-meter; tugging it and "seems fine" and "is fine" are different. Many times I've had solder joints that "seem fine" and are not. A quick continuity test is the only way to make sure.

I had a similar issue with a pint in London recently. It tasted like vinegar, so I took it to the bartender and he told me - in a Spanish accent - ‘it’s supposed to taste like that’. Honestly I’m still angry about it…

Not only do they not QC the stuff they sell, but when you ask for money back it takes 5 to 7 weeks. I bought a LTD MH-1000 and paid €1600 for it. The bridge pickup didn't work, the Floyd Rose was installed crooked and the CNC machine must have had a bad day because the cavity for the Floyd was 3mm off which meant there was a 2mm gap in the top of the floyd and 1mm on the bottom. I waited 7 weeks for my money back AFTER they got the guitar back... Thats a lot of money. I will never buy a expensive guitar from Thomann again. Edit: I also bought a EMG 57/66 set, the bridge pickup didn't work. I told them that the pickup was defective, didn't get any answer back before 5 days later. I shipped the pickups back and a couple of days after I got the email that the pickups had arrived and was being checked by "experts" I saw a B-stock set on their website. The bridge pickup had next to no output... Well Thomann doesn't care.

The saddest part is that parrafin wax to pot the pickups costs next to nothing - definitely not the area you want to skimp on

Now imagine if this had happened to some parent buying their kids first guitar for Christmas, and not to KDH who is fully equipped to deal with it. Best of luck getting this resolved man, we know you will.

It's been my only real issue with Thomann/HB guitars i.e. their QC is not consistent and possibly virtually non existent prior to despatch. Customer service has been generally good in my experience so I am very disappointed their "exberks" have treated you with patronising contempt. I've bought 2 HB guitars and 2 HB basses and they've been good with some minor tweakings, rectifications and modifications. Having seen this video from you, I am now much more wary of buying online from Thomann again! Thank you for your video and highlighting their terrible treatment of you - no guitar should work or sound like that even if it is low end.

Funny, I own this guitar in orange blast and it’s an awesome guitar. Granted, I don’t use super heavy distortion on it (mostly light overdrive combined with boost pedal to create a nice clean distortion and sometimes a fuzz pedal) and I use it mostly for home (albeit very loud). What I noticed is that these pickups are far from the strings and have low output. So, I raised the pole pieces till I get a more solid sound and it was like day night and day. Maybe you got a lemon but I have seen so many people reviewing this guitar so positive that there should be something else going on with it.

This is why anytime I have to make a video to show damage or malfunction, I always include a comparison to a different item of similar spec that does perform for reference so there's no excuse to assume it could be "the amount of gain on the amp" or whatever they believe it is. Anyway not like I'd ever buy a Harley Brokeback anyway but lol Good luck to anyone who does!

People like you are a treasure to the guitar community. Keep up the good work!

I remember HB changed from using Wilkinson pickups to Roswell because counterfeit product was getting into their supply chain, maybe this has happened with the pickups that are in this model. Thomann have to work within the law, in the UK the sales of goods act states that if a product is not fit for the intended purpose then you are entitled to a full refund, but as you say once you return that guitar someone will end up buying it as a B stock, when people buy B stock and they request a replacement or refund they let the customer keep the faulty guitar, I have seen 2 examples of this.

I know three people, plus myself who have ordered HB guitars and basses shipped to Canada for a total of five guitars. All but one were absolutely impressive for the price. In fact two of them are being used live on stage because they are so impressive. The other one did have bad pickups and Thomann was contacted the same day it arrived. The customer service was absolutely amazing and the issue was resolved within ten minutes, as we had called them. I am not going to say how they fixed it, but trust me they resolved the issue in a better way than any other company I have worked with. Just because you had an issue, does not meant the company or HB are all bad. Every company, including Fender and Gibson have sent out bad guitars, I have seen very bad QC from both. They offered you a refund even though they said it was normal, even though it is obviously not, so get your money back and do as you feel. You got a bad apple that could have happened with any brand.

Breaks my heart because i love HB. My blue ocean flame 2 has been awesome to me after i got the fret board filed down a bit. I'm really going to miss having confidence in them that the guitars at least work if not in perfect mint condition

Sorry to hear this response from Thomann as I've bought several guitars, including B-stock from them without issues, except on two occasions (a Squier Strat with a warped pickguard and a Squier P-bass with a faulty tone pot) when they were very helpful and replaced both, quickly and without question. I'm due to receive another B-stock guitar this week so I hope it's OK!

as someone that used to buy affordable guitars, that's heartbreaking. picked out a nice looking guitar for a decent price with solid reviews and you actually just get scammed. can only imagine how many beginners would just give up after a situation like this. I haven't bought from Agile in a few years but they used to be my go to for a LP clone

To have such a wide variety of quality levels in a company’s products is already a red flag. Harley Benton should be better than that.

I’ve had mixed experiences with Thomann service. I sent them back a wah that was broken and they sent it back saying it was working fine. A bit like this case

They should pay for the return and then inspect the replacement to ensure that it functions as intended before they send that to you. THAT is how you do customer service in any respectable business.

A student recently came in with a new guitar - a pitch black HB active pup metal machine (quite funny given the lad in question) and I was amazed to have to say that its a truly magnificent guitar. Its all the numbers game, but reputations are much easier to lose than gain. Personally I was buy from shops whenever possible, including at budget.

"the interface was easy and pleasant to use" whenever you hear KDH calmly praising something about a company he's about to roast you know it's just the calm before the storm.

even though it's a money sink, I feel like you should keep it and keep showing it to everyone

I’ve had a very similar experience with Thomann’s customer support, but it was for a €2k Ibanez Prestige. The knife edges of the trem were blunt, making the trem literally unusable. They insisted it was because of my setup. In the end they sharpened them but now the issue is back and I’ll have to buy another trem. They didn’t accept a return because of a tiny imperfection in the finish, although one of the B stocks I bought from them literally had a chunk of wood missing. So yeah, film everything the minute you unbox it and send it back immediately.

I am astonished to hear your tale... my experience with them, from France, has been flawless, returns and supply... not that there has been much to return... just a faulty pedal power box, not theirs. I am really surprised to hear this, and wish you well in whatever you buy next. I am currently using a JP 550 5 string bass (248 euros) that rivals, and in some respects surpasses my Rickie 5 string at 10 times the price. Having had but a good experience with them, I wonder which rogue operator responded that that was 'how it should be'... incredible...!

I would just wax pot them myself. I've had to pot a few bad pickups before. It's not really a big deal since my wife has a hot wax pot for waxing her legs. Literally takes 2 minutes. I got one of these TE90FLTs about 5 or 6 years back and never had an issue with it. I really like it actually, and never felt the need to change the pickups.

This is just sad. I wanted to see a video of Glen playing this guitar, but the "experts" at Thoman prevented it from happening. Lets hope you guys find a cool guitar in some of the stores there, and im "hearing" forward to Glen playing it. ♥

Sorry to hear about this. I bought the exact same guitar and it worked fine (about 2 years ago). Had heard about the quality was 'ready out of the box' by folk and seems like I was just lucky to receive it ok. It's a pity really, really hope their QC stuff improves. It is certainly not how it should be.

I've had 3 HB guitars from Thomann 2 which were basses and were excellent straight out of the box. I recently bought a HB TE20HH guitar which had multiple excellent reviews on KZfaq. On arrival it was pretty much unplayable and I wondered if the guitar had previously been a return as there wasn't the usual paper sleeve with silica gel parcels around the strings. The action was incredibly high and intonation way off. The main point of contention was the humbucker pickups did not sit parallel to the strings which looked pretty awful and no amount of adjustment with the height screws made it any better. I contacted Thomann who took 2 days to respond to my email who stated I could return for a replacement or refund. I would have liked to return for a replacement but in my situation it would have been very inconvenient and probably expensive, there was no mention as to whether they would pay the (probably very expensive) return postage. I decided to keep the guitar and try to fix the problems myself. Bought a luthier tool kit and set to work, as I intended to swap the string set to lighter gauge 9's the rest of the strip down was easier. The pick-up level problem was due to distorted adjustment springs which I replaced and I also put foam rubber blocks in the cavity to improve the stability, on the recommendation of another KZfaq owner I took a little of the paint off the underside of the bridge to help with earthing and reduce buzz, which it did. For my own convenience I replaced the tuners with locking tuners. All in all I spent an extra £50 plus about 3-4 hours of my time getting the guitar to the way it should be, as it is now its a superb instrument, plays well, sounds excellent and looks good, Thomann QC is absolute s**t though.

Its so scary seeing KDH getting this angry about something

Very interesting, I’ve got 2 Harley Bentons, simply because price. Now I’m aware, as you are, that buying cheap is a gamble, and flaws etc are to be expected. But basic functionality is surely a given. Or replacement of defective. One of the guitars I bought was 3/4 scale for my kids, they were al excited, couldn’t wait to have a shot. I just have a picture of the disappointment had it not worked, then to be told it’s not going to work because “that’s how it’s supposed to be “. I can understand why your annoyed, and if they won’t see you right, what chance have the rest of us got!

I appreciate this. So many reviews for Harley Benton are usually about being "surprised at how good a cheap guitar is." Having been a player for more than 40 years, this always sounds 'too good to be true.' I have pretty high standards, but I have bought cheap guitars made by bigger name brands, which turned out to be terrible, but without any of the glaring issues you found in this instrument; they were 'functional,' as you put it--just not to my liking. But this example is a travesty, which suggests what we all should already know: a company making great looking instruments and selling them for dirt-cheap prices is making some serious compromises in quality at some point in the process. Cosmetics get your attention, and the low prices are how they hook you and reel you in. I have totally sworn off buying cheap instruments; I'd rather spend more money on a guitar that I know is quality made and has actual resale value, should I decide it's not for me. The worst part about it is that these guitars are aimed at novices who likely don't even realize what they're getting.

The first Harley Benton I bought (just recently, in fact) was their Fusion III line. One of their more expensive guitars, but I think it will also be my last. I don't like their neck profile, and the back of the neck for the guitar that I bought was not sanded completely. Around the 7th fret (near the low E string) there was a very noticeable rough spot that turned out to be unsanded sealer (I broke out my jewler's loop to verify it). No big deal, a quick sanding job fixed it, but for nearly a $400 guitar, you'd expect far better than that. I'm actually far happier with my $250 Xaviere than my $400 Harley Benton, and that's saying something. But that electronic issue is just unacceptable. If it was just a loud hum, then it would make sense as a grounding issue, but with the microphonic pickups, it's very likely all to do with the pickups. They're just bad, possibly not even reverse wound like a humbucker should be (though two in the same guitar would be strange). A new set would probably fix it, but why should you have to shell out money to fix a problem they could've dealt with before sending it to you? I don't think the QC card in the Harley Benton box really means a whole lot. It's probably handed to the guy, he gives it a quick glance, then throws his card in the box as he wraps it up for shipping. I doubt they test it in any capacity at all, just check it for obvious flaws.

I've experienced these SE Asia made, non-wax potted pickups. Yep, they're completely microphonic. They can barely be used with clean tones, but forget it when it comes to any gain at all.

Sounds like audio audit time to me

Good to know, as I wanted a cheap backup instrument from them. Big thanks!!! 👍

Roswell pickups are lousily waxpotted. I fixed one pair with holding upside down and applying hair dryer until wax is dripping from the pole pieces.

Yup, no plans to ever buy a Harley Benton guitar now. Thanks for the warning brother.

Thomann bought 3 websites for musicians in Germany: Amazona, Bonedo and Gearnews. They look like independent websites, but they are basically advertising new stuff with their "reviews". Of course, Harley Benton Guitars always get results like guitars ten time more expensive. My main problems with flooding the market with cheap guitars are these: - More people buy more and cheaper guitars. This increases the environmental pressure that's already wiping out whole forests. - Beginners tend to buy a cheap new guitar and they usually come with a bad set up. If your start playing, a good guitar well set up makes it much more easier. It would be better, to buy a used good guitar.

Reckon Glenn deserves a rob chapman super deluxe guitar with a snake oil pedal set.

Look forward to following you getting the proper guitar. Take us along with you ! 😀

I'm glad I saw this video.For the past few months I have had growing temptation to buy the blue blast finished one, and had committed myself to buying one for Christmas. Time to look at other options instead.

This is exactly why I started building my own guitars. I learn from each one I build. Nothing better than playing something you built yourself.

I have this guitar and it works perfectly. I've turned it into a baritone putting heavy strings on and it sounds a beaut.

I've got an old Italian Crucianelli Elite guitar from the early 60s, had it for many years and it was exactly the same as that with horrendously microphonic pickups, making it absolutely unusable for playing live with a band and I could talk into the pickups just like they were microphones. I probably spoilt its originality by removing the outer chromed metalwork from the coils and just remounting the 'innards' on their own on a foam backing to the guitar body, which cured the microphonic problem. Unfortunately, it eventually resulted in some of the (now exposed) pickup coil windings getting damaged, causing them to go open circuit. Years later I found the original bits that I'd removed and put it back to standard look, other than leaving in place an old 50s Hofner pickup that I'd added as an addition years ago, and just having the originals in place for decoration only and just for show, and it sounds fantastic using just that Hofner pickup. I've spoilt it by modifying it, but at least it's now usable, which it wasn't really before, other than when playing it at low amplification volume at home. It's absolutely ridiculous that in this day and age a company like Harley Benton (or any company for that matter) would make a guitar with pickups as bad as those and think it's ok to sell them to the public, saying that it's just how it is and how it should be. They're just bad pickups, probably down to the decorative surrounding metalwork and how they're mounted, and should be replaced with different ones without question.

I was very lucky I bought one of these and it was absolutely pristine out of the box . In fact I'm blown away how good it is for the money . I'm sorry to hear this happened to you mate .

I've bought exactly the same guitar (only different colour) and it was great out of the box. Great sounding pups as well. It's my fourth HB, I already have an LP since 2013 (only changed the pups because they're too hot for my taste), a Fusion 2 (also great) and a very poor TE-52. The latter I've done a lot of work on and if I wasn't able to do it myself I would've sent it back.

I've got a TE-52 and neck pickup didn't work at all right out from the box. I tried to have it fixed as wood work and quality was amazing. But they said did not have spare parts for this issue and sent a replacement unit. It works like a charm, but is not as nice looking as the first one.

I purchased a DAngelico 12 string acoustic from Thomann. I looked it over when it arrived and I noticed there is an ink stain below the clear coat. I emailed Thomann with pictures of the stain who forwarded it to their expert. The so called expert stated that the stain is wood grain so is not a fault worthy of a refund!!!!!!!

I've actually DONE this squeely feedback stuff to a guitar by inadvertently screwing up the shielding. I wonder if those metal pickup cases are touching some shielding paint. Too bad Thomann's "experts" are costing them business...great video. subscribed. Thanks!

My experience with Thomann has only been positive. Great customer service both during purchase and shipping. When I had a problem with the 3 way switch they sent an upgraded replacement in response to my video. But I must agree that claiming microphonic pickups are ok is a worrying response!!!

I had the same issue with a white Harley Benton LP custom white. It actually sounded like single coils but squealed and was SO microphonic.