HB stuff is just getting better and better IMO especially the guitars 🎸🎸

Love all my Benton's , special my Fusion 3 Greetings from Greece

I'm glad you revisited this guitar after owning and playing it for 3 years. I find it much more informative because you've actually lived with the guitar and given us the lasting impression, not just the first impression. Thank you for another great, informative, and enjoyable video, Max. Please keep them coming.

I bought a Fusion-III in September. Excellent guitar with a lot of features that even a lot of guitars that cost twice as much don't have.

Damn forget about the guitar. Love those shred playing. Really cool

Always glad to see a new guitar Max vid

I have 4 HB's and my favorite so far is the fusion ii, the neck feels great and the bends feel so easy, the guitar is light and the contours are very nice. The only think I found I dont like after two years is that HSH is not really a pickup configuration that suits me, I made a mistake there but I guess those are things you learn with time. Strongly recommend these guitars

Killer playing on the video lead in solo!! I may have to check one of those guitars out, sounds and looks great!

Own the same model but now has the push pull volume knob for coil switching from humbucker to single coil. Love this guitar. You may of even forgot to mention the 24 frets. This guitar is a amazing deal. I got mine with the hardcase combo. 508.00 total. Shipped and was at my door in four day from Germany.

Its realy a great guitar! I have two of them and i like them! Greetings from Frankfurt germany! Your Videos are amazing and i enjoy it every evening .

My Fusion Tele still plays great also after 3 years. I am glad I waited for the switch in the same angle as the Strat. I also have not had to touch mine other than changing strings. Mine is the same color as yours. Great flame in it also

My Fusion-T HH LH Roasted FNT was a game changer. I already owned 3 previous HB guitars which I’m super satisfied with but my Fusion-T just had a quality that with its price blew my mind. Still does!

When those first came out, I was going to buy one. It was so beautiful! I really wanted one! Instead I chose a regular strat from Harley Benton. The strat style has been fine for me, so I saved a few hundred dollars. But, I still love the look of the fusion!

I just got this HB Fusion III couple of days ago.. Charcoal black color.. My first floating tremolo/ FR guitar and it was 'nightmare' to setup.. I never worked on floyd before and changing strings was pain to level that floyd but man this guitar is fun!! I love it, it's so fun to play and looks amazing i am rly happy with this guitar.. Payed 300 euros for it, used.

Superb alternative of a Showmaster type!

I've owned one for just over a week. Played it "out" yesterday morning and it was pretty good. Going to fine tune it for another few days but like pretty much everyone says you just cannot beat it for $500.

Harley Benton is a classic example of a company that doesn't get enough respect. And then a few years pass and suddenly people are scratching their heads saying wait a minute these are good guitars. What happened there? lol Just buy one and enjoy it and stop being such a cork sniffer. That's what happened.

Hi Max, I got one of these guitars about three years ago, it's a Fusion 2 but it's got string trees instead of the bar that the first ones had just above the nut. It's the H S H model and I really love it, the only thing I don't like is that the five way switch gets in the way of your strumming hand. Love your videos, thanks.

I bought the HB victory plus bk vintage series last year and I love it.

Have a couple of Fusion 3's and they are fantastic I have low action without buzz on them and just ordered a Gotoh Les Paul in Satin pink and do hope these are as good!!

i bought the fusion t green spakle and love it

Love them. Have a Blue Fusion 3 but with a Wilkinson bridge. 👍

Was gonna snag this but at the time they were sold out. Ended up getting the 2020 7 string multiscale DLX. Threw two EMGX 81 and 85 in it and I absolutely still love the guitar.

Thanks Max for the update. I say sell it, and go out for another (flying) dinner with your wife. Cheers!

💪😎👍 Excellent video & superb shredding, Max! Love my Fusion III (and all my Harley Bentons) and my Berklee grad producer / guitarist loves it too! We're recording it on a Jeff Beck style instrumental epic right now and, by the way, my Harley BM-75 Red Special replica just came in today -- gorgeous guitar for $270 and it'll be upgraded with real Burns Tri-Sonic pups and the "correct" wiring mod, Digitech Red Special pedal & Joyo AC Tone preamp. I've even got a 1947 sixpence! (Dr. May's birth year). Rock on, and I hope you and your lovely wife have a great Valentine's Day, sir. Keep the videos coming! 🎸

They missed an opportunity with the name. They should of called it "Fusion 2 Electric Boogaloo". ☺

8:52 You don't have to pay for shipping from Germany anymore! Harley Benton now has a U.S. store in New Hartford, Connecticut that takes online orders through Reverb! My favorite cheap guitar right now is the Kramer Striker that was released last year. It's a fun instrument with great modding potential that I'm seeking to do soon, mainly upgrading the Floyd Rose Special to a Floyd Rose 1000, adding a fat brass sustain block, and adding a DiMarzio hot rail in the middle position. I noticed that one of your older videos reviewed an old version of the Striker that went out of production. Maybe it's time to revisit the new Striker?

My Fusion II HH with floyd rose is still perfect after 3 years. Great guitar. After 3 years I have decided to upgrade with Seymour Duncan pickup...and the result is amazing

I have an hsh fusion ii and a hh fusion III, love them both. I don't think I even modded them at all.

I had one a few years ago and loved it...kind of one that I let get away. I put Suhr Thornbucker PUs in the guitar. It was amazing. Thought I wanted something else...thought wrong. Now I have an EVH that I love...but basically the same guitar for more money. Just a different name on the headstock

I’d really like to get one because I’ve never had a guitar with a Floyd Rose. I hope this will be the year!

Yup! I have a 2022 Fusion III and it is AWESOME! Not the version with the Floyd Rose. HSH. Roasted maple neck and board, coil split, steel frets, locking tuners, matching headstock finish...you CAN NOT BEAT THAT MANY FEATURES FOR THAT PRICE POINT!!

I have two of the HB goldtop P90's and an HB active bass. Great guitars...all of them.

That one sounds great !

The only gripe I have with my HSH Fusion-II is cosmetics. The veneer is so thin, I can see the lines where the 3-piece body is glued together. Mods I did to mine: changing the black pickups to zebra and installing new electronics from Mad Hatter for more pickup combinations. Other than these,the guitar came flawless. Especially the neck.

Max is Amazing and super great job by Harley Benton 💪

Nice to see this fusion video immediatly before the release of the Max fusion signature HS ;P

It has a really good top too

As always, great video. I would like to see a single coil in the neck position and the color Green 🙂

Saying you will not be able to find a guitar like this is a massive understatement. I am one of literally a few million that has wanted to exigence a guitar with a Floyd yet no one makes a quality budget guitar with a 1000 series Floyd. I feel it is a must have as anything less has endless tales of frustration, aggravation or even basic failure. I could never figure out why no one offered such a guitar in this recent era in the last few years of high quality low budget offerings. Not having a guitar with a Floyd at least once in a life time is like never having had a guitar with humbuckers, P90's, Strat, Tele or Gretsch PU's. The closest to this is the Kramer Barretta at $300.00 plus shipping etc. but it has a cheap no-name Floyd and out of the box can easily need as much as $200.00 USD spent to a tech to make it playable. If Harley Benton had a waiting list that went on more months and months it would not surprise me.

It’s almost impossible to believe to have a guitar with such features and quality for that ridiculous price !!

I own a Harley Benton fusion 3. Super great guitar

Yeah I got one at the start of the pandemic and it is as solid as a rock. It hangs in my office that is exposed to the elements a lot because it has a sliding glass door with a screen. I usually open the the door while I am in there because muh fresh air. I had to adjust the truss rod once in that 3 years.

Had my eye on these when they came out, wish I had gotten one.

I got a Fusion-T recently and can echo everything he said originally and in this update. I got it with the intention of replacing the pickups, because I find them way below the quality of the rest of the guitar, which is excellent not just for the money but pretty good in general. I'd had a very cheap single cut model from them before just to tide me over after moving overseas until I could bring a few of my own guitars with me. I upgraded to a Duncan Pegasus/Sentient combo and still only payed a little over $500 which is nuts. I also chose the T over the Fusion-3 because the position of the volume knob doesn't get in the way, which I think he was also pointing to. This neck feels VERY good, as someone who loves classic Fender/C shapes, Charvels, and the Ibanez AZ necks - this one is right in between. I strongly recommend anyone to upgrade these pickups even to something in the $50-100 range that other reviewers like Max would vouch for, because it's the only truly disappointing bit, which along with the amp tone/quality are really important. Thanks for the vid Max.

I have 2 Fenders, an Ibanez, and 2 HBs. One HB is quite good, the other is very, VERY nice!

I bought an Amarok back in 2020. It has since then taken the top spot as my favorite guitar. HB makes amazing stuff in the $300 to $500 range. If I could change one thing about it, I'd like to add concentric pots so I can have volume and tone control on each pickup. I like blending in just a touch of the neck pickup with the bridge.

I've had some great experiences buying from Thomann. When I bought my Fusion II, the experience was horrible. Firstly, Thomann failed to properly fill out the paperwork for US Customs. That held the guitar up for a day and accrued a $55 Customs charge which Thomann refused to pay. I was forced to pay the charges for their mistake. When the guitar arrived (3-days late, thanks to UPS), it was the wrong model... wrong fretboard, and the guitar had been severely damaged in shipping (thank you, UPS... again!). So the guitar had to be returned and Thomann refused to send the correct guitar until UPS took possession of the damaged/wrong guitar. And before Thomann would provide return authorization, they wanted photos of the damage to the guitar. I sent them photos. The next day they wanted photos of the box and shipping materials. So I took and sent those photos. The following day they wanted photos of the whole guitar, so I took more photos and sent those. In all it took one month for Thomann and UPS to come to an agreement regarding who was responsible for the damage. (Two large areas were broken out of the face of the guitar due to a severe blow to the top of the headstock. UPS also left my package simply sitting in a building somewhere for two days before someone finally noticed and got my (3-day shipping) package onto a truck. UPS refused to provide even a partial refund until I contacted the BBB. When I finally received the correct guitar model, the pickup switch doesn't function correctly. I have the two humbucker model. In the neck position I get the neck pickup. In the middle position I get the neck and bridge pickup. But in the bridge position I still get both the neck and bridge. But after the month-long fiasco of trying to get Thomann to finally ship the correct guitar I wasn't trusting enough to again send the guitar back. I suspect the issue is due to sloppy soldering which connects two tabs on the switch but I'm not able to confirm that and I can't find a photo or clear wiring diagram so that I can fix the problem. I've also had problems with fret sprout but that's just a matter of some careful filing. I can deal with that. I'd ordered other guitars from Thomann and was incredibly pleased. But my experiences with the Fusion II really soured me on ever buying from them again.

I've got the tele style fusion T and it's epic! £360 shipped to my door is a smoking deal for the guitar.. but the harley benton TE-52 is still my favourite even after 4 ish years and I think it's the best tele style guitar for under £700 ( I say that price because you could pick up a USA fender used for that )

I have 3 Harley Bentons. I love them all. Going to do a video on the EX model soon!

The only reason I don't own a Fusion is the amazing Charvel San Dimas I got years ago (same price range but it was used) with JD's and a rolled fretboard edges. Roswell makes some solid pickups and as much as I don't care for roasted maple as a 'feature' combing that with stainless frets is a big deal for sub $500

Always Stella content 🤘 just wondering have you done a demo on the eart ex1 guitar?

Fantastic guitars, so good I own 7 of them, only thing I change out is the pickups.....oh, and I prefer the HSH version

I love reviews after the newness factor has worn off if you will. I think I really need to get one of these HB super strats and see for myself.

Cort has some awesome high quality guitars for great prices. The G290 Fat II and G300 are similar to the HB.

I have a fusion 3 tele with a fixed bridge. In terms of quality it looks and plays the exact same as the day I got it. Neck is wonderful, and the frets are perfect. I unfortunately almost never play it. The pick ups just dont have that magic. However, I do also have a HB les paul, and that guitar is magnificent. I immediately bonded with it like no other LP I've ever touched. It has tesla pick-ups that just sound perfect for the tone I'm going for when I play that guitar. Is it a metal guitar, no. Is it the perfect rock guitar yes. I can say I recommend both guitars especially if you already want to switch out pick ups.

I have a left-handed fusion three telecaster for about three years. All I did is change the magnets in the pick ups and put alnaco twos in it ,more I play it the better it gets

Ah good old guitar max Shopping channel 🤣

Yeah!

I am in need of a NGD! I am kind of leaning towards Harley Benton. Max has to be the best guitar sales man of all time!!!! Addendum: My Amarok 7 arrives today! Got my eye on the Fusion III also.

My onlu "problem" with all the HB Fusions I have played is that I wish the neck could be a little thinner. Not like an Ibanez "shred" style, but just a tiny bit thinner. But, yes, they're all great guitars and ABSOLUTELY worth the money. I haven't changed the pickups or anything (I see a lot of people do that before even playing the guitars), and with a little lube on the nut they keep in tune even with a Wilkinson type vibrato. I don't know how they manage to build such good instruments for that price, but maybe all other guitars are just immensely overpriced...

Hey Max, thanks for another great video! I've owned a Harley Benton Fusion II FR since December 2020, and I still find it to be an amazing guitar for the pricetag, and a truly great guitar overall. Originally, the neck was too thick for my taste (22.16mm @ 1st fret, 23.44mm @ 12th fret), but once I shaved it down to 20mm/22mm, and rolled the fretboard, the guitar was completely transformed. The rest of the mods I've done are: installing an EMG 81/85 set, and installing an L-shaped Floye Rose big block, which in my ears, greatly improved sustain and overall tone (they were both not "necessary" mods, but I just wanted to bring the guitar closer to my tastes). To sum my experience up, if the neck feels right in someone's hands (or if they're willing to make a few adjustments), the Fusion series is a no-brainer.

Max, how can you do it? Every quitar in your hands is just a masterpiece! Of course. In your hands.

You should do a video about how u setup and tune guitars equipped with Floyd Rose bridges. Since u seem to prefer them I think u'd have some valuable insight that u could share that might make them less frustrating for a lot of us. I have a beautiful old Washburn with a Floyd Rose but I almost never use it because it's such a pain to set up and it always takes way too much time to deal with, especially when I want to change string gauges.

Fusion is fantastic guitar i personally recommend it to everyone who wants fantastic instrument for a not a lot of money. Had several in my possession over the years, and in playability and overall usefulness aspects it is comparable to guitars 2,3,4 times the cost. Benton guitars can be hit or miss but fusion is pure gold. I personally just don't like neck pickup (cant say it is bad just personal taste thingy). Also i am not fan of most of finishes, they have a lot cheaper guitars witch looks nicer for my taste. If they make one in metallic red (something like R-446) + roasted maple neck it would be instant buy. Everything else is fantastic. As a tool (at the end of the day guitar is a tool for creating music) it is 9.5/10 easy.

Thanks for your review...I own 8 Harley Benton guitars!

I bought the fusion 3, it quickly became my number one at 15% of the price of my other guitars.

i bougt one out of curiosity i bought a red hb hh fr fusion 3, iam a schecter player for a long time and i wanted a okish backup guitar but wanted a new one not second hand....these guitars are way above what you pay for i reallly really like it plays incredible, the pickups are ok and good enough to gig aswell. iam gonna chance them to dimarzio pickups but thatsn my only tiny picky thing. great guitar cant believe i payed 399 for this as my schecter was a 1000+, playwise its almost matching.

Im Jackson dude but I definitly need one of this

I have two Harley Bentons, not the fusion series. I have the Harley JA-60 (love Jazzmasters) and I have the George Harrison Telecaster clone. I'm pleased with them both, honestly. Only one guitar of mine has a trem system, and that's an old Korean strat of mine. But I'm also not at the level where I need a trem system anyways. I can play a few riffs, but I need to get actual lessons one of these days.

Good videos-p

I bought all four of my Harley Benton guitars when they had that $35 dollar shipping fee to the states. Many people here in the states used to complain about shipping damage. I never could figure out why Thomann located in Germany would not put a FRAGILE or THIS END UP sticker on their shipping boxes. My first Harley Benton had a dinged headstock from shipping damage.

I wonder if a green fusion with HS layout and a reverse headstock would exist 🤔

I want one 🤩

Have One with hsh and Wilkinson bridge with locking tuners , ebony fretboard, killer guitar for 300€ /$ ..and here in Europe shipping it's free

Everytime I watch you and the HB guitar I go to the site for an impulse buy. Thankfully I get to the checkout and the shipping always turns me back. I'm so used to free shipping and I really don't need another guitar (32) and I'm not that good anyway but I love collecting them. If they lower the shipping or make it free I'm screwed.

I didn’t notice any shrinkage either. At least no significant shrinkage.

* Had chance to work on over 20 HB guitars and they superb. * As pickup winder who made 1st set in 1994 ☺ honestly i wouldn't change those pickups, or to be precise the company. They use same materials you will ind in SD, BK etc that is the truth and i can show the documents from were various brands gets parts. Maybe for another model of the same brand or similar brands who're make the 1st class pickups. * The only pickups better then those would be the real hand winded ones, not those winded with machine that spins the coil and someone hold the wire but the RHW. Question is were you can find such pickups since a handful of people makes them and is necessary to chase such pickup ? To change one mass made pickup for a 1st class parts for another mass made from the same parts and pay then minimum 150$ fot a set is wasting of money. Those that cost a few 100's of $ are hype in 99,99% of cases. BTW i can give you the walk trough @Guitar MAX and know how to make them alone, were to get parts etc. In a few hours you will finish them. So that proves what it takes to make a better pickups then Rosvell it ain't easy and can't be found easy. BTW i'm not trying to sell anything because such things ain't for sell, it would be gift for a strictly personal use only. * As luthier with around 10 years experience but again with 20+ years experience in set up-s and rapiers i have to say those HB guitars are brutally good. People who hates them are usually under impact of some marketing and fake data served by some expensive brands or they see commercials in magazines and so on. When someone claims that something is better and don't give you the data and measurements which proves then it's a pure subjective thing and propaganda. But as we all know people sell guitars for 3000$ which aren't better then that HB, it's business and it's an absolutely legal one aka they have right to do it. * in era of CNC machines it ain't necessary that guitars cost more then hand made guitars in the 80's. I payed my super star as teenager a bit over 800$ with case! In today's money that is around 1500 US$. Today some companies asking 3-4000 US$ for a mass made guitars. * FR 1000 and OFR are the same thing same quality of materiel except for the block, but since people change blocks on OFR i don-t precise it as an advantage. Good luck in further work and it's good that companies like HB exists they aren't endangering the small luthiers but they did had a huge impact on some other mass made brands.

Acclimatim the wood over time. Per step helps weed out the bad work

The only thing that seems to be subpar are the pickups. A bit muddy very light on the highs. But nothing that can be mitigated by dropping on some Seymour Duncan’s.

I think the fusion is darn close to being a Charvel Mexico killer.

These are fantastic guitars for the price but the only thing I think they need to improve on is there pickups. Don't get me wrong I think they sound fantastic but I noticed on a couple of models they seem to have a little bit of buzziness to them from time to time. So I swapped mine out and put a bill Lawrence in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan sh6 in the neck. And with the other model I have as well I put in a pair of Seymour Duncan X2 N's,..the thing sounds monsters now and very loud

It's got a real nice little pattern on the neck . But 1 question are those PuPs hard mounted or are they adjustable ?

Geez! If ANYONE can demonstrate how well made a guitar really is by "the Proof is in the Pudding" showing method it is Guitar Max.

I've always been interested in this model. But I'm pretty particular about the neck profile. Can you give some specs about the actual thickness at the 1st and like 15th frets? Can you compare the neck profile to anything else that is similar? Thanks, Max.

Since watching your posts I want a Harley Benton fusion so bad ! I’m retired and I think that guitar may help me get back in the game. Don’t know where to look,where to go to find it and also,what do you play through to get those fantastic tones on your posts

That hair is IMPRESSIVE

I bought this guitar last year, and my opinion is that the guitar is not good...its not there yet 1. The neck was mediocre, fat (not modern C at all), .... but yes the frets where really great. I read in Fusion 3 the neck is better, hope so... 2. it was too heavy....way too heavy 3. the worst of all.... the FR bridge was awful !! This Floyd Rose 1000 got no tuning stability , the fine tune pegs where stif and hard to tune the guitar, and the overall quality of the bridge was really really bad. I wish I bought the wilkinson one!! Cheaper and way better quality bridge. The pickups are really nice, and the finish too!! Guys go for the wilkinson one...save some money and it really worth it I eventually sold it... because of that FR quality

Harley Benton offer tremendous value . ESP LTD , Schecter , Jackson offer similar like guitars but at a more expense to the consumer . I think the Roswell pickups are just good a Seymour Duncan design pick up or ESP design pickup . You are just paying for the name . As for Finnish on the Harleys , it's about choices which ESP and Schecter don't provide much in finnish

Max , have you tried a Sire strat? Any thoughts, anyone? How do they stack up to this guitar? Thanks

Aloha, 🤙

I just purchased one, my initial impression is, it needs a setup for me to play it , I am used to Kiesel guitars , which have a thin neck profile,and smaller frets....also 4X the price....we will see.....

Hey Max, how is the neck thickness compared to sub 350$ Jackson and Ibanez? Cheers!!

A 'strat like' guitar? I'm not sure where the similarity is...the shape?...the sound? I don't hear any Hendrix tones or much twang, sigh Very nice for its price point but more competition to PRS, Gibson or a dual pickup instrument. Love the workmanship! Thanks for the return review. :)

I measure every guitar by the clean tones. Your Fusion II is unsurpassed for the diversity of tones in the clean. And I know that direct-to-board will lower distortion even more. The cleaner the better to my ear, GM.

When is your HB Signature comming out?

When your Signature HB Fusion will be finally released?

My previous comments were removed as this was not correct. Some problem in settings using app and apologize for any confusion on previous comments

I am pending on buying my electric guitar as soon as the moment is there and I can only think of the Harley Benton fusion telecaster , it blows my mind so much. What are your thoughts on that one as of today Max? I would love to hear from your expertise, I watch all your videos and I love your work ❤ I watched the video you made about it and it was such a convincing one like this one you just made on the super strat. Thanks a million ❤

3 years in a collection of a hundred guitars really isn't that much wear and tear LoL