I truly appreciate the consumer advocacy work you've been doing with your videos lately. I'm not calling the other gear reviewers I watch dishonest at all, but as far as I can see, you're the only one putting it under this type of microscope on camera. I thank you very much for this.

To the younger guys, he's not lying about trashy guitars back in the day. Back in the late 70's and early 80's, cheap guitars were just firewood. CNC machining has really changed the guitar industry. That's a great thing for players. From a old hippie. Keep playing. Even after decades of playing, there is still more to learn

The truss rods are left loose on imported guitars because humidity in the containers while shipping is very high and any tension on the truss rod might split or lift the fret board. I worked in a music store and every guitar shipped in needed to have the truss tightened or tension added to take a bow out of the neck.

I like that you mentioned Jim Lill. He runs the absolute best experiments in the guitar community. The amount of work he puts into finding the truth is incredible. More people need to see his videos and maybe some day the guitar community will come to their f**king senses!

Hot tip for Thomann buyers, adding a second instrument in the past only raised shipping $10-20. If you're buying one, maybe somebody near you is looking at one. Splitting the total shipping for 2 will save you both on shopping costs

Glenn - you consistently prove you are, and have been, doing your best to be a real consumer advocate. Your continuing commitment to truth is why many of the fans of this channel continue to support you. I know that you are always going to give your honest opinion on any topic. I appreciate and support what you do. Cheers from Texas

You're a true hero to the people Glenn. One of the few people who genuinely take musicians and engineers into account. You're greatly appreciated.

What I love about Glenn's content is that, for however harsh and vulgar he may seem, he is actually extremely newb friendly. The people he has an issue with are snobby brand worshipers and people who don't bother to learn their instruments. He supports and encourages everyone who gives a shit about their instruments (yes, even bass players) and helps YOU not to suck at making music we love. Keep up the great work, Glenn. Onwards, to victory and epic METAL \m/

Gibson fan here, I actually love seeing brands like Harley Benton and others pump out great models for the price point they have. I own an SG, but I am all in favor of a musician going for what he wants at his budget! That’s a beautiful instrument!

This is an excellent way to give an honest review of a guitar

I'd love to see more videos like this. Solar, Chapman, Ormsby and other Independent companies need to be tested in this way, so that it'll either shut up the haters or prove them right.

It's possible the truss rod was slacked for international shipping- but if that's the case, they definitely should have included a tag letting you know that it requires a setup.

The guitar used to have grover locking tuners on it, unfortunately they replaced them with the HB brand ones. My guess is that it's a budget thing.

I'll NEVER get tired of you playing those priest riffs, seriously

8:29 fun fact on account of the neck dive; the only main reason it’s got that much dive is because of where the upper strap button is placed. A few models of explorer have the upper strap button placed over the heal joint, as that either lessens or completely eliminates the dive (likely the first one). It just seems like the logical place to put the upper button on the big flat area where it seems like it clearly should be, but it just introduces neck dive.

How did I only discover your channel? 😯 Your no bullshit way of reviewing is exactly the sort of stuff I love! Bloody ripper sounding guitar too. 🤙

I've commented on several different guitar videos over the past few days about the explorer I used to have. It sat perfectly with little to no neck dive because the strap holder near the neck was at the back, in the middle, not the side. You're just asking for neck dive on an explorer with the strap in that position. Edit: maybe one day Glenn will give us a blast of One Shot At Glory instead of Painkiller during a guitar demo. Don't get me wrong, Painkiller is a great song and has a great riff but One Shot At Glory us my favourite song on the album.

I am just a few years younger than you, Glenn and you are absolutely right about those budget guitars from the 80s and even early 90s. A new player was just as likely to get tired of fighting the guitar as they were to stick with it. I do wish the modern, more affordable guitars came with proper setups. New players are just not as likely to know how to do that. Thanks for another honest, consumer-focused, banger of a review!

I’ve always thought pickup placement matters the most rather than the type of pickups. Just look at how pickup placements on basses in particular drastically change the sound.

I appreciative that you don't pull any punches with your reviews. This is exactly how a review should be done. Keep kicking ass for the consumers out here. 🤘

Hey Glen, For house brands in the USA, Rondo Music did do that with the Agile Brand. Prices have gone up but 2010's we were getting South Korea Factory (World Musical Instruments) who at the time were also making Schecter, PRS SE, ESP LTD and others, a LP style guitar for $199. They also had many 7 and 8 string guitars and a bunch on Lefty Guitars that the guys over on the 7 string forum people liked. As an USA company they did get bullied by Gibson and early on had to modify the "shape" on many guitars.

For the money, you really can’t go wrong. Imagine how much Epi would charge you for an Explorer with EMGs.

I've bought 5 HBs. They were delivered to my door, in perfect shape. I've never found any flaw with them, and one was B-stock. I've re-sold 2 of them, because I decided I didn't care for that style. With shipping and duties, they came out even with a Squier or an Epiphone, and I rate them as equal quality.

A while back I got a Harley Benton EX-76 Classic GHW AN. Cons: One of the post on the tailpiece was sticking out of the body just a bit. I had to take a mallet to it and gently hammer it in place. There was 1 little blemish in the finish in a place no one would ever see it. Debatable aspects: Chunky neck, like the one you have here. Personally i like it a lot. The packing was good enough. Needed half a turn on the trust rod to get it where I'd want it.. Pros: Locking turners. Good sounding pickups. The pots are not screeching every time you turn them. No scratches on any part of the guitar. No neck dive. The frets are shiny. Really cheap. Overall a great guitar.

I have 5 HBs, the EX-84 included, in lefthand. I bought it when they were first released last year, the first stock without the "bump" on the back-end of the body. Mine did come with locking tuners, but the LH version did not have EMGs back then - only Roswell actives, which I like too so no problem. Also - stainless steel frets!

Hey Glenn, I am veeeeeeery pleased with mine though I only have the cheapo Version, HB EX-84 Progressive series. No fancy EMG pickups, no fancy tuners. But damn, that machine just rocks. No flaws in the finish and quite a good setup. Keep rockin' ! 🤘🏻😣

I bought one of their entry level multiscale 8 strings during the pandemic to mess around on. There were a few things other players might not like (quite heavy, chunky neck), but other issues you might see on a cheap guitar are all fixable with a little work or some upgrades so for £150-ish it was a hell of a lot of guitar for the money

Pickups make a difference, not just in guitar sound but how the guitar *responds* to your playing, it's a feel thing. Obviously the amp is a bigger portion of your basic sound but pickups can dramatically change the tone of a particular guitar. To an even smaller degree string gauge is another element that can actually change your tone.

I am from Europe and HB never disappoints! My guitarist just bought a LesPaul style and the only thing he did is changed the tuners to locking ones. Now he has a great 2nd guitar for drop tuned songs

in all honesty; if you buy a guitar online you should expect to do some kinda set up on it regardless what the website says about their inspection. that's the chance you take. also, compared to the starter guitars available when i started playing (over 35 years ago) the new budget ones are fantastic!

Glad to see what the average no-name consumer could possibly experience. After your 10S review in February I ordered one myself (the urban camo version), and had a less than great experience - no communication for a month, wrong shipping numbers, and when the guitar eventually arrived, it was not exactly what I'd ordered. Generic/unbranded active pickups stuffed into a guitar with no dedicated battery cavity, and bridge that was squished nearly flat. I knew a setup would be required on arrival but this was way above my pay grade and had to take it to a shop for a proper overhaul. Thanks for all the work you do and keep up the great efforts in keeping vendors honest and accountable!

I just got a HB PJ-4 bass last week for $172. It plays and sounds way better than you'd expect for something that cheap. I got no beef with it at all.

I always ship a bass with the truss completely slack, especially neck through. But I think there should always be somthing telling you that it has been slacked.

I can assure you, if you test an EMG vs a Seymour Duncan ‘59 vs a Jackson brand pickup (the one included on the cheaper models) you get a difference. It changes the shape of the tone that is signaled to the amp and the playability (I.e. how sensitive it is to attack sound/sustain) unlike tone wood, it’s actually a part of what picks up sound

I own many pricey guitars and cheapos. I purchased this guitar in white, left handed and this thing rocks!

These cheap brands have been getting a lot better. Harley Benton, Yamaha and Squier (mostly) make some of the best cheap guitars out there and they are fucking awesome. Please try some of this again because this stuff is great!

HB/Thomann are great! Got a few cheap kit guitars, all of them are on par with something at least double the price from anywhere else, and their finished products are exceptional for the price. Cost savings seems to have been done well with some cheaper appointments, but the quality control is fantastic.

For me Harley Bentons, especially the super cheap ones, are fantastic mod platforms/learning tools if you want to get into guitar modding or trying out some basic luthier jobs. Just a couple days ago I did a first-time full DIY refret on my Harley Benton BS-20 (dirt cheap BC Rich copy) because the overall price I paid for it didn't invoke any fear of consequences from a potential fuckup. On top of that it still plays great and didn't cost me an arm and a leg, just some old-fashioned personal effort.

I'm a nobody who ordered a Harley Benton E35 8 years ago, got it in perfect condition, perfectly set up and I totally love it.

I just bought a indo classic strat (monoprice knockoff) for $86 dollars to my door, I can't complain.... Yea tuners are trash, trem system is trash but I don't use it... It does the strat thing, it plays fine, with some grovers and nut, lock the trem, shine the frets and oil the board... Man what time to be alive! $70 guitar even 15 years ago would be unplayable, I stopped giving a shit about name brands!

honestly thanks to you i have three of them. Other than just the most recent one needing adjusting on the truss road , but overall all are pretty solid for the money, edit: another fact is I'm left-handed and finding the same guitars on other brands will always be more overpriced for me. so that's another plus for Harley Benton.

Even compared to the similar LTD model, you're looking at $600 for one or two ESP Designed pickups, coil taps, and a longer scale length. Even the more expensive HB's with nicer pickups are a steal.

Glenn, the thing to realize regarding bridge pickups for metal rhythm is that many of us want the right "chug" (especially for playing at home, quieter). THe correct bridge pickup makes the equation 5 to 10 times easier rather than f'ing about with tonnes of EQ, amps, cabs, pedals, etc. I don't understand how so many youtubers keep getting this confused, but partly it's because not everyone doing videos is thinking like a thrash metal/extreme metal rhythm player. I suggest trying the Dimebag model from Seymour Duncan and maybe the Will Adler bridge pickup from Fishman (I haven't tested this one myself, but it seems like Fishman's best improvement over the EMG 81-type of pickup). Just one example for you: I, myself, tend to play a lot of moderate-paced death-doom or doom metal with a thrash metal/death metal sound. The Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickup with NOT help and is not worth the effort to tonally alter for death-doom metal. A number of other popular SD bridge pickups are problematic in other ways. The Fishman Modern also is a bit weak for this application, but can almost do it with some EQing --still sub-optimal.

"So, I got a strap-on...." Couldn't resist 🤣

Love your reviews Glenn and awesome seeing you do this Harley Benton one since I'm looking into buying their TE-90FLT SB Deluxe really soon and I have high hopes for it, getting a Cabronita style Tele at that price point is a dream come true and I hope it holds up, Firefly did when I tried them! Squire and Epiphone could learn a thing or two, give us the Guitars we want at affordable prices! Not everyone wants to bang around on something that's more than the price of a months rent even if they can afford it!

I’ve posted this on other videos but I’ve been pretty unimpressed with QC on Harley Bentons. The first one I bought just had a straight up ding on the neck, despite the box being in perfect shape. So they just straight up shipped it out in that shape, and they tried very hard to get me to not send it back (instead offering a paltry $30 off). The second HB I bought had even more issues - a poorly buffed finish with visible scratches on it, white scuff marks on the finish, and whoever did the frets managed to take out chunks of the neck on the high frets. Given what I generally see in comments I’m holding out for the fact that I may just have poor luck, but I’m kind of reaching the end of my rope with them.

Bro seemed like the nicest youtuber and after 1/3 into the video he was just a menace 🤣

Definitely would love to see a pickup shootout to see how much they affect tone or not. Especially some of the arguments between active vs passive or low output vs high output. Thanks for all work you put in to get real tests and real results.

That's great! Can't be more honest than that! Harley Benton seems very cool and affordable.

I bought the white Roswell version a few months ago. It's a great guitar (will change the pickups when I have the cash) for sure! The main huge issue was the neck dive. I don't know if this kind of issue is amplified when wearing a guitar low (Hetfield level), but it was virtually unplayable standing up. I got some small lead weights, and took the guitar to guitar repair shop. They added about 200g worth of the lead weights inside the guitar and moved the strap button from above the guitar to behind. This totally worked and I can now play standing up again! FYI the strap button that ended up being moved arrived pretty loose, and actually popped off the day before I went to the repair shop. Overall I'm super happy, but that neck dive was a big downer until it was fixed. Great review Glenn!

I think the next step, for Thomann and Harley Benton, is the customization game. If the can offer, their bodies, necks in different colours all set up, and give the buyer the choice to go through their website and choose their finishing kit, in hardware and electronics, and have a team in Germany, just to build those guitars at a certain price. They would kill the game, not only because people are getting a guitar just for them, but, because it incentivizes people to spend more on their web store and their products

6:30 I watched Jim's video an hour ago and I thought to myself that you were completely right! The tubes didn't change the tone at all. Just how much the signal was distorted.

I was wondering about the neck dive on this model. Thanks for ordering it and the demo along with your honest opinion. 3.5 stars for almost $650 CAD to me means it falls short

I'm no expert & I could be wrong but I think the reason the truss rod wasn't tightened to sort out the neck relief is due to the change in the climate from where the guitar was made, where the guitar was stored before being sold & where it ended up once sold. As you probably know hot & cold weather plays havoc with wood, also humidity is a factor too. Loved your review though keep up the good work 👍

Hi I am a guitarist in the UK with no agenda or axe to grind. My guitar is an American Strat which I bought in 1978. I have zero interest in what brand is on the headstock - a guitar is either a good instrument or it's not. I am old and no longer gig but I do write and record songs at home so over the past couple of years I have bought six Harley Benton guitars. They were variously made in Indonesia, China and South Korea. All have been good instruments which I have been very happy with. Three were 'A'-stock and I could find no fault with them in either functionality or appearance. Two of them were 'B'-stock which were discounted by about 6% and I inspected these with particular care as they were presumably Returns and I wanted to identify what caused them to be returned. I found nothing which I thought was significant. One has been fitted with a nut which is about 1mm too narrow for the neck width, causing a slight step which can be detected by feel. I can find no other reason why this guitar might have been returned. As 'B' stock, I got about £45 off the price so I am happy with my buy. The slight thing with the nut is unnoticeable when playing so I have not even bothered to fix it. I could find no fault with the second 'B'-stock until I eventually realised that the seam for the centreline of the face of the body is slightly off centre. I can only see this by sighting from the strap-button where I can see that the seam does not fall exactly between the intonation screws for the 3rd and 4th strings, it is off by about 1mm. As such it is undetectable in any normal situation, to see it you have to actually be looking for it. So am quite happy with my purchases - the three 'A' stock seems perfect and the two 'B'-stock have such slight flaws that considering the low price I probably would not myself have returned had I they been sold to me for full price as 'A'-stock because when a guitar is only costing around £200, how much perfection should you really expect? The last of the six was the cheapest. I have a MIDI p/u and did have it fitted to my Strat although I disliked that from the start because - without going into detail - it made my Strat harder to play. So I decided to just buy the very cheapest guitar of any type or colour just to move the MIDI pickup to. It did not need to be a particularly comfortable or easy guitar to play as I would not be doing any actual guitar playing stuff on it, just using it to dub a few simple keyboard chords like strings onto my songs. For the same reason I had little interest in what it sounded like as a guitar either - it is solely a carrier of the MIDI p/u for some pedestrian chord playing. The cheapest on offer turned out to be a Strat style guitar for £60 so it was ordered and arrived a week later. I was astonished at what turned up. I had very low expectations indeed but what arrived is a very nice looking guitar with a neck which I find extremely comfortable. It is maple or an extremely similar wood which is quarter-sawn (very stable). The grain of the body is clearly visible and I can see no join - the body appears to be one single slab of wood. Physically the instrument is a pleasure to play and I got another surprise when I plugged it in because it sounds damned good. The p/u's just have to be cheap ceramics, but they work really well. No squealing or microphonics and the guitar sounds like a Strat, the in-between p/u's "quack" being especially pleasing. I used to spend around £60 on cheap copy guitars in 1972 - that would be £880 in today's money. What that would get me was a horror show. The body would almost certainly be cheap plywood, sometimes so soft that I could push my thumbnail into it and the rest of the guitar was of similar standard. So it did actually astonish me when this Stratty guitar arrived for so cheap. The one thing which did disappoint was the threads on the tremelo arm were very slack indeed so it was loose and rattly, although the mechanism as a whole worked fine and even returned to pitch fairly well. I immediately decked the mechanism anyway for my own purposes but a little work setting it all up right would probably have got it pretty good. So that's my own tale of guitars from Thomann. All guitars good, the 'B'-stock faults were of no consequence at all to me and very acceptable for the discount and the cheapest of the guitars made my jaw drop open in amazement..

Gotta love the price! If they ever did a "neck pickup delete" option they could bring it down even more. Just a thought HB, nice axe! Maybe the loose allen key was the assembler remembering at the last second before watching the box close that they forgot to check the truss rod so threw the tool from across the room to make it just in time(somehow all in slow motion). Thanks for the review Glenn!

If Thomann is aware, they will do their utmost best to send everyone quality guitar. So for the time being everyone gets great quality guitars

I've been playing Gibson/Fender/jackson/epiphone/ Blah fkn blah all the high dollar sheisse for decades. My latest favorite is my Wylde Audio Barbarian. That being said, I'm not a brand snob fan boy. "if you fkn like the damn thing....play it. Who gives a sheisse what name is on the headstock?" Is my motto. I watched a few of your videos on these guitars and figured "Wot da hell". I bought an SC 1000 for roughly $150 before shipping. Got It about a week later. Setup was 10 minutes. Dropped the bridge a tad, tuned and intonated it for d standard drop c ( not the easiest thing on 10 guage strings lol). Plugged it in with zero expectations. Laney LV300 Hybrid and a Boss ME 80, just what I have hooked up in "warm up" at the studio. No major tweaks to the sound. I started playing. This guitar just.....look it's like this. If you what a good playing, decent sounding guitar for next to nothing, then look no further. This thing is great for beginners to experts. The fact that it's inexpensive does not mean that it's "cheap". Very well made and assembled. It has the same weight and resonance as my Gibson and Epiphone Les Pauls. It sits in the pocket well. The contours on the back of the upper body and cutaway are very comfortable. Even the EMG clones are decent sounding if a little noisy. I don't like taking work home with me, but this guitar is a permanent fixture in the bedroom just to plink away on. If you have a kid or favorite niece/nephew that is just starting out, Harley Benton is the way to go. They'll actually look forward to playing the damn thing. They look cool and play smooth. If you have doubts go wash cars for a day to make enough money to buy one of these guitars, collect pop bottles .....wtfk EVER. It takes to scrape up the measly amount of cash it takes to buy one. I promise it'll be worth the effort.

Dude even as a bass player I'm inspired to keep practicing. I've been picking up my bass off and on but the times I do play it's usually after watching your videos. Keep it up man!!!

Thanks for your honest and helpful reviews Glenn ❤❤❤

The one time I owned a guitar with an Explorer type shape (it even had a set neck like this one)? I moved the strap button to the back of the body where the neck joined the body and that cured the neck dive pretty well. Just a thought, there. I enjoy your gear reviews because you shoot from the hip like Arnold Plays Guitar does and that's always welcome. From one geriatric headbanger to another, good work!

Own multiple Explorer shapes, best fix for neck dive is to drill the strap pin onto the back of the body, SG style. The difference being the body is way bigger which will stop the dive and make playing much more comfortable.

I'm just happy to hear someone else try and play dimes riffs . I was there and yes it takes time. Great job love your channel btw

Tells dude's manager the guy doesn't do his job right and then 5 minutes later you admit you ordered a guitar without looking at the neck thickness on the spec sheet? Sounds good, dude.

Hey Glenn, Just wanted to compliment you on this video! I have purchased 2 Harley Benton guitars, A Fusion II HH/ FR and a SC Custom stealth black with gold trim also HH/FR. I only paid 65$ to have each of them shipped to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It only took 6 days for them to arrive and each of the guitars arrived in perfect condition! I just had to set the up to my liking. Necks were perfect, fret work was exceptional and intonation was right on! In my opinion if you purchased a A stock instrument you'll get a pretty much perfect guitar. No on the other hand, if you purchase a B stock item, you can definitely expect issues. My third purchase was a B stock headless Dullahan which I had to send back. I still think Thoman / Harley Benton sells you a quality instrument, and their service after the sale is 2nd to none! Not at all like Gibson, who tells you, sorry you have neglected your instrument, so no warranty claims are allowed...lol 😆 Thanks again for this video...!!!👍

Thank you for an eye opening video, I most truly enjoy my morning coffee. I have 2 H. B. a maple top Strat Hss & a Tele. and both where deliver in great shape, no complain but it took forever to get home. 🎸🎸

I appreciate the scientific method used in determining whether tone wood, etc., makes any difference (anybody who remembers the acrylic guitar phase of the '70s and '80s should not have been surprised of that outcome, since major players were getting fantastic tones out of them). But whether pickups make a difference is a no-brainer. Of course they do. Just like microphones do. Any kid in the '80s with little cash and a crappy import with microphonic pups could drop $50 or less on a Seymour Duncan JB and IMMEDIATELY upgrade his sound. I did it. All the other guys I knew did it. The difference was not some imaginary mass hallucination. It was night and day. I think the argument would come down to what constitutes "tone" as opposed to differences in gain. But then, even though I am onboard with the tests and largely agree with the method, I think the one area they break down in, is in getting a good, universal definition of "tone." Maybe that definition should include "gain" as an ingredient since it's elemental to how pickups work.

My experience is they are a very good value. I bought a 5string bass that came perfectly set up right out of the box. Low action, correct intonation, and in tune. And I’m not only a nobody, I’m a nobody bassist. I’ll see myself out. Edmonton, Alberta Canada

This is exactly the kind of review I like. Two of my kids are/were learning guitar. One might want to go into jazz band with guitar, so your recent Harley Benton reviews have been quite valuable. So far I'm seeing a fairly decent choice of options at prices that I can buy into should either of them want to step it up. So, I thank you now for your reviews, and later on, my bank account may thank you as well for not having to hit it so hard!

Before I watch (OK, 2 minutes in): To be honest, Thomann could have easily figured it out, since you did announce some time ago that you were going to do this, and since It's quite possible that they have their eyes on your channel, and don't send but 3 guitars a year to Windsor Canada, it may have not been all that hard either. Unless of course you actually ordered it before you announced it. Now let's see what you got there Glennmeister! (

My experience with Harley Benton has been excellent. I ordered one guitar and a bunch of parts for another, and everything was excellent. Planning to order one this winter.

13:45 last thing I expected was you playing lucretia hahahha :D One of my favorite songs ever

i have to say, what i'm most amazed by is that shelf full of board games heaven right there

For what you said near the end, there is the Rogue brand from Musician's Friend, but they almost exclusively make acoustic guitars aside from two electrics in the Rogue "Rocketeer" family. The RR100 which is a 25.5 scale HSS setup with a coil tap for $130, and a 23.25 scale RR50 with a single bridge humbucker for $120. Unique body shape though, I haven't seen it anywhere else. It's like if you averaged a Stratocaster and a Rickenbacker 4000 body. I'm in full agreement that other regional music distribution superpowers should be doing what Thomann is because it seems almost impossible to beat what they have going for value, EVEN WITH SHIPPING.

When you were doing the unboxing part of me really wanted you to troll everyone by tipping out a pile of broken wood... Looks like a decent guitar. I haven't finished the video yet, so I don't know if it's brought up, but it would probably be better value (and therefore some of the lower specs would be acceptable) without all the extra import fees and taxes etc. Love the videos dude.

COWBOYS FROM HELLL🤘🤘 🔥🔥🔥 I'm sure you've seen Attila's content. He just put out how to play that solo and it's the only correct version I've seen. The GETCHA PULL section: There's a lot of nuance in the bends there in the post solo riff; at the first pinch harmonics it goes: Pull, release slightly, and pull, making the squeal fall away and come back. It almost feels like he hits it twice by dividing it w a bend. In 2nd pinch bend in the riff he raises the pitch higher when he plays it the 2nd time. These beautiful nuances start to accent your playing. They add feel - which is much more important than the guitar Olympics. For example the Walk riff is simple but incredibly nuanced. It's very hard nail but a great riff for anyone to practice. It's all feel. It gets me pumped to see ppl learning this stuff. Can't wait to see more development. Rock on and fuck you 🎸🎸

I have seen the HB stuff online these days, but without getting my hands on one BEFORE purchase, it has to be a no-go. If they showed up in shops, it would be great.

Regarding pickups… I’d say quality matters, but I can agree with you some regarding pickups making a huge difference… I’d like to do a shoot-out on Pick-ups,, but exact same wiring topology, exact same capacitors, exact some resistors type & exact same pickup placement/angle in the body… I am an electronics engineer (both fortunately & unfortunately LOL). If its too much of a pain in the arse, I understand… I appreciate how you (like me) are looking for the real truth and not just doing things out of superstition!!! Your awesome brotha, keep up the good work!!! (And if you ever want me to back you up, I most certainly will, just shoot me an email!)

I got one of their low end acoustics like 2 years ago. I think it was 150 after shipping. It required a little fretwork but she's still kicking and sounding as pretty as ever.

Same experience here: HB TE-90FLT, needed complete professional setup to get it in to the decent playability. Neck bow (loose truss rod), strings to high at the nut, general string action to high, intonation, relatively sharp fret ends. My conclusion (again from personal experience): both Epiphone and Squier comes with the better playability and finish quality out of the box.

My first guitar was an Ibanez, cheap model, cost me around 150 dollars in 1991. It was a piece of garbage that couldn't stay in tune more than 5 minutes. But I learned how to play on that instrument and I'll never forget it.

Thanks for this from a Canadian living in Paris. I own 8 Harley Bentons and appreciate your honesty! By the way, I put a Duesenberg Les Trem II Gold TM85G on my Harley Benton DC-DLX Gotoh Pelham Blue guitar and am just waiting on my roller bridge to arrive. Great guitar is easily worth in my opinion 3 to 4x what they sell for. 😇

There’s a good reason why the truss rod is shipped loose rather than under tension. When the truss rod is loose it can react to any +/- change in temperature experienced during shipping without altering the action appreciably - remember a metal truss rod will expand / contract more due to temperature change than the surrounding wood of the neck. Also, a good manufacturer will be trying to build a neck that has a reasonable action under string tension without much tension on the truss rod - the rod is there for fine tuning, not for setting the fundamental shape of the neck relief.

Hopefully no-one loses their job over this honest review. Truss rod and key bouncing around would kinda bother me though.

God I love your show Glenn. You always manage to make me chuckle, regardless of what else is going on. Thanks for what you do, man.

My Epiphone Explorer (Thunderhorse) had major neck dive, so it is very possibly an Explorer thing. What I did is I moved the top strap nut to the back of the body up by the neck, and it eliminated the problem entirely.

I do have both this (older model) and the Epiphone. The Epiphone neck is flatter. The HB body is smaller. The Epiphone doesn’t neck dive but the HB neck dive is an easy fix. My HB has ebony board which I prefer. I’m considering sanding/reprofiling the neck.

I've worked on that Pantera riff for a while. Never consistently. But it takes a bit of time for the articulation to be smooth. You're a much much better guitarist than me. You'll get it in no time.

Have to say My Harley Benton cheapest strat arrived and it was excellent right out the box. I'm using it as an upgrade platform and since getting it a year or so ago it now has Lace sensors, Vega Trem, Tusq nut and string trees and graphtech ratio locking tuners. If it needs it after all that I'll buy some new pots and switch. I don't think it will. Sounded amazing before the Nut etc. Mine was a well set up guitar as shipped. I always wanted a candy apple red Strat. Finish is just amazing. Luv and Peace.

Late to the party, but ALL Explorers neck dive unless you move the upper strap button to the heel and not on the shoulder. It will stay right where it needs to and balance just fine.

I'm glad you put the QC thing out there, so Thomann can hopefully address it if they have half of any care for their customers they claim to have. I personally have only bought a Harley Benton Jazz Bass and never needed a truss rod fix and there wasn't anything in the finish either, it was stellar. So obviously I'm not saying Thomann doesn't care, but that one employee might not care as much about the customer as they do. Which in that case they need to get told off or get sent home in my opinion. Like how can you even get hired as guitar QC if you don't even check the truss rod...? That's not QC in my opinion that's just a quick check and a "whatever just send it on over"

That was refreshingly honest! Someone in Thomann by now is just getting over the butt kicking over the truss rod and the truss rod key, but the point of the excercise is that HB guitars from Thomann are good value and not a risky purchase. I live in Britain so I get free shipping, and currently have 3 HB guitars, all good players and also good to look at.

About a year and a half ago I got a HB 5000 BZ 5 String bass. I never played it out but I got hammered in a car accident and just a few weeks ago I started to play the bass and found out it was unplayable. I took the bass to Greg Platzer who I’ve known for over thirty years. The action was very high and when he took away the trusted cover we found the truss rod was bitched beyond belief. Now Greg (Greg Platzer Guitars) is no newbie to the business and his clients include the likes of Walter Becker, Arrowsmith and ZZ Top! He told me the truss rod was worthless and the only thing that might rescue the bass would be to put the neck into a heated clamp, but he said with the truss rod being crap his hopes were not high. I really liked this neck through bass, but with the elapsed time I’m pretty screwed on a warrantee repair. I will contact them, but hopes are not high! I work with major classic music acts all over the world and thought a lesser priced instrument would be better for inflight and wouldn’t take my 2 80’s Ken Smith basses because they are not replaceable. So I’m not saying do not buy a Harley Benton, but be very careful! BTW I got rescued by a friend and fellow musician who just retired. He sold me one of his German Specters and I couldn’t be happier so 2k to fly in a ATA case Is better than my Ken Sith basses both with values well over 10 K. I am contacting Harley Benton and see what I can work out??? I will keep you posted!

So hey, just wanted to let you know that I've put the EX 84 in my list of guitars to buy. I play at home for my own pleasure, and I like collecting certain things. I've wanted an Explorer guitar for a while, but didn't want to drop 2 grand for a Gibby. The Epiphone selection didn't really appeal to me (they removed the 84 from their lineup a few years ago). And other than a Jackson Kelly, I don't like how the other brands' explorer copies look. And I don't want a floyd on this one, so the HB you're showing off hit the mark. Thanks man!

There can definitely be some great "house brand" instruments. Several years back I got an itch to try my hand at 6-string bass, but I didn't want to spend a ton of money in the event that I didn't like it. So I sprung for a Rogue, Musician's Friend's house brand (as far as I can tell, anyway). Only US$250 ... and it's simply outstanding. Excellent build quality, extremely solid construction. Basswood body with a bubinga veneer. 35-inch scale, dual-truss rod neck, secured to the body with SIX bolts. Two single-coil pickups, active electronics with 3-band EQ, a push/pull volume knob to turn the active circuit on/off. It's amazingly well-balanced, the neck is comfortable, and it looks, plays, and sounds as good as any bass I've played. My only complaint is that the tuners are cheap. They hold tuning just fine, but a tiny plastic bushing on the E-string tuner broke and fell out (after several years), making it a challenge to get that string tuned just right. And unfortunately, these tuners have a satin nickel finish that I have been unable to find *anywhere* when I've looked for a replacement, so once I get around to replacing it, it's gonna be mismatched. Overall, though, the quality is miles above my MiM Fender Jazz.

I have a epiphone explorer, and it neck dives from the factory strap buttons. The fix was to move the strap botton to the back of the guitar. I drilled a new hole on the back beside the neck/body joint, no more diving.

Every HB guitar I bought and had sent to FL. was between 35 and 60 bucks import fee. I love HB guitars and also know how to do set-ups so there's no risk if something needs adjusted. The only adjustment I've had to make is action and a few sharp fret edges. I would continue to buy them but I'm impatient and hate to wait for the long shipping times and then having to pay more at the post office. I now buy cheap Ibanez guitars for metal (and they're incredible) and PRS SE's for other music. All that being said, HB guitars are definitely worth the money spent.

Glenn!! PLEASE do that pickup shoot out! You've already saved us a ton of money when it comes yo tone wood and tubes, knowing if pickups are worth it would be very beneficial for many guitarists. Plus, just think of all the hate you'll get from the active and passive camps!

Tbh knocking down a $300 ish guitar with name brand pickups (cost $200 retail) for not having locking tuners is in my opinion expecting a little bit too much. I know they'd be getting the pickups at alot lower price then retail but come on for the price you are paying that thing is a steal! What other guitar at that price point has name brand pickups, and locking tuners? To me that is an AUD$1k+ guitar specs wise riviling an 400 series from ESP.

Glenn had you considered that the truss rod being loose was on purpose? they're sending these guitars across the ocean in metal boxes, they're not exactly next door, wood and metal does expand and contracts with temperature changes and the overall shock of the boxes also affect them, or maybe is because i live in the caribbean and assume all instruments in that condition need a proper setup afterwards