NGD- Harley Benton Fusion III

[will_shred]

Those who know me know that I'm picky about guitars. I generally don't buy guitars online, and I generally don't buy new guitars. But I was really impressed with the Harley Benton guitars I've seen in the shop and when I saw the Fusion III I decided that was for me.

For the price of $400+tax with free shipping you get:

A roasted maple neck, flame maple vaneer top, staggered locking tuners, stainless steel frets, a Wilkinson bridge, graphtech nut, and a light weight Naytoh body.

The level of quality and specs you get for the money is kinda crazy. If you put this in my hands and asked me to guess how much it cost I would probably put it at 2-3x it's actual price. The setup out of the box was perfect, I didn't have to adjust anything.

The pickups are passable, I may change them out later but they are better than I expected. I also dig that the push pull pot acts as both a coil split and a series/parrel switch. This gives a really huge array of tonal options.

The fretwork out of the box is great, the frets are perfectly level which is awesome and not something I usually see on guitars at this price point. My only nit picky thing is that the fret edges could be dressed and the frets themselves could use a little polishing to feel nice and smooth. But tbh I can overlook that considering the price.


I was looking at a bunch of other guitars with similar specs like the schecter Nick Johnston or Van Nuys, the Sterling Cutlass, Ibanez AZ, ect. Those are all good, but come in at 2-3x the price of this lil guy. Overall rating 9/10 highly recommend, check out Harley Benton guitars, they're doing something right.

 

[Shask]

I got a HH 22 Fret Wilkinson version with the Ebony fretboard a few months ago and I love that guitar. I am similar, I am pretty picky about my guitars and rarely buy online, but this guitar has fit me well.

My frets are level also, but yeah, came kind of gritty, and I have filed some edges because there was a few sharp spots. I had to set it all up to get it dialed in. The pickups aren't bad. They are very different than anything I own, but don't sound bad. Mine has the chrome covered versions. A few paint blemishes, but nothing big. Mine is a solid color, and you can kind of see the joins where the wood is glued together, so that is a little weird. Probably just thin paint.

Overall, I am amazed at what I got for $309 shipped. I am thinking about grabbing some more HBs.

 

[thraxil]

I got the Harley Benton Aeolus last year. Similar price point and level of specs: semi-hollow w/ roasted maple neck, stainless frets, locking tuners, graphtec nut, etc. Similar verdict. Frets were super gritty when it came but that just took 15 minutes of polishing on the first string change and now it's perfect. Some of the internal routing is a bit messy, but externally the guitar is pretty much flawless. Also thinking about replacing the pickups; they're not bad, just haven't really blown me away. Overall quality to price ratio is crazy.

 

[Asdrael]

Those HB are great guitars for the price. I had one and the frets aren't as smooth as they should be. Fixed easily with some 00000 steel wool followed by Autosol.

 

[WolleK]

Had one of the 84 explorer from the first run in white. Very light, felt like a toy because of this. Amplified this guitar sounds huge. Sold it for 100 bucks; one of the few I regret selling. Still have a 76er style one from their first series under my bed ( got it for 35 bucks). Good money/ feature ratio; but sometimes you get lemons

 

[Estilo]

BUT did you say STAINLESS STEEL FRETS?!

Sorry had to do it.

 

[DarthV]

I've been mulling over getting SSS or HSS strat for lower gain type of stuff and had originally looked at the Nick Johnston Schecter and the Sire S7 then saw videos and links to the Fusion III. That's a LOT of spec for the money, was just worried about ordering something from overseas and not having an easy way to return if there was an issue. Also a MiJ Ibanez snob! But it seems that the "more expensive" HB guitars have decent quality control, so maybe I'll pull the trigger.

 

[Asdrael]

I may have had a bad experience but even though the fretwork was good, I had to return the guitar I had (also a fusion 350€ approx) for an exchange because the pickup cavities were grossly missaligned with the strings. I am not talking a mm, I'm talking 5mm, so aligning the pickups by redrilling wasn't even an option. It needed new routes. There were also cosmetic issues in the paint (betting it was dust stuck in the laquer from a poorly air regulated room during spraying). Nothing I cared about but worth mentioning.

The guitar I had in exchange still had the imperfect finish, but at least the routing was fine. The fret job was just as good but the instrument all in all was much less resonant than the first one with a much less stable neck and didn't hold tune that well, despite having a fixed bridge.

A long post to say: I wouldn't order an Harley Benton from overseas because I would want to be able to return it.

 

[Shawn]

Very nice guitar. I bet it plays like a dream. Congrats!

 

[will_shred]

I may have had a bad experience but even though the fretwork was good, I had to return the guitar I had (also a fusion 350€ approx) for an exchange because the pickup cavities were grossly missaligned with the strings. I am not talking a mm, I'm talking 5mm, so aligning the pickups by redrilling wasn't even an option. It needed new routes. There were also cosmetic issues in the paint (betting it was dust stuck in the laquer from a poorly air regulated room during spraying). Nothing I cared about but worth mentioning.

The guitar I had in exchange still had the imperfect finish, but at least the routing was fine. The fret job was just as good but the instrument all in all was much less resonant than the first one with a much less stable neck and didn't hold tune that well, despite having a fixed bridge.

A long post to say: I wouldn't order an Harley Benton from overseas because I would want to be able to return it.

they have a US dealer that sells through reverb, that's where I got mine. They do have a 30 day return policy which is nice in case you do get a lemon.

 

[will_shred]

I've been mulling over getting SSS or HSS strat for lower gain type of stuff and had originally looked at the Nick Johnston Schecter and the Sire S7 then saw videos and links to the Fusion III. That's a LOT of spec for the money, was just worried about ordering something from overseas and not having an easy way to return if there was an issue. Also a MiJ Ibanez snob! But it seems that the "more expensive" HB guitars have decent quality control, so maybe I'll pull the trigger.

Go for it! All of these guitars except for ibanez prestige are made in Indonesia, probably in the same factory too. They seem to be crushing it on all fronts.

 

[Asdrael]

they have a US dealer that sells through reverb, that's where I got mine. They do have a 30 day return policy which is nice in case you do get a lemon.

Hoh I didn't know that! That's nice. Go for it then. I heard the Harley Benton pedals are also great cheap copies if you need to fill up a pedal board

 

[Shask]

they have a US dealer that sells through reverb, that's where I got mine. They do have a 30 day return policy which is nice in case you do get a lemon.

I also got mine from the US Reverb store, which is a big reason why I ordered it. They only have certain models though, so sometimes they just don't have the one you want that is offered directly from Germany.

 

[DarthV]

they have a US dealer that sells through reverb, that's where I got mine. They do have a 30 day return policy which is nice in case you do get a lemon.

I'm in Canada, the US reverb store doesn't seem to ship here. Guess there's always CC charge back if there's something really wrong!

 

[will_shred]

Also, I took the guitar into work yesterday (I work at a music store) and showed it to a few of the regular gear hounds. They were all pretty blown away by it. One customer I handed it to who usually plays super expensive Gibson customs, I asked him to guess how much this cost and he said "$1400?" he almost couldn't believe the actual price tag.

I also checked out the wiring, its quite clean. They also use nice alpha pots.

 

[kerryymm]

I have a Fusion III EMG which comes with the Hot 70 set in it. I agree about the frets, one or two could do with a polish and the ends were a bit sharp when I got it, but it plays really nicely and sounds great. Bonus with mine is the reversed headstock, I think it really suits the headstock shape

 

[will_shred]

Update, I wound a new set of pickups, installed them, and polished the frets to 2000 grit/dressed the ends. Now its perfect.