“Relic’d or not, this is a great value instrument”: Harley Benton TE-62LA review

What is it?

Relic’d guitars: you either love ’em or hate ’em. Most guitarists baulk at spending thousands on an electric guitar that looks like it’s already taken a beating, which is understandable, but paying less than $250? Well, maybe you don’t mind getting something that looks a little aged when it costs so little. The Harley Benton TE-62LA is exactly that, an inexpensive, relic’d guitar. What a world we live in.

It’s part of the new Harley Benton Aged Series, which breaks down into two sub-lines: HA (Heavy Aged), and LA (Light Aged), the latter being the subject of this review.

Harley Benton’s budget-busting antics are nothing new to most guitar players; the brand, owned by Thomann, has made a serious dent in the affordable guitar market over the past ten years, and, as you may be aware, big players in the guitar game have started sit up and take notice.

Aided by cutting out the middleman and going straight to the manufacturer, the brand manages to deliver great-quality guitars at prices much lower than the competition. Thomann has marketed clever, realizing nobody wants a retailer’s name on their headstock, and HB has blossomed into a genuine brand-offering that’s reaching household status in the world of guitar.

The original Harley Benton TE-62 has some very favorable reviews online, and this guitar is similarly spec’d, but it’s not just the same instrument with aged hardware and a distressed look. It’s got an American alder body, with a caramelized Canadian maple neck and fretboard combination. It’s a ‘C’ profile, rather than the TE-62’s modern ‘D’, with both guitars featuring a more modern, 12-inch radius with 21 medium jumbo frets.

The electronics have changed too; previous models had Tesla single coils in the classic T-style lineup, but here we have Isola pickups. The controls are arranged in the typical lineup with a master volume and tone, as well as a three-way toggle switch for selecting pickup combinations. The bridge features three compensated brass saddles, with the classic ashtray-style layout, while at the other end are Kluson-style tuners, with the vintage tops to poke the end of your electric guitar strings through.

Specs

• Launch price: $238 | £214 | $249
• Made: N/A
• Type: Six-string electric guitar
• Body: Selected American alder
• Neck: Vintage caramelized Canadian maple, C profile
• Fingerboard: Vintage caramelized Canadian maple, dot inlays, 12-inch (305mm) radius
• Scale length: 648mm (25.5″)
• Nut/width: Graphite, 42mm (1.65″)
• Frets: 21, premium nickel silver
• Hardware: B01 bridge with brass saddles, Kluson-style machine heads
• String spacing at bridge: 53.4mm
• Electrics: 1 Isola VT-TE-B Alnico 5 (bridge), 1 Isola VT-TE-CR-N Alnico 5 (neck), master volume and tone, 3-way pickup selector
• Weight: 3.2kg, 7.05 lbs
• Options: Heavy relic available
• Left-handed options: No
• Finishes: Sea Foam Green (as reviewed), Lake Placid Blue
• Cases: Not included
• Contact: Harley Benton

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

Picking the guitar out of the box, it’s a bit lighter than I’d expect from an alder body, and taking it to my scales, it comes in at 3.2 kg. I have my own Mexican-made Telecaster with an alder body, and it’s much heavier than this one. Like a Formula 1 car, maybe taking the finish off really does save some weight.

The finish itself is poly, but it hasn’t been glossed over, which means it will age quicker with new scratches, scrapes and dents as you inevitably add them over time.

Up close, it’s pretty easy to tell that this isn’t genuine wear, but from further back you could definitely be fooled into thinking the guitar is much older than it actually is.

The aged hardware looks really good, with that yellowing of the pickguard and tarnished chrome of the bridge plate and tuners holding up even under close inspection. There are giveaways, though. The frets look brand new, as does the pickup selector and the bridge pickup. I doubt Harley Benton could have done these and kept it under $250 to be fair, but these details stand out more when the rest of the guitar looks well aged.

On the back of the neck, the wear looks almost genuine. I have a Squier Strat that’s over 20 years old and has taken an absolute beating over the years. The neck on that is tarnished similarly to this. I will say the TE-62LA is a bit too uniform. Part of the aging is that guitarists tend to spend a lot of time in particular positions. The heaviest wear on my Squier is all around where you’d play open chords, and up near the 12th fret, as it’s the guitar I honed my chops on when I was first starting to play.

The fretboard wear does not look very good. It makes the guitar look like it’s only been used to play an open major D chord and its variants for 20 years. It’s too clean as well, and would look much better if it’d been dirtied up at the spots of wear so it looked more like it’d been made by sweaty hands. You’d think if a guitar was this worn at the top of the fretboard, it would have some wear elsewhere, too, so it feels a little out of place only being in one spot.

Despite the aged look, it’s a very solidly put-together instrument overall. There’s no movement in the neck pocket, the knobs and switches all feel well installed, and despite the artificially aged hardware, everything is neatly and tidily applied to the guitar.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★½

Harley Benton really has nailed the playability of its guitar necks

Sitting down to play the guitar unplugged, I’m reminded that Harley Benton really has nailed the playability of its guitar necks. It’s something I’ve noticed on quite a few HB guitars I’ve reviewed over the past year, where the feel of the neck is just superb. I don’t need any warming up coming from my Mexican-made Telecaster, and the profile feels just as nice as that, despite the guitar costing significantly less.

The fretwork is neat, although I think this guitar could really benefit from some rounding off of the fret edges. It’s not sharp, but you can feel the frets as you move quickly up and down the neck. A little sanding would solve this quickly. The action is nice and low out of the box, measuring in at 1.5mm at the 12th fret with my finger on the 1st fret. You could get it touch lower and have a real speed machine in your hands.

It means whether I’m playing licks inspired by Don Rich or doing the simple, heavy riffs from my post-punk band, the guitar is supremely playable. It feels comfortable with open chords, and moving further up the neck, I’m easily able to lay down my favorite lead lines without any adjustment required. As a vintage-style guitar, there are only 21 frets, but the medium jumbo size feels nice to bend against, and there’s no noticeable scratchiness as I do.

As you might expect from a hard-tail T-style design, the tuning stability is impeccable. Despite some seriously rough playing, plenty of bends, and really thrashing it with my picking hand, I seldom have to retune throughout my playing. When I do have to, the tuners feel a little stiff, but they operate as normal without any slipping.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Sitting down with the guitar at my home studio desk and plugging into my audio interface, I load up the Neural DSP Tone King guitar plugin to see how the TE-62LA handles the clean tones. I’m immediately impressed by the bridge pickup on my standard clean sound with a dash of tremolo and a dollop of spring reverb. It’s nice and trebly without being overly harsh, and open chords sound really articulate across the strings.

Single-note licks have that classic twangy attack that’s sharp and dies off quickly, ideal for country or surf-inspired lead lines. It’s got a nice bite to it when you dig in, and really encapsulates that classic Tele sound well. Switching to the middle position and turning the tone knob down a touch gives a Strat-like tone perfect for surf-style tremolo picking.

It’s noticeably dark and muddy-sounding

The neck pickup on its own is a bit woolly with open chords. There’s a muffled feel to it that makes it a bit lifeless compared to the bridge position. On single notes, this isn’t so noticeable. It sounds a bit warmer here rather than dull, and it’s a similar feel with arpeggiated chords. With barre chords, the low end again feels dulled rather than warm.

Adding a simulated King of Tone and dialing up the gain on my amp sim, the neck pickup wooliness is amplified. Adding a little 1 kHz boost with an EQ plugin gives it a bit more clarity and bite, but as is, it’s noticeably dark and muddy sounding. When I switch to the middle position, it takes over the bridge pickup a bit more, overwhelming it with that wooliness that wasn’t so present when played clean.

The bridge position still sounds great with added gain though, aggressive without ever getting too harsh. When you get really far up the neck it can sound a touch ice-picky, but this is easily remedied by rolling back the tone knob a little. For power chords and lead lines, it’s really open and articulate, and stays that way when I try some open chords. It can handle punk, rock, blues, math-rock, and pretty much anything else I throw at it.

Verdict

I’ll be the first to admit relic’d guitars aren’t my thing, but this one is done pretty tastefully. For the untrained eye, it will definitely fool audience members into thinking it’s a guitar that’s much older than it actually is, although a close inspection will reveal some tell-tale signs. If relicing is your thing, this is a great example for not a lot of money, and you’ll be able to add your own damage much quicker than you would with an unblemished, regular guitar finish.

It is a shame that the neck pickup underperforms

Harley Benton has really nailed their neck profiles and overall feel, making the TE-62LA a brilliantly playable instrument. Honestly, it’s worth the entry price for that alone. Stick in a pair of better pickups, and you’d have yourself a gig-worthy guitar for less than $250. An absolute bargain in anyone’s book. It is a shame that the neck pickup underperforms, but the bridge pickup more than makes up for it.

Guitar World verdict: Relic’d guitars are polarizing, but aesthetics aside, the Harley Benton TE-62LA is an awesome guitar for the money. It plays fantastically well, feels really nicely put together, and that quick aging finish is a neat touch. It’s a little let down by the electronics, with the neck pickup being vastly inferior to the bridge, but this is expected at this price point.

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Harley Benton

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