Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit Review - it's awful!

Friends don't let friends buy these, please! It's TERRIBLE! Let me explain why.

[DrKevGuitar]

A lot of comments here from people angry about this, refusing to accept my points. Please remember, 1) No matter who buys this, or who it is intended for, every fault and flaw I point out is real and a problem. 2) People, including beginners, *are* actually buying it thinking they’ll get a playable guitar for cheap. It does not matter if you think they are mistaken for doing so, or if they are the target market or not. They deserve to be informed and warned of the reality of these kits.

[fatroberto]

It costs 80 euros! Most people buying a kit like that understand that they are making a guitar from scratch. They expect to put it the hours to make it into a playable instrument but they'd rather not waste 20 or 30 hours just to get a basic body and neck built from scratch. Buy a 300 euro Epiphone and you can expect to spend five hours making it playable!

[thinkzen]

Based on my first-hand experience with a Harley Benton kit, I have to say that I don't agree at all with what you say in your video.
Let me preface this by saying that I have been playing guitar for over 50 years and have owned and played many in my ita. During the pandemic period I assembled a $90 Harley Benton Telecaster kit and the result is a very good guitar.
Actually I spent more because I replaced the pick uos (Loolar), the tuners (HB locking tuners) and the nut (tusq), for a total cost of $370. The neck is very good, the guitar is well tuned after a quick setup, I am really very satisfied and I recommend it to anyone who has a little manual dexterity and wants to have a unique instrument that is customised in every detail without having to spend an exaggerated amount of money.

[zloboslav_]

I have mixed feelings. But you make a very good point that this information should be known beforehand. The lack quality can be expected of this price, I guess. I'm planning to buy the square HB kit to cut the body into a custom shape and I can do the rest of the work myself, so I appreciate the information you've provided. Thank you.

[TechnoRiff]

I recently picked up an Indio HSS Strat clone for $75 new from Amazon, as a beater/luthierie education device. It's actually very decent with nice fretwork; just needed a proper setup. Even came with a decent gig bag. Harley Benton is gouging IMO for not even assembling or doing some basic QA on the neck. And not even SS frets like on some of their fully assembled products...

[andrewgent]

You are of course entitled to your opinion Dr Kev but don’t be surprised when others disagree with you. I for one bought a guitar kit recently and thoroughly enjoyed the process of finishing it and building it, and, after a few minor tweaks, it plays just fine. …I expect the likes of Tommy Emmanuel might find it a challenge but then, I’m not in his league and tbh, like most, the quality of the guitar is not my limiting factor, I could spend thousands on a custom shop Les Paul and it wouldn’t improve my playing one little bit. Also 180 euro for a set up is a bit steep, my local guitar tech said he would do mine for £50.00 if I needed it, …which I don’t.

[TAVMANIAN]

With so many low cost guitars that are nice enough building a cheap kit does not make sense if your goal is to save money. However, many just like the project aspect of building it and for some wanting to get luthier skills to eventually build their own guitars possibly from scratch it is a good starting point to get a kit (or a couple to see what type of guitars they want to build) and learn some basics. Even with the higher end kit builds it makes no sense to build $ wise. For instance I see PVX and for the neck and body of a PRS type build it was I think close to $500. This is a neck without dots or frets by the way. You can buy an actual PRS SE for around $700 so obviously it will cost way more $ to build the kit and be way more work. So even with a possible good kit there is no $ saving incentive. The only real draw is for those that like to tinker and build things and for those looking to be luthiers that want a platform to start learning on. It would be nice to see more feedback for these types of buyers.

[onlyusernameleft]

I've bought kits with the expectation that I would need to work to get them playable. Learning those skills turned out to be more valuable to me than the instrument once I was done. It should be made clear to buyers that kits are projects and it will require real work.

[mrupskirt]

absolutely love the Frenchman Tea reference. Brilliant! I checked a few of these reviews and many of them seemed a bit apologetic and a bit of spin. Thank you for being honest about your experience. I think they need to be a bit more up-front about the amount of work that will need to be done. Cheap? yes, inexpensive? not in the long run. thank you. subscribed!

[braylonmaverick]

And yet other guitar aficionados, luthiers, players have said that DIY guitar kits, and the instrument you ultimately end up building, are decent low-end guitars for playing (beginners or otherwise), and obviously are good for individuals who are interested in learning how to build guitars, possibly advancing in that area as well.

Although your critical outlook on this particular Harley Benton should be respected, so should the other more positive opinions regarding DIY guitars. I assume that some of those opinions are sponsored by StewMac, Harley Benton, and others, but not all of the other opinions. I believe that most buyers of DIY guitar kits are aware that they may be problems with the product. Some may assume that there is a chance that it will be nothing but junk. In the end, that probably can be said about most products (although cheaper products give way to bigger chances, but then again, there are plenty of videos on YouTube of Guitarist critical of high-end guitars).

I do consider your opinion on this matter to be an informed opinion. Your expertise on this subject has to be respectfully recognized. I disagree with it (at least to some extent) because of my own experience with a StewMac T-Style body DIY guitar. It was pleasurable to build, and I ended up with a playable low-end guitar. Is it a $4, 000.00 Tele? Obviously not, but it isn't a full piece of unplayable junk either.

Anyway, I wish you continued success with your channel.

[janzelf]

Great points, but these kits aren't for learning how to make a good guitar? I thought these were for learning how to do fretcrowning, leveling, bodywork, etc. Atleast, that's how I used them. Had a pretty good playing guitar, suited to my preferences, without ruining a perfectly good guitar. If I wanted a perfectly good guitar, I would've bought a Squier CV or Ibanez, or maybe a Fazley Phynica.

[gerdez]

She’s a friend of mine but I don’t know for sure what other instrument she plays and I’m not gonna charge her that much…. I wouldn’t wanna be your “friend” 😂 I have a Fender Lego guitar that was more expensive than this kit, I don’t know what everyone expecting from these… these are for fun weekend projects for people that want to tinker…

[samwills]

good Lord, dude. I bet youre real fun at parties.

[bradking]

Thank you for sharing hope you are well God loves you deeply shalom 🤗🐼♥️✝️💐 Philippians 4:8

[andyholmes]

Agree would never go there. Thanks for the vid.

[JoshuaBaker-egsm]

Ur full of it i took a donner upgraded everything all together the total was 500 dollars and it sounds better then a 800 dollar fender soo i disagree with everything ur saying this video waste of my time