Harley Benton Fusion III Pro, Shootout. Am I THAT Unlucky, or is There Something Else Going On?

[@hamrocktv]

I own these Fusions, and honestly, after playing them for a week, the frets are smooth as silk. The frets are now actually smoother than my $1500 Ibanez Prestige. I actually play my Harley Benton more than my other guitars that cost 6 x times as much. So, I think you may be overreacting a little there. Just my opinion.

[@MyDeepGuide]

On the 3 guitars that I have received and played for 2 weeks, unless one would have had the frets polished and treated, no they would not be smoother nor as smooth as on a Premium let alone Prestige Ibanez. Also, the fret edges literally cut my fingers. I had dozens of small cuts after testing these guitars as a reminder of "how good" they are. Maybe the case is that I was extremely unlucky, but there are an awful lot of people with a very similar experience to mine, or that older models had better quality control. But the 3 guitars that I have received here were absolutely terrible.

[@metamizol1606]

You are not unlucky. I have had to return two hb fusion due to similar problems that are unacceptable on a new guitar in any price range.

[@jhamil1]

Very informative and interesting. I had my Harley Benton Rickenbacker knockoff set up by the local guitar shop and plays and feels great. I think you are right when you said luck in the pick you get is also part of it. I hope you do more reviews!

[@damianp3305]

I have bought Fusion III OMS B-stock on Thomann 25th aniversary. It costed only 205 EUR - bargain. As for all guitars in this price range I needed to do fret dressing on edge sides and fret polishing (dremel and polish compound) and now it is guitar better then Solar AB2.6C that I recently purchased and Solar costed 600 bucks. Buying Harley Benton You need to be aware that You can gain flawless guitar but also You need prepare to perform fret edge dressing and fret polishing. I am personally prepared for that. I had Jackson HT7P Pro for 1100 Eur and it had dead fret and it needs to be hammered, glued and leveled. For +1000 EUR guitar it was pain, so for me 200 EUR Harley Benton is still wonder. Of course, everything is about personal preferences and experiences.

[@bokusimondesu]

Dad always said: Life's like a batch of guitars. You never know what you're gonna get. 😅

[@mattbrand3031]

A little bit of work and you have a perfect guitar

[@MyDeepGuide]

Or how about, for the same price or less I get a Squier CV of my choice and actually have a perfect guitar, instead of one that has blemishes and consistently bad fret edges that cut fingers.

[@strumminronin]

I have been thinking of getting one of these HB Fusions, especially from their B-stocks, but I did not want to risk having to deal with their returns system again. Thanks for taking one for the team! You've probably helped me dodge a bullet there!

[@MyDeepGuide]

Hey, if you happen to get a good one, it'll be a great guitar, but in my case it was all 3 duds...

[@benjaminwilliams41]

I think it comes down to expectations. I love a project, I just bought fbb and I'm looking forward to a couple of months of work to get it how I want it. Sanding/polishing the frets, removing a little wood on the inside to stop the bridge from catching, then replacing the pickups. If you want a perfect guitar you've got to pay out for it.

[@MyDeepGuide]

I don't mind a project either, but the point is that for the same amount of money, a Squier CV 70's for example, would give you a much better base to work with and a much better guitar.

[@davidmultimedia2024]

Just a precision.. it’s Medium Jumbo stainless steel frets, not Jumbo. Although, unlike other affordable CNC-made guitar with stainless steel frets (like on Amazon, with the rounded ends), those still have most of their material and have not been filed down to 1mm by the Plek machine. This is the most important factor to consider, because those super filed down frets make the action super low, but awful for lead playing because there’s wayyyy to much finger friction. I have an Eart headless, which is incredible in every way EXCEPT the frets are just too low (not the action, the actual frets). Because of that, it’s mainly a rhythm guitar.. Also, without the rounded ends, you have noticeably more room for finger vibrato on the 1st and 6th string. Btw, insanely scratchy frets is completey normal with stainless steel. I own an Ibanez MM1 (Martin Miller’s AZ Prestige), which is a 3600$ CAD Made In Japan guitar and they were exactly like that when I first got it. After playing it for an hour or two, bending strings, they were as smooth as I could possibly wish them to be. I was about to back off from buying the guitar when the seller told me it was normal and would go away very quickly, and even offered a full refund if it wasn't gone the next day. He was absolutely right. Yes, it's weird.. but 100% true! FYI, the difference in price is only due to the body finish, veneer and binding (all purely esthetic). Glossy finishes are more expensive to make because it takes times (more steps). Also, when you see the wood grain underneath, they have to carefully select the pieces of wood. If you take the grey one with the opaque matte finish and sand it down, you'll see that the wood they used isn't as pretty, and will most likely have repairs/stains/imperfections that are hidden by the paint/finish (pieces that wouldn't be acceptable for a see-through finish). So in order, the grey one has an opaque finish with no veneer and binding ($), the sunburst one has a glossy ''see-through'' finish on the front and opaque on the back with veneer and binding ($$) and the yellowish one is the same but with see-through on the back as well ($$$).

[@Mr4Strings]

Another great guitar review video Voya. I bought a sub-200€ Harley Benton electric bass from Thomann and my experience was not bad. In fact, it was definitely on the "good" side of not bad. But that was a sub-200€ instrument so good or good+ quality is a bonus. Once you reach the 400 ($/€) level quality becomes expected and required. It does indeed appear that you received not 1, not 2, but 3 B-Stock guitars. Harley Benton manufacturing is outsourced to various countries and I would be willing to wager that your 3 guitars were made in China. One can logically assume inferior quality before you even receive the item. Harley Benton does not label all their instruments with the country of manufacture which should be mandatory. It would be interesting to know if you had any communication with Thomann regarding your experience and if so how it went. In my many interactions with Thomann Customer Service I have found them to be the absolute best, Period. End of Story. I have never been given excuses, only reasons for a problem along with the suitable solution. Your critique was so well done I would think that you should have received some form of acknowledgement from Thomann and if so it would be great if you shared it with your viewers. Gotta ask you once again, please make more guitar reviews? You're the best. C'mon.

[@MyDeepGuide]

Thank you for sharing your experience :) My experience with Thomann was good, I returned all 3 of them, and all was fine, even though the return took 2 months, but that's due to Norwegian post service being basically useless. I do make them from time to time, you should check my last one about Ibanez Baritone guitars, and there will be another one soon ;)

[@vmathias2023]

Boy that is unlucky. I bought a fusion 3 last year and it was near perfect. I noticed a few very slight paint issues around the bridge pickup but I really had to look for it. As far as the frets go,mine were a tad on the scratchy side. I used mineral oil on the fretboard and just started playing it. The guitar is literally butter smooth. Plays on par with my 1500 plus guitars all day.

[@daboosreviews8819]

I actually have bought 3 different Fusion iii’s this year and they’ve all been unimaginably perfect out of the box. No scratchy frets. Near perfect intonation. And I actually prefer the roasted necks (and the less thin profile) on them over my Ibanez AZ Prestige. My mind is blown that HB can produce this level guitar for about 1/4 of what a similar Ibanez might cost new.

[@MyDeepGuide]

What about neck blotches, finish imperfections etc? Because weirdly all 3 guitars I received had a ton of issues.

[@mc30052]

Unfortunately, these are often troubles with their guitar mass producted... I tried one fusion and will receive nexy week... Will see. But i agree, these guitar are 400€, at this price point, the customer should not think to polish frets

[@MyDeepGuide]

Yes indeed. Especially to such a degree, but it's not just the fret polish, the fret edges on all 3 were completely unacceptable, as in, I literally had cuts on my fingers from these guitars. And on top you have the pickup selector issue, the stained fretboard and other simply build quality issues that no amount of setup can fix. For me, that was a one-and-done type of experience that has taught me to steer well away from this brand.

[@transparent6748]

Only bought one fusion 3 left handed (not roasted neck) the only issue was sharp fret ends probably because of the climate change,,it got worse over the winter time,,very pleased with the guitar overall

[@danieledandrea4320]

3 fusion and they are super shiny :( but I know friends with super scratchy frets bhoooo

[@BillVerdon]

Guess I got lucky... mine is an older model... the Fusion II so... not sure if the newer ones are dropping QC. I don't think polishing the frets is too much of an issue but... most won't want to have to do that with a new guitar.

[@MyDeepGuide]

Polishing the frets was the loudest, but the smallest problem. Fret edges on the other hand, were catastrophic. I had microcuts on my fingers for days after testing these. Sorting that kind of a mess is a much bigger job. And the point here is, for the same money, or less, I can get a guitar that sounds and plays several categories above what these offered. No, they won't have all the fancy bits on paper, but in reality, it'll be simply a better and more complete instrument.

[@BillVerdon]

Could you provide some examples of guitars that do not exhibit similar traits at this price point? That would be appreciated. The one good thing I would say about Thoman is... if you can provide evidence of issues, they address them quickly. Those frets sounded (and probably felt horrible) so... hopefully you got everything sorted out. I am not a HB fanboy but I see value in some of their products. @@MyDeepGuide

[@MyDeepGuide]

​@@BillVerdon Sure, none of the Squier Classic Vibe guitars I have tried exhibited such fret issues. Recently I got A CV Strat 50's and the first guitar I got was a complete dud. Something was very wrong with that one, as the frets were actually not hammered into the neck properly, and it had a bunch of other issues, but weirdly, no screwed up fret edges or scratchy frets. The replacement guitar of the same model I got was and is absolutely perfect in every single respect, and that's a guitar that is cheaper than these, yet plays, sounds and is a guitar on another level when compared to these.

[@mattbrand3031]

For the price of that guitar you have no complaints

[@MyDeepGuide]

Actually, I do, and I have listed and argumented them clearly.

[@dgw1970]

I was wondering whether you can separate out e-ink from other devices? I ask becaude although I play glassical guitar, I particularly value your videos for e-ink. It doesn't matter if there are only a few non e-ink videos but I'd there are more, perhaps a different channel? Thank you though for your brilliant, informative videos.

[@MyDeepGuide]

Well, the channel is called "My Deep Guide" and I always do different in-depth reviews of different technology and instruments, but not so regularly. So there's no point in making a dedicated channel for the occasional non e-ink review, as the regular viewers can easily see from the title, thumbnail and first few seconds of the video what the video is about, and if it is something that interests them or not :) My interests are wide and varied, and this will be reflected on the channel content as well :)

[@dgw1970]

@@MyDeepGuide fair enough. Just a thought.

[@ignazioorru1254]

⁠my thoughts: a good neck gives you a playable guitar. The sound can be managed changing the other parts of a guitar but the neck is the main part you touch and feel and must be precise and smooth. New guitar, new strings and make you setup. Finally, I don’t think locking tuners are a must have choice. If you tie your strings in the proper way you don’t need it.

[@MyDeepGuide]

What about the fretwork? ;)

[@ignazioorru1254]

@@MyDeepGuide I mean all the neck, including the frets and the fretboard. All must be ok. Moreover, the neck is so roasted it looks like rosewood.

[@adilsonobelard9690]

Seen to me you have gotten the guitar just to do a video buy 3 guitar with the same configuration and style is clear a content video. Learn to polish the frets and adjust. Other reviews? Go and buy a similar guitar for the price you have paid for Thoman should ban you to purchase just for videos

[@MyDeepGuide]

Why, just because I offer an objective look at what Thoman actually delivers to customers? Also, I genuinely wanted an HSS guitar, and wanted to pick one of those because they looked nice, but unfortunately all 3 were terrible, so all 3 went back. Maybe Thoman should invest more in QC on their guitars. As for you, maybe you should actually know what it is that you are talking about, before you continue spewing garbage accusations out of your mouth, because if you check my Squire Telecaster video, you'll see that I ordered 4 guitars, kept one, or my Ibanez Baritone guitars video, you'll see that I ordered 2 and kept one. So do your friggin homework before putting on the tough-boy-act pants.

[@adilsonobelard9690]

@@MyDeepGuide No you know that is not true. I know they need some work if you don’t know how to polish a fret using steel wool you are stupid I have Les Paul of 5000 that if comes I. The box and was never opened by the store to put in display the issues are relatively the same. Nothing against your videos do whatever you want.

[@MyDeepGuide]

What about the finish blemishes and scratches? You make up a lot of excuses for a company, and I have to wonder why? My point is, at the same price or even less, with Squire, for example, you get a guitar that doesn't have blemishes, doesn't have scratches, doesn't have corroded frets, and has a perfectly decent setup out of the same factory sealed box, like these came out of. Thomann sendes their HB guitars to channels with 2-3K subs for reviewing, do you honestly believe that this channel wouldn't be able to get them if I requested them? But that's not the point. Because the guitar that is being sent to a reviewer is not an example of what the customer gets. Only directly ordering them is, and if you would stop for a second and think instead of acting all butthurt for the company that doesn't give a crap about you, you would actually realise that on your own. So, yeah, I will be doing my reviews the way I want them, and you should maybe think for a second or two with your own head, before suggesting that someone should be banned from stores, and also if any of that has anything to do with you in the first place or not.