Harley Benton Custom Line Superior-E VS

Gitarę kupiłem pod wpływem recenzji Henninga z kanału Eytshpi42 na YouTube. Dostawa jak zwykle z Thomanna szybka i bezproblemowa.
Co do samego instrumentu:
+ konstrukcyjnie wykonany bez zarzutu, czuć solidne materiały
+ dźwięk bardzo klarowny, dźwięczny, nadaje się znakomicie do akompaniamentu i gry akordowej. Na samym początku miałem wrażenie małej ilości basu, ale z każdym dniem słyszę go więcej (być może kwestia aklimatyzacji drewna do moich warunków)
+ wbudowany preamp Fishmana daje radę, gitara po podłączeniu do wzmacniacza brzmi więcej niż przyzwoicie
+ bardzo wygodny gryf
+ progi równe i dobrze obrobione
+ gitara na ścianie wygląda jak milion dolarów (jedynie można przyczepić się do dosyć cienkiego lakieru i mocno nijakiego pickguardu)
+ fabryczne struny są bardzo dobrej jakości, nie trzeba od razu zmieniać
+ klucze precyzyjne, trzymają strój
+ ustawiona dosyć bezpiecznie (będę obniżał delikatnie mostek i siodełko, ale to tylko drobne korekty), ale grywalna od razu po wyjęciu z pudełka
- małe niedoróbki w wykończeniu (ślady kleju przy perłowych markerach na podstrunnicy, na krawędzi otworu rezonansowego itp.) w tej cenie jak najbardziej spodziewane
Podsumowując - za rozsądne pieniądze otrzymałem solidny od strony lutniczej instrument, który po drobnych korektach i wymianie pickguardu na coś zbliżonego do oryginału może naprawdę robić za bardzo dobrą alternatywę dla prawdziwego Hummingbirda.

Delivered within 4 days well packaged and undamaged. but with faults the action is very high, I hope I can get it down enough by getting someone to take something of the bridge.
Whoever did the faux mother of pearl markers on the neck must have been a completely untrained amateur none of them are level they look atrocious they are so far out and at such an angle that where it is level with the string at the bottom the top part has over an eighth of an inch showing, and you can see through some of them where so much has been gouged out that you can see the indentation through the marker and there are black bits of glue or something on the edges as well and even the sizes and shade don't match.
The tuners seem firm enough but they turn and nothing happens and then suddenly they start to catch, once in tune they are ok but they make tuning awkward and more time consuming, something I can live with as they stay in tune once set, but a niggle all the same.
The action and the markers are the two really disappointing things, hopefully I can get someone to improve the action, but I can do nothing with the inlays on the neck, they look really stupid, how they got through quality control I don't know, they stand out like a sore thumb, which is a shame as the guitar otherwise looks and sounds really good.
I can't send it back, at the price it is not worth all the trouble of re-packaging and sorting out post, but someone needs to be told about the workmanship on the inlays, no professional could have done those, even an apprentice wouldn't have done work so bad, I would be interested to know how it occured and who did it.

After a couple of weeks, here my thoughts on the Harley Benton Superior E-VS.

This guitar looks quite good. At first look, it's beautiful: the woods are nice, the binding around the body and neck is flawless and overall doesn't look like a cheap guitar.
I think that the sunbutst looks awesome (the photos don't do it justice) and i love the headstock logo and shape.
Nontheless, if you pay attention to the details, then you can find some minor flaws. The blocks are a bit asymmetrical and there were some traces of glue around them (but it was esay to clear It).
The pickguard is very ugly and i think i will replace It as soon as possibile.

The construction is solid and i don't have any complaint about it.
The neck is straight and the frets are perfect, there are no sharp edges, dead spots or buzzing even if the action is quite low.
The neck is also very comfortable to play, even if i have small hands.
I love the vintage looking tuners: they are pretty decent, not the best in the world, but they do their job quite well.

And now the most important part: this guitar sounds very very good.
Like the real thing, it has a lot of attack, with a very brillant sound and balanced bottom (to be honest, it lacks a bit of it to really sound like a gibson hummingbird).
The strumming is where this guitar really shines, but it does a very good job also with fingerpicking.

Overall this is a very good guitar, far better than its Epiphone counterpart.
And of you think that i paid it 220 euros (including shipping and a gig bag) this is an incredible deal.
Once again Harley Benton proved to be a very good brand, and maybe the one with the best value for the money on the market.

Well done HB!