I got one a few weeks ago and I love it. Build quality is great, sounds insane, stays in tune like a champ, and is one of the most playable guitars I own. More so than guitars I have had and have had that were 2 or 3 times the price. Best 400 bucks I've spent on guitar gear. And, I absolutely love the h70 pups. Super versatile and sparkling with harmonics. And pretty fabulous clean tones. One of the best necks I have ever played. Love it .
I love using completely impractical gauged chunky strings, and I feel that stainless frets make a great difference in playability. The durability factor is also great. I have been planing a Les Paul with nickel frets for 10 years and it's definitely in need of a fret job. I also have gorilla hands and play very aggressive caveman riffs, so I might be biased.
I bought a new Fusion III for my son. It arrived perfect and in tune. Not a flaw on it. The frets are rough but if you ever leveled, crowned and polished ss frets, it takes a lot more effort and time than they probably were willing to put in. The F-III I purchased has Roswell (HH) pickups, a pushpull, locking tuners and a Wilkenson trem. For $329 US I'm very satisfied. It's his first electric, I'm sure he will be too.
Appreciate that mate thank you! Its sometimes not easy to keep content regularly coming as I do these in my spare time but I get videos out as often as I can.
Well the nut is just a case of it being a strat style nut, it's nothing out of ordinary, about stainless steel frets, my solar had really well polished frets when I got it that were the smoothest frets I've ever played, on my Harley Benton fusion it also only took a few weeks to play them in until they felt better than polished nickel frets, all in all great review and it was nice to hear your perspective.
Spot on with the S/S frets! Blue tape and a Dremel help, but not everyone wants to mess with a fret polish, but add in the cost of a good guitar tech, and it's still a bargain. Thanks for the honesty-Peace.
When you have many guitars, you WANT Stainless frets! It may be months before I get around to playing some of them, and I don't care about the break in, I care about not having to massage my frets when I want to play it. You can condition stainless ONCE, and be done forever.
Great review! Got mine yesterday, never had stainless steel frets and was surprised of the roughness in bends like you mention. I assume polishing the frets during would help. Gonna change strings to 10-52, hoping the thin nut supports the thicker strings well without having to widen the slots. Apart from this I love this thing, super playable and lightest of all my guitars, great pickups and the neck feels amazing. Your review is spot on!
Frets absolutely need polishing/lightly sanding. I would think 10-52 you'd be absolutely fine. If HB made a Baritone version of this guitar I would snap their hand off for one!
I just canceled an order for a $1200 Strat, in order to get one of these in Tele config, I am blown tf away! I don't understand how the hell they can even make this, but I need to get one, feel it, and find out for myself how this is even real OO
I didnt actually know of the Tele shape when I reviewed this but I too would have chosen it had I known. I wonder what, if any, margin they make on these guitars or if they are some kind of loss leader...
I saw this review and some others and they made me so exited that I ordered one! Got it last week and I absolutely love it! The paintwork is flawless and the roasted neck and fingerboard have some awesome flame in it!! The EMG active pickups amaze me (not quite an actice pu lover) and so does the hardware. I am very glad I ordered one!!
@@Themonions Interested to hear if US gets hit hard with Customs. Despite the UK being out of the EU we dont pay any futher VAT or Customs on items from Thomann.
Great video. I ordered the T version and it's phenomenal for under $1000. The flamed neck looks amazing, but I wasn't lucky enough to get any flame figuring on the fretboard and it seems I'm like the only one who didn't. I might order a second one in hopes of getting a heavily flamed fretboard. Nothing looks cooler than that haha.
Dude I literally ordered this and barely a minute later found the Tele version! I would have absolutely chosen that one first. A great package. Just hoping they do a 27 inch Baritone version now...
I play with this guitar in drop G tuning without any issue and the pickups are stunning and are my firs choice over my EMG81 on the ESP EC2 and the FISHMAN FLUENCE MODERN on a Cort. So much respect on your job on this channel mate, but I think the problem for the most part of your reviews are your high gain sounds. You also tried a Cort kh300 with the same pickups and I remember the "chug" sound on palm mute sounds terrible to me also on that review and while I was watching my mind were "WTF?!?!?! Why it sounds terrible and mine sounds the best one I got for modern Djent and metal over my Fishman's or Emg81 or Seymour Duncan Peg????" You were on the Helix if I remember correctly, the Headrush sounds awful compared to other amp modeler and in the modern metal community we know that, but the Line6 Helix is a great piece of Gear so...HOW!?????? I think you should upgrade the high gain tones, Neural DSP's plugins like "Nameless" or "cali" sounds a lot better for high gain tones and maybe it would be a nice upgrade for your future tests on "metal made" guitars like that, also Drop tuning Tests in C, B, A, G will could be a nice touch in my opinion! Anyway your reviews it helped a lot so thanks for your hard work and keep going! PS: If you 'll can sounds terrible also NEURAL DSP plugins, I will quit! 🤣
I had to refret my Ibanez Les Paul, long time ago (it was than only 8 yrs old). We put some good Fender frets and all is well until now. No explanation for that.
I bought this guitar as soon as it came out. I love it. But yes the frets were a bit rough. I used micromesh polishing cloths, 600 to 6000 grit. Didnt take much time and now the frets are perfect. Shiny and smooth. I also swapped out the indonesian made emgs to proper american made emg 81/85. But that is just a matter of taste. However the indonesian made emgs are 100 times better than the roswell pickups they usually use.
Interesting. Your opinion of stainless steel frets is exact opposite why usually people (me included) buy them :). All frets of all guitars need to be properly polished stainless or nickel. But stainless steel frets when they are polished are so slippery that playing on them especially bending etc is an absolute pleasure. When I play on SS fretted guitar for some time afterwards I immediately feel disturbed playing back a nickel fretted guitar. Also the one advantage of SS frets is not never needing a refret but actually never needing levelling and polishing again ( assuming it is done at the beginning). On nickel fretted necks bends will scratch and damage the frets and eventually you will need several times of fret levelling. Nevertheless thank you for the review, I was thinking to buy this guitar just out of curiosity to compare with mote expensive guitars but now I think that it might not be good idea. It seems there is a lot of work to do after buyung, fret polishing and levelling, nut adjustment etc which will increase the price.
Fair comments. I think my experience is more down to improper QC of Stainless frets being an issue in general with manufacturers. I've never played Nickel frets that are as rough as some Stainless ones can be. I still think this guitar is a steal even with having to possibly polish the frets!
I bought the telecaster style one about a month ago. I' m very happy with it. It looks good and sounds good good too. The neck is very comfortable and the pickup have the high output that i need to play metal and hard rock, but not as high as the emg 81. For me this is the second Harley Benton. The first one was a sc 450. A very cheap les paul style guitar, which was well built, with a good neck and a decent finish but with very weak output pickups and very cheap tuners. So i upgraded it with the emg 81/85 set and hb locking tuners. With this two guitars i have to say that im very happy. I like this brand for the cheap price and the good quality.
Thanks for the video. Yes, this guitar is really awesome. I had a lot of guitar, always on price range under 1000-1100€. I received today this fusion. Well, I think their quality control improved a lot, really a lot . I bought one b stock and one brand new, both are perfect (with all feedback I wanted to be prudent and have both new and b stock). No issue on frets, so I think they now polish them. Just, the brand new one neck is totally dark brown, as if it's so much cooked. Overall, a really great guitar for the price..
I know the feeling of unpolished frets like that, but I'd be okay with it at this price point. Unfortunately, I had the exact same thing on a sterling JP157 that was priced at 1800€... That was so frustrating, returned the guitar immediately.
Damn that is disappointing at that price point! As long as you're spending 1K+ you can normally be assured of getting nicely polished frets. Although my Solar A1.7 has rough stainless frets to this day after 18 months of regular use.
I had to spend maybe 15 mins polishing the frets on my Amaroks, I now prefer stainless frets. They are brighter and tougher, given that I play hard and low, they are perfect for me, I’ll be getting the fusion T version of this one soon.
Care to share your method/materials for polishing so others can follow? I actually wasn't aware they did a T Shape Version of this guitar until I'd already placed my order. Definitely would have gotten that one had I known!
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Why is that if I may ask? Just preference for T-style? Thanks for the detailed review! You make great observations that others don't! 💪👌
@@martinschDK I used to dislike the Tele body shape but for some reason as I've gotten older its really grown on me and im a total sucker for a modern take on a Tele guitar. I would snap one up with a 27" Baritone scale for example. Thanks for watching! :)
Thanks for the video. Stainless ... well, judging by the sound they made with you bending them on the 12th fret, kinda bad, but that just means that the buyer will be forced to learn a bit of guitar servicing and will have to buff and polish them ;) Although I must say that they are kinda good to have if you are playing a lot and bending a lot and maybe you have a rougher playing style, the normal nickel/silver frets can wear out in less then 10 years, even sooner. I am just servicing a 2005 G&L S500 that is in dire need of a fret leveling. Even my 2010 Pacifica that was not played much or hard needed a fret job this year. But quite some time will have to pass before you would have to replace the frets. Love the roasted maple neck, and it looks quite good.
What do you think about Ibanez's "Sub Zero Fret Treatment" approach? On paper it should be an ideal compromise. The RGD7 I tried with it had nice smooth frets albeit a bunch of other issues. The Roasted Maple neck is easily the best part of this guitar, its incredibly loud and snappy sounding acoustically because of it. Thanks for watching!
Great review, thank you. Thomann are out of stock now, but I have got a B stock one on order. Never owned a guitar with S/S frets before. But thanks to your review I have got the wet and dry and metal polish on standby.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Well first impressions, very light! Some cosmetic issues. But it is B stock. Quite loud acoustically! Hardware seems good. Frets would have benefited from a polish. Set up nigh on perfect for me. String height, a smidge of neck relief and intonation all fine out of the box. Happy with the EMG's. All in all :)
@@leeturner2272 Anything I own with a Roasted Maple neck is incredibly loud acoustically. I have a 7 String Legator N7 black ice with a roasted neck that is my best sounding guitar by far probably for this reason.
@@joedavis8481 Thanks Joe,I guess that it's down to the luck of the draw? Got a little work to do on mine. Although from the 12th fret up the frets seem to be bedding in quite well. Still seems excellent value for what you get.
I got one, the box was in rough shape, and it had a few dings on it, but I still can't beat it for the price. I just wanted a beater guitar anyway, and even with the dings it's an amazing deal. Best bang for buck guitar ever IMO. I don't know how they do it?
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Okay! The nut on my Fusion-III EMG is the standard 3.1mm Strat/Tele size, but I guess it's possible that different production runs has had different sized nuts.
I am definitely ordering one in a couple of weeks and I really can't wait to try it out.. from everything I've heard of this guitar, it will easily become my second favourite guitar to play.. perfect for metal
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial I got it today and I am blown away. First of all there is not even a small flaw on my guitar, secondly I love the playability and its sound. My favourite part of the instrument is definitely the neck and the fretboard... I didn't find the neck to be tick and it's really comfortable, moreover the stainless steel frets on my guitar are not rough at all, they are just perfect! I had another Harley Benton prior to this one, but I wasn't convinced and I decided to change it for the Fusion EMG HT Roasted and I am glad I did that, this is a totally different product! Thanks again for your video review, it was very helpful in order to purchase the right guitar :)
These are indeed incredible guitars for the price, but I have to point out that your statement about stainless steel fret is incorrect. They do offer more than durability. Since this is a much harder material, strings don't slowly dig into them with bending, meaning they will stay mark-free and will pretty much never worn out (at least the good ones). We can clearly see in most Harley Benton guitar video reviews that those Blacksmith Stainless Steel frets aren't completely polished like on expensive guitars (we can clearly see scratches and that they're not that shiny for stainless steel frets). My main guitar is an Ibanez MM1 (Martin Miller's signature AZ Prestige), and trust me when I say that they are still mirror-like and brand new from the last to the last, even after playing it many hours everyday since october 2021 (and I bend A LOT). To truly see/feel the difference, you need good fully polished stainless frets (cause they will stay that way for years and years). Another HUGE advantage of SS frets that not too many people talk about (and I don't understand why, because it's been pretty obvious to me) is their effect on string longevity. Fully polished SS frets don't transfer oxydation to your strings, unlike nickel frets. Everytime you bend a string on nickel frets, a tiny amount of oxydation is transfered to the strings, combined with sweat/natural oil from your skin, it contributes a lot at killing strings. When I got my first guitar with stainless steel frets, I noticed it right away.. well after a week of playing them many hours everyday, they were still super shiny and smooth.. something that I never been able to do with any guitar that has nickel frets... even when wiping strings and applying a string cleaner both before and after every playing session. Now, I only have guitars with stainless steel frets and would never go back.. Also, harder material = brighter sound (that part is a matter of taste, but I do prefer the sound of SS). Plus, they're sooo satisfying to look at.. it helps giving that super clean and shiny ''Boutique'' look :)
Stainless Steel frets means you HAVE to pay someone to make it work first. Every time. It sucks. Also, being harder than the nickel strings means they end up eating up the strings really fast!
@@MFKitten I have had them be nice out the box but only if Im spending around 1K on the guitar. My Legator N7/N6's and my Schecter C1 Elite had nice smooth Stainless frets out the box. My Solar A1.7 is rough to this day even after 18 months 😂
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial if you were with me when I got my LTD M7B black metal you would have cried with me over how terrible it was. Absolute shitshow. Scrapey frets were among the issues.
Got mine a week ago...tuned it down to drop C sharp with the stock 46... absolutely No Problems...gonna Go lower with every String Change and increase the gauge by 2 also...wanna See how gar I can Go... Love this Guitar btw
Got SS frets on my Schecter SLS Elite C1. Love em. Bending was a breeze BUT they came polished. So if the finishing isn't great, the roughness is a given. That being said.... Schecter was 1400 USD. So it makes sense for this to not have the polish. Personally I'd still go with SS and have em polished or I'll just noodle on it until it's worn in. Good spot with that mate. I agree....ss frets are not a must. Nickel does just fine.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Roasted maple is a nice step up when it comes to the rigidity of the neck (harder=more dense=less vibrations absorbed by the wood=more brightness in tone I guess?) compared to the standard maple, also better in resisting changes in temperature and humidity. More importantly, they are lighter than regular maple :D
I have a Strat and I love the 25.5 inch scale on that. That sound cannot be replicated on anything but a 25.5 inch scale guitar. So, I have a question about the Harley Benton Fusion, does is sound anything like a strat at all? Just curious, it would not be a deal breaker either way. I had to have a fret job done on my Brian May Signature gold top. That guitar was made in 2007 and those Nickle frets were slotted and completely worn out. Especially from the nut to the fifth-sixth fret. The zero frets notoriously wear out on these guitars, and that one was the worst on mine. I had fret buzz everywhere and, truss rod adjustments no longer worked to alleviate that. So I had to do something. I had all those frets replaced with Jascar gold jumbo fret wire, including the zero fret. Jascar Gold fret wire is a copper alloy. They go on silver and patina to a gold color quickly and the hardness is somewhere between stainless and nickel. The Brian May is a 24 fret 24 inch scale. My point of all this is, if you have ever had to refret a guitar, it is not a one and done. The process that takes a lot of time. The wood shrinks and you get fret sprout, and the guitar has to go back over and over. Mine had to go back twice after the refret. So I finally bought my own fret file, and plan on doing it myself this time, because the third fret sprouted again, and filing has be done one more time. Fret sprout Is not just a comfort thing. The top E string actually gets caught under the end of the fret. Can you imagine that during a performance? All of a sudden your top E string is gone off the fret board and useless. I have to slide my pick under the string up near the twelfth fret and slide it up to get it to release. Having stainless steel frets on a guitar to start would negate ALL of this messing around, and not even to mention the expense of a refret being over $300 dollars. Most luthiers even won't do Stainless Steel because its rough on their tools. I am not sure why your Harley Benton Fusion seems scratchy to you on bends. Typically stainless steel offers a smoother glide across the fret as you bend. Maybe yours needs a polish. I plan on purchasing a Harley Benton Fusion in the future. The biggest selling point to me, are the 24 stainless steel frets, (because 2 octaves of stainless steel is just better), the 25.5 inch scale length, and the emg pickups.
Fair points mate. I've recently chatted with a function band guitarist who does hundreds of gigs a year and re-fretting is a very regular and essential piece of maintenance. Eye opening!. This guitar absolutely does not sound like a Strat I'm afraid. That nice chimey single coil tone just isn't the target sound for how its built. It is however still very bright and snappy sounding and extremely enjoyable in the way it responds to enthusiastic playing! I have often experienced rough SS Frets from new and it takes a good polish or a long break in period for it to lessen. The better QC'd guitars will nearly always come with them properly smooth and polished.
I can't comment on this guitar as I watched this because I was thinking about picking one up. I have worn the frets down on two guitars. One Fender Strat plus that was my main gig, rehersal and at home practice guitar and the other was my beater/practice guitar. They both just had so many hours of play on them. I've also had a different experience with SS frets. I have two guitars with them. An ESP/LTD SN1000 and a Schecter Sun Vally Super Shredder exotic. Both are so smooth it's crazy. Different price point though. Anyway, thanks for the review. I have a little more knowledge now.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial I did end up getting this HB guitar. Neck is thicker than I expected but there are no finish or fret issues. I do need to track a potential grounding issue down because even unplugged it drains the battery. I have to change it just about every month. I make sure it doesn't stay plugged in. So there's something going on with it.
I have a little different opinion on stainless steel frets. I have played one guitar over several years. I simplay only had this one. 8 years later and the frets are dead. I can't refret this guitar. The luthier told me that the way the woodgrain in the fretboard is, it would destroy the fingerboard if someone tried to pull out the frets. My Jackson Randy Rhoads is now sadly only for show off. So i really like stainless steel for that reason and i never experienced the sandpaper feeling you described in your video. However, what you described sounds more like an issue with the polishing work on the frets of this guitar. My suggestion: take another 80 bucks and give this guitar to a luthier, ask him to polish the frets properly and you'll end up with a really stable instrument.
SS frets are completely useless unless you’ve ever had to refret a guitar. Yes, I have had to do that. It has been a major pain in the ass. Fret sprout. Ugh. Gold top Brian May With gold jumbo frets, the frets alone cost me 300. Having that bit already taken care of, is a huge plus to me.
Nope I've refretted often enough that SS makes sense "for me". Maybe not the case in general but yes for me. I have a very very heavy hand and I realise that it is MY problem, but yes SS any day 😂
Last year I got a TE-20 HH SBK just to strip and mod it because I like the matte black look. The project turned out extremely well. But this Fusion is different. No mods needed at all. I’m considering it even though my wife asks where am I going to put it? ;)
Just get the SS frets polished, it's 30-45 minutes job and it will last forever, just do it. My HB fusion pro was the same, not anymore and plays great ;-) It would be nice if they came better polished but it must be a cost saving thing...
I agree about stainless steel frets. They are an advantage for someone who plays one same guitar every day forever. Rory Gallagher had his Strat refretted (the one he de-finished by sweating on it). To most others, they are an unnecessary luxury feature. My big worry about them is that I had several Harley Benton that needed minor fret levelling. I could do it myself with cheap tools but that likely wouldn't be possible with stainless steel.
Guess I am the only one who does it, but I never collect guitars. I actually played my old Ibanez 10 years without any alternatives. One 7 string, one 6 string
Do I ever remember a time that I've had to refret? I've had to fret level a few times because they've worn down and caused issues. I've got an Ibanez Premium here from 2015 and the frets are really worn down, they've got big ditches in some of them. That's less than 10 years old man. Trouble is, if I fret level, they'll all have to come down to the lowest point, and in this case it means they'll lose too much height and so it's due for a refret from a mere 8 years of solid use. The idea that it takes 30-40 years? I'm sorry, you're really wrong about that. If you heavily play the one guitar, they're gonna wear down WAY faster than that. For you to say this, it tells me you're always buying new guitars and not heavily playing any one guitar. Stainless steel frets are absolutely worth it if you plan on using the guitar a lot for years, and also they feel better to play on, bends are smoother. I don't know why you think they're rough to do bends on - but I've been playing on more expensive guitars with them, and straight out of the box they've been really polished well and so bends are like silk.
Damn dude what string gauges/tuning do you play? Sounds like the Ibby gets some hard use! In your experience do SS frets last indefinitely or just much longer than Nickel?
What's your fx chain at 3:19 ?? As for the stainless steel argument, I've never had that issue before, had a couple of Ibanez's and even one Harley Benton that had them and they were smooth on bends. I think its just another of those QC issues that some guitars have sometimes.
Hi mate, im using the rig featured in this video for Headrush. If you own a HR there is a free download for it in the video description: - czcams.com/video/XmgtHiV3C0g/video.html
Hey James - Great review - Really appreciate your elegant style and intelligent observations - However, we ain't on the same page when it comes to stainless frets - It takes me literally less than 6 months max to frazzle out a set of nickel frets.
I delisted it as I felt I went far too off topic and examined Thomann as a company more than reviewing the actual guitar. My issue with it was it was decent components thrown together without much care or finesse.
I love YT guitar reviewers studios, it's always €10-20,000 worth of Guitar equipment on display being mixed through €100-200 monitors 😂I had those M-Audio's myself though, they are little beasts! I have a Fusion III(one of the DK knockoffs, tele shape) in the post, very interested to see the quality, hope it's on par with this one.
Hi James,Great review once again.Im a Schecter man and all my guitars are ultra thin C now. If I got this guitar would it feel super uncomfortable to play as the neck is bigger as I know you have a Schecter that is Ultra thin C as to compare it to.Also then EMGs how do they compare to your Fishman Pick ups.Are they just as gainy as the classics but not as high output as the moderns?.Thanks.
Hi mate. Id say you'll find this slightly flatter and wider than the equivalent Schecter neck. Honestly I find these EMG's more naturally pleasing to the ear than a 6 String set of Fishmans although they are slightly less hot on output and less compressed. Certainly less versatile but overall I really liked them.
I reckon you should be ok with minimal to zero nut filing at that gauge, definitely look at a proper setup/truss adjustment though. Let us know how you get on!
I'm in need of guitars to replace my prs se 24 standars (2017 model with fishmans, I'd be keeping those) and cort kx300, and this was one of the contenders. You raise some good points, but at the same time, I could get 2 of these and plek them and it would still be cheaper than getting something good from the beginning like prs se mark holcomb or some ibanez in that price range. So I'm conflicted rn. Thoughts? (I'm technically a giging musician, albeit on an amateur level).
For the price (Especially if you can get a B stock) its really difficult to go wrong even if you do end up having some fret work done. The biggest surprise of this guitar is how great it sounds, all the brightness and snappiness youd expect of a Roasted Maple neck!
Great review, great help as I am thinking of purchasing this very guitar b stock as it seems there are no new ones left. Also as regards to worn frets,my 78 Fender strat which is now 44 yrs old could be doing with new frets.
At B Stock prices these are just an unbelievable bargain. Thomann do seem to be quite good with restocking however. I assume their massive buying power keeps them at the front of the queue at the Indonesian factories. 44 years from a set of frets Id say is very good going! Thanks for watching.
@@andrewbecker3700 Is that right? Interesting... I watched a behind the scenes video with both Chapman and Solar at Indo factories and everyone there seemed to be working incredibly hard in an obviously less than perfect environment.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial That's funny that you mention Solar, because between them and Chapman which IMHO are a step up from HB or some Schecters, the problems with those somewhat "newer" brands has been rumored to stem from being built on these last of the day or late night runs, which caused the end product to suffer. I've recently bought numerous guitars built in Indonesia of different brands, and had only minor issues with them. Not enuff to return them, and now they're all dialed in and great. There's no question good stuffs being built there, but Harley Benton by no means has some kind of monopoly on where they stand in line. Now that Fender moved in, the compitition is even tougher. Sorry chap, but HB gets no money from me, yet, lol.
No, stainless steel frets aren’t there to prevent refrets. Sorry, I absolutely love your channel, just found it and am basking in the glory of your chillness. But stainless steel frets have a different purpose. They make sure that the playability that you buy the guitar with, stays the same for almost a lifetime. The action can stay the same, never any frets lowering to the point of introducing buzz, never a levelling job. The guitar is (almost) in an action time capsule. I have many guitars that I own, that have become worse for just having a couple of well played spots on the fretboard. I need to level a few really soon, and even a level changes a lot about the playability, imo. The final refret might never be necessary for most players, but stainless does have a major role to play for most players that play the crap out of their instruments.
Thanks for a review. May I ask have you tried it in lower than E std tuning? How was the intonation across the neck in that case? Regarding stainless steel frets: HBs I have tried this year really did not have them polished well enough. But I have also tried LTD H3-1000 from Korea with stainless steel frets that were polished from the factory and it was the best experience I had, they were so smooth and shiny, I feel like almost can't go back after that xD After I have tried around 6-7 guitars and returned most of them because of QC issues, I think that level of polish on frets is among last things I will complain about... Amaroks with angled and misplaced bridges that were impossible to intonate, some guitars (not HBs and costing more than 1k EUR) had already neck pocket cracks and one even had broken electronics and pickup screws :D
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Thank you for reply, maybe I will replace Amarok with this Fusion then, even though it has bolted neck :) Had 2 Amaroks and both with some intonation problems :) Regarding this Fusion, I have seen 2 major problems with it: easily chipping off paint and cracks between neck and first pickup cavity (this one applies also to other Fusions, sometimes it is also a neck pocket crack in wood). But few days ago I've got Firemist Fusion HSS and it is flawless. Hopefully will get EMG version with the same quality xD
Btw, I've bought $2k guitars with knobs rubbing the body, it usually happens at some point during packing, or shipping, and takes 4 seconds to fix. No guitar should have that even mentioned, you should know better :P
Alright mucker. How is the guitar now? I sold my fusion 3 after about 6 months because it had a lot of issues. I like the look of this one though and need a fixed bridge guitar. The guitar max fusion signature looks sick so I'm tempted by that too.
James, another fantastic well thought out balanced review. Well done. I’ve had a few HB’s now, along with prs-se’s, Epiphones and a Gibson (just the one lol). My experience with ss frets (on my Amarok-6) was identical. I never polished the frets on that one, rather gave each fret/string some major vibrato which smoothed things out. I’ve been contemplating one of these, or the T type since they were released but never pushed the button. I still won’t as I have a lusting for a Solar v1.6 evertune. Out of interest what tuning/gauge strings were you playing? Thanks.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial On my CST24T p90 I taped off the sides of the fretboard then each fret then used from 500 to 5000 grit finished with autosol. I don't think its much better than the Amarok which I just played and 'vibrato'd'
Ok but my main question with these guitars is this. It’s specced out to the gills for the price point. But my question is… is this guitar good FOR THE MONEY? Or is it just good? How far is it punching above it’s weight?
I'd say this particular Harley Benton is punching above it's weight with how well it actually functions not just playing the specs game. All others I have tried kill it on paper but once in your hands feel very cheap.
You are a wise man, sir... A great review! Do you find the guitar light? And does it have neck dive? And finally - does the reverse headstock makes the higher strings softer for bends? Thank you! :)
My girlfriend would disagree but thank you! 😂The guitar is nice and light. The reverse headstock doesnt really alter string tension on the Treble side especially since it has String-Trees.
I have a strandberg prog 7 and a mayones duvell with stainless steel frets and they play like butter. I dont know what brands of guitar you have tried with rough stainless steel frets. but thank you for this review.
My Solar A1.7 is still rough to this day and its had about 18 months of regular use. My Schecter C1 SLS however was really nice and smooth out of the box. Glad the Stranny and Mayones are as they should be, for the price you'd hope so. Thanks for watching!
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial I did not mean to diss. I was just wondering which brands you have with rough s/s frets. love your honest reviews on stuff. big help for us customers of what to expect before buyin! more power!
@@daflepail I didn't think you were mate :) Like I said in the video I think Stainless frets on budget guitars are probably going to be more trouble than just a good set of Nickel ones. I'd love to get a Strandberg in on the channel! Keeping my eyes peeled on Reverb/eBay..
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial So it still boils down to polished or unpolished frets regardless of they are stainless or not. looking forward for more reviews from you mate.
@@daflepail Funny you say that I've just got a new LTD in for review and the frets are so polished and blingy they feel great. Thanks for the support mate.
Stainless steel frets aren't inherently rough. Cheap guitars that don't have good fretwork are rough. Polish those frets with micromesh or fret erasers and they'll feel way smoother than nickel frets. Bending on polished stainless frets feels slippery.
About the frets: I recently resorted a 21 year old Squier Double Fat Strat, that was my first real guitar. The guitar was played every day for the first 10 years, after that from time to time, as I upgraded. I havn't had to replace a single fret so far. I just did a fret leveling, recrowned and polished the frets and it playes better than ever. These are no jumbo frets eather, just regular Fender style frets and I'm certain I can play with that for another 10 years at least. I think stainless steel frets on lower level guitarts can also be a bad thing, as they are suposed to be super hard to work with, and if your guitar neck gets warped or has some issues you will never be able to level the frets as easy as with nickel. Only if they do a perfect fretjob from the factory and your neck is stable over time it will be a good thing. Maybe if you are allergic to nickle, stainless steel frets can be the way to go.
If you pay less for a guitar, just know you have to do some fret work. And you may have to coat the inside electrical cavity. Adjust the height of the strings. Eggs 70's retro active use alnico 5's I believe. Which are great vintage pickups, but for the price of the guitar you can afford to replace with what you like! But the guitar reminds me of a California Special Stratocaster. 🤔
Yep! It was actually a gift from my bassist as I used to own one back in the day. I'm planning on doing a comparison with the modern equivalent to see how far modelling has/hasn't come...
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial I’m actually considering getting the line 6 vetta 2 HD. Meshuggah used them during the recording and live touring cycles of I, catch 33, nothing and part of the obzen tour before they switched to axe fx.
I hope they make a floyd rose or atleast a tremolo system I really like this one among the fusion series models because of the reverse headstock and the matte black but the only downside for me is the fixed bridge.
To be fair mate at this price point I think you're better off without a Floyd. To keep the cost down it would need to be such a cheap one that it would probably be an absolute nightmare for tuning stability, just like the Jackson KVXMG I recently reviewed. I would love it if they made a Baritone version of this, that bright snappy roasted maple sound on a 27 inch Scale would just be the nuts.
@@ruok3351 but can you do a divebomb on an evertune bridge? I think it take some of the fun if you are limited on what you can do on guitar and that's why tremolo system or FR outshine fix bridges.
@@ruok3351 There are die hard Floyd Rose fans out there that will argue this to the death with you 😂😂. Personally for the hassle id take an Evertune every day but then again im mostly a Rhythm player so I'm not the ideal customer for a Floyd.
stainless steel frets has to be better as long as the guitar is set up correctly with no high frets. It is deffently possible to wear down the frets, making uneaven frethights after short time use, when they are nickle. Especially if you prefere low actionheight and the fretboardradius is lower than 14" and you like to bend. I think they use nickle only because they are faster to finish in the factory and they wear out faster so people buy new intrument because it is expencive to get new fretjob. It should be default on all guitars. It should be illegal to sell guitars with nicklefrets. This should force the guitarproducers to modernice their production and reduce the labor by letting machines to the fretjob and polishing instead of cheap labor.
I got one a few weeks ago and I love it. Build quality is great, sounds insane, stays in tune like a champ, and is one of the most playable guitars I own. More so than guitars I have had and have had that were 2 or 3 times the price. Best 400 bucks I've spent on guitar gear. And, I absolutely love the h70 pups. Super versatile and sparkling with harmonics. And pretty fabulous clean tones. One of the best necks I have ever played. Love it .
Definitely found the same, its nice when you get a guitar that you struggle to put down/makes you late for everything lol
I love using completely impractical gauged chunky strings, and I feel that stainless frets make a great difference in playability. The durability factor is also great. I have been planing a Les Paul with nickel frets for 10 years and it's definitely in need of a fret job.
I also have gorilla hands and play very aggressive caveman riffs, so I might be biased.
Fair point.
Only caveman is real! 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
I bought a new Fusion III for my son. It arrived perfect and in tune. Not a flaw on it. The frets are rough but if you ever leveled, crowned and polished ss frets, it takes a lot more effort and time than they probably were willing to put in. The F-III I purchased has Roswell (HH) pickups, a pushpull, locking tuners and a Wilkenson trem. For $329 US I'm very satisfied. It's his first electric, I'm sure he will be too.
Nice Im sure your son will love it! Crazy specs for the price..
I really enjoy your videos, from the production to the no nonsense reviews and playing. Looking forward to your future content.
Appreciate that mate thank you! Its sometimes not easy to keep content regularly coming as I do these in my spare time but I get videos out as often as I can.
Well the nut is just a case of
it being a strat style nut, it's nothing out of ordinary, about stainless steel frets, my solar had really well polished frets when I got it that were the smoothest frets I've ever played, on my Harley Benton fusion it also only took a few weeks to play them in until they felt better than polished nickel frets, all in all great review and it was nice to hear your perspective.
Ps.: I got a b-stock benton and it was basically flawless, way better qc than on my solar.
Spot on with the S/S frets! Blue tape and a Dremel help, but not everyone wants to mess with a fret polish, but add in the cost of a good guitar tech, and it's still a bargain. Thanks for the honesty-Peace.
Good advice! Thanks for watching 👐
Mine was near perfect
When you have many guitars, you WANT Stainless frets! It may be months before I get around to playing some of them, and I don't care about the break in, I care about not having to massage my frets when I want to play it. You can condition stainless ONCE, and be done forever.
Great review! Got mine yesterday, never had stainless steel frets and was surprised of the roughness in bends like you mention. I assume polishing the frets during would help. Gonna change strings to 10-52, hoping the thin nut supports the thicker strings well without having to widen the slots. Apart from this I love this thing, super playable and lightest of all my guitars, great pickups and the neck feels amazing. Your review is spot on!
Frets absolutely need polishing/lightly sanding. I would think 10-52 you'd be absolutely fine. If HB made a Baritone version of this guitar I would snap their hand off for one!
I just canceled an order for a $1200 Strat, in order to get one of these in Tele config, I am blown tf away! I don't understand how the hell they can even make this, but I need to get one, feel it, and find out for myself how this is even real OO
I didnt actually know of the Tele shape when I reviewed this but I too would have chosen it had I known. I wonder what, if any, margin they make on these guitars or if they are some kind of loss leader...
I saw this review and some others and they made me so exited that I ordered one! Got it last week and I absolutely love it! The paintwork is flawless and the roasted neck and fingerboard have some awesome flame in it!! The EMG active pickups amaze me (not quite an actice pu lover) and so does the hardware. I am very glad I ordered one!!
Glad you're happy with yours!
How was your purchasing experience? Were you charged any other fees besides the shipping costs? (that is if you're in the US)
@@Themonions Interested to hear if US gets hit hard with Customs. Despite the UK being out of the EU we dont pay any futher VAT or Customs on items from Thomann.
SS for life. Just keep em shined.
always the best reviews man. +1 for the haircut too
Very kind mate thank you. The era of the Man Bun had to come to an end!
Great video. I ordered the T version and it's phenomenal for under $1000. The flamed neck looks amazing, but I wasn't lucky enough to get any flame figuring on the fretboard and it seems I'm like the only one who didn't. I might order a second one in hopes of getting a heavily flamed fretboard. Nothing looks cooler than that haha.
Dude I literally ordered this and barely a minute later found the Tele version! I would have absolutely chosen that one first. A great package. Just hoping they do a 27 inch Baritone version now...
Big thanks to you for reviewing this guitar!thanks a lot,!!
Thanks for watching!
I play with this guitar in drop G tuning without any issue and the pickups are stunning and are my firs choice over my EMG81 on the ESP EC2 and the FISHMAN FLUENCE MODERN on a Cort.
So much respect on your job on this channel mate, but I think the problem for the most part of your reviews are your high gain sounds.
You also tried a Cort kh300 with the same pickups and I remember the "chug" sound on palm mute sounds terrible to me also on that review and while I was watching my mind were "WTF?!?!?! Why it sounds terrible and mine sounds the best one I got for modern Djent and metal over my Fishman's or Emg81 or Seymour Duncan Peg????" You were on the Helix if I remember correctly, the Headrush sounds awful compared to other amp modeler and in the modern metal community we know that, but the Line6 Helix is a great piece of Gear so...HOW!??????
I think you should upgrade the high gain tones, Neural DSP's plugins like "Nameless" or "cali" sounds a lot better for high gain tones and maybe it would be a nice upgrade for your future tests on "metal made" guitars like that, also Drop tuning Tests in C, B, A, G will could be a nice touch in my opinion!
Anyway your reviews it helped a lot so thanks for your hard work and keep going!
PS: If you 'll can sounds terrible also NEURAL DSP plugins, I will quit! 🤣
I had to refret my Ibanez Les Paul, long time ago (it was than only 8 yrs old). We put some good Fender frets and all is well until now. No explanation for that.
I bought this guitar as soon as it came out. I love it. But yes the frets were a bit rough. I used micromesh polishing cloths, 600 to 6000 grit. Didnt take much time and now the frets are perfect. Shiny and smooth. I also swapped out the indonesian made emgs to proper american made emg 81/85. But that is just a matter of taste. However the indonesian made emgs are 100 times better than the roswell pickups they usually use.
I was really surprised how much I liked these EMG 70's.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Hey man, I refretted my first guitar lol, at about, 5-6 years? There were artists that refretted each year as well.
did you manage the pickup replacement without soldering ?
@@bilalcetin999 Yes, the stock pickups has the same "quickconnect" as american made emgs. So its a very easy swap.
Interesting. Your opinion of stainless steel frets is exact opposite why usually people (me included) buy them :). All frets of all guitars need to be properly polished stainless or nickel. But stainless steel frets when they are polished are so slippery that playing on them especially bending etc is an absolute pleasure. When I play on SS fretted guitar for some time afterwards I immediately feel disturbed playing back a nickel fretted guitar. Also the one advantage of SS frets is not never needing a refret but actually never needing levelling and polishing again ( assuming it is done at the beginning). On nickel fretted necks bends will scratch and damage the frets and eventually you will need several times of fret levelling. Nevertheless thank you for the review, I was thinking to buy this guitar just out of curiosity to compare with mote expensive guitars but now I think that it might not be good idea. It seems there is a lot of work to do after buyung, fret polishing and levelling, nut adjustment etc which will increase the price.
Fair comments. I think my experience is more down to improper QC of Stainless frets being an issue in general with manufacturers. I've never played Nickel frets that are as rough as some Stainless ones can be. I still think this guitar is a steal even with having to possibly polish the frets!
I bought the telecaster style one about a month ago. I' m very happy with it. It looks good and sounds good good too. The neck is very comfortable and the pickup have the high output that i need to play metal and hard rock, but not as high as the emg 81. For me this is the second Harley Benton. The first one was a sc 450. A very cheap les paul style guitar, which was well built, with a good neck and a decent finish but with very weak output pickups and very cheap tuners. So i upgraded it with the emg 81/85 set and hb locking tuners.
With this two guitars i have to say that im very happy. I like this brand for the cheap price and the good quality.
Nice! I would have ordered the Tele version but somehow missed it and ordered the S type shape instead.
Thanks for the video. Yes, this guitar is really awesome. I had a lot of guitar, always on price range under 1000-1100€. I received today this fusion. Well, I think their quality control improved a lot, really a lot . I bought one b stock and one brand new, both are perfect (with all feedback I wanted to be prudent and have both new and b stock). No issue on frets, so I think they now polish them. Just, the brand new one neck is totally dark brown, as if it's so much cooked. Overall, a really great guitar for the price..
Great glad to hear! There is a lot of colour variance with roasted maple between batches.
Stainless frets for somebody with a nickel allergy are a godsend. Affordable ones, even better.
I know the feeling of unpolished frets like that, but I'd be okay with it at this price point. Unfortunately, I had the exact same thing on a sterling JP157 that was priced at 1800€... That was so frustrating, returned the guitar immediately.
Damn that is disappointing at that price point! As long as you're spending 1K+ you can normally be assured of getting nicely polished frets. Although my Solar A1.7 has rough stainless frets to this day after 18 months of regular use.
Rough frets....If you have 4 plus guitars, you should own a Dremel type tool with polish wheel. That'll help out tremendously.
I had to spend maybe 15 mins polishing the frets on my Amaroks, I now prefer stainless frets. They are brighter and tougher, given that I play hard and low, they are perfect for me, I’ll be getting the fusion T version of this one soon.
Care to share your method/materials for polishing so others can follow? I actually wasn't aware they did a T Shape Version of this guitar until I'd already placed my order. Definitely would have gotten that one had I known!
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Why is that if I may ask? Just preference for T-style? Thanks for the detailed review! You make great observations that others don't! 💪👌
@@martinschDK I used to dislike the Tele body shape but for some reason as I've gotten older its really grown on me and im a total sucker for a modern take on a Tele guitar. I would snap one up with a 27" Baritone scale for example. Thanks for watching! :)
Thanks for the video. Stainless ... well, judging by the sound they made with you bending them on the 12th fret, kinda bad, but that just means that the buyer will be forced to learn a bit of guitar servicing and will have to buff and polish them ;) Although I must say that they are kinda good to have if you are playing a lot and bending a lot and maybe you have a rougher playing style, the normal nickel/silver frets can wear out in less then 10 years, even sooner. I am just servicing a 2005 G&L S500 that is in dire need of a fret leveling. Even my 2010 Pacifica that was not played much or hard needed a fret job this year. But quite some time will have to pass before you would have to replace the frets. Love the roasted maple neck, and it looks quite good.
What do you think about Ibanez's "Sub Zero Fret Treatment" approach? On paper it should be an ideal compromise. The RGD7 I tried with it had nice smooth frets albeit a bunch of other issues. The Roasted Maple neck is easily the best part of this guitar, its incredibly loud and snappy sounding acoustically because of it. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the review. I actually ordered one last week and patiently waiting for the UPS driver to deliver it today.
Let us know how you get on!
Great review, thank you. Thomann are out of stock now, but I have got a B stock one on order. Never owned a guitar with S/S frets before. But thanks to your review I have got the wet and dry and metal polish on standby.
Let us know how you get on with yours. Thanks for watching!
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Well first impressions, very light! Some cosmetic issues. But it is B stock. Quite loud acoustically! Hardware seems good. Frets would have benefited from a polish. Set up nigh on perfect for me. String height, a smidge of neck relief and intonation all fine out of the box. Happy with the EMG's. All in all :)
@@leeturner2272 Anything I own with a Roasted Maple neck is incredibly loud acoustically. I have a 7 String Legator N7 black ice with a roasted neck that is my best sounding guitar by far probably for this reason.
Hey bro , I had to get a b stock and it is perfect... also my frets were perfect and polished
@@joedavis8481 Thanks Joe,I guess that it's down to the luck of the draw? Got a little work to do on mine. Although from the 12th fret up the frets seem to be bedding in quite well. Still seems excellent value for what you get.
I got one, the box was in rough shape, and it had a few dings on it, but I still can't beat it for the price. I just wanted a beater guitar anyway, and even with the dings it's an amazing deal. Best bang for buck guitar ever IMO. I don't know how they do it?
Those TusQ nuts are made for strats and teles. The nut you have on the Legator is a Gibson-style nut.
I hear you. Still thought it was a lot thinner than I've seen on Strat type guitars.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Okay! The nut on my Fusion-III EMG is the standard 3.1mm Strat/Tele size, but I guess it's possible that different production runs has had different sized nuts.
I am definitely ordering one in a couple of weeks and I really can't wait to try it out.. from everything I've heard of this guitar, it will easily become my second favourite guitar to play.. perfect for metal
Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Let us know how you get on with yours?
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial I got it today and I am blown away. First of all there is not even a small flaw on my guitar, secondly I love the playability and its sound. My favourite part of the instrument is definitely the neck and the fretboard... I didn't find the neck to be tick and it's really comfortable, moreover the stainless steel frets on my guitar are not rough at all, they are just perfect! I had another Harley Benton prior to this one, but I wasn't convinced and I decided to change it for the Fusion EMG HT Roasted and I am glad I did that, this is a totally different product! Thanks again for your video review, it was very helpful in order to purchase the right guitar :)
@@elenamortolacobhc That's great glad your frets weren't like mine on arrival. Happy new guitar day 🎸
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Thanks a million! I will really enjoy this one 🎸 Have a great day ahead! 🤟
These are indeed incredible guitars for the price, but I have to point out that your statement about stainless steel fret is incorrect. They do offer more than durability.
Since this is a much harder material, strings don't slowly dig into them with bending, meaning they will stay mark-free and will pretty much never worn out (at least the good ones). We can clearly see in most Harley Benton guitar video reviews that those Blacksmith Stainless Steel frets aren't completely polished like on expensive guitars (we can clearly see scratches and that they're not that shiny for stainless steel frets). My main guitar is an Ibanez MM1 (Martin Miller's signature AZ Prestige), and trust me when I say that they are still mirror-like and brand new from the last to the last, even after playing it many hours everyday since october 2021 (and I bend A LOT). To truly see/feel the difference, you need good fully polished stainless frets (cause they will stay that way for years and years).
Another HUGE advantage of SS frets that not too many people talk about (and I don't understand why, because it's been pretty obvious to me) is their effect on string longevity. Fully polished SS frets don't transfer oxydation to your strings, unlike nickel frets. Everytime you bend a string on nickel frets, a tiny amount of oxydation is transfered to the strings, combined with sweat/natural oil from your skin, it contributes a lot at killing strings. When I got my first guitar with stainless steel frets, I noticed it right away.. well after a week of playing them many hours everyday, they were still super shiny and smooth.. something that I never been able to do with any guitar that has nickel frets... even when wiping strings and applying a string cleaner both before and after every playing session. Now, I only have guitars with stainless steel frets and would never go back..
Also, harder material = brighter sound (that part is a matter of taste, but I do prefer the sound of SS).
Plus, they're sooo satisfying to look at.. it helps giving that super clean and shiny ''Boutique'' look :)
Interesting, I've never heard of them affecting string longevity.
Dude. Busting out the Devin riffage, very cool! I have been very curious about these guitars specifically. Glad to see someone go in-depth!
Stainless Steel frets means you HAVE to pay someone to make it work first. Every time. It sucks. Also, being harder than the nickel strings means they end up eating up the strings really fast!
Ahhhh THATS where that Riff is from! I knew it was from someone I listen to a lot but couldnt remember so thanks for reminding me :)
@@MFKitten I have had them be nice out the box but only if Im spending around 1K on the guitar. My Legator N7/N6's and my Schecter C1 Elite had nice smooth Stainless frets out the box. My Solar A1.7 is rough to this day even after 18 months 😂
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial if you were with me when I got my LTD M7B black metal you would have cried with me over how terrible it was. Absolute shitshow. Scrapey frets were among the issues.
@@MFKitten Guitar retailers should start including a complimentary pack of fine grit sandpaper.
If i payed metal i would certainly check this one out.
Got mine a week ago...tuned it down to drop C sharp with the stock 46... absolutely No Problems...gonna Go lower with every String Change and increase the gauge by 2 also...wanna See how gar I can Go...
Love this Guitar btw
Got mine today and love it. Mine was b-stock but really just a little cosmetic thing
Crazy bargain for the price!
Got SS frets on my Schecter SLS Elite C1. Love em. Bending was a breeze BUT they came polished.
So if the finishing isn't great, the roughness is a given. That being said.... Schecter was 1400 USD. So it makes sense for this to not have the polish. Personally I'd still go with SS and have em polished or I'll just noodle on it until it's worn in. Good spot with that mate. I agree....ss frets are not a must. Nickel does just fine.
Got the exact same guitar and found the same, Schecter seem to go all out with polishing, always had SS guitars arrive shiney and smooth from them.
Do you know if these are real EMGs? They look different than the ones from the EMG website.
Yep these are EMG retroactives which I believe are Chinese made but still sound great!
Wow! Return to 70's metal 🎸
You can slap EMGs in almost anything and make it sound killer, but it sure helps when the guitar specs and looks are great for the price.
True, but I definitely think the roasted maple neck is a big part of why this guitar sounds so good.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Roasted maple is a nice step up when it comes to the rigidity of the neck (harder=more dense=less vibrations absorbed by the wood=more brightness in tone I guess?) compared to the standard maple, also better in resisting changes in temperature and humidity. More importantly, they are lighter than regular maple :D
does it come with a nice low action for speed? or is it high and needs setting up?
I have a Strat and I love the 25.5 inch scale on that. That sound cannot be replicated on anything but a 25.5 inch scale guitar. So, I have a question about the Harley Benton Fusion, does is sound anything like a strat at all? Just curious, it would not be a deal breaker either way.
I had to have a fret job done on my Brian May Signature gold top. That guitar was made in 2007 and those Nickle frets were slotted and completely worn out. Especially from the nut to the fifth-sixth fret. The zero frets notoriously wear out on these guitars, and that one was the worst on mine. I had fret buzz everywhere and, truss rod adjustments no longer worked to alleviate that. So I had to do something. I had all those frets replaced with Jascar gold jumbo fret wire, including the zero fret. Jascar Gold fret wire is a copper alloy. They go on silver and patina to a gold color quickly and the hardness is somewhere between stainless and nickel. The Brian May is a 24 fret 24 inch scale.
My point of all this is, if you have ever had to refret a guitar, it is not a one and done. The process that takes a lot of time. The wood shrinks and you get fret sprout, and the guitar has to go back over and over. Mine had to go back twice after the refret. So I finally bought my own fret file, and plan on doing it myself this time, because the third fret sprouted again, and filing has be done one more time. Fret sprout Is not just a comfort thing. The top E string actually gets caught under the end of the fret. Can you imagine that during a performance? All of a sudden your top E string is gone off the fret board and useless. I have to slide my pick under the string up near the twelfth fret and slide it up to get it to release. Having stainless steel frets on a guitar to start would negate ALL of this messing around, and not even to mention the expense of a refret being over $300 dollars. Most luthiers even won't do Stainless Steel because its rough on their tools.
I am not sure why your Harley Benton Fusion seems scratchy to you on bends. Typically stainless steel offers a smoother glide across the fret as you bend. Maybe yours needs a polish.
I plan on purchasing a Harley Benton Fusion in the future. The biggest selling point to me, are the 24 stainless steel frets,
(because 2 octaves of stainless steel is just better), the 25.5 inch scale length, and the emg pickups.
Fair points mate. I've recently chatted with a function band guitarist who does hundreds of gigs a year and re-fretting is a very regular and essential piece of maintenance. Eye opening!. This guitar absolutely does not sound like a Strat I'm afraid. That nice chimey single coil tone just isn't the target sound for how its built. It is however still very bright and snappy sounding and extremely enjoyable in the way it responds to enthusiastic playing! I have often experienced rough SS Frets from new and it takes a good polish or a long break in period for it to lessen. The better QC'd guitars will nearly always come with them properly smooth and polished.
I can't comment on this guitar as I watched this because I was thinking about picking one up. I have worn the frets down on two guitars. One Fender Strat plus that was my main gig, rehersal and at home practice guitar and the other was my beater/practice guitar. They both just had so many hours of play on them. I've also had a different experience with SS frets. I have two guitars with them. An ESP/LTD SN1000 and a Schecter Sun Vally Super Shredder exotic. Both are so smooth it's crazy. Different price point though. Anyway, thanks for the review. I have a little more knowledge now.
Schecter are superb at polishing their SS frets! Every new guitar of theirs i've tried with SS frets has been ultra smooth.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial I did end up getting this HB guitar. Neck is thicker than I expected but there are no finish or fret issues. I do need to track a potential grounding issue down because even unplugged it drains the battery. I have to change it just about every month. I make sure it doesn't stay plugged in. So there's something going on with it.
I really love your tones and playing, mate.
Thanks so much mate!
I have a little different opinion on stainless steel frets. I have played one guitar over several years. I simplay only had this one. 8 years later and the frets are dead. I can't refret this guitar. The luthier told me that the way the woodgrain in the fretboard is, it would destroy the fingerboard if someone tried to pull out the frets. My Jackson Randy Rhoads is now sadly only for show off. So i really like stainless steel for that reason and i never experienced the sandpaper feeling you described in your video. However, what you described sounds more like an issue with the polishing work on the frets of this guitar. My suggestion: take another 80 bucks and give this guitar to a luthier, ask him to polish the frets properly and you'll end up with a really stable instrument.
Thats fair enough, some people have posted some very useful methods for polishing the frets in the comments of this video too.
SS frets are completely useless unless you’ve ever had to refret a guitar. Yes, I have had to do that. It has been a major pain in the ass. Fret sprout. Ugh. Gold top Brian May With gold jumbo frets, the frets alone cost me 300. Having that bit already taken care of, is a huge plus to me.
Fair enough, I have just reviewed a £1900 Ibanez Prestige on the channel that didn't come with them and people in the comments were not impressed 😂😂
Just unbeatable at this price.
I would kill to know what, if any, margin Thomann gets on these guitars or if they are just loss leaders...
Nope I've refretted often enough that SS makes sense "for me". Maybe not the case in general but yes for me. I have a very very heavy hand and I realise that it is MY problem, but yes SS any day 😂
Last year I got a TE-20 HH SBK just to strip and mod it because I like the matte black look. The project turned out extremely well. But this Fusion is different. No mods needed at all. I’m considering it even though my wife asks where am I going to put it? ;)
She can ask right? 🤣
Just get the SS frets polished, it's 30-45 minutes job and it will last forever, just do it. My HB fusion pro was the same, not anymore and plays great ;-) It would be nice if they came better polished but it must be a cost saving thing...
Yep there is some excellent advice on polishing posted in the comments of this video 👍
Had to re fret my old peavey horizon ii but your right it's ooold and has been gigged and jammed with obsessively for years
Man I remember drooling over those in the guitar magazines as a teenager!
They are awesome guitars so underrated. Need to get the wiring sorted too but trying to hard to keep it as original as possible
I agree about stainless steel frets. They are an advantage for someone who plays one same guitar every day forever. Rory Gallagher had his Strat refretted (the one he de-finished by sweating on it).
To most others, they are an unnecessary luxury feature.
My big worry about them is that I had several Harley Benton that needed minor fret levelling. I could do it myself with cheap tools but that likely wouldn't be possible with stainless steel.
Agree fully mate. People have posted some helpful methods for fret polishing in the comments here.
Guess I am the only one who does it, but I never collect guitars. I actually played my old Ibanez 10 years without any alternatives. One 7 string, one 6 string
Do I ever remember a time that I've had to refret? I've had to fret level a few times because they've worn down and caused issues. I've got an Ibanez Premium here from 2015 and the frets are really worn down, they've got big ditches in some of them. That's less than 10 years old man. Trouble is, if I fret level, they'll all have to come down to the lowest point, and in this case it means they'll lose too much height and so it's due for a refret from a mere 8 years of solid use. The idea that it takes 30-40 years? I'm sorry, you're really wrong about that. If you heavily play the one guitar, they're gonna wear down WAY faster than that.
For you to say this, it tells me you're always buying new guitars and not heavily playing any one guitar. Stainless steel frets are absolutely worth it if you plan on using the guitar a lot for years, and also they feel better to play on, bends are smoother. I don't know why you think they're rough to do bends on - but I've been playing on more expensive guitars with them, and straight out of the box they've been really polished well and so bends are like silk.
Damn dude what string gauges/tuning do you play? Sounds like the Ibby gets some hard use! In your experience do SS frets last indefinitely or just much longer than Nickel?
yet another good review channel, subscribed
Thanks for watching!
I'd rather have the SS frets. A few minutes with a dremel polishing wheel and some polishing compound (use a fret guard or tape) and you'll be sorted.
What's your fx chain at 3:19 ??
As for the stainless steel argument, I've never had that issue before, had a couple of Ibanez's and even one Harley Benton that had them and they were smooth on bends. I think its just another of those QC issues that some guitars have sometimes.
Hi mate, im using the rig featured in this video for Headrush. If you own a HR there is a free download for it in the video description: - czcams.com/video/XmgtHiV3C0g/video.html
Does it have the lumi inlays? or am I trippin
I've literally never had to have a guitar re-fretted. Maybe if I had only one guitar I spent EVERYDAY for years playing it would make a difference.
Crazy this popped up bc I literally just bought pro series basically brand new in red and black in its case at a pawn shop for 240 bucks
You got a total bargain!
Hey James - Great review - Really appreciate your elegant style and intelligent observations - However, we ain't on the same page when it comes to stainless frets - It takes me literally less than 6 months max to frazzle out a set of nickel frets.
Thanks for watching the channel! Damn dude seriously? What kinda string gauge/tunings are you using? or do you have Gorilla hands?😂
And may I ask what was the problem with Amarok? I can't find your review for some reason O_o
I delisted it as I felt I went far too off topic and examined Thomann as a company more than reviewing the actual guitar. My issue with it was it was decent components thrown together without much care or finesse.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial I see, thank you :)
Polished the frets with the musicnomad kit and for almost all the frets that was enough to have smooth action
Nice 👌
I've owned 2prs se guitars and Both nickle frets had dips in them within a month
Damn that sucks!
I love YT guitar reviewers studios, it's always €10-20,000 worth of Guitar equipment on display being mixed through €100-200 monitors 😂I had those M-Audio's myself though, they are little beasts! I have a Fusion III(one of the DK knockoffs, tele shape) in the post, very interested to see the quality, hope it's on par with this one.
I've now switched to Yamaha HS Monitors you'll be pleased to know! Let us know how you get on with the Fusion.
i dig the haircut my man. great review as usual
Haha thanks mate. Should have seen the floor of the Barber shop, like they'd trimmed a Poodle..
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial lmfao was the same when i cut my hair. less maintenance tho!
@@Duckeggmike The novelty of the Man Bun wears off...
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial i agree lol not worth all the effort. absolute pain to deal with
At 9:30 Who is Ben Dover though??
😂😂😂
Hi James,Great review once again.Im a Schecter man and all my guitars are ultra thin C now. If I got this guitar would it feel super uncomfortable to play as the neck is bigger as I know you have a Schecter that is Ultra thin C as to compare it to.Also then EMGs how do they compare to your Fishman Pick ups.Are they just as gainy as the classics but not as high output as the moderns?.Thanks.
Hi mate. Id say you'll find this slightly flatter and wider than the equivalent Schecter neck. Honestly I find these EMG's more naturally pleasing to the ear than a 6 String set of Fishmans although they are slightly less hot on output and less compressed. Certainly less versatile but overall I really liked them.
Did the one you demo have any sort of neck dive? The one i got was slightly neck heavy. Which you wouldn't expect for a telecaster style guitar
Not that I noticed, the headstock on these is fairly large so neckdive isnt out of the question.
That headstock is a beast
It is comically oversized!
Thanks for the review, im thinking about this guitar, you think it can work with 11-56 strings in C tunning? Thanks mate ❤
I reckon you should be ok with minimal to zero nut filing at that gauge, definitely look at a proper setup/truss adjustment though. Let us know how you get on!
Do you think a set of 12-56 strings would fit in that nut? As long as that is possible, it will work for me
Cant say for sure but that sounds like the limits of what you could achieve without filing!
I love how it looks and i´ll buy it, no matter I can´t fucking play it
I'm in need of guitars to replace my prs se 24 standars (2017 model with fishmans, I'd be keeping those) and cort kx300, and this was one of the contenders. You raise some good points, but at the same time, I could get 2 of these and plek them and it would still be cheaper than getting something good from the beginning like prs se mark holcomb or some ibanez in that price range. So I'm conflicted rn. Thoughts? (I'm technically a giging musician, albeit on an amateur level).
For the price (Especially if you can get a B stock) its really difficult to go wrong even if you do end up having some fret work done. The biggest surprise of this guitar is how great it sounds, all the brightness and snappiness youd expect of a Roasted Maple neck!
Sounds KILLER!!!
Thank you mate!
I liked your new hair style. Nice review 👌
Thanks mate! My head feels half a stone lighter!
Great review, great help as I am thinking of purchasing this very guitar b stock as it seems there are no new ones left. Also as regards to worn frets,my 78 Fender strat which is now 44 yrs old could be doing with new frets.
At B Stock prices these are just an unbelievable bargain. Thomann do seem to be quite good with restocking however. I assume their massive buying power keeps them at the front of the queue at the Indonesian factories. 44 years from a set of frets Id say is very good going! Thanks for watching.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial I've actually heard the opposite, and that the HB runs get squeezed in late at night or at the very end of the shift.
@@andrewbecker3700 Is that right? Interesting... I watched a behind the scenes video with both Chapman and Solar at Indo factories and everyone there seemed to be working incredibly hard in an obviously less than perfect environment.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial That's funny that you mention Solar, because between them and Chapman which IMHO are a step up from HB or some Schecters, the problems with those somewhat "newer" brands has been rumored to stem from being built on these last of the day or late night runs, which caused the end product to suffer. I've recently bought numerous guitars built in Indonesia of different brands, and had only minor issues with them. Not enuff to return them, and now they're all dialed in and great. There's no question good stuffs being built there, but Harley Benton by no means has some kind of monopoly on where they stand in line. Now that Fender moved in, the compitition is even tougher. Sorry chap, but HB gets no money from me, yet, lol.
No, stainless steel frets aren’t there to prevent refrets. Sorry, I absolutely love your channel, just found it and am basking in the glory of your chillness. But stainless steel frets have a different purpose. They make sure that the playability that you buy the guitar with, stays the same for almost a lifetime. The action can stay the same, never any frets lowering to the point of introducing buzz, never a levelling job. The guitar is (almost) in an action time capsule. I have many guitars that I own, that have become worse for just having a couple of well played spots on the fretboard. I need to level a few really soon, and even a level changes a lot about the playability, imo. The final refret might never be necessary for most players, but stainless does have a major role to play for most players that play the crap out of their instruments.
You right handed people, you! #Wiggely
Thanks for a review. May I ask have you tried it in lower than E std tuning? How was the intonation across the neck in that case?
Regarding stainless steel frets: HBs I have tried this year really did not have them polished well enough. But I have also tried LTD H3-1000 from Korea with stainless steel frets that were polished from the factory and it was the best experience I had, they were so smooth and shiny, I feel like almost can't go back after that xD
After I have tried around 6-7 guitars and returned most of them because of QC issues, I think that level of polish on frets is among last things I will complain about... Amaroks with angled and misplaced bridges that were impossible to intonate, some guitars (not HBs and costing more than 1k EUR) had already neck pocket cracks and one even had broken electronics and pickup screws :D
I've heard of major intonation problems with some of the headless Harley Benton's actually although I tuned this to Drop C# with no issues.
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial Thank you for reply, maybe I will replace Amarok with this Fusion then, even though it has bolted neck :) Had 2 Amaroks and both with some intonation problems :)
Regarding this Fusion, I have seen 2 major problems with it: easily chipping off paint and cracks between neck and first pickup cavity (this one applies also to other Fusions, sometimes it is also a neck pocket crack in wood). But few days ago I've got Firemist Fusion HSS and it is flawless. Hopefully will get EMG version with the same quality xD
Btw, I've bought $2k guitars with knobs rubbing the body, it usually happens at some point during packing, or shipping, and takes 4 seconds to fix. No guitar should have that even mentioned, you should know better :P
Not totally true dude the pots can be bent or misaligned which is not such an easy fix!
I have a R 446 Progresive Series. Is best Relatión Cuality/Price...
Alright mucker. How is the guitar now? I sold my fusion 3 after about 6 months because it had a lot of issues. I like the look of this one though and need a fixed bridge guitar. The guitar max fusion signature looks sick so I'm tempted by that too.
Held up great until I sold it recently!
The nut is just the regular Fender style nut. I never had issues with them.
Been a while since I played a Fender tbh I just didnt remember them being as thin as this one.
James, another fantastic well thought out balanced review. Well done.
I’ve had a few HB’s now, along with prs-se’s, Epiphones and a Gibson (just the one lol). My experience with ss frets (on my Amarok-6) was identical. I never polished the frets on that one, rather gave each fret/string some major vibrato which smoothed things out.
I’ve been contemplating one of these, or the T type since they were released but never pushed the button. I still won’t as I have a lusting for a Solar v1.6 evertune.
Out of interest what tuning/gauge strings were you playing?
Thanks.
What was your method for polishing mate? I was in Drop D standard just using the stock 10's that came with the guitar. Thanks for watching!
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial On my CST24T p90 I taped off the sides of the fretboard then each fret then used from 500 to 5000 grit finished with autosol. I don't think its much better than the Amarok which I just played and 'vibrato'd'
@@collierpj That Autosol is the bollocks, I used it to bring a very black and dirty chrome Floyd Rose back to life not long ago came up like new!
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial placed my order for the Solar v1.6 c carbon black. Hoping qc has improved there!?
@@collierpj You'll have to let us know! Crossing fingers for you...
Not a fan of the reverse headstock other then that a great guitar for the price
Love me a reverse headstock but then I'm a Metal kid at heart.
I got one and overall it’s pretty great except for the neck pick up is installed crooked and it drives me nuts
Is it twisted or tilted down? You can normally fix it by unscrewing the pickup and reshaping the foam underneath.
great review
Thanks for watching!
Ok but my main question with these guitars is this.
It’s specced out to the gills for the price point. But my question is… is this guitar good FOR THE MONEY? Or is it just good? How far is it punching above it’s weight?
I'd say this particular Harley Benton is punching above it's weight with how well it actually functions not just playing the specs game. All others I have tried kill it on paper but once in your hands feel very cheap.
footage is awesome, thx.
Thank you! I try my best to get good guitar porn captured for everyone!
Really interested in this guitar - but once again the lefties miss out
I feel for you guys!
You are a wise man, sir... A great review! Do you find the guitar light? And does it have neck dive? And finally - does the reverse headstock makes the higher strings softer for bends? Thank you! :)
My girlfriend would disagree but thank you! 😂The guitar is nice and light. The reverse headstock doesnt really alter string tension on the Treble side especially since it has String-Trees.
?
Whoops my question dissapeared What is the weight Of the 3 EMG HT
@@jankantor28 check Thomanns sites for exact weight but this thing felt nice and light!
I have a strandberg prog 7 and a mayones duvell with stainless steel frets and they play like butter. I dont know what brands of guitar you have tried with rough stainless steel frets. but thank you for this review.
My Solar A1.7 is still rough to this day and its had about 18 months of regular use. My Schecter C1 SLS however was really nice and smooth out of the box. Glad the Stranny and Mayones are as they should be, for the price you'd hope so. Thanks for watching!
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial I did not mean to diss. I was just wondering which brands you have with rough s/s frets. love your honest reviews on stuff. big help for us customers of what to expect before buyin! more power!
@@daflepail I didn't think you were mate :) Like I said in the video I think Stainless frets on budget guitars are probably going to be more trouble than just a good set of Nickel ones. I'd love to get a Strandberg in on the channel! Keeping my eyes peeled on Reverb/eBay..
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial So it still boils down to polished or unpolished frets regardless of they are stainless or not. looking forward for more reviews from you mate.
@@daflepail Funny you say that I've just got a new LTD in for review and the frets are so polished and blingy they feel great. Thanks for the support mate.
Good god, that fret noise is horrendous. Still a very beautiful guitar, especially for that price.
So bad 😂. But I see some people have helpfully commented techniques for polishing out the roughness so could be a good shout still.
Stainless steel frets aren't inherently rough. Cheap guitars that don't have good fretwork are rough. Polish those frets with micromesh or fret erasers and they'll feel way smoother than nickel frets. Bending on polished stainless frets feels slippery.
Could well be. I've just never found Nickel frets to be as rough as Stainless ones can be.
Do you still have this guitar? How much does it weigh?
I do not but it was nice and light! Very comfortable to play stood up.
About the frets:
I recently resorted a 21 year old Squier Double Fat Strat, that was my first real guitar. The guitar was played every day for the first 10 years, after that from time to time, as I upgraded. I havn't had to replace a single fret so far. I just did a fret leveling, recrowned and polished the frets and it playes better than ever. These are no jumbo frets eather, just regular Fender style frets and I'm certain I can play with that for another 10 years at least.
I think stainless steel frets on lower level guitarts can also be a bad thing, as they are suposed to be super hard to work with, and if your guitar neck gets warped or has some issues you will never be able to level the frets as easy as with nickel. Only if they do a perfect fretjob from the factory and your neck is stable over time it will be a good thing. Maybe if you are allergic to nickle, stainless steel frets can be the way to go.
If you pay less for a guitar, just know you have to do some fret work. And you may have to coat the inside electrical cavity. Adjust the height of the strings. Eggs 70's retro active use alnico 5's I believe. Which are great vintage pickups, but for the price of the guitar you can afford to replace with what you like! But the guitar reminds me of a California Special Stratocaster. 🤔
Yeah it's VERY Fender inspired, the neck feels closest to a strat.
I notice the line 6 in the background!!!! Future video?
Yep! It was actually a gift from my bassist as I used to own one back in the day. I'm planning on doing a comparison with the modern equivalent to see how far modelling has/hasn't come...
@@GuitarCinemaOfficial I’m actually considering getting the line 6 vetta 2 HD. Meshuggah used them during the recording and live touring cycles of I, catch 33, nothing and part of the obzen tour before they switched to axe fx.
I hope they make a floyd rose or atleast a tremolo system I really like this one among the fusion series models because of the reverse headstock and the matte black but the only downside for me is the fixed bridge.
To be fair mate at this price point I think you're better off without a Floyd. To keep the cost down it would need to be such a cheap one that it would probably be an absolute nightmare for tuning stability, just like the Jackson KVXMG I recently reviewed. I would love it if they made a Baritone version of this, that bright snappy roasted maple sound on a 27 inch Scale would just be the nuts.
floyd rose is so outdated and pain in the ass. Just get an Evertune bridge
@@ruok3351 but can you do a divebomb on an evertune bridge? I think it take some of the fun if you are limited on what you can do on guitar and that's why tremolo system or FR outshine fix bridges.
@@ruok3351 There are die hard Floyd Rose fans out there that will argue this to the death with you 😂😂. Personally for the hassle id take an Evertune every day but then again im mostly a Rhythm player so I'm not the ideal customer for a Floyd.
very nice sound..
Thanks for watching!
stainless steel frets has to be better as long as the guitar is set up correctly with no high frets. It is deffently possible to wear down the frets, making uneaven frethights after short time use, when they are nickle. Especially if you prefere low actionheight and the fretboardradius is lower than 14" and you like to bend. I think they use nickle only because they are faster to finish in the factory and they wear out faster so people buy new intrument because it is expencive to get new fretjob. It should be default on all guitars. It should be illegal to sell guitars with nicklefrets. This should force the guitarproducers to modernice their production and reduce the labor by letting machines to the fretjob and polishing instead of cheap labor.