“This is a difficult guitar to put a review score on”: Harley Benton Fusion-T II HH RW HT PM review

What is it?

High-quality, low-priced electric guitars are a dime a dozen these days. That’s a great thing for both novice players and those looking to expand their collection without having to smash open the piggy bank.

Thomann-owned Harley Benton has found itself at the top of the tree when it comes to offering a lot of bang for very little buck, and its latest, modern-minded T-types are very much a case in point. From roasted flamed maple necks to locking tuners and glow-in-the-dark side markers, its spec sheet is generous for a sub-$500 axe.

But times, as Bob Dylan once said, are a-changing. Access to factories and materials is increasing, helping to drive down prices while simultaneously ramping up specs. And the more budget brands on offer – Sire is one of the brands proving a bit of a dark horse here – the more weight firms throw at their cheapest models. This iteration of its successful Suhr-inspired Fusion series is one such beneficiary as Harley Benton bids to remain ahead of the curve.

It sports a nyatoh body, the aforementioned roasted flame maple neck, and a rosewood fingerboard adorned with 24 frets. Its neck is billed as having a modern C-profile, a 12”–16” fretboard radius, and a Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut.

The electronics are also modern-minded, with two gold-covered Tesla Opus humbuckers, one Volume, one Tone control, an Alter mini-switch for a variety of coil combo sounds, and a five-way pickup switch.

Other specs include a Babicz Z-Series FCH hardtail bridge and a heel-mounted truss rod wheel. It’s well appointed, but does it outgun the other guitars at its price point?

Specs

• Launch price: £385 / $433 / €449
  Made: Indonesia
  Type: Six-string electric guitar
  Body: Nyatoh
  Neck: Roasted Canadian flamed maple, C-profile
  Fingerboard: Rosewood, circle dot inlays, glow-in-the-dark side dots, 305mm - 406mm (12" - 16") compound radius
  Scale length: 648mm (25.5")
  Nut/width: Graph Tech TUSQ XL, 42mm (1.65")
  Frets: 24, medium jumbo Blacksmith stainless steel
  Hardware: gold Babicz Z-Serie FCH fixed hardtail bridge, Jinho JN-07 staggered locking tuners
  String spacing at bridge: 52mm
  Electrics: Tesla Opus-1B and Opus-1N Alnico 5 humbuckers, five-way switch, mini Alter switch; 1x volume control, 1x tone controls
  Weight: 7.01lbs/3.18kg
  Options: including EMG pickup model in Satin Black, White Metallic with Babicz tremolo
  Left-handed options: including Flame Bengal Burst, Satin Gold (with Babicz FCH 2-Point Special Z-Series C tremolo), Black Metallic Gloss with maple fingerboard, EMG pickup model in Matte Black
  Finishes: options for hardtail include Purple Metallic (as reviewed), Quilt Black Burst Gloss with maple fingerboard, Flame Bengal Burst, Black Metallic Gloss, Satin Grey with maple fingerboard
  Case: Not included
  Contact: Harley Benton

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★☆

In a world littered with T-type copyists, it’s interesting to see Harley Benton colouring outside the traditional lines here and looking to brands like Suhr and Ibanez with its Fusion design. The Purple Metallic colourway, paired with the gold hardware, gives it a regal, premium look, but it also brings to mind Lari Basilio's LB1 Ibanez signature.

The Volume and Tone controls sit in tidy little grooves, and the embossed headstock logo makes it feel more like a premium player than a budget build. Everything fits snugly. It’s very well put together.

There are contours galore too, with the cut around the back of the treble horn, and the slick neck heel cut itself showing a level of detail I’m not used to at this budget.

This guitar has been living in and out of my office during a heat wave during some of the testing, with temperatures reaching 35°C on multiple days, and my office is small. It gets hot very quickly. Yet most of the time I’ve picked up this guitar, its tuning has remained pretty consistent.

A closer look at the bridge, which ditches the traditional ashtray approach, does a lot to instil confidence; this isn’t an own-brand pale imitation of a hardtail; it’s a branded and well-thought-out design.

Most notably, the eCAM system, which replaces small-screw saddles with a rotating cam-shaped design, endeavours to eliminate unwanted gaps between the bottom of the saddle and the top of the bridge plate, thereby improving sustain. As far as functionality and feel are concerned, it’s hard to fault it.

For my money, this Fusion-T II's weight is in that happy midpoint between being back-breakingly heavy and so light it doesn’t feel like you’re playing a guitar. Simply, it feels pretty good slung over my shoulder

I don't think the circle dot are a good design choice from a practical perspective. They’re quite subtle, which goes against what they’re on the guitar for. Thankfully, the glow-in-the-dark side dots are big enough to land a plane on.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★½

The biggest surprise for me is that, contrary to its outward appearance as a modern machine, this Fusion-T II's neck is far thicker than I expected. It’s less shredder/session guitar and more old-school Fender.

Using digital callipers, I measured the neck thickness at the first and 12th frets to be 23mm and 23.3mm, respectively. That's thicker than the 21mm billed at the first fret in the official specs. It also comes in thicker than my Squier Classic Vibe baritone Telecaster (23mm and 23mm) and my Charvel Pro-Mod So-Cal Style 2 24 HH HT CM (20mm and 21mm). It absolutely impacts the playability for me. I found the beefy neck needs to be fought with a little, and it definitely slows me down when I’m playing leads.

The guitar ships with 10-46 gauge Harley Benton HQS EL Coated, which feel quite tight, especially on the higher strings, when in standard tuning. I’d be tempted to try 9s or 9.5s to make bends a little easier. These two features conspire to make playing the guitar a little less forgiving than anticipated for me.

The frets have been finely filed, and the arm contour really thins out the guitar body at the point of contact with my arm. That makes it perfectly comfortable to play, but I’m not sure the Alter switch is in the best place. It feels a little inaccessible to use on the fly, positioned as it is between the two control dials.

Placing it on the bass-side horn like a Les Paul, or offsetting it away from the dials, would have meant I didn’t feel I had to skirt around the outside of the Volume dial or over it to get to it. This is a switch I’ll use in the moment when gigging. Getting to it quickly is vital.

It’s worth mentioning that simplicity in design has paid off elsewhere. With a hardtail bridge and no tremolo bar, there are fewer things to go wrong and negatively affect tuning stability. That’s a smart option for a range with plenty of trem options elsewhere.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Starting with mid-gain Neural DSP plugin amp models to test the sounds, the pink amp on Tim Henson X (based on a Marshall JCM 800) quickly highlights how well-balanced the Fusion-T II's pickups are. There’s plenty of warm, roundness to the lower notes in the bridge position, with the higher octaves not too sharp or fluffy. Digging in, I can get a decent amount of grit and growl, with the guitar holding together so that, when I do, it doesn’t slip out of tune.

Position four thins out the tone, but not to the point of grating brittleness, while the middle pickup does everything it needs to do in providing a clean tone that’s neither too thick nor too thin, and, paired with the Henson plugin's Black amp, does a very impressive steel-string acoustic impression. I did, however, find position two to be a little nasal and generally underwhelming.

Which brings us nicely onto Harley Benton’s party trick: the Alter switch. If I’m honest, I was surprised it went for a five-way switch and the Alter switch. Often, it’s a three-way switch and a mini-switch for coil-split single-coil sounds, so it’s gone the extra mile here. It says the switch doubles the guitar’s total configurations, affecting all five positions, but, more intriguingly, it talks a big game about its “ghost tone”.

This isn’t just a switch in place of a split coil; it delivers “a hybrid tone which blends the warm bass of a humbucker with the bright bite of a single coil and takes on a spectral quality for ghostly playing.”

To me, that sounds like PR gobbledegook. These "Ghost Coil" split modes add partial coil blending in the five Alter-on switch positions, while retaining hum cancellation. Position five becomes a little snappier without draining it of low-end warmth completely. But nothing feels "ghostly" here to me, and the difference it makes feels too subtle elsewhere.

Engaging the switch in position four certainly makes it bite like a traditional single-coil Tele, but from a practicality point of view, going from position five and engaging the Alter switch in one fell swoop isn’t easy to do while playing a riff. I dare say Harley Benton is trying to be too clever for its own good here. I’d have been very happy with a three-way switch and a push/pull coil split.

That being said, I am really impressed with how responsive the Tesla pickups are to Volume control adjustments: in the middle position, with the Alter switch engaged and the Volume rolled back, it’s got a really slinky, sparkly quality that is very satisfying.

Elsewhere, the Fusion-T II can handle metal to a point, but has an innate snarl that’s a little much for my ears; it needs the edges sanded down with a bit of EQ. But with dry-as-a-bone tones - tested through the Henson plugin’s acoustic amp, Universal Audio’s Showtime ’64, and some black panel Fender amp models found on the Mooer GE15 Pro Li- there’s balance, clarity, and a really nice-to-the-ear sound.

Often with more budget-skewed ‘buckers, it’s these moments where their imperfections show themselves, but the Tesla pair pass the test with flying colours.

Verdict

This is a difficult guitar to put a review score on; if a four-star rating feels a little generous in light of the Alter switch and a surprisingly beefy neck that feels out of place with the style of this guitar, a 3.5-star review wouldn’t do it justice. This Fusion-T II is well-built, spec'd to the teeth, and holds up tonally. Yet the neck is too fat for its modern C-profile: billing, the Alter switch doesn’t do enough for me to warrant regular use, and overall, it feels nearly-but-not-quite.

If you find a thicker neck to be an attraction, the rest of the positives are plentiful; its looks are standout, the attention to detail in its build, from its contours to its hardware, goes against the current of its price, and its tuning stability is mightily reassuring.

But the neck makes it harder to play than its specs suggest, and as good as the pickups are, they aren’t a great option for heavier sounds to my ears. The strengths are still significant here, though.

Also try

Charvel Standard Series San Dimas Style 2 SD2 HH HT
$569.99 | £449 | €489

If you’re looking for a no-nonsense, affordable humbucking T-type that puts the ease of playing at the fore, Charvel might be your answer. The unfinished feel of neck's back feels a little funny at first, but it’s thin and welcoming all the same, with some solid tones.

Read more: Charvel Standard Series San Dimas Style 2 SD2 HH HT

Squier Affinity Series Telecaster Deluxe
$399 | £279 | €345

Despite Harley Benton’s inroads in the budget market, Squier remains right at the top of the tree. This twin humbucker build can rightly rival the Fusion for its price, playability, and tonal versatility.

Yamaha Revstar Element RSE20
$539.99 | £399 | $539

A different shape, but a dark horse on the rise. With fans in Matteo Mancuso, Chris Buck, and Joe Walsh, the guitar is growing in prominence, with some tidy specs and tonal versatility to cover a lot of ground without spending much money

Hands-on videos

Harley Benton

Harley Benton - No Talking - Fusion-T II HT - Just Playing - Feat. Cameron Cooper - YouTube

Watch On

• Best affordable electric guitars