Harley Benton MultiScale-8 QBB

I was looking for a fanned fret to add to the collection since I've already got a Schecter Omen 8.

PROS:
Not a bad guitar for the money, there weren't many gaps or machine marks, finish was nice. It was absolutely NOT set up, so I had to pay my local luthier almost another $100 for a complete set-up. Once it was properly set up, it plays like an absolute DREAM. I LOVE THE NECK! Holy crap the neck is SMOOTH for such a low priced guitar!

CONS:
I had one huge issue, would have given the "qualilty" rating a 5 stars instead of just a 3 star rating but the fretboard had a splintered part in it that I didn't feel or see until it caught my ring, not a hard repair to do yourself but it shouldn't have happened. Assuming this is just an isolated incident, so no real hard feelings towards Thomann. Again, this is the only con I could come up with and being such a simple fix, I'm not worried too much about it. I still love this guitar.

YES, I'd definitely order from these guys again! I'm very impressed with Thomann and the product they can offer at such low prices. I'm hoping they venture into the 9 string market soon! I'd definitely order a 9 string from these guys.

First of all, a great guitar with an excellent setup right out of the box, just fine tuned it to my personal taste. Good fretwork with no rough edges, frets a bit rough, you could wait for them to wear off or just polish them.

Finish near perfect, just 2 spots on the neck joint. The satin finish, especially on the neck, is great and very comfortable to play. Btw what a beautiful neck! The amaranth fretboard is rather greyish, looks and feels good.

The locking tuners could be one of the parts to be upgraded, they do their job, the guitar is very stable, but they are not really smooth. Not a big complaint though.

The pickups are the only real issue I have with the guitar. They sound muddy and noisy, an awful combination for an 8 string. The next issue, try to find a replacement (in the case of this guitar, you need the 9-string variant, or you'll need to do some wood work), EMG 909, Fishman Fluence 9, Lundgreen 9 are some of the options, but none of those are available in Europe, here a great thank you to the Thomann guitar department, a custom order, some great advice and I got the EMG 909x PU’s with a very competitive price and only after 2 months instead of the 6 months expected when ordered.

Highlights: That neck is just fantastic, great QC for the price
Lowlights: The pickups

Vamos por puntos:
Los afinadores de locking y el "Nut" de buena calidad. No hay problema con la afinacion en lo absoluto.
El cuello, obviamente es ancho, pero no muy profundo, bastante comodo en la palma de la mano y totalmente aceptable para tocar rapido.

Los trastes no tienen muescas, asi que no hay inconmodidad al tocar.

La guitarra tiene 2 trussroads como algunos bajos.

El puente que esta compuestos por estos sillines individuales es aceptable. No he tenido con ningun inconveniente con ellos. Reacccionan bien a los ajustes de altura de las cuerdas y la entonacion.
La guitarrra llego bien entonada y con buena accion. Yo le he instalado cuerdas mas gruesas en la octava (0,90) y he tenido que obviamente ajustar la entonacion del sillin del puente.

La guitarra es SUPER comoda de tocar.

Mi unico punto medio/negativo, no tan negativo son las pastillas, pero por este precio son totalmente usables.
A diferencia de las otras 8 cuerdas de Harley Benton, estas no suenan con mucho bajo. Mas bien diria que les falta un poco de claridad en el rango de los bajos. Por supuesto, esto se puede deber a las medidas de las cuerdas que ya estan casi en el rango de cuerdas de bajo, pero el sonido es decentemente definido.

Quiero mencionar algo importante y es el color. Yo esperaba recibir una como la de la imagen, pero he recibido una un poco mas clara. Aun es muy bella y me recuerda a un tiburon tigre haha.

En resumen: Una guitarra brutal en construccion y comoda. Los pickups podrian ser mejores, pero si es verdad que los estoy comparando con mis otros lundgren que cuestan un poco mas que esta guitarra y si hay una obvia diferencia.
Aun asi, la guitarra excede mis expectativas iniciales y la recomiendo para varios generos.



Thall