Hi Jon, thank you. Thanks to you, I chose this guitar, and it sounds truly incredible. It’s no longer about the price; that’s not it. It’s simply a guitar with enormous qualities and a magnificent sound. I’m really surprised by what Harley Benton is doing. These are truly amazing guitars, especially this one. I bought it three years ago after watching your video, and I thank you for that!
HI! just to let you know if you like this video and want to show your appreciation, you can buy me a cup of coffee with the "Thanks" button which is just next to the share button! ✌❤ Please support me in what I do thru Patreon! www.patreon.com/Jonathankoh 0:00 Intro 0:20 Unboxing 2:32 Song 4:59 Demo 8:52 Review 13:10 Conclusion
sooooooooo good demo and playing dude!!! Im 15 and started playing guitar about 2 years ago, and this is exactly how i wanna be able to play! u are a legend! keep it up dude
We all know these guitars have the specs, but do they actually hang/compete/compare to a guitar with the same specs in the $1000-$1299 range? It sure looks amazing...
@@JonIsJustTooLoud wow! Thats a bold statement! I thought you were only "paying for the name" with brands like fender and gibson...even though charvel is owned by fender I had recent experience where a $1049 charvel absolutely blew a $1500 fender out of the water...i have an MIJ ibanez rg521 genesis collection im trying to sell to get a carvin in excellent condition. Now im considering the fusion.
Tank you Jonathan. My HBFIII arrived today at my home in VA BEACH VA. At purchase, delivery was promised by 9/01 and I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived at my door at 2:00pm this afternoon. OMG what a looker! I made a couple quick adjustments to the trus rod and bridge hight. My trem worked perfectly on down bends but up bends are very restricted, but I'm sure I'll figure out a way to fix that. Overall it looks, sounds and plays beautiful. It is the least mony I've ever spent on a new guitar, b+[[[ut so I'd say it's on par with anything I've owned in including a 2004 American deluxe. I played for 6 straight hours not stopping till I had gone through nearly 300 presets on my Headrush pedal board. I found a nice silver crushed velour strap online which also arrived today.
Great tune and playing feel Jonathan. Kudos to HB for recognizing your talent and working with you. Now, given a couple of other YT guitar players with versions of this guitar, a colab would be cool "The Silver Sparkle Gang"
Bought the pro series flame top in natural, has a floyd rose 1000 and 24 frets, roasted canadian maple neck. Stainless steel frets. Absolutely love it. I normally play jackson guitars. this was a nice guitar with way more features at a really great price. Oh, grover tuners as well. Pick ups are easily upgradable although the alnico 5s arent bad really. Coil tap push pull system. These guitars are beautiful, has great hardware, and are reasonably priced.
I have the model II of that guitar, and the only difference is that mine has a switch to split the coils, instead of the push/pull and for me is more comfortable the switch. I'm in love with the guitar
Hi Jonathan.. great review as always. I’m pretty sure the last two letters in the pickup description (LAF-N-CR) is for the finish CR for chrome not sure what the words for GD in (LAF-N-GD) is though but the output and specs should be the same…. I think 😬
What a beautiful and pretty guitar, lovely materials and looking to be well made, also great value. Combined with your skilful expert playing it's hard to walk past it as possible purchase. By the way Jon I like the natural grey hair look, as we age I think we should own those years and not try to hide them! Thanks for posting.
The best sparkle finish I've seen! Best roasted neck of any brand! My only suggestion for HB is to keep it clean with no PU brackets and screws...bit ugly and cluttered IMO. Maybe bronze finish knobs?
Hi Jonathan , we hope you are great ..as usual I watch your presentations allways with your great playing in mind as much as any guitar .,saying that , any chance you might give us a tasty tribute to the greatest blues guitarist that ever lived...It's his 50th Anniversary this year (since his debut album after TASTE ..yes the wonderful and amazing Rory Gallagher ...undoubtedly KING of great guitar intros ! Best regards with thanks..
Many thanks! but i'm not really good at that...Mr Gallagher has a most unique style and sound...I'm afraid I might not be good enough to pay homage to him✌🤓
Awesome Jonathan, ive been watching your vids for some time now, man, you rock bro, thank you for my and our entertainment, and your reviews are excellent.👏
the silver is awesome! just ordered a fusion series lastnight cant wait its the dark sunburst you reviewed in your previous videos. great tone keep rocking!
That's a nice guitar Jonathan. Did the version 2 models have Gotoh trems or were they Wilkinson as well?. I know they have models with floyds. The LP Sc look alike with the Floyd looks interesting, only in a black finish though I believe.
Jon, first I’d like to say that your playing is super soulful and inspiring for me to keep learning. I’d be curious on your thoughts on my predicament… I am looking to get a Harley Benton, and I’ve got my eye on 4 models. Fusion III HSH Roasted (probably the FBB) Fusion III Roasted SSP HH CST-24T Paradise Flame ST-62CC In Charcoal Frost I can get the both the CST and ST-62 for roughly the same cost as one of the Fusions. So I guess my question is do you prefer the Fusion series much more than your CST-24 and which of your Fusions do you prefer?
nice review Jonathan, I think you've talked me into buying this guitar...I'll have my attorney contact you for making me spend money on yet another harley benton guitar, haha
Hi Jon...One quick question. I removed the centre spring leaving only the two outer springs as well as tightening the screws to compensate for the reduction intension. How are you finding it with just the two springs please?
Hi Jon ! nice demo ! in your opinion, what is the best weapon at an affordable price to accommodate a pair of PRS humbuckers ? Fusion III HH ? or Fusion T HH ? or a CST 24 ? for me no preference about the shape style; just about overall quality, weight and comfort of the shape. Thank you !
Hey Jonathan I just ordered one exactly like this , I would like to know if the neck is chunky beefy? Or slim shredder neck , because I am really don’t like slim necks Thanks
Agree about the string trees. I would have liked to see HB even remove the single tree on the previous models. Adding a second one is a backward step IMO
a combination of exchange rates and shipping cost means that In Aus it's around twice the $US figure .... Just under $AU800 all up. I think covid has blown shipping costs out .. almost $AU200! ouch! But the demo was definitely top shelf. Thanks Jon.
Jonathan my friend you're playing and your tone is impeccable. The tone of this guitar is gorgeous. It sounds like a guitar that you would think cost 20 times the price. You did a review a while back on the Harley Benton Fusion 2 with the three pickup configuration using the H pickups I believe this one have the L pickups both Roswell. Which guitar do you like the sound of the best? Also which pickups do you think selling the better of the two types of Roswell pickups. I heard someone else on RU-vid do a review using a metallic green Telecaster shaped fusion with the same Chrome covered pickups that you have on this guitar and it sounded fantastic. Mind you I'm listening on my cell phone but I do have a quality set of JBL headphones connected to it. At any rate to me the Chrome covered pickups have a better sound but I can't give you an accurate feeling on that because I can't really hear it in a room through an amp. I highly value your expertise and opinions. I know you are an honorable man and you will speak the truth regardless. You won't just tell somebody what they want to hear you'll tell them the truth. I am humbly asking you which you prefer and why which guitar and which pickups. I am thinking of purchasing one of these for my nephew this Christmas as he has been playing guitar since he was 4 years old and will be 40 his next birthday January 23rd. He is one of the few people I have seen play paganini's 24th Caprice and Takata from Bach on an electric guitar. He usually plays 24 fret guitars. But I know he would be open to a 22 fret guitar and would rather have the better-sounding of the the two guitars over having two extra frets. By the way before I forget it. If you have never played through the gotoh 1996 tremolo you should. This is a Floyd Rose on steroids. It's japanese-made and of equal quality or maybe better than the original German made Floyd Rose. The 1996t is a Floyd with several improvements. The biggest of which is the Locking studs which have zero play giving your tremolo unit zero play the slightest movement up-or-down moves the strings. In addition they have that new improved tremolo arm mounting system with a delrin insert and a metal collar with a Allen set screw allowing you to adjust the tension on your tremolo arm so that it's loose and floppy or that is totally rigid and can't move or somewhere in between where you can move it but we'll stay where you moving at allowing you to move it out of the way or bring it up to where you can use it and let go of it without it flopping downward. They sell be locking studs separately and you can use them with any tremolo. They improve it immensely. They also come with a brass block from the factory. I purchase one for my nephew's Ibanez in Chrome for $95 from Philadelphia luthier tools and got free shipping. You would probably have to pay for extra shipping where you live the price is much cheaper than the german-made Floyd and is a better quality well let me restate that I don't know if it's better quality I just know that it's much improved with the with the things they have done to it. Someone took a good look at a Floyd and improved it immensely. I just thought I'd pass that on to you if you need a new tremolo system these are the best ones out there. They also make a replacement model like the one you're using on the Harley Benton without the fine tuners it has everything the 1996t has except for the fine tuners. It would be a direct retrofit with zero modifications on the guitar you are currently playing in this video. When you get the chance please let me know which guitar and which pickups you feel are the best and why as I said before I highly value your expertise and opinion and I know you will tell me the truth. God bless you and your family!! Jimmy in NC.... Your brother in Christ
I looks gorgeous. Sounds good. But what I wish I heard more from guitar reviewers is did you enjoy playing it? It sounds like the neck is comfortable to you, but were you having fun? Does this guitar stand out to you? Would you reach for this guitar with excitement? * Indeed you say you like it in the last 30 seconds. I name my comment when you were talking about the string trees
Thanks Jonathan! I saw this sparkle beast and immediately started debating within myself.. sparkles? Me? I'm not a sparkly kinda guy!!... well.. Guess who is putting an order in for a sparkle-caster! hahaha Me!.. Joey-Sparkles!!... lol In all seriousness, I'm digging the look better than the Fusion III HSH with the dyed wood top. Me, choosing 2 humbuckers over HSH? Ah heck! I can always rout a middle single coil pickup if need be. As usual, nice playing and thanks for the demo! (I can dremel out the cavity and dive into the abyss!!) Now, can we get a matching tele style with the same set up?? =) I'll take one of those asap also!
Bummed out, I took off the back plates on my HB Fusion-T just to check out the wiring and to look at the trem. Because the back plates fit in so tightly, it popped out a chunk of paint all the way down to the wood…
Great review, thanks for it, really like your videos and how you play. I'm considering getting the Harley Benton Fusion-III HSS, but I'm a bit concerned about the neck feeling too chunky. As a reference I'd say I'm in love with the neck of my Classic Vibe 50s Tele. I tried the Sire larry carlton s7 which would have instantly bought if it wasn't because the neck was too thick for me. How would you compare the neck thickness with the Sire?
As a complete beginner, which version of the Fusion 3 would you recommend? There are many versions/variations with different pickups, and I'm unsure which is the best.
I bought a PRS Custom 24 SE last year, I took it back due to imperfections and the setup was bad so it didn't play very nice... Ended up going for a much cheaper fusion 2 hsh. I'm not the most well versed in playing many guitars but holy smokes, I can't ever blame the way the guitar sounds on the way it plays because its so effortless
Great looking guitar in silver, but not for my age group even with what little grey hair i have left. It's a shame that they have not routed out the trem block area to allow full use of the wilkinson bridge, a Vega trem upgrade is an expensive option. I can't see me changing my Fusion 2 for this new version, i prefer dark ebony or Rosewood fretboards to maple. Thanks for your excellent review Johnathan
Thank you for sharing this review and your thoughts. Great content and as always inspiring playing. I think this is an improvement on the previous Fusion-II version. The pickups, push pull and staggered tuners are the upgrades?
Wow Jonathan, I really dig the way you play! I only recently discovered you through RU-vid , and I'm glad I did😁 I think our souls 😇 must be closely related because I can hear almost every note you're going to play before you play it. I'm not saying I'm nearly as accomplished As You Are on guitar but you are inspiring me to continue to progress as a musician. Now about that axe... I prefer Strat style bodies for comfort and balance. I own only one guitar that does not have a tremolo and sometimes I find myself reaching for it and getting nothing but air. for as long as I can remember I've wanted to own a Gretsch silver Sparkle like a double jet, but then again I've never liked the feel of a Les Paul type body especially when sitting. The tone you were getting out of that thing is like my favorite tone, silky creamy, nicely sustained, not harsh. I'd love to know what you used to produce that . I've recently become a fan of the roasted maple look, and on the fusion, against the silver, it looks fantastic. Despite the extra cost of shipping to the US, this video has me this very close to whipping out the credit card and buying one of these guitars. But damn, it would look real cool at my next open mic and you can't put a price on cool😎
Did you hear that just now? That was a sound of my check balance dropping $450 US 🤑 I've done a lot of expensive guitars but now I'm in search of hidden sub $1,000 gems. Supposedly I will receive this on the 1st of September. I'm now riding a silver Sparkle wave of anticipation🌊 Only problem is, I have to shop for a strap that will do this axe Justice🤪 I'm imagining a jet black strap with silver flying saucers. I'm sure finding something like that will be no problem🛸😬
How does it handle overdrive, like Classic Rock, AC/DC, Sabbath, not for metal though. Do the pickups sound muddy? Oh, I forgot to ask are the pickups Alnico 5? Sorry for the many questions.
That’s one blingy guitar Jon. It looks really well made. That was a wonderful intro really powerful 😀👍. I wonder why they didn’t use Tesla pickups? The split sound on the bridge sounds really great to me. Excellent review as usual Jon - thanks 😀🎸👍👍
