Harley Benton Fusion III Pro, Shootout. Am I THAT Unlucky, or is There Something Else Going On? 

I own these Fusions, and honestly, after playing them for a week, the frets are smooth as silk. The frets are now actually smoother than my $1500 Ibanez Prestige. I actually play my Harley Benton more than my other guitars that cost 6 x times as much. So, I think you may be overreacting a little there. Just my opinion.

Very informative and interesting. I had my Harley Benton Rickenbacker knockoff set up by the local guitar shop and plays and feels great. I think you are right when you said luck in the pick you get is also part of it. I hope you do more reviews!

You are not unlucky. I have had to return two hb fusion due to similar problems that are unacceptable on a new guitar in any price range.

Dad always said: Life's like a batch of guitars. You never know what you're gonna get. 😅

I have been thinking of getting one of these HB Fusions, especially from their B-stocks, but I did not want to risk having to deal with their returns system again. Thanks for taking one for the team! You've probably helped me dodge a bullet there!

I have bought Fusion III OMS B-stock on Thomann 25th aniversary. It costed only 205 EUR - bargain. As for all guitars in this price range I needed to do fret dressing on edge sides and fret polishing (dremel and polish compound) and now it is guitar better then Solar AB2.6C that I recently purchased and Solar costed 600 bucks. Buying Harley Benton You need to be aware that You can gain flawless guitar but also You need prepare to perform fret edge dressing and fret polishing. I am personally prepared for that. I had Jackson HT7P Pro for 1100 Eur and it had dead fret and it needs to be hammered, glued and leveled. For +1000 EUR guitar it was pain, so for me 200 EUR Harley Benton is still wonder. Of course, everything is about personal preferences and experiences.

A little bit of work and you have a perfect guitar

I think it comes down to expectations. I love a project, I just bought fbb and I'm looking forward to a couple of months of work to get it how I want it. Sanding/polishing the frets, removing a little wood on the inside to stop the bridge from catching, then replacing the pickups. If you want a perfect guitar you've got to pay out for it.

Just a precision.. it’s Medium Jumbo stainless steel frets, not Jumbo. Although, unlike other affordable CNC-made guitar with stainless steel frets (like on Amazon, with the rounded ends), those still have most of their material and have not been filed down to 1mm by the Plek machine. This is the most important factor to consider, because those super filed down frets make the action super low, but awful for lead playing because there’s wayyyy to much finger friction. I have an Eart headless, which is incredible in every way EXCEPT the frets are just too low (not the action, the actual frets). Because of that, it’s mainly a rhythm guitar.. Also, without the rounded ends, you have noticeably more room for finger vibrato on the 1st and 6th string. Btw, insanely scratchy frets is completey normal with stainless steel. I own an Ibanez MM1 (Martin Miller’s AZ Prestige), which is a 3600$ CAD Made In Japan guitar and they were exactly like that when I first got it. After playing it for an hour or two, bending strings, they were as smooth as I could possibly wish them to be. I was about to back off from buying the guitar when the seller told me it was normal and would go away very quickly, and even offered a full refund if it wasn't gone the next day. He was absolutely right. Yes, it's weird.. but 100% true! FYI, the difference in price is only due to the body finish, veneer and binding (all purely esthetic). Glossy finishes are more expensive to make because it takes times (more steps). Also, when you see the wood grain underneath, they have to carefully select the pieces of wood. If you take the grey one with the opaque matte finish and sand it down, you'll see that the wood they used isn't as pretty, and will most likely have repairs/stains/imperfections that are hidden by the paint/finish (pieces that wouldn't be acceptable for a see-through finish). So in order, the grey one has an opaque finish with no veneer and binding ($), the sunburst one has a glossy ''see-through'' finish on the front and opaque on the back with veneer and binding ($$) and the yellowish one is the same but with see-through on the back as well ($$$).

Boy that is unlucky. I bought a fusion 3 last year and it was near perfect. I noticed a few very slight paint issues around the bridge pickup but I really had to look for it. As far as the frets go,mine were a tad on the scratchy side. I used mineral oil on the fretboard and just started playing it. The guitar is literally butter smooth. Plays on par with my 1500 plus guitars all day.

Only bought one fusion 3 left handed (not roasted neck) the only issue was sharp fret ends probably because of the climate change,,it got worse over the winter time,,very pleased with the guitar overall

I actually have bought 3 different Fusion iii’s this year and they’ve all been unimaginably perfect out of the box. No scratchy frets. Near perfect intonation. And I actually prefer the roasted necks (and the less thin profile) on them over my Ibanez AZ Prestige. My mind is blown that HB can produce this level guitar for about 1/4 of what a similar Ibanez might cost new.

3 fusion and they are super shiny :( but I know friends with super scratchy frets bhoooo

Another great guitar review video Voya. I bought a sub-200€ Harley Benton electric bass from Thomann and my experience was not bad. In fact, it was definitely on the "good" side of not bad. But that was a sub-200€ instrument so good or good+ quality is a bonus. Once you reach the 400 ($/€) level quality becomes expected and required. It does indeed appear that you received not 1, not 2, but 3 B-Stock guitars. Harley Benton manufacturing is outsourced to various countries and I would be willing to wager that your 3 guitars were made in China. One can logically assume inferior quality before you even receive the item. Harley Benton does not label all their instruments with the country of manufacture which should be mandatory. It would be interesting to know if you had any communication with Thomann regarding your experience and if so how it went. In my many interactions with Thomann Customer Service I have found them to be the absolute best, Period. End of Story. I have never been given excuses, only reasons for a problem along with the suitable solution. Your critique was so well done I would think that you should have received some form of acknowledgement from Thomann and if so it would be great if you shared it with your viewers. Gotta ask you once again, please make more guitar reviews? You're the best. C'mon.

For the price of that guitar you have no complaints

I was wondering whether you can separate out e-ink from other devices? I ask becaude although I play glassical guitar, I particularly value your videos for e-ink. It doesn't matter if there are only a few non e-ink videos but I'd there are more, perhaps a different channel? Thank you though for your brilliant, informative videos.

Guess I got lucky... mine is an older model... the Fusion II so... not sure if the newer ones are dropping QC. I don't think polishing the frets is too much of an issue but... most won't want to have to do that with a new guitar.

Unfortunately, these are often troubles with their guitar mass producted... I tried one fusion and will receive nexy week... Will see. But i agree, these guitar are 400€, at this price point, the customer should not think to polish frets

Seen to me you have gotten the guitar just to do a video buy 3 guitar with the same configuration and style is clear a content video. Learn to polish the frets and adjust. Other reviews? Go and buy a similar guitar for the price you have paid for Thoman should ban you to purchase just for videos