Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit TL T-Style

Project:
I wanted to build my own guitar and chose a Telecaster Thinline style – in my opinion, the most beautiful of all Telecasters, even though I already own one 🙂. My goal was to make it fully playable, ready to rehearse or even play gigs with. You're starting from scratch here – just a pile of wood and scattered metal parts when you open the box (which actually arrived opened, by the way…).

Assembly:
No major issues during assembly, but the bridge wasn’t aligned properly, so the strings were off-center. I had to fill and redrill the holes to get it aligned, and while I was at it, I converted it to a string-through-body setup. The neck was great – just needed a light fret leveling. For the headstock, I copied the design from my G&L – very pleased with the result. I did the finish myself using Leclerc paint and Action varnish – cheap stuff, but it gets the job done!

Parts quality:
This is where you can tell it's an entry-level kit – which makes sense. The tuners are basic, the electronics too (but at least the soldering is clean), and the pickups don’t have much character. The bridge is decent. The wood is soft but acceptable; in my case, the body had a nice grain pattern. The thin clear coat lets the grain show through, which looks great visually. The top of the body could’ve used more layers of varnish for a smooth, mirror-like finish – I skipped that part and slightly regret it.

Final result:
I’m really satisfied! But you do need to know how to tinker and set up a guitar – otherwise it’ll be almost unplayable out of the box. That’s normal for a kit though: it’s designed to teach you some basic lutherie, it’s not a Lego set.

Conclusion:
A great project for guitar lovers who enjoy working with their hands. Good value for money, and a rewarding experience – as long as you know what you're getting into!

This kit is one of the best I have had from Thomann.loverly wood good fitting neck.the body needs a good sanding before any dyes or paint applied.all parts that are included fit well.I will be adding a fender pickgaurd.60s fender pickups klusson vintage style tuners. Vintage bridge with bras saddles.a bone nut.to make a 60s style thinline.this kit can be for the armature or pro.fantastic value for the money. Most other style thinline kits begins at around 135 euro.and I have found not allways as good quality as the one from thomann. A very happy customer.

I had a great deal of fun putting this instrument together. It was also an educational experience, as I got to see under the hood on a guitar at last.
The only real hard work on the guitar is shaping the headstock. But if you like the macho feel of the headstock that comes with the guitar, even that would be surmountable by leaving it as it is.

The process of assembly was well illustrated and I had no problems at all with it. The quality of the kit far exceeded my expectations. The neck was perfectly made with no rough fret edges and the frets only needed a light polish to perfection. The neck joint was a perfect fit to the body and the finished guitar needed no adjustment to the truss rod at all. Superb feel to that neck too. It plays just as well as some of my other guitars that cost considerably more. I would have preferred six height adjusters, but purists would argue a true Tele should only have three, anyway. I had no problems adjusting the intonation and height of the strings on the finished guitar and it played well without any buzzes or drop outs across the entire fretboard.

I watched several YouTube videos on painting the guitar, before starting the assembly and ended up with a finish that while not perfect is only noticeably flawed if you examine it right up close (Saharan dust settled on the final coat while drying it outside). I could have spent more time sanding to ensure a professional finish, but I like its idiosyncratic look anyway. So, I now have what I couldn't find a cheap deep purple Semi-Hollow Telecaster!

The fact that the electrics simply click together, rather than need soldering, is certainly a plus for those who may not have a soldering iron handy or any experience of using one.

The only down side is that the pickups, while offering that Tele twang, are a little noisy when feeding a high gain amp. But for those seeking an authentic 60s rock sound, that wouldn't matter, I guess, since that was part of that classic rock sound.

I may well replace the pick ups one day, but meanwhile I have been enjoying playing it since I built it.

An easy build- my first
Good clear instructions
Needed several rounds of sanding as I was applying oil.
Finishing very good generally, slight roughness around jack and F hole- sorted with sanding

Lightweight
Hardware is good enough to start, might change eventually, and the pups

Good fun. I have no woodwork experience and found it easy, if I can do it, anyone can

Edit:- Have had it for a few weeks. It's still 5 stars for all the reasons mentioned. I brought it for a set-up as I do with all my guitars. The tech noted no bad fretwork, he just polished the frets. He deepened the nut slots slightly (this needs doing on nearly all my guitars). He put a shim in the neck pocket for slightly better action. He said that the intonation was very easy to adjust and tuning stability was good. He was also very impressed with the pickups. Lastly, the only short term to medium term change he recommended was a better jack socket.

Hope that's useful. Still 5 stars for me. Taking a break before my next kit which will probably be a CST-24 or a SC kit. Will most likely stain the next one. Get one, you'll enjoy it and will learn lots- I'm no longer afraid of taking a guitar apart, fitting or changing tuners etc. I draw the line at replacing a nut.