Harley Benton JA-60 OW

Additional info after 11 months of use:
My initial rating was too high when it came to the sound. In hindsight, I think the pickups are a bit too dull or boring for me. I plan on replacing them with something more exciting and "alive".

The build quality however, is still a solid 5/5 for me, so I still think it's a good guitar.

//End of update

This is my third Harley Benton guitar, and is the one that arrived in the most perfect state. The other two required minor adjustments to the string action or the intonation for some of the strings, but nothing major. This one however, I only had to tune and I was set to go.

No dents or other production faults, no technical issues, no fret issues. There's honestly nothing I have to complain about for this guitar, my copy is for all practical purposes perfect.

It has P90's, so there will be humming when you're not playing. It's unavoidable with this type of pickup unless you do some fancy padding.

The guitar and neck feel light, it's not a heavy guitar, unlike a Tele- or Les Paul-type. The neck is also very smooth. The result is a guitar that feels very comfortable and super-playable.

To conclude. My copy was perfect in terms of build, and it's a very good guitar to play on.

Perfect size body. Fits perfectly in my lap when sitting down and it's not very heavy when standing. Looks beautiful too, though a little more yellow than in the photos. The finish is nearly perfect except for a couple of barely visible mistakes in where paint is missing in a part of the truss rod hole and there are some tiny paint droplets on the very top of the fretboard behind the nut.

The neck looks and feels amazing. The tuners turn smoothly and seem to hold tune well. The fretboard was extremely dry on arrival and needed some oil. The block inlays are well executed.

Obviously the model lacks a vibrato. The pickups are too dark and muddy, not producing a jazzmaster tone at all. You might get a more classic tone with 1meg pots. I'm going to change the pots as well as the pickups. I put a roller bridge in (a Guyker Tune-o-matic style roller bridge fit perfectly) and I'm waiting to receive a Les Trem equivalent vibrato from the same brand. With that installed I probably won't even WANT to have a real Fender Jazzmaster.

Highly recommended guitar if you can do some work on it yourself. Might even be worth it if you pay someone to do it. The shape, size etc. just works so well you're hard pressed to find a better one in this style.