Review of the Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue Electric guitar. Where to buy it?

I’ll tell you how this post is built. First I list the features of the Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue guitar. Then you have a video or two, purchase links and useful comments from other users and then you have one of the most useful parts; comparison tables with similar items so you can compare.

  • Body: Mahogany
  • Set-in mahogany neck
  • Fretboard: Amaranth
  • Fretboard inlays: White dots
  • Neck profile: C
  • Fretboard radius: 305 mm
  • Scale: 628 mm
  • Nut width: 43 mm
  • Graphite nut
  • 22 Medium jumbo frets
  • Pickup: Roswell P90D Alnico-5 Dog Ear single coil (bridge)
  • Volume and tone controls
  • WSC Wrap Around bridge
  • 3-Ply black pickguard
  • Chrome hardware
  • Wilkinson vintage-style machine heads with 15:1 gear ratio
  • Ex-factory stringing: .010 – .046
  • Colour: Open pore faded blue

review harley-benton-dc-junior-faded-blue

This guitar usually has a price around 169.00 €

Now that we’ve seen the features of this guitar Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue watch these related videos to learn more.

Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue Unboxing & Review

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Some comments from people who come to the forum about this model:

Comment:

I’ve always wanted an LP Junior-styled guitar since I first saw them as a teenager. The double cutaways just appealed to me, probably helped by seeing a guitarist I admired greatly playing something similar. As a result I jumped at the chance with the HB DC-Junior. This is a very nice little guitar. The satin blue finish is really nice, it sounds good and plays well but, like all of the others I’ve reviewed, isn’t perfect.

-Firstly, this also has a minor case of the pot/knob alignment issue. Since the knobs on this guitar are different to the DC-Custom, they don’t bottom out and don’t appear to have affected the finish, thankfully, so it hasn’t caused a problem and doesn’t affect their function but it’s a general QA issue which needs addressing.

-This guitar has the smaller UFO-styled knobs used on others so, again, they’re a bit small and lacking traction but work well enough.

-The tuners are vintage-style tuners. The knobs look cheap and plasticy. When viewed from behind the headstock the tuner bodies on each side are noticeably different distances from the edge of the headstock. However, when viewed from the front the front, they are OK. I even measured to check that my eyes weren’t being deceived and they seem correct so i think that this is an artifact of the design of the machine heads themselves. Being cheap they are probably designed so that the post isn’t centred in the body of the unit. It causes no problems but looks cheap and disconcerting when viewed from behind. The tuners themselves work well enough, so far.

-The machine-head bodies are not installed parallel. The rows look look like dogs’ hind legs and this wouldn’t happen if the installer used something as trivially simple as a straight-edge. I’ve seen this on guitars reviewed elsewhere, too, so it’s another basic QA issue which needs addressing. Stupid, simple failures like this lower the tone of the whole thing drastically and are trivial to avoid so are particularly unimpressive from a customer perspective.

-The fretboard has tooling marks on it in at least one place. This is less forgivable.
-There’s a spot of glue or something near the lower horn.
-10s. Like the others I’ve reviewed, this comes with 10s.
-The jack plate isn’t even fitted correctly. It’s not centred or straight.

So, it’s imperfect and could be better in places. You could change the tuners if desired although, of course, that reduces the value for money but they seem to work well enough. You could correct the alignment if it affects your guitar. The guitar sounds good and plays well and scratches that LP Junior, P90 itch. It’s hard to complain at this price. I’m keeping mine. 😉

Comment:

It seems the problems with action adjustment and poor nut cutting have yet to be addressed by Harley Benton. Someone who hasn’t got the guitar setup skills that I have developed over the last 30 years or so would be sending this back. I bought another one of these a couple of months ago that had the same nut issue ( string slots not low enough) and stated how I had to screw the bridge ALL the way down to achieve an acceptable action. However with this guitar I screwed the bridge all the way down and still had a high action. So me being me I expect with a guitar costing just £179 that there would be things for me to rectify. The rather sad thing is that these guitars can go low action as the neck is very good, fretwork too. So I simply ground the stop shoulders off the two bridge post screws and put very thin washers in their place to protect the body.

Basically all HB need to do is allow more adjustment downwards with the bridge !? This could easily be achieved by setting the post inserts in the body lower by 3mm or any other method to give that range of adjustment that would make these guitars the best bang for buck I’ve ever seen!
One more thing I did, which is personal preference really, is to buff the dullness out of the finish of the body and neck. It’s described as "faded" and the photos look semi gloss which I like. In reality the finish on these is matt. The other one I have is the same but in red.

I’m planning to put a second p/u in the neck position, and realise this would cancel my guarantee, and I’m very aware of possible issues to the structure of the neck joint but I shall use a single coil size rail humbucker and come away from the end of the neck by at least 25mm. Think it will be fine.
In conclusion: If you are prepared for the potential issues above, and have the skills to deal with them, you can make these into great guitars. If you like a high action , get one. If you want a lowish action and have no maintenance skill, best avoid until HB get the issues sorted.

Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue vs Harley Benton ST-20HSS SBK Standard Series

The guitar Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue is usually 84 € more expensive than Harley Benton ST-20HSS SBK Standard Series.

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue

Harley Benton ST-20HSS SBK Standard Series
  • Body: Mahogany
  • Set-in mahogany neck
  • Fretboard: Amaranth
  • Fretboard inlays: White dots
  • Neck profile: C
  • Fretboard radius: 305 mm
  • Scale: 628 mm
  • Nut width: 43 mm
  • Graphite nut
  • 22 Medium jumbo frets
  • Pickup: Roswell P90D Alnico-5 Dog Ear single coil (bridge)
  • Volume and tone controls
  • WSC Wrap Around bridge
  • 3-Ply black pickguard
  • Chrome hardware
  • Wilkinson vintage-style machine heads with 15:1 gear ratio
  • Ex-factory stringing: .010 – .046
  • Colour: Open pore faded blue
  • Body: Basswood
  • Bolt-on neck: Maple
  • Fretboard: Amaranth
  • Fretboard inlays: Dots
  • Neck profile: Modern C
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • Scale: 648 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm
  • Double action truss rod
  • 22 Frets
  • Pickup: 1 Humbucker (bridge) and 2 single coils (middle and neck)
  • 1 Volume control and 2 tone controls
  • 5-Way pickup switch
  • Synchronised tremolo
  • Die-cast machine heads
  • Black hardware
  • Ex-factory stringing: .009″ – .042″
  • Colour: Black, matte

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Harley Benton ST-20HSS SBK Standard Series

Harley Benton ST 20HSS SBK Standard Series

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Harley Benton ST-20HSS SBK Standard Series review

Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue vs Harley Benton CST-24T Black Flame

The guitar Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blueis usually 42 € cheaper than Harley Benton CST-24T Black Flame, but the difference is so small that this can vary..

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue

Harley Benton CST-24T Black Flame
  • Body: Mahogany
  • Set-in mahogany neck
  • Fretboard: Amaranth
  • Fretboard inlays: White dots
  • Neck profile: C
  • Fretboard radius: 305 mm
  • Scale: 628 mm
  • Nut width: 43 mm
  • Graphite nut
  • 22 Medium jumbo frets
  • Pickup: Roswell P90D Alnico-5 Dog Ear single coil (bridge)
  • Volume and tone controls
  • WSC Wrap Around bridge
  • 3-Ply black pickguard
  • Chrome hardware
  • Wilkinson vintage-style machine heads with 15:1 gear ratio
  • Ex-factory stringing: .010 – .046
  • Colour: Open pore faded blue
  • Deluxe Series
  • Mahogany body
  • Flamed maple arched top
  • Set-in mahogany neck
  • Roasted jatoba fretboard
  • “C” Neck profile
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • 24 Frets
  • Pearloid dots fretboard inlays
  • Neck and body binding
  • Scale: 635 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm
  • Graphite nut
  • 2 Roswell HAF AlNiCo-5 open coil humbucker pickups
  • 3-Way switch
  • 1 Volume- and 1 tone control with push/pull function for coil split
  • DLX chrome hardware
  • Wilkinson WVPC tremolo
  • DLX machine heads
  • Colour: Black Flame

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Harley Benton CST-24T Black Flame

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My-sIpvnx2I

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Harley Benton CST-24T Black Flame review

Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue vs Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley

The guitar Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue is usually 14 € more expensive than Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley, but the difference is so small that this can vary..

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue

Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley
  • Body: Mahogany
  • Set-in mahogany neck
  • Fretboard: Amaranth
  • Fretboard inlays: White dots
  • Neck profile: C
  • Fretboard radius: 305 mm
  • Scale: 628 mm
  • Nut width: 43 mm
  • Graphite nut
  • 22 Medium jumbo frets
  • Pickup: Roswell P90D Alnico-5 Dog Ear single coil (bridge)
  • Volume and tone controls
  • WSC Wrap Around bridge
  • 3-Ply black pickguard
  • Chrome hardware
  • Wilkinson vintage-style machine heads with 15:1 gear ratio
  • Ex-factory stringing: .010 – .046
  • Colour: Open pore faded blue
  • Deluxe Series
  • Body: Basswood
  • Bolt-on neck: Maple
  • Fretboard: Amaranth
  • Neck profile: C
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • Fretboard inlays: Dots
  • 21 Medium jumbo frets
  • Scale: 648 mm
  • Nut width: 43 mm
  • Pickup: 2 Roswell STA Alnico-5 vintage ST-Style single coils and 1 Roswell HAF Alnico-5 humbucker
  • 2 Tone controls and 1 volume control with volume push/pull function coil split
  • 5-Way toggle switch
  • Hardware: Chrome
  • Wilkinson tremolo
  • Stringing: D’Addario EXL110 .010 – .046 (article no. 104555)
  • Colour: Black Paisley

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley

Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley Unboxing & Review

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Harley Benton ST-70 Black Paisley review

Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue vs Harley Benton ST-57DG Black Tribute

The guitar Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue is usually 10 € more expensive than Harley Benton ST-57DG Black Tribute, but the difference is so small that this can vary..

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue

Harley Benton ST-57DG Black Tribute
  • Body: Mahogany
  • Set-in mahogany neck
  • Fretboard: Amaranth
  • Fretboard inlays: White dots
  • Neck profile: C
  • Fretboard radius: 305 mm
  • Scale: 628 mm
  • Nut width: 43 mm
  • Graphite nut
  • 22 Medium jumbo frets
  • Pickup: Roswell P90D Alnico-5 Dog Ear single coil (bridge)
  • Volume and tone controls
  • WSC Wrap Around bridge
  • 3-Ply black pickguard
  • Chrome hardware
  • Wilkinson vintage-style machine heads with 15:1 gear ratio
  • Ex-factory stringing: .010 – .046
  • Colour: Open pore faded blue
  • Body: Alder
  • Bolt-on neck: Canadian maple with stained nyatoh skunk stripe
  • Fretboard: Maple
  • Neck profile: C
  • Fretboard radius: 350 mm
  • Scale: 648 mm
  • Nut width: 42 mm (TUSQ XL)
  • 21 Frets
  • Pickups: 3 Roswell SK52 True Vintage Staggered Alnico 5 single coils
  • 1 Volume control and 2 tone controls
  • 5-Way toggle switch
  • Single-ply pickguard
  • Synchronised tremolo system
  • Kluson style machine heads
  • Chrome-plated hardware
  • Ex-factory stringing: D’Addario .010 – .046 (article no. 104555)
  • Colour: Black high gloss

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Harley Benton ST-57DG Black Tribute

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Harley Benton ST-57DG Black Tribute review

Where to buy the guitar Harley Benton DC-Junior Faded Blue

Thomann

  • Free Shipping.
  • Full warranty. If you have any problems, they take care of everything.
  • 100% reliable payment.
  • Leader in trouble-free shipping.
  • Usually Best price.
  • Best Reputation: They are the leading online store in Europe and have the best catalogue and information.

Amazon

  • Free Shipping and possibility of shipping in one day with Amazon Premium.
  • Full Guarantee but they are no experts in music equipment.
  • Sometimes better price.
  • He’s got worse stock than Thomann.

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Jaime Echagüe

Hi! I'm Jaime Echagüe, a musician and an authentic fan of musical instruments. With this blog I want to give general information about musical instruments in an easy, direct and honest way. I hope you enjoy my website and that you find it very useful.

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