Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Today, we’re comparing the Harley Benton Aged Series TE-62LA against the Thomann house brand’s standard (i.e. not a relic!) take on the Fender Telecaster, the TE-62CC!
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Get the Aged Series TE-62LA here: thmn.to/thoprod/591480?offid=1&affid=1250
Get the TE-62CC here: thmn.to/thoprod/502822?offid=1&affid=1250
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The Aged Series, Harley Benton’s first foray into the world of relic guitars, came out in summer 2026. It was a long process – the guitars had first been teased way back in September 2024 at the Guitar Summit, when we were led to think they might even come with nitro finishes.
In the end, not even Harley Benton could manage that for €249 – but they packed loads in anyway! The guitar’s relic finish here is matte poly (in a beautiful, sparkly Lake Placid Blue here), and thankfully they’ve not thickly lacquered over the reliced areas, as some brands tend to do, which means the dings and dongs actually feel pretty real.
I also decided to go with the Light Aged version of the guitar, as opposed to the more beaten up Heavy Aged, because I feel that the more pre-aged a guitar is, the less realistic it looks.
Beyond the relic job, though, we get an American alder body and a vintage caramelized (or roasted) Canadian maple neck and fingerboard. The neck is a modern C shape, and has been aged too, so it’s really smooth and slinky. The scale length is the Telecaster standard 648 mm/25.5”, the fingerboard radius is 305 mm/12”, and you get 21 medium jumbo frets to play with.
The pickups are a pair of alnico 5 Isola Telecaster-style (Isola is a newish Thomann/Harley Benton house brand) and you get a TB01 Tele-style ashtray bridge with three brass saddles. Most of the hardware has been aged, including the bridge, control plate, scratch plate, and the tuners.
On first glance, the €149 TE-62CC looks like a very similar guitar for €100 less. Looking at the specs, though, there are some differences. For starters, there’s no relic job here (and yes, this will affect the price) and the fact that Harley Benton have obviously learned how to nail Lake Placid Blue since the TE-62CC came out – the Aged Series guitar looks deeper, richer, and generally much more expensive.
The TE-62CC has a basswood body and a roasted maple neck and board, but the neck shape here is a thinner Modern D shape compared to the Aged Series guitar. Otherwise, the neck measurements and specs are the same.
Pickups-wise, the TE-62CC is rocking a pair of Roswell T-style alnico 5s. The three-saddle ashtray bridge and the rest of the hardware are Harley Benton’s own – no aging here.
So, is the TE-62LA really worth the extra €100? It’s time to find out! Here, I put the two guitars through their paces in as many different musical styles as I can, from country, folk and indie, to pop, rock, punk, metal, and more, so hopefully by the end you’ll be able to decide which one is right for you.
Let me know which guitar you prefer in the comments!
Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:
00:00 Introduction and what we’re doing today
01:47 TE-62LA Aged Series specs and info
05:47 TE-62CC specs and info
08:51 Today’s rig and plan
09:49 Clean tone reference chords on all guitars/pickup settings
10:27 Clean tone samples (folk, country, pop, indie, blues, funk, etc.)
12:36 Indie and alternative rock tones
14:48 Classic rock tones (AC/DC, Hendrix, etc.)
16:19 Hard rock tones
17:41 Alt rock tones
18:22 Punk rock tones
19:14 Progressive and modern rock tones
20:21 Metal/chugging/heavy distortion tones (all in Drop D tuning)
22:04 My thoughts
23:08 Looks and the TE-62LA’s relic job quality
24:05 Price and value for money
25:32 Build quality and hardware
26:31 Weight
27:09 Playability, neck and feel
28:43 Sounds and pickups discussion
32:20 Which guitar is best? Is the TE-62LA worth the extra €100?
32:59 The key reasons why I would buy the TE-62LA over the TE-62CC
34:04 Final thoughts and conclusion
My setup was as follows: I ran the guitars into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, also using my Greer Lightspeed and Revv G3 pedals for overdrive and heavy distortion sounds. The amp went from the Red Box AE+ DI out straight into my Zoom H6 recorder. That's it. No post-processing on the sounds was done.
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Get all this gear at Thomann: thmn.to/thocf/jkhog8l06m
Get all this gear at Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/LXqdE0
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Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.
#HarleyBenton #HarleyBentonAgedSeries #HarleyBentonGuitar #HarleyBentonOfficial #AgedGuitars #AgedSeries #AgedGuitar #RelicGuitar #RelicGuitars #LakePlacidBlue #RichWordsMusic
*Note: certain links in the description are affiliate links. If you click said links and purchase anything as a result, I will receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it does help to support the channel. So, if you do that, thank you very much!*
@HarleyBentonOfficial
@ThomannsGuitarsBasses
Today, we’re comparing the Harley Benton Aged Series TE-62LA against the Thomann house brand’s standard (i.e. not a relic!) take on the Fender Telecaster, the TE-62CC!
-----
Get the Aged Series TE-62LA here: thmn.to/thoprod/591480?offid=1&affid=1250
Get the TE-62CC here: thmn.to/thoprod/502822?offid=1&affid=1250
-----
The Aged Series, Harley Benton’s first foray into the world of relic guitars, came out in summer 2026. It was a long process – the guitars had first been teased way back in September 2024 at the Guitar Summit, when we were led to think they might even come with nitro finishes.
In the end, not even Harley Benton could manage that for €249 – but they packed loads in anyway! The guitar’s relic finish here is matte poly (in a beautiful, sparkly Lake Placid Blue here), and thankfully they’ve not thickly lacquered over the reliced areas, as some brands tend to do, which means the dings and dongs actually feel pretty real.
I also decided to go with the Light Aged version of the guitar, as opposed to the more beaten up Heavy Aged, because I feel that the more pre-aged a guitar is, the less realistic it looks.
Beyond the relic job, though, we get an American alder body and a vintage caramelized (or roasted) Canadian maple neck and fingerboard. The neck is a modern C shape, and has been aged too, so it’s really smooth and slinky. The scale length is the Telecaster standard 648 mm/25.5”, the fingerboard radius is 305 mm/12”, and you get 21 medium jumbo frets to play with.
The pickups are a pair of alnico 5 Isola Telecaster-style (Isola is a newish Thomann/Harley Benton house brand) and you get a TB01 Tele-style ashtray bridge with three brass saddles. Most of the hardware has been aged, including the bridge, control plate, scratch plate, and the tuners.
On first glance, the €149 TE-62CC looks like a very similar guitar for €100 less. Looking at the specs, though, there are some differences. For starters, there’s no relic job here (and yes, this will affect the price) and the fact that Harley Benton have obviously learned how to nail Lake Placid Blue since the TE-62CC came out – the Aged Series guitar looks deeper, richer, and generally much more expensive.
The TE-62CC has a basswood body and a roasted maple neck and board, but the neck shape here is a thinner Modern D shape compared to the Aged Series guitar. Otherwise, the neck measurements and specs are the same.
Pickups-wise, the TE-62CC is rocking a pair of Roswell T-style alnico 5s. The three-saddle ashtray bridge and the rest of the hardware are Harley Benton’s own – no aging here.
So, is the TE-62LA really worth the extra €100? It’s time to find out! Here, I put the two guitars through their paces in as many different musical styles as I can, from country, folk and indie, to pop, rock, punk, metal, and more, so hopefully by the end you’ll be able to decide which one is right for you.
Let me know which guitar you prefer in the comments!
Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:
00:00 Introduction and what we’re doing today
01:47 TE-62LA Aged Series specs and info
05:47 TE-62CC specs and info
08:51 Today’s rig and plan
09:49 Clean tone reference chords on all guitars/pickup settings
10:27 Clean tone samples (folk, country, pop, indie, blues, funk, etc.)
12:36 Indie and alternative rock tones
14:48 Classic rock tones (AC/DC, Hendrix, etc.)
16:19 Hard rock tones
17:41 Alt rock tones
18:22 Punk rock tones
19:14 Progressive and modern rock tones
20:21 Metal/chugging/heavy distortion tones (all in Drop D tuning)
22:04 My thoughts
23:08 Looks and the TE-62LA’s relic job quality
24:05 Price and value for money
25:32 Build quality and hardware
26:31 Weight
27:09 Playability, neck and feel
28:43 Sounds and pickups discussion
32:20 Which guitar is best? Is the TE-62LA worth the extra €100?
32:59 The key reasons why I would buy the TE-62LA over the TE-62CC
34:04 Final thoughts and conclusion
My setup was as follows: I ran the guitars into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, also using my Greer Lightspeed and Revv G3 pedals for overdrive and heavy distortion sounds. The amp went from the Red Box AE+ DI out straight into my Zoom H6 recorder. That's it. No post-processing on the sounds was done.
---
Get all this gear at Thomann: thmn.to/thocf/jkhog8l06m
Get all this gear at Sweetwater: sweetwater.sjv.io/LXqdE0
---
Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.
#HarleyBenton #HarleyBentonAgedSeries #HarleyBentonGuitar #HarleyBentonOfficial #AgedGuitars #AgedSeries #AgedGuitar #RelicGuitar #RelicGuitars #LakePlacidBlue #RichWordsMusic
*Note: certain links in the description are affiliate links. If you click said links and purchase anything as a result, I will receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it does help to support the channel. So, if you do that, thank you very much!*
@HarleyBentonOfficial
@ThomannsGuitarsBasses
