Harley Benton Fusion-IV HSH RW QRG

Harley Benton Fusion-IV HSH RW QRG review

The Harley Benton Fusion-IV HSH RW QRG is a solid-body electric guitar built around a versatile pickup layout and a 24-fret neck. It costs $477 and has been available since April 2026. Its specifications include a nyatoh body, a quilted maple veneer top, and a roasted Canadian flamed maple neck. The review notes describe a guitar that arrived in good playing condition, with finish work and the visual contrast between its raspberry body and darker neck drawing particular praise.

The high-gloss Quilt Raspberry finish puts the patterned maple veneer on display, while natural-wood binding outlines the body. One player found the binding especially cleanly finished and liked the recessed silver-colored volume and tone knobs. The rosewood fingerboard and roasted maple neck create a strong color contrast with the body. The white center pickup was the one visual detail that bothered that player. Flame figuring on the neck can vary; on the reviewed instrument it was present but not especially prominent.

Neck and playing feel

The bolt-on neck has a Modern C profile, measuring 21 mm thick at the first fret and 23 mm at the twelfth. Its 648 mm scale is the familiar 25.5-inch length, and the 42 mm nut is fitted with a Graph Tech TUSQ XL component. The rosewood fingerboard uses a compound radius that moves from 12 inches to 16 inches, with 24 medium-jumbo stainless-steel frets.

Round fingerboard inlays and glow-in-the-dark side markers provide position references. One owner noted that the front-facing dots were not very easy to see. The side markers are intended to help with orientation from a playing position, though the available comments do not assess their effectiveness in detail. The double-action truss rod adjusts at a wheel, giving access to neck relief adjustment without describing a separate tool requirement.

The guitar arrived set up well enough that one reviewer did not need to make adjustments. That is a useful report about the individual instrument, rather than a guarantee that every guitar will arrive with identical action or relief. Harley Benton fits coated.010,.046 strings, a gauge that many players will recognize as a standard electric-guitar set.

HSH pickups and switching

The HSH layout combines a Tesla Opus-1B Alnico 5 humbucker at the bridge, a Tesla VR-1WH M Alnico 5 single-coil pickup in the middle, and a Tesla Opus-1N Alnico 5 humbucker at the neck. Both humbuckers have chrome covers. Controls consist of one volume knob, one tone knob, a mini switch for coil splitting, and a 10-position selector.

That combination gives the Fusion-IV several pickup configurations to work with, including split-coil options. A player with experience across roughly 40 acoustic and electric guitars specifically praised the flexibility of the HSH switching and coil split. The supplied feedback does not describe individual settings in enough detail to make claims about their exact tone, output, or suitability for a particular genre. Players should try the selector positions with their own amplifier and effects before deciding whether the range fits their needs.

Babicz tremolo and hardware

The bridge is a Babicz FCH 2-Point Special Z-Series C full-contact tremolo, paired with chrome hardware and staggered Jinho JN-07 locking tuners bearing the Harley Benton logo. One reviewer described the tremolo as quite stiff, while also noting that they rarely used it. That makes the comment useful as an observation about resistance, but not as a full assessment of tuning stability or performance during frequent tremolo use.

For players who keep the arm still or use it sparingly, that firm feel may be welcome. Players who rely on expressive pitch movement should test the bridge in person if possible, since the available field report does not establish how it behaves under repeated use. The guitar is supplied without a gig bag or case.

Verdict

The Fusion-IV HSH RW QRG offers a detailed specification sheet for its $477 price: stainless-steel frets, a compound-radius fingerboard, locking tuners, a coil-splitting circuit, and a two-point Babicz tremolo. The field comments support the impression of careful finish work and a good initial setup, while also identifying two points worth checking: visibility of the front fingerboard dots and the amount of flame figuring on the particular neck. Its broad switching options are the clearest functional selling point, but the tremolo's firm feel may not suit every player. No case or bag is included, so that cost may need to be considered separately.