Harley Benton Custom Line CLA-15MCE VS

I bought this acoustic because My previous acoustic left alot to be desired. This acoustic is just absolutely perfect for me.

Pros:
comfort:
This guitar is about 4 inches thick which for me personally is the perfect middle ground for comfort and projection. its not so thick i cant play it (like some concert sizes and dreadnaughts ive played) but its not so thin that it doesnt project and sound like an acoustic.

Finish:
The Vintage sunburst looks absolutely gorgeous and catches the eye while remaining subtle. Id describe the texture as a satin closed pore, it feels silky smooth to run your hands across but not to the extent of leaving prints everywhere. the neck texture is slick but not glossy.

Action:
The action is perfect. the strings almost rest on the frets and require almost no pressure to make a chord at first fret. however is not so low that it causes any kind of buzzing. as i said, perfect.

important to note:
while this guitar is perfect to be that does not mean its without issue. these are minor enough for me to look over but ill mention them here.

cons:

strap mounting:
theres no second strap button at the base of the neck for easier mounting but thats not the only issue. the strap button at the base isnt a standard metal one that is held on by a screw. its essentially a big hole at the base of the guitar with what is essentially an over sized bridge pin jammed in with no glue. this popped out the first time i mounted a strap and if i didnt notice it then could have EASILY resulted in me breaking my guitar. VERY silly design on that part because even £10-£20 ukeleles ive seen have had those metal screwed on strap buttons. a case of them trying to reinvent the wheel and failing here. i hope they change this in future models and maybe install a neck strap button. but i fixed mine with just a bit of glue so not a *huge* issue. just an oversight that can result in a broken guitar if you arent aware of it.

Unorthodox fret markers:
This also isnt a huge issue for me because i rarely use fret markers and im used to slightly unorthodox markers (like on my sc500 les paul where they are just big blocks) but these are just plain weird.
Usually the frets are marked at 3,5,7,9 with a single dot and at 12 with a double dot, then 15 with a single dot. these are marked at 3 with a single dot, 5 with a double, 7 with a single, 9 with a double and 12 with a single. which is confusing compared to my old acoustic. that being said however ive seen some martins with similar inlays and there could well be some reason for this that i dont know about (being fairly new to guitar) so its not something id want changed as urgently as the strap button.

Firstly I am pretty new to playing guitar, this is my first acoustic but I researched very carefully before I purchased.

I have been learning on an electric (fender squier strat, also from Thomann) but after a few months I really wanted to add an acoustic as a lot of the songs I am learning with are more suited to that. I wanted something with a smaller neck and nut width and a lower profile body, I have small, stubby fingers so I need all the help I can get! This fits the bill perfectly. I knew that I wasn't going to spend huge on a guitar just right now so without a doubt Hareley Benton was the best bang for my buck.

For the money this guitar is simply excellent, the craftsmanship is very noticeable, there's nothing cheap or thrown together about these guitars! Really beautiful finish to the guitar and really looks the part.

The sound is excellent and keeps getting better as I get used to the new feel of an acoustic and the guitar settles after being tuned up and adjusts to the temperature in my house.
It has a surprisingly deep and warm tone to me, especially considering it's size and the guitar was pretty much ready to go out of the box after a quick tune up. It has improved markedly by letting it settle and making minor tuning adjustments and now it's a dream to play. I had planned to strip the strings out and put in new ones but there is no need, these will be fine for a while.
When I do change the strings in a few weeks I will give the fretboard a quick wipe down because there very very faint traces of sparkly residue from where the frets were polished lower down the neck, you'd have to look very closely to spot this and is a good sign as the frets were polished to a mirror shine)

I presume it was at very low temperatures for a week or so while it was being shuttled around during delivery which despite COVID delays was still a very respectable 10 days (this has nothing to do with Thomann but due to general delays across Europe and particularly my home of Ireland, and the Thomann support were very communicative and assured me my package would arrive in a few days)

Playability is excellent, I felt the action was spot on which was a relief to me as I have no inclination to go messing with the nut and saddle, it was a nice low height on the 12th fret but not too low, very easy to press the strings down nearer the nut but with absolutely no hint of a buzz across the whole fretboard.

Overall this item is a huge winner for me, I'm going to look to HB again for my next guitar when the times comes I think.

UPDATE: After a few weeks use, including a break over Christmas where the guitar was untouched I just wanted to point out how impressed I am by the ability of this guitar to keep in tune. I'm afraid to change the strings in case I mess something up it's that good.

Always wanted an electro acoustic to play thru my PC and maybe try something smaller than a dreadnt. Took a chance on a HB to see what all grt reviews about. Overall delighted. Couple of cons being rusted strings and tarnished frets, but would probably have changed them and cleaned everything anyway. A 2nd strap button would have been nice. Everything else fantastic. Looks great, lovely weight and balance. Wider nut is a joy as I can finally play a C chord with proper fingering! Amazing tone, and not as deep as I thought a mahogany would sound. Great volume for just me and my guitar, but the pickup works just fine for when I get the call to the Albert hall. Set up was pretty spot on, nut cut lower than anything I have ever owned, which helps the playability of this, and why I will be reaching for it for yrs to come. 1/9th of what I was contemplating a similar Martin for - ridiculous.

I was looking for a guitar comparable to the Guild OM-240CE without the price tag, and I find this guitar is of equal quality, sound, and feel, and it even looks better! At $211 USD, I can't wrap my brain around how well built this thing is. The action is about as low as I would dare, no buzzing, intonation is spot on, frets are butter smooth, tuning is shockingly stable, the satin finish feels expensive, the preamp is even name brand. These guys missed no marks with this guitar. Without looking at the headstock, one could legitimately mistake this guitar for a four-figure guitar. Now, the resonance from this thing is something you have to experience yourself. You feel everything through the body of the guitar, and it projects crystal clear and loud! Plugged or unplugged, it's an absolute inspiration to play, and you won't be seeing me without this guitar on my person any time soon! Mad props, HB!!

After reading a lot of reviews and watched a bunch of videos, my expectations were pretty high. I was expecting an exceptional guitar "for the price". I was wrong. This is an exceptional guitar - period. It's really, really nice in all respects. If I was told that this guitar costs 800 euros, I wouldn't be surprised at all. It's flawless. Intonation is perfect. The neck is very, very comfortable. No visible imperfections. The sound ...well, the acoustic sound is definitely on the bright side. Indeed, I was expecting a less bright sound, considering that the guitar has a mahogany solid top. However, the strings are brand new, so it will probably get less bright over time, which is a good thing. I need to try with different strings. Anyway, as of today the sound is bright but well balanced already. The pickup also sounds very good. Pretty bright as well, but not "plasticy" at all. I was surprised, really. I was expecting a crappy pickup sound, for this price. Not at all. If I REALLY want to be picky, I would say that the pickup emphasizes a bit too much the lower strings, but that can be easily fixed with a little eq (so, it's bright but a bit too focused on the lower strings). Again, this is easily adjusted.
The looks ... well it's gorgeous, especially if you like a vintage look. I'm really glad I bought the VS version, 10 extra euros well spent. But that's a matter of taste obviously.
Overall, I strongly, strongly recommend it. And not just for the price.

I learned about Harley Benton while being completely ignored in a big box music store's acoustic guitar room in the US. I'll let you guess which one. I had no idea what I was looking for, and I was about to bail on the whole idea of buying my first guitar and trying to learn.

A customer in the room was also looking for an acoustic, and we started to chat about first guitars. He mentioned he'd heard of a German brand that was a good buy for the money -- Harley something.

A bit of research later, and I placed my order with Thomann. The order arrived EARLIER than I expected, and it was exceptionally well packed. I opened the boxes and laid eyes on a beautiful mahogany acoustic electric. It was just the right size for me, and to my untrained ear, it sounded pretty good out of the box. I will likely have it set up as has been recommended, but it was otherwise 1st lesson playable from the start. The Fishman pickup and tuner work great too.

I'm looking for my next HB right now.

Now that i had the guitar for some time i can finally review it. The guitar arrived well setup, and the finish is perfect, no flaws, perfect. Mine doesn't look like the picture it's more like a stratocaster 3 tone sunburst but matte, beautiful, much better than what i expected. The neck is nice and slim perfect for fingerstyle, nut and saddles are well refined too. The fishman tuner/electronics work and sound pretty good through my scarlett and bias amp 2 plugin. The sound is very nice, it's not a loud guitar but it's perfect for fingerstyle/songwriting/acoustic blues. The mids are tight, very enjoyable sounds. Arrived with extra chonky strings, thinner strings improved the playability without changing the tone. The only things i don't like are the tuners that hold tune well but feel very cheap (one tuner takes a quarter of a turn before the mechanism engages and starts winding, annoying if you change tuning often) and the frets that were not polished (it took about two weeks of playing to start wear them in and now they are not scratchy anymore and feel fine). For the price is amazing, just swap the tuners. I would have gladly paid 40 extra bucks to have grovers instead of the cheap tuners, but at this pricepoint it's already amazing and the guitar stays in tune so no problem.