Harley Benton Custom Line CLA-16S

I bought this during an isolation period away from home and away from my Martins. After receiving and playing this baby I will say this: while I love my Martins, those are 20 times more expensive than this HB and now I cannot say that they are 20 times better than the HB. Or 20 times longer sustain, or 20 times higher quality materials.

The law of diminishing returns applies clearly here, showing that value is subjective. The fact that I am comparing a Harley Benton against a Martin should say a lot. The CLA-16S is a great guitar that gives you A LOT for a modest price. It looks great, it sounds great, it's built well and more than affordable and suitable for any guitarist, from beginner to advanced.

I think that for this price, you get a lot of features found on higher grade guitar: solid spruce top, scalloped X bracing, bone nut and saddle, a good fretboard and bridge. I know Pau Ferro isn't technically in the rosewood family and it gets a bad rap, but it is still a good tonewood for a fretboard and more affordable. Let's not forget that even Fender and Gibson Custom Shops use it on expensive models.

All in all, I was amazed at the build quality and playability and I bonded with it instantly, becoming one of my favorites.

Kudos to Harley Benton and cheers to Thomann for a great guitar!

The last couple of years I tried a lot of different acoustic guitars, but I never really fell in love with one. There Always seemed to be something missing on all of them (epihone/Sigma).
Kind of lost hope in finding a good fun acoustic guitar. After hearing a lot of good talk about the Harley Bentons I thought, what the hell, let's try one. And A
am I glad I did.
The guitar sounds really good. Very powerfull on single notes with the convenience of a smaller body than a dreadnought.
Was it perfect on arrival? No, Action was way too high at the 12th fret. But because it was so cheap, I decided to lower the action on an acoustic guitar for the first time by myself. And now it plays like a dream.
Is it better than a Martin: Probably not, but I played acoustics that were 3 times as expensive as this one that didn't sound half as good.
It is a no brainer. Just go for it.

I have been playing guitar (acoustic , electric and classical) for about 3 years in total. I bought this guitar to try acoustic fingerstyle in the style of Tommy Emmanuel.

Arrival:
The guitar arrived perfectly protected in it's box, with no damage whatsoever.

Setup:
It was flawlessly setup out of the box, with low string action, intonated properly, no buzzing frets or fret sprout, and no truss rod adjustment needed. The nut was cut really well with no buzzing or bad height.

Playability:
It plays really easily all throughout the neck, has a great neck profile and radius (reminds me of a Fender Stratocaster neck). All the chords and picking i did on it rang out greatly and flawlessly, and barre chords have never been easier to play all over the neck.

Sound:
It sounds much better than the sound clips on the site , to be honest. A balanced sound (as you would expect from an OOO) with all frequencies present as should , it is great for fingerpicking, but still not bad at all for strumming. Also, every hammer on/pull off and similar effects ring out with great resonance. At first, i thought i was hearing a much more expensive guitar, reminded me of some much more expensive ones like the Martin 15M.

Cons:
It arrived with some small cosmetic flaws. Some tiny bits of glue left over where the neck meets the body (i already took them off with a toothpick) and a small ding in the back , in that same spot.

Overall, a great guitar. Not just "for the money" . A great guitar all around. Highly recommended to beginners and advanced alike.

When the guitar arrived it was well packed, looked very nice, nice size...playability was good and the sound was quite nice too. After 3 days i wanted 0.11 strings on it...so i started to change them...that's when the problems occured...when putting on the other, thinner strings some bridge pins went way too deep into the bridge wood..so extremely hard to get the strings out....( when i swapped them back to the stock strings..(for sending the guitar back) .i could only get 'm out by going into the body with my hand and push them out from under...) The 0.11 strings did'nt work...there was a rattle/buzz on the d-string...and they sounded thin....maybe i could have changed the trustrod, or have it checked bij a luthier, but i did not want to go that far. A new guitar should be giving a good feeling .... if possible...the fretbuzz & the bridge pins made me send it back....Thomann is very efficient and for the credit from this one i ordered another HB guitar...this time a little bit bigger (dreadnought) wich will hopefully as well give a fuller sound.....this 000 was nice sounding but not very special in my ears...Maybe i just had bad luck with this specific guitar...an ugly ducklin...but anyway...Thumbs up for Thomann!

I thought it was time to get a solid top steel string acoustic guitar but money is short so I looked at the more affordable brands, and knowing from my electric Harley Bentons that they do good quality instruments I looked no further I went for this one which is the cheapest in their 000 guitars.

I was not surprised to receive a very well built guitar. Satin finish perfect. Neck just right, not fat not too thin. No fret buzz at all, frets nicely polished and finished. Fretboard needed no oiling. The strings were fresh looking (no rust or discolorations). Tuners hold well in tune. The action is 2mm - 2.5mm perfect for me.

Its a very projecting sound, very clear but also has some depth to it even though its not a dreadnought guitar. ?

Just buy this you will not regret it and if you do Thomann has a fantastic return policy and is very customer service orinetated.

I am playing guitar professionally for many years. All I have to say about this guitar is that it doesn't sound, look or feel like a cheap guitar. I love the design and the way it feels! Sound-wise - It's warm, really good balance between the low, mids and highs, and it's decently loud. If you are a stronger picker, then it definitely has a good projection.

You would most probably need to play a bit with the truss rods (clock-wise will generally lower your action and the other way will higher), because it comes with a pretty high one. (I don't know why Thomann does this. :))

It's at these moments my favourite guitar to practice, play and write tunes on.

I’ve got a CLA solid mahogany top and se it all the time for both practice and playing with other guitarists. It has recently had a set up and the action adjusted and is playing superbly. I was looking at a non electric auditorium size guitar to supplement it, and because I am so happy with that one, ended up buying this one.
The build and set up is fantastic. No fret nubs or creep, frets polished smoothly. The action is spot on for me. Indeed, the thing was almost in perfect tune when I got it out of the box, which should bode well for tuning stability. The Sitka spruce top gives a warmer sound than my Mahogany topped CLA, so much so that my wife commented on it unprompted.
I’ve started playing a lot more with my fingers as opposed to a plectum and that style of play seems to really bring the best out of it. It also seems to be easier to play finger style on, which I assume is down to the setup.
I’ve had it for a day and I’ve hardly put it down. If it matures as has the mahogany one, it will be even better.
It may not be the most expensive guitar, but it is a very nice instrument,and a pleasure to play.