Harley Benton Custom Line CLR-ResoElectric

harley benton are a company manufacturer i have used now for a few years now
a banjo 3 bass guitars ..a classical guitar ..and now the resonator .
Harley Benton Custom Line CLR-ResoElectric..
this id an instrument i have been interested for a few months .. was gaining interest in slide playing .. i looked online at the various makes ..obviously i didn't spend too much on a resonator ..due to not knowing if i would get on with it .
looking at ozark gretch and such like ..and the national though very nice ..a bit out of my price range ,,
i looked and looked ,,and the more i looked at the harley benton Harley Benton Custom Line CLR-ResoElectric looked a lovely looking guitar ..
i guess it depends on what you prefer i guess .
when i unboxed it ..i made no adjustments to it ..and i still haven't after three weeks ..
it sound better than i thought it would be ..being a low end entry level ..
it sounds very authentic ..and just how i like it to sound ..
it's definitely developed its own character ..and i am really enjoying playing either slide or standard tuning ,
the quality is.. to be honest the superb quality iv'e come to realize with HB instruments.. so i had no doubts before i ordered it i would be happy with the quality .
like i said the sound is very authentic ..and plugged into an amp ..the tone is very very warm and still a very authentic tone .
the one lipstick pick up isn't the most powerful pick up ..but it has a very nice tone to it ..
there isn't really any thing that i have to say negative about this instrument .
well made ..sounds great ..looks great ..i'm very happy i bought it ..and probably won't bother upgrading to a more expensive model later on ,,
i really like this guitar and i'm sure you would be too ..and dare i say it ..it was the cheapest in its class ..chrome / electric /resonator
it feels great to hold ..and balanced quite well ..and not too heavy being a slim line .. all in all ..very very happy ..well done HB and thomann again for delivering satisfaction .

I've had brass bodied tricone, wood bodied spider cone, Fender resocaster, I've built 2 telecaster resonators - but this one takes the biscuit!! (good pun?) - I even prefer it over my mates 3 grand plus National! Its a very pretty guitar with the blend of gold finish & chrome, along with etchings. The neck is as comfy as any acoustic for regular playing, and even with quite low action behaves well for slide. the body is a nice weight, similar to a strat, and not much thicker so it is a very playable guitar with good balance and a loud acoustic reso sound. Tuners are well geared and stable. The electric pick up amplifies and works ok but for amplified reso performance it would benefit from a piezo centre biscuit mounted transducer, but I bought it really for acoustic play so it's absolutely fine. I play this a lot, which means a lot to me for a reso - usually they tend to fit into that 12-string category of "once-in-a-while" - but this gets a daily usage!

Let's face it, we're all attracted by the National Style O from Mark Knopfler, but they are really expensive. If you're looking for a guitar that has the looks of a National O and sounds more or less like one, but you only want to spend like 1/10th of the money, go for the Harley Benton.
First thing that pleasantly surprised me: the action! Really very good. The guitar came actually tuned as well!
The sound might be not exactly like a National O, but you've paid really a lot less as well! I've bought the guitar just to be able to play around a bit with the resonator and steel guitar sound, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Just try it out!

I thought long and hard about buying this guitar. I was after an affordable resonator that will set me up for gigging and writing. I play a lot of blues and slide, so it suited me down to the ground. It's a beautiful piece of equipment, and it sounds great.

The craftmanship and quality of materials not only compete with much more expensive guitars, but for me blows a lot of your standard signature guitars out of the water. A lot of guitars you buy and they're just guitars, but this one has a soul to it, and was made with care and attention.

I've played a couple Harley Benton's before, and they're making your big company guitars look like cheap rip off's with a fancy logo slapped on them. If you're looking for a guitar that has character, style and a ton of sound behind it, you can't go wrong with this one.

I couldn't be happier with my guitar. Out of the box it's perfect if you're just using it as a regular guitar, although I'd put a heavier set of nickel strings on, and raise the action for slide to get a nice authentic sound.

10/10 absolutely amazing guitar.

I’ve been playing for 50 years. Mostly couch, a few open mics. Not great, but enthusiastic. This is my third resonator. Even bought a Mule for $4k US. Waited eight months for delivery. Sounded great, but sold after a year. Neck was too big for me. Never felt comfortable. Got the HB today. Over the moon happy. Neck is perfect, action very low. Tuned to Open G and played a bunch of stuff - a little bit of slide, Honky Tonk Women and fingerpicking Romeo and Juliet. Very, very pleased. As others have noted, not as loud as big bodied resonators, but that’s fine for my couch playing. Sounds terrific thru my Blues Jr. Exactly what I wanted. Great value. My first purchase here. It won’t be my last.

This resonator guitar turned out to be everything I hoped for. It is a beautiful instrument. It was perfectly set up and it even arrived in tune. The tone and projection are great. The frets have a good feel. Note that it is very heavy -- the Thomann description did not give the weight -- and while this should not be a surprise for a steel-bodied guitar, the heaviness did catch me off-guard. I've been playing it dobro-style. I didn't want to change the setup, which is perfect for guitar playing, so I slipped a Grover nut extender over the nut to raise the strings when I use the tone bar. It should be a simple thing to pop off the Grover nut when I want to go back to frets.

I should also mention that the international transaction was seamless and efficient. I live in the United States.. Thomann shipped almost immediately and the guitar was in my hands within a week.