Harley Benton RG-Junior BK Rock Series

THOMANN HARLEY BENTON RG-JUNIOR BK ROCK SERIES

Excellent guitar!

This is a long review, for parents that have children, despite the fact that adults can equally have a lot of fun with this guitar.
I bought this model because I can no longer lift a full size solid bodied guitar, and my hands don’t have the strength or reach they did when I was young. (I’m 75 years old, but still love to play.)
Out of the box, it was still almost in tune but rather warm, (I live in Spain), so I let it acclimatise for an hour or so.

On close inspection, and for the price, there was very little wrong with the finish throughout. The satin back of the neck had some rough areas, and lacked a final smoothing. This being a matt finish, I chose not to add polish to it, to avoid it becoming sticky later. So I used some cardboard to ‘rub’ the surface flat. This is a carpentry trick I learnt many years ago, that when you have finished sanding something, to add a soft patina to the surface, turn over the sandpaper and use the smooth side. Of course any thick paper or thin cardboard will do, but making sure it has no print on it that would mark the wood. (*) I then applied Dunlop 65 lemon oil, to the fretboard, after taking off the factory strings. It needed two applications as it was very dry, from both its storage and journey to me on a hot day. When dry it was polished to a natural wood sheen with a dry cloth.

(*) I recommend taking the supplied factory strings off straight away, and using a good brand of strings, like D’Addario, or Ernie Ball. I bought a set of Ernie Ball 9-42’s, the same weight as those on the guitar from the factory.

This guitar then needed what is technically called a “setup”.

For this you will need to go to a luthier. The price will vary, but it will be worth it, if A) your child continues to play and keeps the guitar and B) if not, the value of a setup will mean it is immediately acceptable and easily playable to any future buyer.

The guitar pickups have a reasonable sound throughout, and all the controls worked well.

Leaving the best to last, this was one of the best made fretboards I have seen, and at this price I was really surprised. There were no sharp fret ends, and the fretboard edges were ‘rolled’, making it extremely comfortable in the hand.

Fantastic buy for young players, or those like myself who need a smaller guitar that is less cumbersome.

Good guitar for beginner guitarists.
I took it for playing at home, it seems to me that this is an ideal option to learn how to play the guitar given the low cost and very good and clear sound.
Excellent assembly, no chips and scratches.
Good color and appearance. The gloss black looks pretty good.
Convenient shape, the guitar is comfortable to hold and it is made of nice material.
Sounds good considering the cost of the guitar. With such a system, a heavy sound is very good.
Two keys for an anchor and strings were included, which is very convenient. Also, the strings themselves were very good.
Of the minuses, a slightly non-standard system to which you need to get used to, but after some time everything becomes quite easy. The frets were also a little scratched, but this can be easily fixed just by slightly honing them, which I did.
I’ll also try to rebuild the guitar into an e-standard, but for this you will need thicker strings 11-49 and then I think everything will be even simpler, but it is better to be careful with this.
In general, I liked the guitar and I experienced only positive emotions while playing it.

I have a seven year old son. He wanted an electric guitar and i was afraid he will brake some of my gibsons ( too heavy for a small kid ) . Then we looked some reviews of short scale guitars and decided to go with Harley Benton. It arrived in perfect condition and feels amazingly in the hands. Don’t be fooled by the low price, it’s the perfect temporary guitar for small kids. Low action, easy to play, good tuners for the price. I don’t see why smb. will buy the more expensive short scale guitars. The kid is loving it, and started using the looper pedal and composing his own sounds :) Very, very good choice of ours :)