The Best Acoustic Guitars of the HARLEY brand

I use this guitar for playing small groups and for leading worship at church. It has now become my primary acoustic guitar.

Pros: Beautiful – I personally prefer a satin finish as opposed to the usual gloss finish, so this was a pleasant surprise for me; well set up; tone; price; pickup and electronics carry the natural tone very well.

Cons: If I had to pick out one thing, the only item I could come up with is that the built-in tuner seems to ‘float’ a little bit. For casual playing or on-the-fly quick tuning it’s adequate but the Snark seems to be more consistently accurate.

Detailed review:

I intended on taking it to a local luthier for setup (adjusting the action, etc.) but there was no need. Did a quick tuning upon arrival – amazingly it was still almost in tune but about a step low.

* The tuners are tight and even without being too stiff.

* It plays smoothly, couldn’t find any fret buzz even using capo up to the 8th fret.

* Intonation is spot on so harmonics are clean, pure sounding, and easy to hit.

* The tone is rich and full at the sound hole, and bright and full strumming at the bridge.

* The pickup is very good especially taking into consideration the price point of the guitar.

I will be purchasing additional guitars (and gear).

For its price it’s definetely a good guitar!
Nice sound and beautiful look.

The sound of the pick up is better than most of the guitars in its price range, probably even better than more expensive ones.
With minor eq, compression and a bit of reverb you can definitely have a pro sound.

But if you plan to use it on a daily basis as I do for my gigs, get yourself a hard case…
Build quality is definitely not the best and it’s falling apart…
I already had to replace my jack input as it got out of its place.

Generally a beautiful and good sounding guitar, with some issues due to its very low price

OK, so I have one issue with this guitar so let’s get that out the way. On inspection I ran my thumb and index finger down the edges of the neck (gently) and sliced open my index finger. These were the worst fret ends I have ever seen on a guitar, ever. Now don’t let this put you off, this takes seconds to remedy with a fine grain sanding sponge. Just be aware that the frets are quite weedy and probably couldn’t be re-crowned when they wear, there’s not a lot of material there. So, this isn’t a ‘keep for life’ guitar unless you are prepared to spend twice what it’s cost for a refret at some point down the line. However, for a beginner or low usage player (electric guitarists, bassists who like an acoustic hanging around) this shouldn’t be an issue.

Now onto the good stuff. Generally this is a pretty nice guitar, nice wood, surprisingly good tone for an inexpensive guitar, tuners aren’t high end but have a pretty decent ratio and it stays in tune. I hear of so many people who plan to swap out tuners on Harley Bentons before they have even received the instrument but I now have 3 HB guitars and 1 bass and I have had zero tuning issues.

I had very low expectations of the preamp given the price point, and was pleasantly surprised when I plugged it in. Obviously it isn’t as good as a more expensive guitar but it is entirely usable if you had to take it on stage or into the rehearsal room and plug into an amp or PA.

Any beginners reading this – you need to understand that pretty much any new guitar you buy will probably need an initial setup. Higher end more expensive guitars will often need to same tweeks as budget guitars, so don’t fall into the trap of thinking I only paid so much so its not worth spending almost as much again on a setup. A good setup is worth every penny on any guitar, and this guitar is no different. This could make the difference between learning to play and having a lifetime of pleasure and giving up because it seems too hard.

So to conclude, excellent value for money, invest in a setup, and if you wear the frets out in a few years then it’s done its job, you’ve learnt to play and will probably want something better anyway.

For over five years I had an amazing dreadnought guitar from Yamaha, that was worth 8 time as much as this guitar, and I really enjoyed playing it. However, when I was moving abroad, I had to sell some of my guitars, and I had to part with this amazing instrument. I am trained classical guitarist and steel string guitar is not a priority in my guitar arsenal. Recently, however, I wanted to experiment with different types of guitars, and try different sound arrangement with jazz, steel-string and bass guitars. Harley Benton proved to be a positive surprise in the past, which is why I decided to give a go to this guitar, while buying a semi-hollow electric guitar.

WOW! I was really surprised by this guitar when it came. It sounds amazing! It also looks really well. There is no negative feedback I can give to the acoustic side of this guitar. In 18 years of playing guitars, I have never encountered such an extra-ordinary price/value ration. If you are looking for well-sounding acoustic guitar, just go for it. At that price you don’t have much to loose.

I am less enthusiastic when it comes to pickups. They are OK, but not as great as the rest of the guitar. Nice to play around with them, but could use an upgrade for professional music playing. The controls are made from rather cheap plastic, which really stands apart from the rest of the guitar. However, for a bit under 80 euro this is not a thing to complaint about. It is also a great idea for a gift, that will stun those who will get it.

I set up budget guitars in my spare time and bought this acoustic as something of an experiment. About a year ago I bought another Harley Benton (a Les Paul gold top copy) which was pretty well made but also pretty badly set up. However, after fret-levelling, re-profiling and polishing and sorting out the action (bridge and nut) it now plays better than any other Les Paul copy I’ve had. On that basis I wanted to try out a HB acoustic to see if, for almost no money, I could end up with a decent instrument.

The D-120 came pretty well packed (a conventional guitar shaped box inside a large rectangular box) and felt very light. The first thing that greeted me on unwrapping was a 2mm chip to the top edge of the headstock; disappointing but for £58 not worth initiating a return for since I can drop a bit of black lacquer in there to fill anyway.

First impressions when unpacked were how light and how thin the construction of this guitar is (even by comparison with my 2002 Fender CD60). It’s very black and very shiny but in patches the lacquer is so thin you can see the wood grain through it. It wouldn’t take much to wear through to the wood sadly. A quick all-over check revealed a decent-looking instrument; 20 frets on a nice shaped neck, basic sealed tuners, lousy Chinese strings, a little EQ unit (9v battery supplied!) and a jackplug input socket that was loose. That is a REAL hassle on a guitar like this. Getting a hand or tool inside there to hold the internal part of the jack socket still while tightening down on the outside is going to be a challenge. Enough now to send back and request another one? Mmmm. Still no. It’s too much hassle and I’m sure I can sort it out – but both this and the chipped headstock are basic quality control issues that should have been sorted and which could really spoil this guitar for someone without the experience and confidence to fix it themselves.

To my surprise the action on this guitar is not too bad straight out of the box. The tuners are ‘all or nothing’ and sticky but kind of work. The frets are awfully finished and scratchy as hell meaning string bends leave you wincing (but I can take care of that). But here’s the thing: despite its several little faults, this thing is playable straight out of the box. It sounds pretty good acoustically and even better when plugged into my amp (which I have to say ISN’T a dedicated acoustic guitar amp).

So for £58 plus £10 postage what you get is a lightweight electro-acoustic guitar that plays better than almost anything else you’re likely to find for so little money (apart from getting lucky and finding a second hand Fender or Vintage acoustic locally via eBay or Gumtree). This Harley Benton confirms my previous HB experience: these are great guitars IF you are able to put right the small niggling problems AND do some thorough set up work (including fret levelling & dressing). Otherwise this is still not a bad first guitar for a learner for almost no money – certainly far better than the all-too-common first ‘acoustic’ guitar that turns out to be an unplayable and cheap classical 🙂

Great value for money, the electronics are nothing exceptional but work as they should – it’s amazing to even get a decent built in preamp in a guitar at this price. Treble, Mid, Bass and Presence controls all work – cut and boost, the battery indicator is a nice touch, volume control can push pretty high if needed.

Electronics aside, the finish and feel of the body is good, a nice full sound out of this guitar (acoustically), tuners, headstock and neck are all good quality especially for this price, the only let down is the fingerboard isn’t the best feeling, but the frets are acceptable no overhang and very little sharp edges.

Would recommend for any beginners – you wont get better then this for the price, and for anybody who doesn’t primarily play guitar but would like one around for occasional use without breaking the bank.

I use this guitar for practicing. I have been an amateur player for about 30 years, my first "nice" guitar was a 1987 Ibanez RG550 which I played in the early 1990’s until I needed to sell it to make rent in college. I’m now 48, my day job is an IT Systems Engineer so I don’t consider myself a musician but I do dabble.
My girlfriend has a $5000 Martin acoustic-electric, this is not a guitar in the same league obviously, but it’s about the only thing I have to compare it to, as I haven’t played much acoustic over the years. If I use that guitar as a reference, I would say this guitar is much more pliable, just grabbing onto it and holding the neck makes it bend a quarter semitone or so. I bought this guitar because I was already ordering a Fusion 2 HSH FBLB I had wanted for quite a while and had to wait several months for there to be stock.
TBH, this guitar has impressed me most of the two I ordered. The strings it came with are more than adequate. The sound is warm and bright. After the strings were broken in the guitar keeps tune pretty well. Cosmetically, it is a beautiful instrument, and you’d really have to be a guitar guru/snob/luthier to know that it is a really inexpensive guitar. I think the engineering on it is excellent. I haven’t tried it plugged in yet. Machine heads seem to be a fairly adequate quality. Fretwork is excellent, no sharp edges or buzzes. The action from the factory is spot-on.

Pros – inexpensive, sound quality, playability, excellent setup, looks great

Cons – Could be a bit more rigid

I highly recommend this guitar, especially at this price point

I bought this guitar at the beginning of the lockdown and started my guitarist journey with it, without any previous experience whatsoever. It was a very good decision.

For a beginner guitarist this is great. There is a lot of volume, the sound is clear and the finish is sturdy. The color stands out and it really incentivizes you to keep the instrument around, just to be in sync with its "vibe". The only drawback (and it’s not directly related to the guitar, but to my level as a guitarist) were the strings, which were a bit too thick and I had to restring my guitar with thinner strings. In hindsight, this was also a good experience, as I got to see how the actual build is holding, how the strings are fixed, etc.

I use it to practice and to sing to small audiences. It really feels and plays like a "workhorse" and I can see myself playing it a few good years from now. Definitely recommend it!

I’m a guitarist who makes my own recordings in my home studio. I mostly play a 6 string electric guitar, and occasionally, I use an acoustic when recording a backing track. I bought this guitar because of the wide nut, it gives me the ability to play clean chords at last after approximately 55 years of playing. This is one of the very few affordable options at a reasonable price.

The guitar was really well packaged, double boxed and air filled plastic pockets around to keep inner box to lessen the possibility of transit damage. Delivery time was quick from Germany to my door in England, I ordered on Monday and received on Friday.

I was pleasantly surprised with playability of this guitar, intonation and string height (action) were correct. I did drill into the curved underside of the neck heel and fitted a strap button, as I’ve always felt uncomfortable playing with a strap that attaches close to the tuners. A factory fitted strap button would have been very welcome there. I would also have preferred a factory fitted scratch plate, but they are readily available and easy to fit.

The build quality and choice of woods is good for a guitar of this price, although the fret ends would have benefited from some polishing. They are not too harsh, but lack the nice smooth feel of some of the more expensive guitars.

The acoustic sound was very nice, bass notes and high notes cut through nicely. For the electrics, I played through an Art Studio V3 to my PC with a Presonus Audiobox 18/18 interface to Senheiser HD380 headphones. The on board Fishman system does alright, it’s a budget system and performs well enough. An extensive range of highs and lows are available through the bass and treble knobs, and can be adjusted from very muddy through to very shrill with a decent range of acceptable sounds in between. I found that I must remember to turn off the on board tuner, as it does not switch itself off, as I discovered when I noticed we had a new green light in our room around 6 hours after using the guitar.

Summary:
The acoustic sound is super, the electric sound is of reasonable standard, the action and general playability is good. I think this guitar represents excellent value for money and I would recommend it to anyone, particularly those with thicker than average fingers.
Chris.

My background:
I’m playing guitar for almost a year and you could rate me as advanced beginner 😊
My reference guitars are:
– a western: Dean, type PE-CBK. Still being sold for about 400 dollars
– a very, very, very cheap classical (nylon) guitar
– an electric: Harley Benton, typeSC-400 SBK

During practicing I noticed that I did prefer playing the classical guitar above the western guitar. The reason for me is that the classical guitar has a wider nut and has more space between the strings for finger picking. For some, for me unknown, reason most of the western guitars have a nut width of only 42mm while many would benefit of slightly more space in here. As being very happy with the quality of my electric Harley Benton the CLD-1048SCE could be an excellent replacement for my Dean and classical guitar

Details:
It’s really hard to believe the quality of this guitar. I did go through all the details and it is flawless on every single spot. Things that were mentioned in earlier reviews (e.g. uncomfortable tuners) are perfectly fine so I expect that the people from the Thomann company do really act upon the feedback received in these reviews. With respect to the sound I’m just blast away on how good this guitar really is: it is in a complete different league than my old Dean western guitar. The sound is very lively and bright on all frequencies and asks to be played forever.
For those interested: I did measure the width between the e-E strings. Compared with my 42mm (nut) electric and 42 mm Dean the CLD-1048 is about 5mm wider between the strings. So you gain about 1 mm between every string both at the nut and at the bridge end. For me this makes it much more comfortable to play but I would expect that more experienced players could still benefit as well.

Thanks Thomann for providing these great guitars.

*This review is on the current version with Walnut body with Ovangkol fretboard/saddle*

After seeing countless reviews on YouTube about Harley Benton guitars and especially the videos done by Henning and Eikejun, I felt I compelled to check out their top acoustic. I waited a few months after receiving the guitar to leave a review…..
This guitar is heavily inspired by the Martin D-41 (Hence the model #)
Shipping:
The guitar was packed very well. It was shipped (from Germany to USA) double boxed with plenty of bubble wrap protecting it on its journey to the US. Shipping was 16 days.
First Impression:
After taking it out of the box, it took about 5 minutes to tune the guitar. It was like any new guitar with a new pair of strings. I stretched the strings and tuned it a few times. Once that was done I was able to start jamming. The setup was really good and fully usable right out of the box. I just had to make a slight adjustment to lower the action just a bit to my liking. Better than any setup I’ve experience in a music store.
Quality:
The guitar looks fantastic. I looked it over several times and couldn’t find anything wrong with the build quality. There were no clue marks or blemishes on the wood. The frets are smooth with no fret sprouting (no sharp edges). The tuners hold tuning as well as my higher-end acoustics.
Playability:
You would think that a guitar at this price would have poor playability but it is surprisingly one of the most comfortable & best playing acoustics I’ve ever picked up. Whether playing chords or leads, this guitar does extremely well with no buzzing or dead spots on the fretboard. I also love the smooth satin neck. My hands don?t stick to it like my acoustics with the gloss necks.
Sound:
The sound is big with amazing punch & clarity. It has the perfect amount of highs & lows. It was as pleasing to my ears as any top end Martin guitar I’ve picked up. I use Martin as the standard for acoustic sound quality. I’ve been recording with this miced (miked) up and love the results I’m getting. The Fishman Isys is a good basic preamp. I never record acoustics plugged in even with higher end Fishman or Aura preamps, but if I had to play live with it plugged in that the Isys preamp would work.
Cons (if any):
The only con i had was cosmetic. The pickguard/scratch plate came already heavily scratched. I contacted Thomann support and they compensated me for it. This was something that was overlooked in the factory. Thank you Thomann for the great service.

Final Thoughts:
This guitar feels, plays, sounds, and looks like a professional acoustic guitar. I did not find that the Ovangkol fretboard, saddle or walnut body in place of rosewood diminished the sound quality in anyway. Many have said it’s a great guitar for the money. I feel it’s beyond that and I surprisingly find myself playing and recording with the HB more than the others I own that cost much more. Because of the cost, I kept trying to find things about the guitar I didn’t like and I couldn’t. Part of me is considering selling my high-end acoustics. This guitar is proof that high quality acoustics can be made at a great price. The quality of the CLD-41SE WN has me curious about several other Harley Benton acoustic models. I have probably 5 in my wish list that I may buy. I love this guitar so much that I?m going back and re-recording my acoustic parts on a symphonic metal song that I did on one of my higher end acoustics. Cheers Harley Benton & Thomann!

This guitar sounds and feels like a high-end guitar that worth 10 times the price. If you are a guitar player who often tries guitars in stores, get this one and you will thank yourself later. If you are a new guitar player who has not much experience comparing guitars, get this one and save your time choosing from beginner guitars.

Pros: great sounds, beautiful look, easy to play.
Cons: None.

Overall: Great guitar, a player, a keeper.

I bought this guitar for my wife who wanted to learn to play the guitar. For this reason I was looking for an affordable acoustic guitar that still sounds decent.

This guitar came as great solution to my requirements. The features for that price are great and it sounds solid.

Guitar came with very nice finish and in very good condition. Strings are very clean and I didn’t notice any major imperfections.

It has a deep, full sound that you would expect from a dreadnought.

Use: Everyday playing at home

Pros:
– looks very good
– sounds decent
– very affordable price

Cons:
– doesn’t stay in tune (this could be that it hasn’t adjusted yet as well)

All in all I think it’s a very good guitar for the price. Sounds good. I would definitely recommend this for beginner wanting acoustic or if you just don’t want to spend too much until you see if you can get into guitar playing.

I’ve just bought four of these guitars, so far they seem to have some trustful "dignity", instrument finishes are not its strength but the guitar lets itself be played. Sound is acceptable, except for two of the guitars that also includes a metallic buzzing accompainment depending on the string you play, but nothing I wouldn’t have expected for the money I payed, anyway I expect it to get better when I change the strings.

Visually they are very good, black is always a stylish color. Have in mind that pickguard is not much more than a sticker which come separatedly, I haven’t put them yet and for now have no plans on doing it.

Recommended for people who know what they are doing, a guitar for your country house, for going to the beach, for playing at a party where that glass of wine is probably going to be spilt over it.

If you are a beginner who is going to seriously use it to practice, you should have someone around to guide you through a correct setting up (strings, action adjustment, tuning…), otherwise maybe you should consider to get a more out of the box reliable instrument.