Harley Benton Custom Line CLA-15MCE 5-stars Reviews

Rings Like A Gem

I was completely sold by all the reviews until I broke the guitar in fully.

The finish is immaculate, the sound rings like a bigger guitar (this guitar body is quite thin), the fret board is lovely but the frets themselves could be a bit thinner.

All in all a great guitar for the price and after a string change and potentially filing the frets down.

Other than the above the finish is extremely nice.

Sound is 10/10

Quality is 8/10 for the frets

Features are 10/10 for the price

Incredible value

Guitar plays very well. I love the thinner neck. Solid guitar!

Great instrument for the money!

I needed a busking instrument on travel, well, this one exceeded my expectations :-)

Don't listen with your eyes

This guitar plays and sounds better than instruments over €1000. I've had this for 1.5 years and am yet to find an acoustic guitar that sits this well with me. I regularly play more expensive guitars during my visits to a local music store but there's nothing I've seen that justifies their ludicrous prices. This Harley Benton looks beautiful, sounds great and most importantly, FEELS beautiful to play. It absolutely does not feel like a cheap instrument. I'd recommend this to anyone in a heartbeat.

Best buy price/quality wise

She looks like a beauty, Elixir strings make her sound about average, playing comfort is great, pick-up system is a life-saver when playing 'live' with an honest sound.

Great Guitar whatever the money

I bought one of these as all my guitars are in storage and I thought I would get a 'budget' guitar so I can keep going. Once my guitars are out of storage I shall be selling my epiphone and keeping this one. It arrived and was playable out of the box. The neck for me is great (I don't have large hands) - it feels a bit like an electric Fender style. I was worried that the sound might be a bit muddy having never played a mahogany guitar before - it's not muddy more deep and has a lovely sustain. I play it acoustically so can't comment on plugged in. Setup out the box was good - if I wanted to I could probably lower the bridge a mm or two don't feel I need to at the moment. Only slight grip the tuners can feel slightly loose but only slightly - I might upgrade them in the future but I don't have any real need to. It's a lovely guitar whatever the money.

A delight to play

Looking around for a mahogany auditorium style guitar and was impressed by the reviews. I already own a very nice Crafter and a good old Fender Dreadnought, and I wanted a different sound.

Have messed about on some friends’ new Gibson and Taylor as well as a Martin travel, but I didn’t want to spend a fortune.

Absolutely delighted with the guitar. Lovely action although I may lower it a touch. Playable straight from the box. The sound is more mellow than my Sitka topped Crafter, and it lends itself to blues.

Comparing it to the top end guitars is somewhat unfair as they are solid wood and a much more delicates instrument, but they are over a thousand pounds more expensive. However, I can honestly say there is not a 10x difference in how they handle or sound.

My only gripe is the strap button. Such a lovely guitar, and it comes with a cheap plastic button which looks like a repurposed bridge pin. Absolutely useless. Small flimsy and won’t hold the strap. Can’t even fit a strap lock washer either. Looks like it is glued in. Will be changing this

A perfect budget guitar for beginners and advanced players

I played with this one now for about 2 years!

I really didn't expect this much from a small guitar like this one!

This is a perfect guitar with a slim neck & body,

good setup Straight out of the Box

Regardless the size it has It can deliver good Sound overall and it gives A very comfortable sound from the lows and the midst when finger picking.

I did enjoy it very much to play with this amazing guitar as a beginner it did not just end up On the wall. had a lot of fun with It.

I recommend this Harley Benton guitar To get creative And explore New soundsNew sounds.

Don’t hesitate, this tone monster sounds great!

I’m not going to say the often repeated phrase; “I’ve played all the ‘NAME’ brands”, I have, …but for the life of me I can’t understand why that’s important to serious players. Bottom line about this wonderful instrument is that it sounds f-ing perfect. The tone is beautifully full and pleasing to the listener and player. I plugged it into my acoustic amp and it sounded great. Just for fun I plugged it into my Twin Reverb and the Fishman assisted tone rocked my socks off! On top of that it plays well intonated and stays in tune. The star inlays on the fretboard top off the gorgeous mahogany woodwork. Don’t hesitate, this tone monster sounds great!

Amazing, especially for its price

Pros:

* Build very nicely, looks gorgeous on the front;

* Nice components: solid wood top deck, tuners, Fishman pickup, bone nut;

* Super comfortable to play. Came in perfectly set up: low action, no fret buzz, no fret sprout. I just tuned the guitar up and instantly began enjoying myself playing it. Could use a bit of fret polish though, but it's just me being nit-picky;

Cons:

* Strings behind the nut ring out very nastily, but this problem is easily countered by a soft welcro wrapped around the strings ring behind the nut without any negative impact on the sound;

* The looks are a bit negatively affected by a couple of very obviously visible places where the pieces of wood are glued together (on the back of the neck). The joint is done perfectly and smoothly, but is just visible. Not a problem at all and can be expected at this price range, as using single large pieces of wood would be much too expensive;

* Protective film on the pickguard was a bit hard to remove;

* Only one strap button.

Overall, the guitar is amazing and in many respects punches well above it's price point. The components, build quality and setup are great. The pickup works fine with my Audient iD4 interface, sounds clean, the in-built tuner is easy to use and seems to be accurate. The guitar seems to be as good as a Crafter GA-7 I previously owned, that Crafter though had no pickup and was almost twice the price of this Harley Benton. Highly recommend this guitar!

גיטרה מעולה

Great sound. Beautiful and comfortable. She needs a set up to lower the strings. And you should switch to 0-10 strings

Lightweight and beautiful

This sound and feel of this guitar is really good! My Martin Special D does not come close.

A little Beauty

This guitar is a little Beaut! Finished to a high quality standard, lovely detail and a Fishman pick up system to seal the deal! What an absolute bargain..the reviews on this guitar speak for themselves!

Incredible quality for the money

I got this this mainly because the price tag was unbelievable for what the guitar seems to pack: solid mahogany throughout, a decent pickup, and a 3-year warranty. I wasn't disappointed! The sound is great for the size of the guitar and especially for the price. The default setup is okay. Action came just a tiny bit high and the frets can be better with just a little oiling, but those are simple adjustments to make. This blew me away overall and it's a good addition to my Martin dreadnought :)

My best acoustic!

I really love the tone of this guitar! It has full range of low and sparkling high frequences, perfect tune and well ballanced. Really great sound in home recording right through the pickup with adding some acoustic guitar impulse responces. So I'm happy like no one on this earth! :D

The best money I have ever spent.

Had some cheap classical guitar before and wanted an upgrade. At 1st i wanted a Martin cos i tought it was good value but damn was i wrong. Plays just like a martin for a fraction of a price. I terms of sound its not quite the same but i wouldnt say its worse. Just a bit lower on the volume.

Amazing for its price (and more)

Beautiful sounding guitar. The best sounding guitar I have ever tried in this price range.

Great guitar

I wanted an 000 mahogany guitar (Martin 000-15 style) and this one hasn't disappointed.

First, I love the finish, the guitar is beautiful.

It plays great out of the box.

The pickup is good, as well as piezo can be, but I bough Behringer V-Tone Acoustic ADI21 with it and that made is great for recording.

I would definitely recommend this guitar, especially at this price point, for playing at home or recording.

Out of the box, this one is simply amazing. I love that the mids are really "there".

Eyes closed this is what I can say:

1. Strumming gives a good punch.

2. Fingerpicking gives you balanced sound.

3. Sounds more "Martin-ish" in fingerpick, and "Seagull-ish" in strumming.

I've had lots of guitars in my 30 years of playing, and I'm so impressed by this one.

Unbelievable for the price.

Amazing value

I'm completely blown away by the value this guitar represents.

It came set up perfect the way I prefer, with low action and perfect intonation. No fret buzz.

The guitar is gorgeous with its all mahogany body and perfect finish.

The guitar sounds alot better than my old $1000 Morgan acoustic, and the slim electric guitar-style c-neck makes it really easy to play.

If someone had presented this guitar as a $1000-1500 guitar, I would've probably believed them.

It falls somewhat short to the Martin 15m It's inspired by, but that is a >$2000 guitar, so that is expected.

All in all: It's an amazing guitar!