Harley Benton Custom Line CLD-15M Reviews

Well priced, surprising and pleasant

I have been playing for around 10 years on a budget - therefore I'm always very selective about the instruments I buy as I want them to have the maximum quality/cost ratio.

This guitar does much more than satisfy. It's a solid body and it resonates as well as my friend's 500€ Martin guitar.

The action isn't too high, although the strings could be a little easier to depress but I'll see how that evolves with a new set. There was the slightest bit of a buzz when I first played it but that also disappeared.

I couldn't be happier!!!

Happy days

The sound quality for the money is outstanding.I did have to adjust the trust rod and file the saddle, but I like my action lower. This is not a Martin but it is an outstanding guitar .The warmth and depth far exceeds it price .

Good for the price

Couple of cosmetic marks on the freatboard. Sound is bright and weak around middle frequencies. Of course it depends on a taste.

My "Go to Guitar".

I love it! It is kept close by and I play it all the time. Thank you! A++

about the guitar ..

i don't know what people writing here , its sounds cheap and feels like plastic , nothing similar to Martin , only the color. 2020 . You get for what you pay !

Best value for the money.

Very playable, unbeliveable at this prize.

Enjoy!

shame about the finish

a few marks on body, which whilst disappointing, they may have polished out with time? But reason for return was the piece of body top adjacent to upper bout that had probably been damaged during manufacture.

Shame as it sounds great!!

Great cost benefit

Flawless, fast delivery. Great instrument and cost benefit.

Nice looking, nice playing guitar. Poor finishing

This guitar has

good fretwork

looks great

tunes

plays well

There is however a very visible gap where the neck joins the body. There shouldn't be.

I can't be bothered returning it. I seem to go through spates with HB guitars where they're all flawless and then spates where they have problems.

Disappointing

Amazing value, and a really good guitar in general!

I've been playing guitar for about 13 years, I own way more expensive guitars (>2500€ each) and I think this guitar does a lot of things really good. The fret ends are smooth enough, but I wouldnt say they are perfect, and the finish has sometimes 1mm spots but those are the only "issues", for which I would not remove any stars.

It sounds really rich, and clear just like the audio samples and it is one of the guitars that gets regular use so that should say a lot. I'd say you cant go wrong with this, especially if this is your price range you'd be happy. I am!

Plays well above it's price.

What can I say. This guitar has a beautiful warm tone right out of the box. The bone nut, and saddle are premium features, that contribute to how loud this Acoustic is.

I just wish it had come with Ebony or Rosewood bridge pins instead of plastic. In all this is an amazing guitar.

Very pleasantly surprised

I am very lucky and own a Martin d-15, I was looking for a second guitar to use for open tunings and researched the Martin X series, Sigma, Epiphone and Harley Benton guitars. I didn't think this could be much good because it was so cheap - but after looking at a lot of reviews and videos, I thought I'd give it a chance. I thought it would be thin and lacking in a quality sound - but it has really knocked me out.

It's not a Martin D15, but it's pretty close, considering the price. I've also compared his to a Yamaha F310, which is also a great guitar for the money, but while the F310 feels weedy and insubstantial, the CLD-15M feels like a real guitar. Solid, robust, the tone rings out and resonates. It's louder than the Martin and more "brassy", it lacks some of the subtlety and nuance, but then it's a lot cheaper!

The bridge pins are pretty horrible, but I think to replace these it's going to need the holes reaming out as they are a non-standard size. The bridge and nut are good though. The action is great, very solidly playable all the way up the neck, some slight buzzing on fret 3 on the A string when I really hit it hard, but nothing too bad. It feels very solidly put together.

The down side of this guitar is the idea that, if this guitar is so nice at only £150, then maybe all the other Harley Bentons at this price are also nice - I'm going to need more space for guitars!

Edit - 6 months on and I've put 13-56 strings on this guitar, adjusted the truss rod for the heavier strings and replaced the bridge pins. I used some graph-tech pins that I already had and sanded them down to fit - it was easier than I had expected. Now it sounds amazing! I recently did an online gig of Roy Harper songs using this guitar in DADGAD and my Martin for standard tuning and the two sit side by side quite comfortably.

Fantastic Guitar

WOW - I have 3 martins and honestly i am prepared to sell them, are they as good - no, but this is a very close feel as far as i am concerned - impressive

Unbelievable

I cannot tell you how happy I am with this guitar. I had already purchased the cla model and was amazed at how good that was so I decided to take a chance on the cld model as I wanted the bigger sound of th dreadnought too. Well I?m so glad I did, it sounds looks and yes smells amazing :). Beautiful deep rich warm tone from it. Was playable right out of the box with the action really low so can play for hours easily . No dings or blemishes to be found on it. So guys if you are thinking about buying this guitar and are not cause you are worried how good it can be for the money well trust me it?s more than worth the money it?s worth 2 or 3 times more so just buy it. You won?t be sorry.

Unbelievable..

I can't believe I paid ¤166 for this guitar.

Excellent build quality, very very good comfortable neck, very good neck setup with the strings to be at the correct height (at least for my taste)

Very good, thick and warm sound. I believe it almost sounds better than other more expensive Martin "build alike" guitars I tried before.

The exp-16 daddario strings are medium-heavy that fit perfectly for this type of guitar. Remember it's an acoustic guitar not a electric one where you would probably need a little lighter gauge for easy bending and other stuff.

It strums very loud, easy for picking and quite comfortable finger style playing.

My next quitars will definitely be Harley Bentons for sure.

P.S Grab one soon because prices are getting higher..

Don't think, Buy!

Looks, sounds and plays fantastic. For £131 at this time (November 9th) this is an absolute steal. I can't see how any other guitar in this price range can match the quality and sound of Harley Bentons'.