Harley Benton HB-35Plus Cherry 5-stars Reviews

Harley Benton HB35.

Excellent Guitar. You can only tell the difference between the HB35 and a Gibson ES335 by the name on the headstock. Great craftsmanship at a fraction of the price. I would highly recommend particularly if you like German craftsmanship.

Shockingly better than I expected

I have been playing guitar for over 40 years, I have owned the expensive Fenders and Gibsons, the cheaper Mexican made Fenders and Chinese made Epiphones and other guitars. That being said, I decided to go back to University and finish my degree, so I am on a budget and have been looking for a reliable, inexpensive guitar. I ran across Harley Benton by chance when I was looking for semi-hollow ES-335 type guitars. Watched all the reviews and demos on YouTube, and was still skeptical due to the extremely low price, but saw that there was a money-back guarantee and a 3-year warranty, so I decided to take a gamble. I live in South Texas so the package took exactly 10 days to get here from Germany, which I thought was pretty quick.

Cons

When I received it and unboxed it, the only thing I saw wrong with the body was the pickguard, which seemed hastily cut by hand, which doesn't bother me, I always remove the pickguards from ES models. There were a couple of tiny blemishes on the body, but that's just cosmetics. If I wanted a perfect body, I'd save for a 4000.00 Gibson.

Pros:

I have read that other people had complaints about it not staying in tune very well, so I was prepared to get Grover tuners for it. However, after playing it ferociously for a few days, I have only had to tune it once, so the stock tuners stay. When I first plugged it in and played it clean, that was my WOW moment. It had a really warm tone, almost as good as the Gibson ES-339 I had. It sounded just as good dirty, and when I switched to single-coil, it had that cool "quack" that I hear with single-coil Strats. The neck was straight and the action was awesome right out of the box, but I did adjust it to my liking.

My experience after 3 days:

I have to say this is the first guitar I have ever had at this low price that I pick up and play and cannot put it down for hours. No, it is not a Gibson ES 339 that costs thousands, but I think this is much much better in playability and sound than many 500.00 US Epiphone ES-339 and 335 guitars I have owned. I highly recommend this guitar if you are on a budget and you need a great work-horse to gig with or just record or simply play and practice. This would make a great starter guitar for anyone learning how to play. I was planning to keep this until I graduated from University next year and able to afford a Gibson again, but I think I will keep this as part of my arsenal. Very fun to play!

I have already recorded tracks with this guitar, and it sounds awesome! It is a keeper!

Lovely guitar. Absolute bargain.

I am really impressed with my HB-35 Plus. It looks great, sounds lovely and is easy to play. I use it for recording at home.

The neck was a bit bowed when the guitar arrived. This was easily resolved using the included Allen key. There are no sharp edges on the frets, the neck is really smooth. The frets are well finished and did not need polishing. Once adjusted the neck is perfect. The nut is well cut and the strings do not stick when tuning. The dot markers on the edge are lined up perfectly.

The action on the guitar is pretty good but not perfect. I tried to lower the bridge but it bottomed out after one quarter turn. So I am unable to get the action as low as would be ideal but it is acceptable. The intonation is fine.

The tuners are surprisingly good, smooth and accurate. Once tuned the guitar holds tune well.

The pots are smooth and the coil taps easy to switch. The selector switch looks a wee bit flimsy but seems to work well. The jack socket works well. The pickguard on mine is fine. All the hardware was well fitted with no loose parts.

The finish on my guitar is flawless, there are no areas of smudging or dings or blemishes. The only negative thing is the AAAA flame maple top. This barely shows through the cherry staining. It’s hard to see and certainly doesn’t show up in photos. That being said, this is a beautiful guitar!

The Roswell humbuckers sound good and punchy. From the bright, biting bridge pickup to the warm, creamy neck pickup. The coil taps provide a quiet funky sound. I like to coil tap the bridge pickup for rhythm and the use neck humbucker for lead. Switching between the two gives a noticeable change in volume. Very useable.

As previously mentioned by someone UPS are not the best carrier to use. They did not deliver my guitar on the arranged day and then left it sitting outside on my doorstep in the cold when I was out. Perhaps this is what caused the neck problem.

All in all though a superb semi-acoustic and an absolute bargain. I would buy again.

The guitar is very good quality . The sound is excellent!

Another satisfied Harley Benton owner

I can't find anything not to like about this guitar so far. It arrived with low action, no fret buzz, and looks great. The finish is perfect as far as I can tell. Seems like a fantastic value!!

Play like quality name brand guitar

Manufacturer did attend to the details on the guitar. I like the feel of the fret board. MInimum set up effort to my liking.

Unbelievably good for the price.

What a guitar, incredibly well put together and plays well straight out of the box.

Pro's:

The fit and finish is great, there was some tiny blemishes here or there, but they are unnoticeable unless you hunt for them.

The neck and frets were perfect on my guitar, and ultimately that is the most important thing for any guitar. There were no uneven frets, the neck was straight with a slight bow. The action was low and there was no buzzing all the way up the neck. The only thing that was slightly wrong was the fretboard was dry. But after applying some lemon oil all was well.

The pickups sound great to my ear. They are very hot, but respond well when turned down slightly on the guitar, if you need a less intense sound. The coil splitting works well, maybe not something I'll use too much.

Cons:

No guitar is perfect, but thankfully the cons here are very slight. Really it comes down to the use of cheap hardware on the guitar. The nut was poor and caused some tuning issues, I bought a Graph Tech PT 6060 00 slotted nut which fitted well with some minor sanding. The saddles are poor and caused strings to break often, I replaced with a new graphtech tune'o'matic bridge. And the tuners aren't the best, I find that I constantly have to slightly tighten them to keep it tuned, I've ordered replacements.

I have ended up spending a little less than 100eur on my upgrades and they are the cherry on the top of an already great guitar. Beginner or experienced players will find great things in this instrument. You just can't go wrong.

Better than expected

You can't find a better for this kind of money. Mine has a particularly nice flame with out being too "ornate". The fit and finish is fantastic and after initial break-in, it stays in tune. It has nice resonance acoustically. Even the strings sound fine, for now.

If your playing jazz or clean, it may fall a little short, for anything else, it more than fill the spot. I play through a Blackstar HT20, Fender Superchamp X2 and a Vox VT 40. I can get good tone from any of these.

I'm a bedroom player and it suits me fine. New PUs, pots, switches, etc would improve any shortcomings a gigging pro might find.

If this is where your budget sits, you'll get your money's worth and then some.

Harley Benton HB-35Plus Cherry

Very nice guitar. Better than expected. Bought as a gift for my Father in law.

Fantastic

Had this guitar about a week . It's very well made, has a great sound and looks great. The split coil pick up switch gives it an extra dimension. Anyone thinking of buying one should just do it. I wasn't sure about the make but the HB guitars have great sound and are quality. A bargain at the price.

Looks great. Great value.

Makes me look like a better player than I am. Very attractively finished.

As it is, I'm really an acoustic player so I cannot compare this to other electric guitars, but I'm very happy with it. Intonation off a bit on the first two strings, but I think I can fix that. The others are dead on.

Amazing Value!

I never thought I would have a great ES335 type guitar - the HB-35 Plus is a great instrument which has exceeded any reasonable expectations and I am enjoying getting to know it's capabilities.

What a great guitar!

This HB35 is my 3rd Harley Benton. It is a really great guitar. I have been playing for over 50 years, 10 years on the road all over the S.E. US. I have 15 other guitars buy all the best builders and this guitar is as good as any of them. a true pleasure to play. Fret work was great, I lowered the action just a pinch, finish was awesome. I wouldn't be buying my 3 HB unless they were blowing me away. Good Job Guys! It's good enough, that i show it to all my Musician friends ,and they are amazed.

She purrs. She works. She only has cosmetic issues.

The guitar is amazingly playable. It works extremely well with my Bugera V22 and I recommend that combination to everyone. It's a beautiful sound and great tone. The coil tap also makes it versatile, the action is great and she could take a bigsby if your wanting to mod it.

The only real issues is the cosmetics. The flame maple is nice but it's not great. Comparing to something like a Chapman ML2, it's not even close. The pickguard is not as bad as people make out but it does need a sanding.

The really big problem is the jack. It's on the bottom which isn't great and a right angled cable jack is recommended. It also DOESN'T come with a jackplate. That's a real problem. By the time it got to me in the UK the wood around the jack has dented and the poly finish has cracked. BUY A JACKPLATE FOR IT.

I don't mid as much since it's largely cosmetic damage atm. Just be careful.

The pickups are great. Really great. She... She sounds amazing.

Really loving my new HB-35 Plus Cherry!!

Sounds and plays great and feels right in my hands. Finish was flawless. Solid all around construction. This is my first semi hollow body and the sound is amazing. Only negatives: the bridge bushings were not flush with body and frets were not polished. Makes for a scratchy sound and feel when I bend strings. These problems are easy to fix tho. The AAAA flame top is more subtle than I expected. Lowered action and removed the scratch plate. The Roswell pups sound fantastic. Love the tone options with the coil splitting features. Overall very happy with this purchase!! I highly recommend if you are thinking about this guitar.

Lovely guitar and amazing value

Beautifully playable guitar and incredible value for money. Really well made with no visible flaws and perfectly set up. My 70s Strat is now hanging on the wall and this is now my go-to guitar!

Almost Perfect

This is an excellent and beautiful guitar for a ridiculously small price.

The finishing is very good with only two minor and almost imperceptible flaws.

The neck was in very good condition, good feel and no sharp fret edges. The frets came satisfactorily leveled, the playability was very good because of the low action and the intonation was perfect. The sound is incredible. Both pickups are very good and the coil splits are a very useful and nice add to an already incredible instrument.

I just changed the nut for a TusqXL one and the strings (because I only use coated strings).

The minor flaws that I noticed were a small lack of color near one of the holes and the pickguard was not well contoured, having some sharp edges. Those flaws don?t bother me because the first is barely noticeable and the second was easily solved by sanding the sharp edges.

Bottom line? I will recommend this guitar to everyone who wants a guitar with these characteristics

Just one note, for beginners: When the pickup selector is in the middle position, the volume Pots interact with each other, so, the volume must be changed in both Pots simultaneously.

Another great guitar

very prompt delivery, very well made guitar, good action and intonation. Sounded great straight out of the box and an absolute pleasure to play. A friend saw it, played it and promptly ask me to order him one, which I did, it arrived within three days, fantastic.

Great guitar!

Great sound, great price, ugly pickguard.

Sehr gute Preis/Leistung

Sehr gute Verarbeitung, bis auf die Fasettierung der (abnehmbaren) Schutzvorrichtung, welche etwas rauh ist. Super Klang wenn das Volumen auf 100% ist. Die einzige Schwäche empfinde ich bei der Elektronik, wenn der Volumenregler von Stufe 9 abwärts gestellt wird, verliert sie sehr viel Punch. Es empfiehlt sich, die Saiten- (Steg) höhe einzustellen (oder einstellen zu lassen). Diese war bei mir ab Werk jetzt verhältnismässig sehr hoch.