Harley Benton HB-35Plus Cherry 5-stars Reviews

Blues/jazz guitar with some grunt

This is my first semiacoustic electric guitar, having owned many solid bodies. And it ticks absolutely the right boxes for this sort of guitar.

Lots of people have commented positively on the appearance of the guitar. It has a subtly-transparent finish, which shows a pleasant amount of the wood grain.

There were no serious issues with the appearance of the guitar. The pickguard isn't cut brilliantly, and the fingerboard was gluey and dry but those are not significant issues to me.

Out of the box, the action wasn't great as set up but once it settled down at the right temperature it played very nicely with no problems.

This guitar is first and foremost meant for blues and jazz. I've enjoyed the rounded chunky tones for a bit of bebop and blues playing. But most of my music calls for pop/rock sounds with a bit of overdrive. And I'm really pleasantly surprised at the clarity, warmth and strength of the sound when going through some overdrive and even distortion pedals. It's never going to be intended for metal but in a power trio, it has enough meat to make a broad, chunky sound.

I normally like pickups which are a bit hotter, more open sounding and a bit brighter over more vintage styled ones. This is a contrast to that, but a very pleasant one.

The coil split is fun and useful for tonal variety. Don't expect it to replace your strat or tele but it provides that little bit more flexibility than other models. I started one live song with the coil split on and was able to push them in for a more driving sound during the chorus which was very satisfying.

Tuners seem good. I'm not sure there's much more to comment on. If you're looking for this style of guitar, with a dollop of versatility and a great price point, this is an excellent choice.