Harley Benton HB-35Plus Metallic Plum

Another Superb HB35+

Yep this is my fourth.

Was in offer and I fancied a project as usual. Spent no money and around 4-5 hours setting up, mainly fret polishing and cleaning. Plays, sounds and feels fantastic m. As good as any other semi that I own, including Gibson Custom Shop. Seriously. With a little finessing and setting up to your own preferences you cannot go wrong

Amazed at the quality at this price

I can't say enough great things about this guitar. In the months since I bought it, I reach for it more than any other I own. I was so impressed that I bought a HB acoustic to replace one I've gigged with for 20 years and cost 5 times as much.

The best

Been playing for 68 years best guitar yet and have had many… will buy a dobro thanks….. ordered on a Sunday was here on Thursday. Awesome

petit réglage a faire

bon suivi comme d habitude

A keeper

Just received and all I can say so far is WOW! Straight out of the box it plays superbly, all I have done is change strings and lemon oil the fretboard, otherwise the setup is perfect for me.

All pickups sound good both as humbucker and split coil, and the neck at humbucker and bridge split gives a blues tone to die for.

What a guitar.

I was not wrong to buy it

Instead of "Introduction, rationale, conclusion", here's a review by the main areas that compose it:

Binding and colour - just beautiful, no spots, blemishes and smooth on the touch

Body - Great weight. The first string was touching the bridge on the back side, so I had to raise the tailpiece. Do not want to overwrap because of gold colour which will be scratched.

Neck - bought this guitar together with CST-24 and I own a Player Strat. The neck is chunkier than both, but it has a nice shape and it doesn't bother me. The CST-24 has a larger fretboard radius, but the neck is slimmer and easier to wrap around on the top three frets.

Fretboard - pau ferro, the darkest variety (compares well with the Strat), initially quite dry and needed oiling. Very smooth on the touch, inlays are very well added and smooth.

Nut - very well cut, looks like plastic, no issues with it so far

Tuners - hold their own

String action: came set up to 5/64 Bass end - 4/64 treble end

Intonation: perfect

Frets - jumbo; the neck came set up, but once I tightened the truss rod a bit, like I like it, I got fret buzz on the 7/8th fret. It looks just a little high, maybe not well crowned.

Cleanliness - very dirty fretboard, a lot of dust residue on a dry paper towel, but now it's great. Everything else was shiny.

Intonation - spot on

Pickups - I am still playing with the height to get them to sound approximately same with loudness. I am getting really good tones from all three combinations, my pedals and amp like this guitar.

Pickup switch: I can feel the changes, not loose and does the job well

Volume/Tone: work really well and smooth and there is great effect.

Coil Split: There is coil splitting (push/pull) on both volume pots. It takes a bit of getting used to because they are not the easiest to pull.

Bridge: I just noticed all string grooves are the same depth, like for the 6th string.

Other: one strap button loose, easy fix

Conclusion: you really have to look at the price; with customs and tax, it cost me less than 300 euros. All the above fixes took me about an hour, I did them myself and it was fun because I learned a lot about the guitar. I also rubbed the neck down with carnauba car wax (thanks to Ron Thorn for the tip) to make it smoother without sanding it and it is noticeably smoother than the back of the body for e.g. All in all, a great guitar so far. I've reached for the Strat 2-3 times, but at the moment this is the guitar standing next to the amp.

I LOVE THIS!!!

Ive' Had Gibson 335's355's Luciels.....And this is just as GREAT....Fot a TENTH Of THE PRICE....I LOVE the Maple Neck IDEA....It's just Fabuloso.....I Might have to buy another one while they are STILL this Good (Maaybe a Lemon Drop) Paul Southard San Francisco/ Ostend Belgium....519750

Great Value

I have owned the regular HB-35 for 7 years now and it has been my main axe for a long time. It started to get worn out after the many hours of playing it and when I saw the new finishes for the Plus models I decided it was time to retire my old pal.

Out of the box this guitar needed some minimal tuning and then was ready to go. the quality control was great, I couldn't find any blemishes or issues in the setup like I had with Harley Benton guitars in the past. The pickups in this guitar sound great, a big improvement over the normal HB-35. I especially really like the tuners on this model, they are really sturdy and also look great. Overal I have nothing bad to say about this guitar. in this price range it cannot be beat and I would recommend anyone interested in an ES style guitar to check this out.