Harley Benton HB-35Plus Vintage Burst 5-stars Reviews

Great guitar punches well above its price point

Arrived safely, no damaged. Fantastic sound. Once setup to my preference it was a joy to play. I tend to find you need to spend a good few hours playing a new guitar, get familiar with it. I made some adjustments to the pickup height and the poles,.I prefer to try get the most out of the stock hardware if possible and rarely see the need to change.

Interesting

Ok, its not a gibson. But I think if youre lucky, as I was, the guys who build it are great guitar builders considering the cost. Nothing Id use live, but as a first guitar... I gave mine a full fret job and put quality tuners on which I find HB guitars need in general to make them playable, but Ive played a long time so a bit picky. Looks great.

Braw

This is one of the best guitars in my collection, for the price it is incredible. Plays like a dream out of the box and the stock pups are surprisingly good and offer a wide variety of tones with the single coil options.

The finish is immaculate with only a couple of very minor flaws which you wouldn't notice unless you look very closely with a magnifying glass.

The only thing I've changed are the strings, I may dress the frets at some point but the action is pretty good out of the box with no fret buzz.

The guitar is beautifully balanced and it is hard to put down once you start playing it.

Beautiful guitar

Looks very good, well set up and easy to play. Good sound.

Great Value!

Came in perfect condition. Plays like a dream!

Just what you need

I bought few guitars from Harley Benton and was thinking about this very guitar quite a time. There's a lot of youtube videos showing how it sounds and they're all great. But I was like sceptical about all these. Nevertheless I decided to buy it!

Firstly, you can get many different tones from this guitar! What surprised me a lot is push/pull knobs! I wanted Gibson like sound and I got it but these push/pulls give you singles sound! And its awesome!

Secondly, as I love the Beatles I was very happy that this beauty not only looks like Beatles' Epiphone but it sounds just exactly like it! I mean you can make it sound like it! I already played The Beatles tribute with a band and everybody said that it sounds just like Beatles!

All frets are smooth and the neck feels comfortable!

The only thing which upset me is tuners! I changes strings, did tuning thing but it doesn't hold a tune. After some time the guitar gets out of tune anyway. So if you want to buy this guitar then you should think of buying locking tuners maybe or just good quality tuners.

In all the rest this is a perfect guitar with a perfect sound and look!

Brilliant guitar

Raw and rocky or subtle and refined just what a 335 is all about. I have played some other brands versions but this steals the show. Nicely finished and well constructed as far as I can tell. Pure Rock n Roll guitar. Pickups decent enough to get you in the ballpark. Unbelievable value for the price. Mine was perfect straight out the box. And the sustain is something to behold.

A Beginner's Choice

This guitar is certainly on the pricier range for a beginner, but it is worth it.

I bought this guitar to practice and record some, and I don't regret it. It sounds sweet unplugged on a quiet, rainy night, and it's quite alright plugged in. With some tinkering, you might get a good tone out of this guitar. The coil-tapping further increases the sonic possibilities of this beauty, and you can get some grunge-or indie-like sounds out of it.

The pick-guard seems to be a common problem, but it's easy to get rid of it. I personally didn't mind it, and I think it looks good with it as well as without it. However, taking it off left some crude-looking holes on the body of mine, where the screws were. I can't complain, though, it's barely noticeable unless you're really looking for it.

Though I must admit I am not well-versed on guitars. However, this guitar seems extremely versatile to me. It really is a solid choice for a beginner.

Another good instrument.

Nice to hold easy to play love it,well done . From 80yrs old don👍

Amazing Product

I wont lie, I had no idea what I was buying as a new guitar player. I just had the chance to read the reviews and listen to demos on products page. I can't suggest this guitar enough for people who wants a great sound from a high quality guitar on budget. I am still using it to this day and I don't think of changing any time soon!

Loved it so much bought one for my daughter

What can I say about this guitar but it is one of my favorites. Everything about this guitar speaks quality for the cost. I have 3 guitars I play all the time right now and this is one of them. I play this over both my Gibson Les Paul and my Fender Strat. I think what I love about it the most is not the specs, not the beautiful finish but how it feels to play. You know when you pick up a guitar and it just feels right and you don't want to put it down.. Well that is how this feels. I loved it so much I wanted to introduce my daughter to it so I bought her one. She is not a hollowbody / semi-hollowbody guitarist or I should say wasn't. She is now using it at her gigs as she travels around the country. You can not beat this guitar for the cost!

If you are looking for a guitar that feels good and makes you want to play this is it!!

Amazing product

The guitar made me very happy - the build quality and sound are amazing!

A lot of guitar for the money!

Read a lot of reviews on this guitar and based on the price point thought I would take a leap of faith and buy one.

Currently playing a Fender Strat I knew this was going to be a different experience all round and was expecting it to be similar to the Epiphone Dot I had a few years ago which I was never that keen on.

But I have to say this is a beautiful guitar to play and looks gorgeous too. Great tonality and sound options and very easy to play action out of the box, really smooth and great for blues solo's and funky bar chords.

Very happy with the HB 35 Plus and very happy with HB as a brand, this is the third HB I have bought and cannot fault the quality for the price!

great value !

The quality and sound of this HB35 is well beyond its cost. I am a less than a year beginner and for the price I expected a flaw or two. Nope I could not find even the tiniest issue. Found nothing sloppy even in the smallest details. Impressive. Only possible con is the flame maple finish isn't top tier but what do you expect for a $250 price tag. The finish and paint are still superb . Incredibly fast delivery ,got it all the way to west coast of USA in 4 days !. Out of box setup was ideal, a slight tuning and I'm jammin...It's a beautiful guitar and I love it.

HB score again

This guitar is everything we wished for in this genre.

Could not find any faults and it arrived in excellent condition. No faults at all!!!! We use it when we are looking to emulate Beatles et al but it's versatile so we can tackle anything we want with it. Pickups are fine and HB has definitely improved in this area. I used to think of them as low budget but these days they are consistently very good.Definately a keeper. To add a little more we also bought a Bstock lefty. This was as usual just as good as a new one.

Amazing for the price

I use this guitar very often and its built like a tank!

the truss rod did need adjusting when it arrived but that is to be expected.

It sounds beutyful and works like a charm !!

Purchased as new

Guitar arrived nicely packed and surprisingly in tune. I ordered a new guitar but there are scratches on the body especially the pickguard as if this was a B Stock, floor demo or a return. Aside from that, it plays beautifully, though I will probably replace hardware as needed such as the bridge hardware for more mass as well as the bridge pickup for a Seymour Duncan JB. Absolutely cannot beat the price for the quality and is a great base platform to upgrade as desired. I own 3 Gibson, 1 Fender, 3 Ibanez, and 2 ESP guitars and this purchase was by far the most satisfying. I have played other upper level semi-hollow body guitars and the HB35 is very comparable. This will not be my last purchase for sure.

Awesome guitar. Love it

I have to say that I LOVE this guitar. I'm 61 years-old and have been a semi-pro working musician since I was 14. I've owned a number of guitars through the years, including a Fender, Guild, Ibanez, custom Carvins, and Gibsons( including a 1963 Gibson ES-335), and this guitar is wonderful. I'm astounded how well it's made and sounds. I will admit that it's not as good as the '63 ES-335, but I was not expecting it to be. I should never have parted with 63 Gibson and have been looking to replace it ever since, but I just couldn't justify paying Gibson's prices. Apparently I don't need to now. I mean, how much better can a Gibson be? This guitar is that nice. I will say that if you are looking for that 355 feel and sound and can't/won't spend the money for a Gibson...this is the guitar to buy. You can't go wrong. it is a pure joy to play.

Pros

Workmanship is amazing considering the price. It just feels like a top quality guitar in all ways. I haven't found any flaws in it. It's beautiful to look at, feels wonderful to hold and play, and sounds great. The tone on it is just what I was expecting in a 335 style guitar.

Cons

There are 2 things I would change on this guitar. That is the placement of the pickup switch and the placement of the treble knobs. Harley-Benton decided to the put the pickup switch in the same location as it is on a Les Paul (above the strings). I switch pickups a lot and it's just not as fluid as the Gibson location (below the strings near the bridge). The other thing I don't like is the placement of the treble controls. They moved them a couple of inches and they are just too far away. Not a huge deal as I don't change tone often, but it's annoying. I'm actually considering having the treble knobs and pickup switch moved. Shouldn't be hard to do.

Overall it is a great guitar and absolutely worth what I paid for it. It looks, feels, and sounds like it should be worth 10 times as much.

The guitar has some cosmetic flaws, but sound and features are amazing for these money.

Far exceeded my expectations!

I've been looking for a reasonably priced semi-hollow body for quite some time now(for jazz/rock/blues), and stumbled across multiple youtube videos extolling the virtues of the "HB-35" series. I decided to take the plunge and am glad I did so!

Pros

Fast shipping: This guitar was ordered on Feb. 6th and arrived this afternoon, Feb 10th... It was shipped from a location in Germany, crossed an ocean, and was delivered to my door(U.S.) around lunch time, 5 days later.

Overall build quality: The fit and finish of this guitar is really quite amazing, given its price-point. The binding and finish were extremely well done, the neck feels great, the fretboard looks and feels really nice, the frets were fitted properly, and the guitar was properly intonated right out of the box. The action was good, with no buzzing.

Tonal range: This guitar does everything you'd expect a semi-hollow body guitar to do, and the coil-taps add additional opportunities for finding new sounds.

Cons(These are mostly )

Strings: The stings were pretty bad and were replaced immediately

Fret appearance: The frets were downright dirty and had visible toolmarks, but no dead-spots and they polished up nicely

Minor cosmetic issues: Very minor issues with slight over-spray and somewhat sloppy f-hole paint

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with this guitar and already have another model in mind for my next purchase