Harley Benton HB-35 CH Vintage Series Reviews

Everything about this guitar is good

I play this instrument for myself. I'm recording my songs. I like the sound, the look, the quality of the instrument. So far, no downsides have been identified. I think this is the perfect budget solution for beginners and beyond. If you are not engaged in such nonsense as the search for overtones in the sound due to the fact that it was made in the last century by some unknown person, but simply enjoy the process of playing, this is your choice.

loveable sweet cherry

i m fallin in this sweet cherry, very warm sounding guitar, it has flawless structure, jazz to blues does everything good, even djents better tan my esp

A good modification platform

This guitar has a nice design for a 335, heavy body, awesome jumbo frets. Top hat knobs are beautiful! The pickups are nasty, midrangy, ugly sound ( I will certainly upgrade). Good value overall! If I buy again would try the plus version for sure!

'All that Glitters is not Gold?'

I have been playing guitar for over 60 years have owned too many to count and having spent many years working on guitar repairs and upgrades regard myself as a guitar Tech. Just received a Harley Benton HB-35 and these are my findings.

Positives:- Fit & finish outstanding for the price. Set-up was perfect.

Negatives:- The nut action is way too high in my view making the guitar unplayable. The nut is of cheap plastic (as expected) I replaced the nut with a quality bone one and set the nut height to correct specs.

The frets require work to polish out the ridges.

The Tuners ie Machine heads are dreadful, complete rubbish, way too much backlash so these need replacing.

The pickups sound Horrible and so need upgrading.

The electrics work but again of poor quality but as expected of a guitar at this price.

Conclusion:- When you take into account the cost to bring this guitar up to a reasonable usable instrument. It would make more sense to buy the Epiphone version instead, you would also enjoy a better resale value.

Good little guitar for the price

I'd been looking for an inexpensive 335 copy, and I bought this after a youtube recommendation. For the price it's very good. It has a little trouble holding tune, but that's probably just the strings, which I'll replace soon. If I had to do this again, I'd probably spend a bit more and go with the 35Plus, and get the better pickups and prettier inlays. Still, hard to beat this deal, and a very good looking and decent sounding guitar for the price.

Well balanced 335 type guitar

I have owned two Gibson 335 guitars one a Red dot like this and the other a natural finish.

This is lighter and easier to play. The pickups and hardware are not top quality as you would expect at this price but the body is not so cumbersome as a 335 and I find it easier to play.

My only major criticism is the position of the toggle switch. It is in the same place as a Les Paul but without the access plate. So if you have issues with its alignment or want to replace it its a real faff. Why not put it on the lower bout?

Still, all said and done its a good guitar for many musical styles and like all HB guitars I have owned excellent value.

Quality Guitar

I've always loved the look of the cherry red 335 and when I saw this I had to have it. I had looked at other brands but heard nothing but good quality about Harley Benton so I was drawn to it. I'm still a beginner in terms of guitar playing but my instructor "took it for a spin" and said it was incredible, he wouldn't change a thing about it, and when I told him the price he was floored. This is a great instrument that can cover a lot of genres of music and I'm very happy I decided to take the plunge and start my Harley Benton collection with this one.

An amazing guitar for an amazing price

This guitar and it's HB brand are truly remarkable considering the price. It could easily pass itself on as a fender or similar brand. I loved everything about this guitar

Great value

Way more guitar than you would expect for the money. Not perfect, but definitely playable once good strings were installed and the string height was adjusted adjusted. I would have given it five stars but there were a couple of small dents on the neck pickup and a few finish flaws that were reasonable for this level of guitar.

Exceptional Instrument for price.

This guitar is excellent value for a such low price.

The neck is fine and slim and the action is good.The paint work is as good as any USA instrument. I own 6 US ''named'' guitars. The intonation is excellent. The pick up are and capable of excellent sustain.

i will use this guitar as my second instrument after xmas i will use on tour with Steelyard blues band (UK)

Another Winner from HB

My father bought this guitar. I'm writing this on his behalf. BUY IT. It's better than the similar Epiphone for half the cost... That's all you really need to know...

BUT, the string height, intonation, tuners, neck etc bla bla bla were all great right out of the box. and the finish is gorgeous. There's nothing not to like here...

HB-35 Vintage Searies

I have had this guitar for a couple months now and enjoy playing it. It only needed a slight truss rod adjustment out of the box,the fretts were perfectly done, playability is very good. The finish is very good, extremely happy with my purchase.

Lovely guitar, excellent value.

This is currently my favourite guitar. the pickups sound great, intonation is good out of the box and sticking a set of tens on helped with the tuning issues you get with jumbo frets.

I use this primarily in my home studio and I cannot fault it. Fretboard needs a bit of oil and I would upgrade the tuners but everything else is fine.

Good

The guitar felt good and played like it should but there were cons as well.

Pros:

- Guitar had 2 to no visible scratches or dings

- Amazing sexy red cherry colour

- Frets leveled and playable

Cons

- 1st to 2nd fret had white speckled dots that i see in other guitars, its basically the maple wood exposed by tiny dots

- One bridge screw was loose, took me 30mins to find the rattling noise when played

- Nut was too low and could see visible crack near headstock which im pretty scared of

- Tuning heads were tight and loose, inconsistent .

Overall I'm pretty happy with the guitar so, thank you :)

Amazing value 335 style

My 3rd Harley Benton, and am very happy yet again - I don't know how they do it for the money. Feels very well put together - there are maybe a few very minor imperfections in the finish, but I would expect that in a guitar costing three or four times as much.

I think with guitars in this price range, it is really about your expectations. Pickups are pretty decent, and although this isnt a big brand US 335, it really is not that far in terms of sound or feel. The hardware is no doubt of the budget variety, but it works effectively. If you were bothered I suppose the pickups and hardware could be upgraded, but I really see no need to. I've had it quite a while now and haven't felt the need to change anything.

Highly recommended if you are looking for a hollow body on a budget.

Impressive, budget-friendly, great sounding!!!

I'm really impressed with this guitar. There are a few imperfections here and there, but all in all it really feels and plays like a guitar worth 2-3 times it's modest price.

Some minor imperfections: a fretboard inlay was raised up a bit. I'll need to get that sanded down. The pickup switch is really wobbly. And the input jack is constantly getting looser (I need to tighten it often). These are minor issues which are easily fixed. Though the fretboard is rather dry, the fretwork is excellent (no sharp ends and they all seem to be level).

Cosmetically, it's very good. A slight blemish that is detectable under the finish here and there, but you have to really be looking for it to notice. There appears to be a very, very slight "ripple" in the binding on the top of the neck as it gets closer to the nut, from about the 5th fret. Again, this is something that you only notice if you're really, really looking for it, and it has no impact on playability or the structural integrity of the guitar.

Sound: It sounds awesome! I do plan on swapping out the pickups for some warmer alnicos, but even with the stock pickups, this guitar has loads and loads of 335-esque overtones. A really thick overdriven sound. I really love how it sounds. Really nice resonance and sustain. Overall, a very complex tone signature for such a cheap guitar. The sound alone makes this guitar punch WAY above its weight class.

This is my third Harley Benton guitar and while one of them I sent back to be replaced (the first one they sent me seemed more of a B-stock quality level), I really love all 3 of them (the other two are an SC-450 P90 and an SC-450 Plus). I don't know of a better value for guitars out there. And with every new Harley Benton I buy I'm more and more surprised that they can produce such solid guitars at such a low price. And they are excellent as modding platforms! Highly recommended.

Nice versatile guitar

Can produce a nice raspy bluesy sound and also a strong rock sound. A little bit bright pickups. Unfortunately came with sharp frets, high action and a very ugly and badly cut pickguard which you can take out. A very solid guitar with a sound that competes with other guitar in double its price range.

Great sound - fantastic proce

This guitar is now a permanent fixture on my rack.

I bought it as an introduction to the 335 type of sound and it delivers in spades.

It is much better value than a guitar twice its price.

pros:

Price

Sound

build quality

con:

needed a setup (which i did)

needed new strings

Would buy this again in a heartbeat.

Cherry 335 copy

Very easy to play, lovely sustain and resonance due to the central block through the body of the instrument.

Mine arrived with minor faults but I decided to keep it.

Electrics appear fine and present no problems, but I'll look at getting the pots and wiring changed as it's commonly a point where savings in production are made.

Nice guitar and at this price, it's a no brainer. Get one and enjoy playing for the price of a boutique pickup.

Excellent budget semi!

Bought this guitar because I have been so pleased with my Harley Benton MS-60 and Harley Benton S-600 VI guitars. I'd been looking about for an ES 335 type for a while, and on the strength of the aforementioned guitars, decided to try one of these out! Fast delivery from oder to recieving took only 3 days, well packaged and tracked delivery. Out of the box, this guitar was well set up (my S-600 did need a bit of setting up, and after which played like a dream!), nice action, and decent strings fitted it's plays beautifully! The range and quality of the tones on this guitar are amazing! from cool jazz to metal (yes I said Metal!!!) these pickups are well voiced and very versatile! Don't hesitate, buy one today!!!!!