Harley Benton CG-45 NS 4-stars Reviews

Nice for it's price, but...

Nice guitar, moderate quality, no complaints. Considering how much it costs it makes up to its value. Sounds not that good, maybe suitable for broke beginners, to later switch to something better. Totally worth it's price, maybe it would even justify its price if it was slightly more expensive. Not a serious choice for a main guitar, but a good value for its price

Hard to complain

At 68€ a pop, it's hard to complain about this guitar.

Yes, it did need work out of the box... the action was very high (close to 4mm)... the frets weren't level and were in desperate need of a good sand/polish... the neck relief needed adjusting (this helped a little with the action due to heavy bow... shaving a few mm off the saddle got it the rest of the way)... the cheap plastic nut was pinging on 3rd and 4th string + strings over 1st fret too high... the fretboard was dry and 'hairy' (wood fibers coming off) and the fret ends needed some smoothing over.

But once that was taken care of, the guitar plays well enough and punches quite a bit above its weight.

Great Cheap Guitar

This guitar is great. If you want something that you can beat the hell out of without worrying about the cash you dropped this is a great choice.

I put a brass nut and bridge on it and it has a beautiful ringing tone now.

Good camping guitar.

Cheap guitar but

Okay so it is a cheap guitar, but I got this in a bundle for about £110 including a years subscription to an online learning platform. The subscription should be around £100 on this platform.

The guitar: The tone is nice and the sound is big for what is not much bigger than a parlor model. The craftsmanship is acceptable and all round construction is okay. I am an experienced player and bought this for my son and he is happy with it as it isn't too big in size. A few cons: the guitar was shipped in a tuning higher than concert pitch which was strange, strings are normally loosened during transit. The frets show no signs of being crowned or dressed and are rough against the base of the fingers. The fret board is dry but nothing a good oil wont sort out upon first restringing. The action beyond the 7th is a little unmanageable so if you know what you are doing you might want to address this. The "scratch plate" comes as a sheet of cheap plastic and I wouldn't recommend even bothering trying to attach it.

All said, would I recommend it? For a beginner absolutely.

good product

The product matches the description. It performs its function.

Harley Benton CG-45 NS

Well, guitar is really good considering the price. Decent tone and playbility. If you need something up to 100€, get it, you'll not regret it!

Perfect for the price

You don't need much more. Nice small necks that allows to use the thumb and lets the hand sit comfortable whilst playing. The body size is good. All of this is considering its price. Good guitar to start.

GOOD

COMPARED TO THE PRICE IS AN INSTRUMENT THAT SOUNDS ENOUGH IT HAS A CERTAIN PRESENCE THE RESONANCES ESCAPE WELL ARE NOT VERY CLOSED AS I FEEL ABOUT OTHER SAME PRICES

great guitar, could be better with a little TLC

Let me start by saying, you cant beat the price of this all mahogany construction acoustic guitar. So if you were expecting a Martin for this price - that simply doesn't exist! However, if you are handy with the tools, you can make this feel like a more expensive guitar with a little TLC.

Out of the Box the action was great - i just tweaked the truss rod a little for personal preference. It played and sounded good oherwise.

The fret ends were a little sharp, so i took a (regular generic flat metal) file from my tool box and smoothed them out. If you font know how this is done, then youtube it.

This is me being fussy - but I also found that the binding wasnt smoothed out so i used the same file for the front top part of the binding on the body (where your right arm goes over the guitar), then some rough sand paper, followed by 1000 grit sand paper

If you would like to take it a step further, you could polish the frets, but my my home use and bashing around, its not needed.

All round great bang for the buck.

You get what you pay for

Not very playable out of the box (high nut, some inconsistent fretwork), but after adjustment of the nut and the high frets and with some new strings, it feels/plays quite well. Its sound is a bit clunky as compared to a higher end dreadnought, which was exactly what I was looking for.

Not bad for its price

I wasn't expecting anything great when I bought this guitar. I just wanted a guitar to grab around the house any time I feel like playing without being worried about having a scratch or damage.

First, the high E string broke right away so I have to change all the strings. Right after changing the strings, the real sound of this guitar comes in. Chords are very clear and single notes are smooth.

Surprising the build is not like a cheap $50 you buy in the toy store. Since this is not a high-end guitar, I didn't expect it to be highly crafted but it's well crafted for its price.

I find it better than my previous F310.

Gathering dust

Bought for my daughter who was caught between a want to play guitar and have long painted finger nails. It's had little use but sounded ok and has stood up to the rigors of life on the dole pretty well.

For the price, not bad...

My ratings are based on one might expect for the price point. I'm not putting this up against a Taylor or a Martin because that simply wouldn't be fair.

I got this guitar just as a stop-gap while on a lengthy business trip. It arrived in good condition with no obvious damage. The strings were protected in a full-length paper sheath, which was nice to see. One thing that struck me as a little peculiar was that the pickguard was not installed. Instead, it was included in the box with the option to peel off the backing and stick it on. Never seen that before. I opted to leave it off because I think it looks better without it.

I tuned it up to E Standard and noticed that the action at the 12th fret was about 1/2 inch. I adjusted the truss rod to bring the neck back to straight with the included Allen key (nice, handy) and it was still about 1/2. I cast about and looked at the bridge. The plastic bridge was clearly the culprit. I sanded off a good 1/3 inch off the bottom of the bridge and now it plays quite nicely.

The body of the guitar is narrower than full-sized guitars but produces a bright, full sound. There's not a speck of gloss on the entire thing, so the overall feel is very natural and pleasing to the touch. I've played it for about 6 hours and noticed that the neck takes skin oils very well.

The tuners are a touch sticky, but I suspect a touch of WD-40 will remedy that.

Overall, it's a good value for the price. I will say that it takes a little work to be playable, so if you are considering this for a first guitar, be ready to learn a little about setting up an acoustic.

good budget starter guitar

I bought this guitar as a stand-in for fingerpicking blues. My preference was for one of the Harley Benton custom line solid top guitars. Budget didn't allow it so I bought this as a low cost entry.

If you temper your expectations you'll be fine with this guitar. It costs 59 euro, anywhere else this would buy you cheap firewood. Here what you get is a budget guitar which is serviceable.

Will it survive gigging? no, maybe at the students union

It's similar in quality to budget guitars I would have bought in the 80-120 euro range, so you are getting decent value

here are my observations

The mahogany in the description refers to a laminate as you would expect at this price. It weighs virtually nothing and doesn't feel like it would survive knocks or long term use.

the finishing is pretty good, one decent size scratch which is a little disappointing on a new guitar.

The tuners are cheap and plasticky, they work albeit with some slippage and tightness.

Fret ends are sharpish

Sounds pretty decent, will serve well for a cheap stand-in until I can afford a solid top.

A good bargain

I'm gonna be honest, I'm no guitar player so i can't tell you a whole lot and I just bought the instrument so i can play on a six stringed instrument.

But from a bass players point of view, the guitar plays guite nice. A good option if you want to introduce yourself to the world of guitar like me, but don't want to spend much.

One problem that i have however, is that it seems you can't regulate the truss rod well enough and strings won't play above the 13-16'th fret. But maybe some heavier gauge strings will fix that.

Not the ideal choice but definetly a good bargain for that little money. Perfect for those warm summer evenings and for wooing the girls with you guitar playing skills.

Really this good ?

When I bought this one, I didn't expect anything.

Taking it out of the box, looking at it, it looked cheap :

painted inlay, matte texture, plastic bridge & nut.

No pickguard ? there is, you have to attach it yourself.

I didn't.

It is, when I started playing it, that I got the shock.

When I heard the sound it dawned on me that this one is a nice replica of the D-45 from the big "MG". The sound is amazing.

Pro : - Sound (for me = Amazing)

- Sustain.

- Neck rather good(no twist, warp) except the fret ends.

- Plays very well after setup.

- Frets perfect as lowering the action didn't create any buzz.

- Very light.

- Tuners hold tuning very well

- Price. Yep, To get the real D-45 you can buy a lot of these.

- Marble inlay (plastic)

Con : - Bad setup.

- Action to high. bridge had to be lowered/adjusted.

- Quality of the bridge/nut for long term use debatable.

- Painted dot inlay.

- plastic nut and bridge.

To make it perfect : lower the bridge, intonate and tune.

The plastic nut and bridge worry me for long term use. The strings will

penetrate the plastic so replacement will be needed.

A guitar for the couch

I wanted a smaller sized guitar with a clear tone and that's what I got.

Right out of the box I put on some lighter strings and filed the saddle down slightly. This gives me a lower action that I did not expect to be able to get with a guitar of this size.

To me the neck shape is great and I love the woody finish of the whole guitar. I also appreciate the fact that it does not have a shorter scale like some of the other smaller guitars I looked at. The way it sounds and plays is perfect for my needs and it sits comfortably in my lap as I noodle away watching TV.

I was extremely surprised by how good it sounds and plays. The fit and finish is a bit lacking even though the construction seems solid to me. The binding is discolored in some spots and the included glue-on pickguard does not fit on this type of guitar so I threw it away. I also noticed that there were some splinters inside the guitar that rattled.

I did not have any troubles with the fret ends sticking out from the sides but the dressing and polishing of the frets is a bit lacking. This does not bother me so much when I play and I always feel very lucky to have gotten such a good guitar for almost no money at all.

I would reccomend this for anyone looking for a smaller acoustic guitar that sounds great and wouldn't mind the cost of replacing it if anyhting were to happen to it.

HBcg-45

this was my second purchase of the harley benton budget guitars,The previous guitar sounded great and i was very pleased with it for what it was,This guitar sounds every bit as good,being Mahogany,its great for Folk /Trad no nasty fret edges,I have read reviews concerning "rough frets" on this model ???,I cant see how,as the neck is fully bound, Great wee guitar for the money,dont be fooled with the old addage,you get what you pay for. Dosent apply here, Many Thanks

sweet campfire atmosphere

i bought this guitar for the price and doenst expect much. but i get tought a lesson very soon!

the first thing i do, when i get a new guitar is to wind up new quality strings.

after it was done i tuned it and began to play... the handling could be better but for this price?! nevermind. a beautifull full sound for struming and also a difererenced tone for picking. i really use this baby a lot. the matte finish is so incredible beautifull, you get every girls heart melting at the campfire! or maybe its wonderwall?

i still love it

Interesting guitar for the money spent

Instrument is made from mahogany which gives it richer, full-bodied sound than nato or spruce ones have. Though as can be expected from the price, it doesn't develop character and doesn't have that ''special'' ring to it as more expensive guitars do. Still, you can be glad and happy about this piece of wood with strings if you are buying it for practice or walks on the beach. TLDR; non-expensive doesn't mean inferior.