Harley Benton HBJ-25 Reviews

Great first experience with banjo realm !

I bought this banjo back when its price was under 100 Euro, but it is definitly far more than that. Originally it was meant as present for my 5 years old son. He was absolutely crazy to Bela Fleck videos and saw his Africa travelling music movie several times.

Besides he liked noodling on this instrument with metal slide, i realized that i can record some serious catchy melodies and add unusual flavor to half finished downtempo songs (banjo miked with Audix and Shure dynamic microphones, went through Line6 PodX3 Live). During year and a half these record earned on audiostock more than twice of price paid for it ! Wow.

Okay, it was my first touch with banjo, action on higher frets is kind of high, but construction is lasting and sturdy till today. As first banjo, i can only reccomend and i would move to electrify it with some Fishman sticky pickup for adding more electric dimension to that specific sound. Still have original factory strings on it.

Also it is my first experience with Harley Benton brand. Althrough weird name for musician isntrument company (sound like singer from death metal growlers Deicide meets bikers realm, ugh....), i will definitely try more of their fine price/performance instruments...

Great instrument.

Really good sound out of this banjo for the price. I bought it just to learn to play and intended to upgrade but I actually think the quality is great for the price. only recommendation i would make is to buy strings as well and change them as the strings that came on it were not the best. Overall good buy though.

No expert, but I'm Very Happy!

I always wanted to try a banjo but was never willing to spend so much money for a new instrument. So, decided one day to order this one; it was very fun and sounded very decent.

Would recommend it to any first time banjo buyers looking to have a go at a new instrument for cheap. Great value and no problems that I can see.

I'm sure there are many better Banjos out there, but not for this kind of value. I feel like this Banjo is a great first step towards investing in higher quality ones down the line - when I can afford it.

Great Buy!

Excellent!

As the owner of many Banjos, this is the best one I have owned the cost less the £200. Everything from the build quality to the tone are just utter perfection. It leaves little left to be desired. It's worth so much more than it actually costs. At least compared to Epiphone and Gear 4 Music models (ones that are more expensive!)

It's THAT excellent.

Great Sounding Banjo

This banjo comes with a resonator. The action needed a slight adjustment at the nut and I set the floating bridge using instructions from a forum so that the intonation was excellent. It stays in tune well and also has a truss-rod in the neck which I adjusted to make the action perfect for picking. I tried using finger picks and thumb picks and they worked well. If you combine playing this instrument with a good music book on the five-string banjo you will make excellent progress. The tone sounds very folky and traditional and suited old-time tunes the best. The resonator certainly adds extra volume and projection. The notes are accessible right up the 22 fret scale. Tuning requires purchase of a clip LED digital tuner and you may wish to purchase a strap. The Banjo comes with an allen key for the truss-rod and a tool for tensioning the skin. The metal components are well made and sturdy. The neck appears very straight and is also smooth and tapered to allow for easy movement of the fretting hand and fingers. There are dot markers on the side binding of the neck and on the rosewood fretboard which is bound. The strings are nice and light and tuned up well. I was able to play simple banjo tunes straight away. The tuning pegs are open geared and simple but showed no slippage under tension. The Harley Benton Logo is on the double cutaway head-stock. Highly recommended that you play simple tunes from a banjo song book first if you are a beginner. You need to get used to the tuning especially if you have been a guitarist like me. That said, once I was used to the GDGBD which is commonly used on the five string banjo I could quickly learn the simple one finger barre chords and you can of course use partial chord fragments which are fully movable shapes up and down the neck. A beginner should learn banjo rolls and this technique will be quickly picked up on using this fine Harley Benton HBJ-25 Banjo. Very pleased as a new banjo player.

Absolute bargain

Great sound and finish, at this price it is an absolute bargain. Surprisingly loud with the closed back.

Solid starter

Great banjo for starters. Unfortunately after a week or so of playing, parts have come loose. still a great piece for the price.

Really lightweight compressed wood that could easily break. Not the must sturdy banjo in the world.

banjo H B

ce banjo est d'une sonorité incroyable idéal pour apprendre cet instrument. c'est vraiment un bon achat.

Good for the price

Nice: price, general appearance, price, tone once I'd put on lighter strings, price.

Nasty: the cleft plastic peg holding the 5th string. The cleft isn't deep enough, so the string buzzes a bit against the fret. I'm planning to cut & grind it down flat and put a spike in. Not a deal-killer.

Nasty but don't care: the strap attachment points aren't strong enough: the bridle on one of them started to come out as soon as I put a strap on and leant on the banjo when wearing it. Not major, since given all those hooks they're unnecessary.

The strings also resonated and buzzed where they entered the tailpiece, so I wove a strip of leather through. Fine now. This isn't a criticism: it's common enough on instruments of any price, but if you don't know to expect it you could think you'd bought a clunker.

General appreciation: good beginner's instrument once the above points have been treated.

Nice price, too.

banging banjo

well worth the price bought it as a side instrument with guitar great sound great to whip out at a party very happy with it.great quality great price couldnt recomend more

Fantastic for beginners

The instrument itself looks great, sounds great and feels pretty solid.

Considering the low price of this thing, I was very positively surprised.

It holds it's tuning pretty well, the fretwork is alright and the feel is also quite good.

The sound is a little thin for my liking, but nothing too drastic.

What I'd recommend for anyone getting this one however, is a new set of strings as soon as possible, as the new strings really help with the thin sound and the overall "rough" feeling.

For the price, it's a great banjo for beginners.

A most lovely banjo indeed!

This is a fantastic instrument to begin learning the banjo with. It's well made, all the machine-heads turn smoothly, it holds its tuning well. There's not much else to say.

Oh... If you live in an apartment block, consider also purchasing a banjo mute. Your neighbours will thank you for it!

Cannot go wrong at the price.

Bought to see whether I liked playing the banjo and was highly impressed by the quality of the construction and it looks and feels like a much more expensive instrument.

Can't play well enough to evaluate the sound but it's ideal for a beginner and no doubt also for a more experienced player.

As usual with the brand it's unbeatable at the price, excellent value for money.

Really, really good instrument

Another absolute win from the Harley Benton team. I was put off buying a banjo for many years as everyone claims that to get a "good" one you have to spend £5-600+ and that was just too much for me merely to "test the water"...

However, I'm really glad I chanced this purchase. I figured it was so cheap that it wouldn't be a great loss if it turned out to be a piece of junk but, just.... WOW !

My friend has a banjo that he paid 800 euro for and I shall not name the manufacturer but it's made by one of the premier/big banjo producers and this banjo, in my opinion, plays and sounds just as good. It's crazy.

There is NOTHING low quality about this instrument to my eyes/ears. It really is a classy looking banjo and I would easily have expected to pay a lot more for this kind of sound and playability. It's a joy to play and sounds lovely.

It also looks very nice, with no part of it belying the cheap cost. The wood finish looks great, it's not "too heavy" but has a suitable weight to it and the remo head and tone ring look really "the part". It has the look of something that should be a lot more expensive. Tuning pegs are nice, not slack and they're responsive and easy to tune with. The neck is very nice, too, very fast and no quibbles whatsoever with fretting or any other usually problematic matters on lower end stringed equipment.

I've said it in other reviews but everything I have bought by Harley Benton is just great. I've seen them getting a lot of grief on forums etc but when I check the dates of these posts they're always from around 8 years ago so I can only presume that quality took a real jump forward. So, basically, don't let negative press fool you, these instruments are really great and are of astounding quality and playability considering the price.

I don't say that as a negative, either, like "well, it's great - CONSIDERING THE PRICE", as in if you pay a little you should expect to get something not so great. No, quite the opposite, I think in this case you pay a little and you get something that is comparable to instruments many times the cost.

For beginners and banjo afficionados alike this is a great instrument. I'm really glad I made this purchase and have no problem at all recommending it to others.

Great instrument

This is a great instrument for a beginner. Nicely balanced, good neck and sound projection. The edges of the frets could have been a little more polished, but that is really easy to get done, and they have a really nice work for the instrument's value. Definitely recommended!

Harley Benton banjo

This is my first musical instrument and didn't want to pay to much for something I might not be able to play. This was the cheapest new banjo I found and I'm very pleased with it. I think the quality and value are excellent, a first class company and also shipping.

Ken Mitchell

Banjo arrived today so pleased i have now placed order for another one for another member of my family. Service and delivery fantastic. No doubt i shall be dealing with company again.

Seems to be pretty good 5-string banjo for a beginner

I bought this banjo + the case for our guitarist for a Christmas and he liked it pretty much and we both agreed this seems to be a good one for a beginner. We don't yet have a clue how to play banjo but we did have fun with it! :D

Great budget instrument for a beginner...

I purchased this 5-string Banjo as a gift for my father-in-law. He plays acoustic guitar and wanted to learn the banjo. Seems like a nicely built instrument and, more importantly my father-in-law loves it. I'm by no means a banjo player but it has a lovely tone and is great value for money.