Harley Benton MA-500 VS Bluegrass Series

Unbeatable at the price. Works fine

This gets five stars overall because I don't know how they do it at the price and it works fine. I tuned it up right out of the box and it played nicely. I plugged it into my Trace Acoustic amp and it sounded nice, with good string balance. I particularly liked the sound with both pickups on. The pickup, selector switch felt positive and worked with no noise. The tuning machines felt smooth and positive. They hold the tuning. Cosmetically, you ether like the design or not, but it's well finished, with one small caveat which I mention later. With any new instrument, I like to set it up myself. The neck is straight and the purple heart wood fretboard looks good. I lowered the action to 2mm at the bass end and 1.5mm at the treble end (12th fret.) I then set the intonation so it will play in tune at the top end. No bother. The bridge assembly is sturdy and it works as it should. I have a couple of small gripes. The 20th fret was (I fixed it) a little proud and, with the lowered action was causing the 19th fret note to choke. However, you often find this on much more expensive instruments. I'll give it a proper fret dress on its first sting change. Also, it would have been good if the pickups (which are the size of guitar pickups, and probably are - blade type) were reverse wound, reverse polarity so as to humbuck when both selected. That said, there is no noise except when you get too close to the amp. In any case, I bought it for late night silent unplugged practice. The frets, apart from no. 20, are even and fairly well finished. Another reviewer commented that the fret ends were rough. Well they are a little, but not too bad, and that is easily fixed with some wet or dry paper. I'll do this too during my first string change. Finally, a brilliant piece of kit for the price. Needs a little set up as you might expect. I love it, but it's an absolute bargain.

Get ready to do some work.

Look dude, it's $100. Go in expecting to do some work on this beast. The nut is a mess. It's impossible to keep it in tune out of the box. However, this is a great instrument to learn on if you want to start learning to do your own setups.

The pickups are microphonic and very low output, but if and when you are able to wrestle it into tune (the tuning machines are hot, bleeding garbage and should be replaced immediately) it sounds perfectly fine.

It's heavy for such a little thing -- you will totally need a strap to deal with this instrument. The back of the neck is raw, unfinished wood, so that may feel a little strange. The fret ends are a nightmare.

All that said, for the price, it's still worth learning to set it up yourself or having a tech do it for you. You'll likely still come out ahead. Don't shy away from the instrument just on those merits. But also don't take it out of the box, strum it and think you're ready to go on stage. You're getting a $100 instrument, and the quality of it will depend on your sweat equity.

Nice for the Price

I am very happy with this product. All in good condition. Playing it with a portable headphone amp and impressed with the sound. Unless it turns up in bits you can’t grumble at this price. Arrived well packaged and within the projected 7 day delivery time.

Buy it

The best mandolin at this price, I put lighter strings on it & lowered the action, now a very playable & nice sounding electric mandolin.

Hugely fun

Strangely this mandolin is a lot heavier than a full size telecaster. I’ve switched out the bridge pickup on mine for a mini humbucker and that fattens the sound out. The only quality issue with mine is one of the frets is not fitted straight, only slightly out and it’s higher up the neck so with my fat fingers I don’t tend to go up there very often.

Great instrument -- but needs work

This is a fine instrument - but it needs work to realise it's full potential.

The fret ends are not just badly finished - they are totally unfinished!!! They feel sharp and unpleasant and will need a lot of work with a fret file. Out of the box, the nut was too high and the action on the verge of unplayable. It looks like they just bolted it together and rushed it out of the factory. However!!! With work - reducing the height of the nut, lowering the action and setting the intonation, it starts to come alive. For a buyer not prepared or skilled enough to make the changes -- this instrument would be a big disappointment and would need an expensive visit to a luthier to get it right. If you have average skills and enjoy tinkering with instruments then you can make the basic improvements yourself. There's a great instrument in there --- it just needs bringing out. Apart from the playability issues, the standard of finish is exceptionally high. Better quality control needed on the frets, the nut and bridge saddles.

Buy one, get it set-up

I feel really bad knocking a star off this product for quality but it did disappoint at first, even at this price.

The strings were so bad they some snapped when tuning it up for the first time. The saddles were all over the place and the frets were uneven and sharp.

But then as an independent guitar tech with my own workshop, I know that much more expensive instruments need setting up before they are at their best and the strings supplied usually need replacing right away.

If you go for one of these, you should expect to either spend some time setting it up yourself or take it to a shop to have a full set-up to get the most out of it. But then that's actually true of most most guitars ...

Love this eclectic solid mandolin.

Very comfortable and easy to play.👍

Excellent

This mandolin is amazing for the price, it sounds great and feels great, the build quality is of high standard.

Unique instrument, not bad build quality

My girlfriend says her finger hurt after playing it, but otherwise she is happy with the instrument. Build quality is not bad for such inexpensive instrument.