Harley Benton MA-500 VS Bluegrass Series 5-stars Reviews

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.

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.

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.

Bargain

Great little Mandolin, no issues in the three years I have owned it. Bit of a bargain rerally

Buy this now!

This is unbelievable value. An electric mandolin for under £100 of this quality is almost too good to be true. My only quibble (and it’s not that big a deal as I usually put a fresh set of strings on any instrument I buy) is why supply it with bronze wound strings, it’s full electric pickups not piezo.

Exactly what I wanted and a bit more!

I am an infrequent but experienced player of mandolins and what I was looking for was a reasonably priced instrument which I could use on the occasions (writing, playing, performing) when I needed to. What I got for the price of a good night out far exceeded my expectations.

Firstly, it looks stunning and the build quality is, without qualification, excellent.

The instrument was playable out of the box, a pleasure to play and, importantly to me, after a good half hour noodling my fingers were still good.

It looks stunning and the build quality is excellent.

Plugged in you have a good basic sound. I don't understand why reviewers say it doesn't sound like a mandolin. It's electric you can make it sound how you want.

Obviously it hasn't an acoustic sound but it is pleasant and quiet for practicing.

I did lower the action at the saddles after a while because it was easy to do (and lower is always better) and will set it up some more when I have the time. Having experience of acoustic mandolins I was particularly surprised at the scope and ease of adjustment. String length, saddle height, neck and pick ups are all easily adjusted and have loads of range.

A big thumbs up for this type of mandolin and for this particular model.

Brilliant little instrument

Fit and finish is perfect - quality way ahead of the price point. Sound is good with a clear difference between pickups. The bridge is designed for ball-end strings but I use the more widely available loop-end strings, using a small metal bar to keep them in place.

Works great with the StrumBuddy stick-on amp !

a tool that assists fulfill musical dreams, and for less than a nights board in the Best Western Hotel. Unbelievable

If Angels did n't play harps then they would be playing this heavenly aparatus.

Fantastic instrument

When I bought this I thought it would be a base for upgrading all the hardware to make a decent instrument. I couldn't have been more wrong. The finish is flawless. The bolt on neck joint is perfect as is its shape for my hands anyway. The tuners are silky smooth and have no play or stickiness which is often found on low cost instruments. The strings sound fine. Pickups work as they should and there is no hum that I've found through an amplifier. Mine arrived with the improved bridge allowing intonation to be set independently for each courts of strings as well as individual height adjustment. No complaints there. It has strap buttons fitted and even came with a guitar lead albeit a thin short one. It's more than other makers provide! Does it sound like a mandolin? Yes in the same way that an electric guitar sounds like an acoustic one. It's different but great fun and it depends what you want it for. I love it. The nut was cut about right. I may shave a tad of it but not yet. The bridge action needed lowering but that's a couple of minutes of a job using the supplied Allen key. If you fancy one don't hesitate. I really don't know how they can be made for this price. Only minor gripe is that it has a flat fingerboard. Radiused would be better but for this price no complaints.

Amazing mandolin

This is a nice instrument for the price. Right out of the box it is playable, but after some TLC it is amazing. I switched to lighter strings, tweaked the saddles, adjusted the intonation, nut an neck.. and voila: The perfect practice companion.

Acoustic, it sounds very nice and quiet. That goes without saying. It is , after all, a solid body instrument.

Electric, it sounds very nice, with the same choices of mic combinations as a telecaster. Perfect for the mandolin fills you need on your recordings. It will never replace the sound of a 1920' Gibson.. Anyway.. Just buy it. You will love it. I know I do .. :-)

Amazing value for this electric mando !

A do not know how they can produce an instrument like this for the price, I play in a skiffle band, and with a small portable amp this introduces another interesting sound, I must admit the strings supplied with it are hopeless and I changed mine immediately for d'addarios, but otherwise it is a great little electric mandolin and quite an eye catcher as they are unusual, I do recommend this instrument