Harley Benton HBO-850 Blue 3-stars Reviews

Don't Like As Much, But HB Is Still Great!...

I ordered this (and a bunch of other HBs) guitar a few years back. The 1st one I received played well, but the bridge had partially separated from the body. Also, some of the higher frets had buzz or were dead. Well, the "problem" with the bridge actually makes the guitar very playable, like a shock absorber. Anyway, I notified HB, and they said to keep that one and that they'd send a replacement as well, the rep warned me that there were build problems with that model, that I could return them both after a year or so to try them out. I was stunned by the magnaminity of their Customer Service. In that regard, HB is truely outstanding. Anyway, the replacement guitar had a properly seated bridge but serious problems with dead frets and buzz in the highest notes, it's much harder to play as well. They really do have a serious build problem with setting the necks on this model. So, I can't recommend this model guitar from HB, it's too much of a "crap shoot". I think I was lucky to get the 1st one and kept it; however, HB has a much better and consistent build among its other model accoustic guitars, and I would recommend one of them.

The Frets Are Dangerous!

Harley Benton really needs to concentrate on quality control regarding frets!

This is the second guitar I have bought where fret finishing is poor. Some of the fret ends were extremely sharp, and this guitar was impossible to play without doing some serious finishing of the frets by me.

Overall, the guitar has a nice sound, but it is not playable out of the box.

Harley Benton HBO-850 Blue

Pros

Basically it would be a good guitar. The acoustical sound is great, the neck is like an electric guitar's neck: quite comfortable and fast. The pickup is very good, the guitar has an amazing sound via my Peavy Audition 7W combo amplifier or in my DAW software, direct via my USB mixer.

Cons

The guitar's quality is quite bad. The first thing what has dropped off was one of the "leaf ornaments" piece from the front of the body. The frets had sharp edges and I had to polish them. Then, after half a year, the neck twisted, and the guitar became unusable for play solos because of the tuning issues over the 11th fret. So, now, I can use it only for playing some chords around the 1-4th frets. It is very disappointing because, anyway, it has amazing sound both acoustically and via its pickup.

sounds great, plays great, but frets were a mess

pros-

-well slotted nut

-perfect intonation

-comfortable and easy to get used to

-flat fingerboard (personal taste)

-sounds great

-no finish flaws except a ding on the back of the headstock

cons-

-frets unpolished and scratchy

-last 3 frets weren't even round. they were sanded to the point they are flat

-leaves feel cheap

-whole guitar was a bit dirty with dust, fibre glass and glue resin. nothing that can't be fixed tho

*UPDATE*

the tuning machines are terrible and you might wanna change them if you use anything that isn't standard tuning. high E tuner makes cracking sounds when turning and the rest take a lot of turns to even catch on to the strings. I tried D standard and by the time I tuned the the E to a D, the rest of the strings were already out of tune

*update*

after figuring the tuners out, it's actually fine. just gotta retune a few times for it to stay there. Only issue is that frets are still scratchy, but not sharp and intonation is off and can't be adjusted without changing the bridge saddle