Harley Benton HBO-850 Classic Blue

The guitar itself plays nicely and I have had some good hours with it since it arrived!

The good:
- I love the Ovation-like design to death!
- The fretboard ends in an angle, so the amount of frets ascends, the higher the string (the high E has 24), which is pretty dope.
- Might be a different opinion from person to person, but I really don't think the round back design does anything bad for neither the sound, nor the physical feel. Some say you need a strap when seated to play these comfortably, but that's not my experience at all.
- It sounds awesome for slap! (Miyavi or Tosin Abasi style playing)

The bad:
- Plugged in, the nylon strings are weirdly quiet, so I guess the pickups aren't very good but look at the price.

- I was surprised to see that both the bridge, the fretboard and the leafy design seemed to be left unfinished (no oil or lacquer), a first for me at least.

- My copy had two pieces of the leafy veneer design overlap, but I managed to fix it (I'm a woodworker for a living), and It was probably just an accidentally overlooked mistake.


If you're used to playing premium instruments, there might be better options for you, but if you're looking for a budget classical guitar, I can warmly recommend it!

I bought this guitar to have nylon string with a pickup so I easily could use it with my audio interface, but all I can record through the pickup is noise. Very annoying! I have never experienced problems with products from Thomann, so I'm also surprised. Well it turned out that the problem was the cable not the guitar. My apology to Thomann. It's a very good guitar for the money you pay!

Why I chose this guitar....(This may be of interest if you're an old timer with arthritis like me, otherwise jump to the Review if you're in a hurry). I learned the ukelele as a boy and was given a beaten up student classical guitar in my early teens. In my twenties I bought myself a steel stringed acoustic, then in the early 1990's an HSS Strat. I've jammed with a few friends but the vast majority of my playing has been on my own in the house, so strictly an amateur but I've been playing on and off for decades. Around 5 years ago I treated myself to a ukelele which I love. However, the arthritis that I had in my knees spread to my hands causing me loss of flexibility and significant pain if I tried to play anything. I didn't play for around 3 years. I've been taking some supplements for my knees which helped ease my hands a little so I started reading up on what I could do to make things easier to play. First up was nylon strings rather than steel and lowering string tension. So I lowered the tuning on my ukelele to match my guitars and yes it helped...which got me thinking maybe I could get back to playing guitar. I didn't want a classical guitar as the wide flat neck would have been difficult for me, I needed nylon strings and a neck a little wider than than a steel string guitar. I also wanted to be able to plug into my amp if possible. In other words a hybrid between electric and acoustic, something that could do both.

Review.... This is a bowl back acoustic guitar modelled on a well known brand but at a significantly lower price. The neck is an attractive mahogany and has a smooth satin coated finish. It is 48mm wide at the nut, which is what first drew my attention to this guitar. Wider than a steel string guitar but narrower than a classical. It also has a mild radius rather than being flat which helps me with chord playing. The fretboard is hardwood with ABS binding. The body is black ABS plastic with a cream plastic binding and the top is wood. The multi sound holes are decorated with leaf effect wood epaulets which are glued on. There is a 9 volt pre amp/equaliser.

The guitar looks lovely and quality is generally good. The neck needed no attention at all. No sharp fret ends, raised frets or buzzing. The action is a little high compared to a steel string guitar but its what you'd expect for a nylon stringed guitar. Not sure what to do about the nut. The top and bottom E strings both fit flush into their slots but the other strings seem to be raised a little as if the slot isn't quite wide enough. I have contemplated opening up these slots slightly but the action is ok so I've left it for now. Maybe this is deliberate to match the radius of the fretboard..? The black body has a mild raindrop effect pattern on its surface and seems pretty tough. The jack plug socket is on the lower side and I had to tighten the nut which was a little loose. There is no access panel (other than removing the pre amp which is on the opposite side) so if the nut had come off and the socket had dropped inside the body it would be difficult to retrieve. The top is wood and there is a light grain visible. Its hard to tell if it is solid wood, veneered or has some other sort of finishing under the clear coat. For the price the finish is fine, however, there are a couple of minor aberrations. One edge of the lower decorative epaulet is not glued down properly and has started to lift. This will need gluing down at some point as it will get caught and split off. There is also a blob of excess glue on the inside edge of one of the sound holes which I can probably trim off. The colour and finish coats are not as neat as they could be where the ABS neck binding meets the top. It looks like the neck and fretboard are attached to the body before the final coats are added. The masking around the neck ABS trim could be better. It's only a minor issue and not bad enough to warrant returning the guitar.

I have limited movement in my index finger so I cant play some open string chords but I have found this guitar easier to play than my steel string acoustic. Unplugged this guitar has a pleasant balanced sound and plenty of volume if used with a plec. Plugged in the pre amp is hot enough to produce some distortion if required and the 3 band equaliser gives good control if you wish to adjust your tone. There is a battery test button but no in built tuner. I've played this pretty loud to test it out and while it is possible to induce feedback, you just have to adjust where you stand in relation to your amp/speaker. The HB strings that were on the guitar sound ok but after 2 months I'm still doing a minor retune each time I play.

I have found that with a strap the body does naturally face upwards a little. I'm still getting used to this and consciously have to make sure the body is facing outwards otherwise my left wrist is bent around too much and gets painful.

In summary this guitar is well suited for my style which is backing accompaniment to most modern music from ballads to rock. It is easy to play, looks lovely and sounds good.

This is my 5th Harley Benton purchase and I've left it a little while to "review", to try and form a reasoned opinion.

Pros - The instrument looks fine from a short distance. It plays nicely - after a little work. I find it nice to go back to a classical guitar string spacing for clean chords, maybe I have fat fingers ? To have a nylon string guitar but with a truss rod adjustment is nice, to have the ability to fine tune the action is great and helps the playability. The price is incredibly reasonable and to incorporate a piezo pickup and tone controls within that package, very good.
Cons - I find with each of my H.B. guitars there always seems to be some imperfections in the finish, it is a bit of a lottery. This guitar is no exception - A few minor marks and scuffs. I have learned to accept that these products may need a little extra finishing and setting up. Consequently and ironically I have learnt quite a lot about guitar finishing. This guitar had a number of high frets, but I have found that before you get involved in "dressing" them, use a mallet and a wooden die of some sort, support the neck immediately under the problem and give it a tap, problem goes away. I'm surprised how many H.B. frets are not seated properly. Sound wise - Acoustic. I feel it lacks a brightness, the top three nylon strings lack a clarity. I was hoping for something a little crisper, I'm sure I've had even with cheap classical guitars. Obviously I changed to fresh strings, a brand which I assumed to be of reasonable quality, straight away - though I've a feeling that the guitar was shipped with good fresh strings. Sound wise - Pickup. I like the amplified sound a lot but I'm sure the response to the low E is down, I'd say 50% of the other 5. Though it's hard to tell with the guitar in your lap. I need to distance the amp and get another listener. But to me it's apparent via Headphones.

Sum up. I purchased this guitar for a variety of reasons. In my youth I always hankered for the "O" type guitar this is based on. I like and wanted to recreate the slightly artificial / synthesised sound of a nylon acoustic put through effects; reverb, delay, chorus etc. By plugging this guitar into a Katana I get the kind of thing I was after with lots of sound options at great price. I can EQ some treble clarity back into the sound. There are small finishing issues, most of which are easily sortable and having done so, I am going to live with the questionable piezo. I would never have purchased the four figure equivalent. But I do have something which looks great in the collection and is very enjoyable to play and experiment with. Therefore, for the price, reasonably pleased with my purchase.