Harley Benton CG-45E Natural

It’s a budget guitar and build quality is reflected in that.

There is a section where the cutter went too deep when making the groove for the banding leaving a spot where light shines through the body. It’s not visible from the outside only when you hold the guitar up to a light source and look inside. There’s no high gloss polished finish, it’s a bare stained wood. The frets at the edge feel a bit rough but definitely not rough enough to hurt your fingers. Does this effect the sound, certainly not. It sounds like an acoustic guitar (I can’t speak about the electrics because I haven’t plugged it in to an amp yet). It seems to stay in tune to my ears; unlike a cheap copy of the Gibson SG I own - from a brand that shall not be named for legal reasons (it’s not Harley Benton) - which never stays in tune. I have to tune that after 5 minutes of trying to play it.

Overall: the HBCG-45E is cheap, it plays, what more do you need. It’s a good cheap guitar to start off on. I recommend it for beginners who don’t want to spend a lot of money starting off.

A previous reviewer described this this guitar as a toy. My experience tells me they could not be more mistaken. And, contrary to some views, my experience of Harley Benton is that the construction quality is consistently good throughout their price range. This excellent guitar has a balanced sound, nicely bright but with a bass in proportion to the overall tone. The construction is faultless, with a comfortable, dark, white bound fingerboard, no sharp frets, and a slightly larger lower bout, hence the bass. The satin finish beautifully complements the lights in the mahogany (veneer) top, back and sides, and attractive, slightly open-pore finish. But the biggest plus is the fact that it has become a go-to guitar, it's feeling of lightness making it a pleasure to play, above those five times more expensive. At the price, it has to be one of the best guitar buys anywhere. A truly surprisingly beautiful guitar. It rings! Go for it, in my view you can't go wrong.

I'd been hearing about HB guitars for a while and decided to give one a try. I wasn't really expecting anything amazing for the price but I just wanted a cheap acoustic for carrying around with me.

I recieved the guitar after four days to the UK and was very surprised when I opened the box. The first thing I noticed was the finish, it's really nice. The pictures don't do it justice at all. Intonation was spot on but the action was a little high for my liking so I adjusted the truss rod and its fine now. The fretboard is ok but a little dry so will be applying some sort of fret board oil on the next restring. The guitar is really loud and bright when played acoustically and fills the room with sound. Plugged in it sounds just fine, no issues there.

In all I'm very impressed wit the standard of build quality and the sound. It has the look, feel and tone of a much more expensive instrument so at the price its listed for, in my opinion, it's an absolute bargain. Got my eyes on a double cut sg style electric next. Can't wait to try it out.

This is the best £70 brand spankers guitar that I've ever played on. By a country mile. I knew that Harley Benton made cheap beginners guitars, and I wanted a little parlor guitar that I could plug in and play live with. It's easier to transport because of it's size... But it's like a toy. It's light as a feather, it looks great, it's intonated perfectly. I put a set of 13s on it and dropped it down to D standard tuning. The sound out of such a small, toy like instrument is a shock when you first play it.
Before this I was playing a 1972 Ranger 6, built like a tank... the neck on my Eko is probably the same weighf as this entire guitar.

The colour was more orange than I expected so I'll be restaining this with a darker stain.. I might just sunburst it with black.
It's a bit tinny when you plug it in, but run it through a compressor with a bit of 'verb and she's sweet.

Overall, a fantastic guitar that is most definitely £70 well spent.

Before ordering this guitar I checked reviews, they were all quite enthusiastic and positive which made me a bit suspicious.
But then I got the guitar and my suspicion was over. This guitar sounds amazing when finger picking, sounds very well when struming, it stays in tune with and without capos. Build quality is quite decent (frets could be sanded a bit, but its not a deal breaker) and the tuners do their job. Sound volume is also very good although I'd rather use it for finger picking than struming.

One thing that really amazed me was the pickup. About 25 years ago I bought an Ovation round back and its pickup sounds like an AM radio. I didn't expect much more from this HB folk, but I was blown away when I hooked it up to the mixer. It sounds crisp with lots of presence, just the way an acoustic guitar should sound.

Guys, you did a great job, and I've already placed my next order today. Keep up the good work!

I'm not an acoustic player really but need one in my arsenal as we all do. Other than a string change and tune, this is perfect. Great quality and lovely walnut. Fretwork is great and smooth which for a sub £100 guitar wow!

The pickup system is good although not something I use often. It has a battery check and small eq system like most. It's a great size for beginners too as it's not too big and gives a good compromise to my children rather than messing with 1/2 sized guitars. This is a great instrument and if songwriting or strumming along with something for inspiration, this is what I go to. You CAN NOT beat this for the money! You just can't. I even ordered a second one for my Father and its become his main guitar for practice.

I left the little scratch plate/sticker off as the walnut just looks beautiful! It's just a joy to play. HB is nailing their guitars and Thomann is nailing the quality controle before shipping clearly leading not just to good value, but exceptional quality too. In my opinion, now having several HB guitars and some high end Fender and PRS gear, HB has become a real force to be reconed with and those creating guitars at this price point need to really up their game to keep up with such a great and varied range of quality instruments. I have expensive guitars. When I want or need something new to use or record with, I now just check Thomann and the Harley Benton range because I know what I get. Which a A LOT of guitar for the money. Brilliant!