Harley Benton Delta Blues O

Budget guitars(when done right) can be grouped in 2 categories, 1: To give you good fundamentals, and a solid platform(allowing you to build up the guitar), and 2: To do something 'off label', and allow guitarists to take a risk, and maybe find something special.

This guitar is something special, and mine is perfect(from the woods, the construction, the paint, the finishes, it's flawless, literally).
Being a guitar without binding, without wood-filler, and without PU-finish, it really allows the wood to sound-out, and that it does, it's a very lively guitar-sound, and it's very loud(even though the O is a smaller guitar than the regular Dreadnought, it can easily keep up with normal Dreadnoughts).
The tuners are solid die-cast, nice and heavy, good grip(on the string, and the buttons), which makes them very stable.
The nut/saddle/pins are very neutral(no muddling of the strings at all), and have a finish(that makes them look a lot more classy, than the normal ABS stuff).
The blackwood(fingerboard/saddle construction) is great, it's a more natural wood(sometimes blackwood can be very dried out(very 'toasted'), this is very healthy-, almost 'juicy'-blackwood, with a very gentle, natural touch, that plays out-of-the-box, like you played it for years.
The construction on mine is very clean, and very precise(the bridge is perfect, the neck is perfect, and the binding-free construction is perfect.

In short, I love this guitar, it does something unusual in being very natural, very raw in it's build, and it works out perfectly, allowing for a very natural guitar, that plays out-of-the-box, as if it's been in your family for generations.

I was after a cheap guitar for playing some acoustic blues on, something with a bit more ‘soul’ at the bass end and with less ‘twang’ at the top. I had been looking at something almost exactly the same as this guitar from another company that was priced about 1/3 more. However, at the time it was out of stock and, I was too impatient to wait!

Thomann to the rescue! Exactly what I wanted, an orchestra sized, mahogany acoustic with a natural finish, on my doorstep within three days AND still cheaper than what I was originally after. Thank you Thomann.

I LOVE this guitar SO much.... So much, that my other acoustics haven’t been played for months now, it’s always this one I pick up. The tone is warm, with loads of bass, the treble is rich, not over bright. It feels nice, it looks great, it sounds wonderful and I wouldn’t want to part with it. Not bad going for a budget guitar eh?!

I bought this as a living room guitar. You know, the one that lives behind the sofa, within easy reach when you have a spare 5 mins. The one where the kids get hold of it and bash it about and have sing songs without the worry of breaking it. In all honesty though it's a much better guitar than that.

This is a proper musical instrument and not a toy. It's a decent all rounder, sounds nice strummed, although it's definitely not in the same league as a jumbo. For me it is suited brilliantly to fingerpicking or a delicate strum/fingerpick mix. Have recorded it and it sounds good.

Feels good too, the neck is fantastic, smallish, more akin to an electric, and the finish feels nice under hand. Perfectly playable straight out of the box, good action ect.

Tuning stability is good, like I said the guitar lives behind a sofa, stood up against a wall, and can stay there for days/a week at a time. Stays in tune! I can play it, bend and bash the strings and generally wring its neck, stays in tune!

To sum up: When I started playing 30-odd years ago you would've had to pay 3-4 times the price for a guitar of similar quality. I honestly thought all this "Harley Benton guitars are great" internet talk was fanboys shouting...seems I was wrong!

Ordered this model since I wanted a light and bright guitar. One of my favorite guitars to play, period.
Pros:
* Really lightweight, can stand for hours with this around my neck
* Beautiful finish, good looking headstock. Surprisingly ornate, while still with a minimalistic design
* Sounds great out of the box, even the strings seemed pretty fresh for a factory set. No setup was needed specifically, although the frets seemed slightly rough at first, but this went away after a few days of playing
* The sound is clear, bright, almost surprisingly loud. Bass is clearly heard but not overwhelming

Cons:
* The wooden bridge arrived slightly cracked. To be honest, I considered sending the guitar back for replacement, as this seemed like a potential weak point in the structure - the crack touches the saddle. However, I didn't want to go through the trouble of packing and shipping for a cheap guitar that I picked up for 89 eur. So the crack is still there and the guitar has not broken still, so I'm assuming it's only a visual issue, as it has not affected the performance in any way.

In conclusion, a fantastic guitar. I highly recommend it for beginners or for seasoned players who need a lightweight instrument that doesn't need special care and will sound pretty good in any situation.