Harley Benton EX-76 Classic GHW AN

First up, the finish. It's so smooth and shiny. Looks beautiful all over.

The neck, whilst being pretty thick - this is quite the opposite of a Jackson style neck, so if you're looking for a very thin neck, this may not be the guitar for you - plays really fast and well. I am actually really happy with how the neck plays, because I'm used to much thinner necks usually, but it may be the finish ( same as the body, not a satin finish ) that is INCREDIBLY smooth.
So those with smaller hands may find it a bit more difficult perhaps as you'll need to stretch a little more, but it absolutely won't feel sluggish at all. The fretboard allows for easy fast fingerplay.

It does not feel heavy over your shoulder at all. I'm only 5'9 and hardly muscular or strong at all, but this does not weigh down on me during play. Make sure to just buy a good quality strap ( padded ) and some kind of strap locks/system, as the positioning of the strap hook might allow for the strap to come off at the front if you're moving around a lot as you play. But as i say, even a super cheap set of those plastic strap locks will help prevent this from happening.

I love the set in jack. Makes everything feel so much more solidly connected. Feels safe and secure when playing in a standing position.

I have already replaced the tone and volume knobs with a prettier set of gold ones, as they match the guitar well and add more to the (faux) expensive "look", but there is no need to other than aesthetics, as the standard ones look and work absolutely fine.

Sound is subjective of course. It all comes down to what amp / tone & pedals you use of course. It sounds great to me, but there are so many individual factors that make up a guitar tone we individually love. So i can't really comment too much on that, all i can comment on is HOW it plays. And I'm very happy.

You know what you're probably in for when spending only around 250/260 pounds on a guitar ( if you've been playing for years ) but this could not be better for a beginner on a budget.

It does not FEEL like you're playing a "cheap" guitar. The build quality is too good. Just remember that players/beginners with smaller hands, maybe try to go and test out a thick neck guitar in a shop before you think about buying this one, as it may not be perfect for you yet. Probably too bulky ( though it isn't big ), the shape maybe too unbalanced for very young players, so maybe go a different route for now if you're maybe 12 and under. But old people like myself should have no problem with the weight/shape.

Best "cheap" guitar I've ever bought and there have been so, so many over the years.

Let me start by saying I do not review products. I honestly can't remember a single product I have ever left a review for.

I've always been in love with the Explorer shape (and more specifically the Korina explorers) and have always wanted one but refuse to drop the cash on a Gibson. When I saw this was coming out I ordered it within the hour it went up.

Just got it today, which was a little over a month for shipping. This was to be expected with what's going on in the world right now, and it was 100% worth the wait.

I'm a die hard Ibanez player and typically prefer wizard necks and slim profile guitars so the only thing I was scared of was getting a baseball neck like my Gibson LP. The neck is definitely thicker than a wizard but no where near a baseball Gibson. Maybe somewhere around a PRS.

The locking tuners are fantastic. The stock pickups are also honestly not hateful. I play generally heavy music (modern metal & hardcore) and they get the job done but will probably swap them eventually.

The bridge, saddle & nut are solid, the pickup selector is a little wobbly but that's about the only con I have currently.

Oh, and the biggest pro is this guitar looks about 50x better in person than the pictures/videos show.

If you're on the fence about this guitar, just do yourself a favor and splurge on it. You absolutely will be satisfied.

This was my second recent Harley Benton purchase and a more expensive guitar than my first, an HB35-plus Cherry, so my expectations of quality were higher and happily I was not disappointed. The guitar did not quite survive its shipping intact from Germany to UK despite being double boxed, but the damage will be easily remedied by a replacement pickup surround (which is on its way to me as I write this, thanks to customer services). I have a few constructive comments so I will get those out of the way first. So, the guitar arrived with a decent set-up and action but annoyingly HB do not seem to clean the frets/fretboard at all before shipping, so I would advise anyone purchasing one to also get some lemon oil cleaner to remedy this. I would also recommend replacing the cheap strings provided, as the high E doesn't take long to unwind at the tailpiece if you do a bit of bending. With this particular model being purchased unseen and having a natural wood grain finish, you are always at the mercy of the manufacturer on how good the wood grain matching is at the glued seams as the offset body consists of at least 2 pieces of wood glued together. The picture provided on the Thomann web site gives a good impression of how the wood grain was matched, however, rather annoyingly the matching is excellent on the back but not as good on the front and the grain is less pronounced than in the photos and not like the Mahogany I recognise. The fretboard on my model is also completely black (as shown on the cheaper EX-76 AN model) but not as shown for the GHW-AN model on the photos. One last comment is really specific to explorer shaped guitars in general. Do not expect to either wall hang it or easily find a guitar stand into which it fits due to the body shape and angled headstock! So that's the cons, there are many pro's though and it is still a very nice guitar for £350 (don't forget to add VAT and shipping/import costs to the price shown on the site if you are in the UK post-Brexit), with much better quality hardware than the cheaper HB models. Overall I am satisfied with it but to me it seems to be getting harder for HB to be seen as under-priced they move more up-market. Personally I think thinner neck profiles would improve the HB models playability greatly, but I guess that one is down to personal taste.