Harley Benton Custom Line King-CE NT

I play for 40 years, have 12 various guitars and play semi pro.
I have 4 acoustic guitars, from classic, dreadnought, grand auditorium and now also jumbo.

I really bought this guitar just for fun, because it's price is very nice and I read and saw some excelent reviews. I allways liked SJ-200 natural, but never found enough reason to actually buy it, as it is pretty expensive and my desire was never that strong.

With this one, one just can not go wrong. You get plenty of guitar for the money, excellent built, setup, solid electronics.

From the moment of unwrapping this guitar looks like it is triple or four times the price. It is very nice to play, excellent setup with Daddario EXP16 0,12 gauge.
neck is setup perfectly, action great and suitable for this kind of acoustic guitar.
And here we come to the next - what is this guitar meant for.
This is strumming type of guitar with rich and deep sound. Very neutral without any special character (martin, taylor, gibson sound...) resembling more to Ibanez or PRS neutral sound.
Since I have it only two days, this can be partly because acoustics get their character after some time of playing and when the wood properly matures.
This guitar has some raw spruce scent that makes me think, that wood could be a bit forced, so I will wait some time and be carefull, that I don't dry it out.
I expect, that harmonics will develop through time and use, right now it's more strings that give character to the sound.
So, when comparing this guitar to my grand auditorium Tanglewood TW170ASCE, Tanglewood sounds more mature, less deep bass but splendid mids and highs for fingerpicking, less for strumming.
Jumbo King CENT is quite opposite - mellow at fingerpicking, but great at open and full chords strumming.
But that is basically, what was expected from shape and wood and why I did buy this guitar.
I didn't expect much and I was pleasantly surprised and I still don't expect much, mut i see that this guitar has some potential to be more than just solid instrument.
But time will tell.
Anyway, great use of money and totaly worth it. Everybody that saw it, immediately guessed the price range of around 1000? or even more.

Edited after few months:
sound: developed more to typical Gibson SJ200 sound, sounds great when recorded.
as to mellow sound - it's not that, it is just that increased lower tones give different sound to high strings.
when played hard, this guitar roars!
action: set up high for strumming which it does excelently. If one wants to lower action, the whole mustache bridge has to be lowered. If you lower the action, some of the roar when strummed hard goes away.
Guitar tunes excelent and keeps tunning astonishingly.
Anyway, this guitar is not so much for gentle fingerpicking (jumbo's never meant to be anyway...) or it looses much of character.

Changed strings to D'addario EXP 12-56. It works great.

I had not expected what I had received to be so well finished. I had been wanting to give HB a go and was honestly looking for a 7 string electric. On a whim, I decided to look at HB's line of acoustics. A on line forum to which I belong had only good things to say about the electrics. When I saw the Custom Line King pictures it caught me eye. I have a thing for blonde guitars. I had been wanting a good sounding full body acoustic. I put the 7 string aside for purchasing for another year and went ahead to take a gamble on this acoustic. At this price point even if it was just OK, I would be happy. There where a few hiccups in the ordering system as I wanted to split the payment across two methods. Calling customer support, we were able to get the transaction complete. Transaction on a Monday, guitar arrived on Thursday. That was a pleasant surprise and unexpected. Having let the guitar rest overnight, my first impression was 'WOW!'. I looked so much better in my hands. Beautiful. I ran my hand over every edge. I feel nothing but smoothness. Looked for gaps in the binding, the rosette, the neck heel. Perfect. Ran my hand down each side if the fret board. Smooth. Put a battery in for the tuner and tuned it up. The tuner worked well, tuning heads were smooth. I was trying to find fault in the build or finish that would say this is an inexpensive guitar but could not. Even after playing for a couple hours, I didn't find any faults.
Like Rocky, this guitar punches well above to price point. Thank you Thomann.

Используется в домашней студии, иногда - на концертах.
Ни к дереву, ни к машинкам абсолютно никаких вопросов.
Гриф ровный, анкер отзывчивый. Лады - 13 пришлось один закатать на полмиллиметра, это не проблема.
Порожки - хоть и пластмасса, но очень достойные, желающие - могут поменять, я не стал.
Струны поменял на 013-056, понравилось больше. Пришлось бриджевый порожек поднимать, подложил отрезок басовой струны :)
Пьезосниматель - на уровне, но ничего особенного. Сколько видел гитар - понимаю что у всех пьезы стоят только для удобства на концертах, правильней снимать микрофоном.
Тьюнер - нормальный. Мелковат дисплей, и нет индикатора включения, несколько раз оставил включенным, за ночь батарейка разряжается.
В целом - рекомендую к покупке, за такие деньги лучше не найдешь.

I ordered the guitar on Saturday evening and by early Monday morning the order had already been processed by Thomman and was waiting for collection for delivery to the UK. I was notified by email at each stage of the delivery process and the guitar was delivered on Wednesday, at 10am, which must be a record - I wait longer for items from a well known auction site to be delivered in the UK. I had to leave the parcel for a few hours but at 2:00pm opened the box. The guitar was very well protected and in perfect condition.

I was very surprised that I loved it at first sight and it's much better looking than on the Thomman web site. It is pretty much the same size and shape as my Big Tone. It is a big guitar so I would imagine that smaller players may find this model a bit too big for them. I was a little nervous about the distinctive looking bridge but its actually quite nice and well made.

After tuning, I gave it a try. I thought it sounded a bit 'bassy' and the trebles were slightly muted but after I plugged it in to the clean setting of my amp, it sounded much better - loud and clear and resonant. It has a very 'classy' acoustic sound and I'm sure that once the top has matured a little the sound will even out. The strings are a little on the thick side for me, I think they are 12's, but they seem to perfectly compliment the guitar although I may try lighter strings just to see how they sound.

I can't find any flaws in the finish and the wood grain looks wonderful. The bridge is well finished as are the inlays in the fretboard - I'm not aware of the inlays when playing. The nut it well cut and the Grover tuners really hold the strings in tune for ages. There is a very distinct woody spruce odour that comes from the top of the guitar as well. I thought the fret ends were very slightly a touch sharp but certainly not enough for me to consider getting my files out. The frets are well polished and the fretboard isn't dry. The intonation was almost perfect - 4 out of the 6 strings were spot on, but the 2 'E' strings were a little sharp - about 2 percent sharper so it's not really an issue. The same applies to the notes on the first fret.

The strings I found were a touch high after the 7th fret but perfectly playable. The high E is about 2mm at the 12th fret and the low E is about 3mm at the 12th fret. The saddle looks like it has been filed down already as the High E side is about as low as it can get while the Low E side could be taken down a bit, but that would compromise the action I think as I like the high strings to be a touch lower than the bass strings. I have often picked up new guitars with extremely high actions so this guitar get a prize for being really very playable out of the box.

There are no buzzing frets at all, which is a bit odd as the truss rod looks like it needs loosening a bit as the strings just touch the frets when they are held down at the first and last fret, so there isn't a small gap between the strings and the fretboard. I will leave it for a few weeks to settle before deciding to do anything with the truss rod with the supplied key. In fact I might just leave it as it is as it plays perfectly well as it is.

So the outcome is that I'm very happy with the guitar. For the money paid for the guitar, and the service I received, I have to give it 10 out of 10 - I would give it more if it was mathematically possible!

This is my 3rd Harley Benton guitar the others are a Big Tone, and a CST 24T and I love them both - they are my 'go to' guitars. I'm now going to get rid of some of my other guitars, (I have 10 electrics and 4 acoustics), to make room for some more HB's. My only complaint with HB guitars is the HB logo - I wish they would use just one design.

Update After One Week
I have played the guitar pretty much constantly for 7 days and I have found it is a really good quality guitar. The bassy sound I mentioned above seems to have disappeared so I think I have either got used to it or the guitar has acclimatized to the English weather. Whatever the reason, the sound is really distinct, resonant and loud.

The action I mentioned before, (the strings being a bit high), does not bother me at all - in fact I have come to like them as they are. I have adjusted the truss rod by loosening it to give it a very, very slight bow, so that is now OK.

Apart from the truss rod, (which I didn't really needed to alter), this has been the first guitar I have ever bought that did not need lots of adjusting to get it to my liking. It's a fantastic guitar for the money, and the fast delivery was the icing on the cake.

I came across this on Thomann by accident. I was looking for an Epiphone EJ200, to which this is pretty much identical.

Having tried the Epiphone previously and being happy with its quality, I was very wary of ordering a guitar online. However, I decided to take a chance based on the excellent reviews and also the ridiculously low price.

Well, it is even better than I expected. It's a beautiful guitar to look at. The design and finish are fantastic.

Having a solid spuce top, grover tuners and bone nut and saddle at this price is amazing.

It has a nice bright sound (not too bright) and great sustain.

The intonation was almost spot on and the action was very good out of the box, just a touch too high for my liking but that was to be expected.

The inbuilt tuner seems good, although it possibly tunes a touch sharp but there's very little noticeable difference from other tuners.

Having tried the preamp yet, as I don't have an amp yet but I'm confident the unfortunately-named Fishman 'Isys+' will do a decent job.

I did take it to a luthier to get a proper setup done as there was a little fret buzz when strummed strongly. They lowered the action and did some work on filing the frets.
That added about half the total price but it was well worth it. Not absolutely necessary to get a professional setup done as it's very good out of the box. However, I'm glad I invested the extra cash, as it's now even better and an absolute pleasure to play on.

I'm now playing pretty much daily and have improved more in the few months I've had this than in the 20 odd years since I first picked up an acoustic.

It's also considerably more comfortable to hold than my previous Yamaha dreadnought. Maybe that's just me but it was a pleasant surprise.

Highly recommended guitar. If you're considering getting one...stop considering and just buy it.

I bought this guitar because I tried a freinds HB acoustic and it was so easy to play. I own a Washburn which although sounds great has terrible production quality like every Washburn guitar I have purchased. It has such high sting tension due to terrible geometry. I have done extensive work on it but its harder to play than any other acoustic. This custom king is in the opposit camp, great quality construction and easy to play with 12's on . The sound is improving every day (took 6 months for the Washburn to reach full glory) I have only had it for a couple of weeks and I know that a different set of strings is going to make this guitar have sounds off the chart. I gave four stars because this is where I am at at the moment. Dont let this put you off. Most acoustics improve in the first 6 months and I would suggest to let it settle with the strings it came with rather than rushing to change it. I do recommend Newtone Strings as these have bought tremendous tone to two of my guitars one of them a real cheapie. I got the Custom King because I wanted a different sound and I got that. Already the low end on this guitar is rich smooth and without boom. The sound develops with use and in about Two months I will put new strings on it. I have found 11's give the best balance of brightness and tone but we shall see. The guitar is a fantastic deal for the price and is somewhat original in its tonal range. Very good Volume and comfortable to play. Very positive feel to the neck and the standard setup very playable although slight room for improvement but not really required. Non of the recordings I heard before buying this did it justice and none conveyed the wonderful depth of the bass. Thats a mystery to me. You wont regret this purchase. In my opinion better than £600 Takamine

Bought Harley Benton King CT NA for home use upgrading from my Yamaha f310. It arrived in the USA 13 days after placing order.

Pros:
Looks impressive, light in weight, tuners are very precise, fret work and set up excellent, neck straight and level with zero relief, sound is just like the Youtube videos very balanced, electronic tuner works well, beautiful inlays, nice binding, intonation is perfect. I have worked on many guitars over the years and was prepared to do adjustments but all I had to do for this was tune it. After having it for two days, I compared it to many guitars at local music store and the only thing that came close was a Gibson J-45 priced at $2794USD. I'm pleased with this guitar and am happily breaking it in.

Cons:
Paperwork for electronics is for a different system. The diagrams have knobs my doesn't have. Wires inside buzz when I play the high G on the low E string but I can find a way to stop that. May lead to an addiction that causes more Harley Benton purchases.
Update:2019
After some time the top by the bridge began to raise and action was high and stiff. I sanded down the bridge (which was very thick) and bridge saddle and now it plays excellent with comfortable action.

I have never played a Harley Benton guitar but I decided to take a chance and buy this one. The shipping only took 2 days to get to me, which is crazy fast! The guitar itself is lovely! The fit and finish is good, not perfect, but still, quite good (a tiny cosmetic blemish around the neck joint). The tone is well balanced. The projection is everything I would expect from a Jumbo. The neck is easily as playable as my Martin, almost as playable as my Taylor. The sound, plugged in, is actually better than my Taylor. All in all, I'm very happy I took a chance on this guitar and I hope I'll have many happy years with it. For this price point (I paid $253 + shipping), this is a crazy good guitar!