Harley Benton CG-45 NS

Having given away my travel guitar in the Far East I was looking for something cheap to be my travelling companion for days out and holidays. Having seen the kind of punishment an instrument can get on the road or in the air (even if you are careful). I did not want to spend very much on what would be my "Beater" guitar. These are my findings and thoughts on what I got.

First of all, the service (particularly by Thomas) at Thomann was first class. I couldn't be happier with the communication or their expediency.

My CG-45

Arrived securely boxed, well packaged and protected.
It was exceptionally light. Now for me this was a bonus, for others this would be a minus. There is of course a trade-off in terms of sound. Please keep in mind all the time, the actual price of this guitar though.

I put some Martin strings on it and "Oh Boy!" Now THAT is more like it.In fact, I liked it so much I took it to my guitar tech to install a pre-amp and piezo just in case.

I would not recommend this as a first or beginner guitar. It walks a fine line between toy and instrument. A person starting out would do better in my humble opinion to go for something they can grow with it. Buy the best instrument you can afford. Look at the top of the range Harley Benton's as well as the more "famous" brands.

I have had this guitar over a year now and it is holding up well. Keeps tune pretty good (often a problem with cheaper guitars). Would I gig with it? No. But I would use it as an emergency back-up.

I didn't bother with the stick-on pickguard and a small niggly point, the stickers added to look like mother of pearl on the tuners don't do it for me, nor does the printed rosette, but remember that price? I thought it was worth spending that amount again to electrify it. Just change the strings and you can have a very servicable laminate guitar like "Woody" too.

I wanted a budget-friendly guitar to keep at my girlfriend's place for when I visited. After doing some research, I came across a number of positive reviews about the HB CG-45NS and decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, I have to disagree with those positive reviews. The guitar's quality is almost on par with that of a toy. Just to clarify, I was anticipating an entry-level guitar with its shortcomings, but in my opinion, this is taking it a step too far.

From a distance, it looks decent, but upon closer inspection, I realized that I made a mistake with my purchase.

The rosewood fretboard (which is thermally treated maple wood) is terribly dry and unpleasant to the touch. The deep brown/purple grain color is either stained or painted on and comes off on your fingers (at first, I believed it was dirt, but it turned out to be a pigment).

The bridge is also made of stained wood (and I'm not even sure if it's maple), similar to the ones you would find on a toy guitar for kids. You can see the three-piece construction of the heel at the neck joint. It makes me wonder if they forgot to finish and paint it.

The tuning keys are made of plastic and have a rough appearance. The finishing on the gold-coloured diecast hardware is rough as well, and I believe it's the reason why the G and B strings broke off after retuning copule of times. The saddle and nut are made of plastic, which is acceptable as I wasn't expecting anything more.

Overall, I am extremely disappointed with this guitar (if I can even call it that) and with the reviewers who led me to buy it. It's amusing that the guitar had a QC label indicating it was inspected by a person named Miles. Clearly, the standards for this guitar are quite low. This was my first purchase at Thomann...well...lesson learned. So, I've learned my lesson.

First, I'm probably somewhere between a beginner and intermediary guitarist and I play only for my own pleasure at home.
I bought this guitar for my parents' house so I could practice and play during my stays there and I didn't want to have to lug my main guitar with me. I wanted something cheap, not too big and with decent enough sound.
I have to say, I absolutely the guitar and now I regret each time I have to leave it behind until the next visit!
It's more than met my expectations in terms of sound and playability. It's a small body guitar but the sound is surprisingly generous and rich. I also find it easier and less cumbersome to play for my strumming/picking arm precisely because it's not so big.
I also think how a guitar looks is important — and this instrument is very pretty. I didn't bother putting on the scratch plate because I didn't want to ruin the look. Also, my plectrum rarely if ever hits the wood. I like that I was given the option not to add the pick guard.

The guitar is very light and perfect for carrying around the house or as a travel guitar. It's an ideal guitar for 'noodling' while sitting on the sofa. I think this is a great, no frills travel or first guitar. The only thing I would consider changing are the strings — I haven't done so yet but I will probably try to replace them on my next visit with Martin light gauge silk-steel strings.
But overall, all the positive you're read here are true — you won't regret buying this guitar and thanks to Thomann for making it available as such an incredibly affordable price!

when I decided to buy The HB CG-45 NS, I knew from 40 years experience
that I would find faults with this Guitar! You see I was brought up to respect an old saying: 'You get what you pay for!!'' Well in this case the saying that I fell for was: Curiosity killed the Cat!!'' OK I am a little disappointed because the one thing that I was afraid of was that the frets would be no good! I was right!! They have not been dressed properly at all! It's as if nobody cared about doing the job right because it is a budget guitar.This is a sad fact but does happen! It would take minutes to be fixed if the ''so called'' Inspector/Passer had not passed the guitar but just taken it to have the frets filed down, my review would have been outstanding!! If that had been done, this guitar would have had 5 stars from me without hesitation!

The good points: The Body and neck are great!!
The wood is great!!
The weight of the guitar is perfect!!
The sound is great!
The Tuners are excellent and hold the tuning very well indeed!

Conclusion: IF the frets were perfect,I would pay more
than double for this guitar. it is good value for money
but I think that the Harley Benton company should get a little more strict
with Quality control!

I wasn't expecting anything great when I bought this guitar. I just wanted a guitar to grab around the house any time I feel like playing without being worried about having a scratch or damage.

First, the high E string broke right away so I have to change all the strings. Right after changing the strings, the real sound of this guitar comes in. Chords are very clear and single notes are smooth.

Surprising the build is not like a cheap $50 you buy in the toy store. Since this is not a high-end guitar, I didn't expect it to be highly crafted but it's well crafted for its price.

I find it better than my previous F310.

This is simply one of the best vaule acoustic guitars I have ever played. I have bought a few for my guitar students and none had to be much tweaked, being setup almost perfectly. frets were cut nicely, with no sarp edges and dead frets. The greatest surprise were the tuners, which were a lot better than I have ever expected.
If you plan on using it as a gigging guitar I would not reccomend it to anyone since it is neither loud nor pronounced, but for learning and practice or even travelling (it is super compact) is perfect. It is build very solid and being mistreated for almost two years now still perform excellently.
To sum it all up. It is super affordable but niclely made instrument. It is also a quite a lot smaller than my orher acoustic guitars (Made in Germany Framuf and Hofner archtop acoustics) being the same size as an Epiphone Casino (not being that thin) and it is a very comfotable guitar to play standing up or sitting down.
If you are looking for a first guitar look no further, I would just recomend changing the strings for some of better quality, becouse stock ones leae a lot to desire and does not show the instruments full potential.

Qualité (prise en main, finitions et sonorité) incroyable pour un prix aussi ridicule. Initialement achetée (en 2022) pour disposer d'une petite guitare à trimballer partout (même où il y a risque de perte ou de vol), finalement je l'utilise tous les jours car elle est plus facile et rapide à saisir quand j'ai peu de place et de temps pour travailler. J'en prends d'ailleurs autant soins que de mes autres. guitares. Parfaite pour un débutant qui aurait peur de trop investir sans être sûr de continuer à terme. Très bonne idée de cadeau pour les enfants qui hésiteraient à s'y mettre...

First of all, this guitar costs less than 50 euros. It has to evaluated keeping its price in mind.

The build quality is not that good straight out of the box. Hardware is made of cheap and soft metal and it seems that quality control is not the main consern. The edges of the frets were quite unpleasing to the fingers, but once filed, they were fine. Some of the higher frets also buzzed badly. The bridge made the strings rise way too high to be played comfortably, so it had to be adjusted and filed as well. The factory installed strings were dead and dark sounding with horribly unpleasant to play, but that was to be expected, and I chaged the strings almost immediately. The body is made from plywood or something even worse, i don't know. The markings also had some hilarious spelling errors.

The sound, however, was surprisingly good when all of the corrections and adjustments were finished and the new strings changed. Also the playability increased in to a new level. This guitar is now the perfect choice for every camping trip or a summer festival. If it got burned in the bonfire or thrown in to a lake while expressing deep musicianship, it would not matter, since it is not worth a lot.

Again keeping the price in mind, this guitar is good when the strings are changed + some adjustments are made. If you need an acoustic guitar that sounds reasonably good and does not break the bank, this is for you. Just prepare yourself to do the adjustments and corrections and you will be fine.