Harley Benton HBMA-100 VS

Mandolins aren't very popular here in Europe. Thankfully there are some cheap mandolins available, one of which is this Harley Benton mandolin. I assume they are ordered from the same factories in Asia where other brands get their cheaper models from. There are not many reviews of this model so hopefully this helps someone.

For an instrument with this price it is very good. You need to be aware that most mandolins require additional set-up as they come pretty much straight from the factory. Some simple sanding or filing, or adjusting the truss rod may be necessary. Most of those things are pretty easy if you are patient and use google. I play guitar for 10+ years so it is nothing new to me.

Out of the box:

The instrument looks great. The top is nicely arched and has a better paint job than a much more expensive mandolin I've tried, which had thick dabs of paint over the body. After cleaning the random factory things, this instrument looks very nice! The inside of the F-scroll is poorly painted/finished, but that is impossible to see unless you are examining the instrument up close. Inlays and hardware look good.

The fretboard looks surprisingly good, the frets are even and there are no edges sticking out from the fretboard. The action (string height) was quite low. The nut slots are just deep enough for good playability at the first frets. No maintenance required there. The strings are fine but for all I know they could be 2 years old. The tuners are okay. They do not all turn very smoothly, but they do their job fine. An upgrade could be worth it.

As another review mentioned, the instrument is shipped with tension on the strings and the bridge in place. It would be great if this could be changed because it increases the chance of the instrument being damaged during shipment.

After checking for damages and tuning up, a little problem revealed itself: the bridge shape did not match the arched top. The bottom of the bridge did not make contact with the body - there was a significant gap between the legs. This lowers the mandolin's volume and sustain.

Simple fix: Place sandpaper on the body where the bridge should be (near the middle of the F-holes) with the grit facing up. You can attach it with paper masking tape. Take care not to damage the top. Then you hold the bridge in its position and start sanding from side to side (that is, from the one F hole to the other). Do this until the bridge is shaped accordingly to the curvature of the top. Look on google or youtube for more tips about this method.

After performing this, the bridge fits the body nicely and the tone is much more resonant.

With new strings and careful intonation the mandolin is louder and sounds just like a mandolin should. I am no expert in mandolin tone but all strings sound fine. Chop chords sound nice and percussive. Recorded with an SM57 it all sounds great.

The action can go surprisingly low without buzz. The higher frets (above 12) sound good, but a bit muted/staccato. It could be because of the low action, or, it may just be this particular instrument or the mandolin in general - I don't know. Many mandolin players seem to never play that high.

The 12th fret has a slight bend in it at the edge of the fretboard on the E side. This is purely cosmetic because it does not affect the instrument's playability at all. The second E-string touches the fret where it is still straight.

The neck curvature was perfect in this case. No adjustment needed.

So, after a little maintenance this harley benton mandolin is a really amazing first mandolin. It sounds and plays great. I would definitely recommend it. For the price it is a steal!

This is a beautiful instrument to behold and constructed to be a sturdy instrument. Upon receiving my Harley Benton mandolin I expected the usual quality I receive from Thomann. I have some minor criticisms about the mandolin, the strings are very high gauge and the action impossible to adjust as the bridge adjusters can not work as there is no where for them to move. I had to take my very pretty Harley Benton mandolin to a repair shop and ask for help. The shop said the mandolin was set up very badly but was easy enough to fix. They removed the strings and replaced with some 9-32 gauge strings, they had to drill holes through the bridge in order for the floating bridge to work correctly and then adjust the action accordingly.

After the repair work my Harley Benton mandolin works/plays fantastic. I should add this cost me an additional £25 so to any other people looking at this mandolin I will say yes it is a great instrument but expect to pay an additional cost because the instrument IS NOT set up to work very well out of the box. Yes it can be played out of the box but it will be very difficult to play because the strings are very hard gauge and the floating bridge is not correct.

I think Thomann may need to address this issue with the mandolin and with their supplier. Overall you have a fantastic product but I did not expect to have to pay £25 in repair work!

Best wishes,

Andrew Kerensky LLCM

Well, yeah, it's a copy allright, but please consider that the original cost 75 times the price and you will be pressed to find any other F-style copy for double the price you will pay for this one. Finish and details on the instruments is flawless.

I am not a full fledged mandoline player (rather guitarist) but picked this up for our bluegrass band.

Only point of criticism is that mandoline came shipped with the bridge in place and under tension. Luckily it held up perfectly, so this goes to show. But as you have to take of the bridge to remove the protecting foam, it would still be safer to ship it with the bridge not installed, or under slacked tension.

Most importantly is that the instrument intonates perfectly after you do a proper installation of the bridge (check some youtube videos if to find out how to do this). Playability is great, even up the neck. Tuners are holding up fine and not slacking.

A incredible instrument for the price and perfect choice for beginners who have fallen for the sexy looks of the F-style mandoline.

Well, I'd played guitar for years. Poorly. A friend had a flatback Mandolin lying around, and I gave it a try and fell in love with the sound of it.
Went looking for one for myself, (an F style though), just a cheap one to try, and found this. A no-brainer at the price. Thought about the model with pickup, but didn't need it. I have had previous experience with Harley Benton guitars so was already confident about build quality.
Now at the price, it needs a bit of simple setup work (see below), but it played well out of the box, and had decent strings on it. I couldn't fault the build quality, finish or sound.
Later, I was inspired to buy a Loar 310 Honey Creek model as well. Another beautiful instrument, but three times the price.
Also, I find myself playing the Harley Benton more, it just sounds so wonderful.
Setup tasks (simple).
1. The bridge base needs to be shaped.
2. The bridge needs to be moved to fix intonation issues
3. The neck is a bit "sticky" . The lacquer needs to be cut lightly and polished.
If you're on a tight budget, this is a great buy. You could gig with this.
Or, if your budget is extremely tight, or you're not a fan of the Lloyd Loar F-style, I would look at the A-style versions at half the price.
My previous Best Buy was the Harley Benton "Manhattan Standard" archtop guitar. It's still my "Go To" guitar.
These guys build excellent, quality instruments. How they do it at these prices is astounding. Only downside? So inexpensive, you'll have to pay for delivery!