Harley Benton Custom Line N-150CE Black

I looked, I read the reviews online, thought about it, thought about it some more, and finally bought it. For so little money I could hardly be disappointed. I just had no idea I could be that impressed! This is a great sounding resonator guitar. Unplugged it gives that superb metallic twang reminiscent of those old Dire Straits albums. Out of the box it was superbly set up with a great action. I may tweak the action down the line for some of the slightly more interesting tunings. Dropping the low E to a D did make it buzz a little but that's easily sorted out. Plugged in the sound is a little murky, but tweak the EQ of the desk and it's not half bad. Playing this live a few weeks back everyone was so bowled over with the look and the way the chrome-wear reflected the light that I don't think anyone noticed the sound. But that's me being nitpicking when really it exceeds all expectations. Honestly I couldn't have been more pleased if I'd been given this for free. It's inspired new songwriting, and made older songs that needed that little somethin' somethin' shine. Seriously at this price, and with this good build quality, what's to think about? I would highly recommend this model. Yes, you could spend more and get a high end model but what if your resonator phase is just a passing fad and it ends up sitting in a corner unused? Stop reading this review and buy it now.

I purchased this so that I could have a reso/dobro for taking to any jam sessions, and outdoor social gatherings, festivals etc, so that I don't have to take my much more expensive resonator and risk damaging it.

I bought this plywood constructed HB expecting a mediocre sounding guitar at best. What I received, however, has impressed myself and players of a much higher calibre than myself alike with clear, rich tones emanating from the spider cone.

PROS: Solid and sturdy construction. The binding works well to both offer a pleasing aesthetic, and hide where the plywood joint are.
The spider cone projects well with a nice rich tone & resonance.
A pickup and dual-tone/vol controls are a nice plus on a guitar at this price.

CONS: The tuners aren't the greatest. Tightening the gears a little helps, but if I was to mod this guitar I would begin with the tuners as they are they weakest feature of this guitar.

This is a dobro guitar, so as such the neck is slightly thicker than some may be used to for a more normal playing style. However, this guitar plays very well whether slung or lapped. It responds extremely well to a slide, and when in OPEN tunings such as D or G this guitar really sings from the slide.

I've had this guitar for a couple of weeks and just love it. At the £138 I paid for it it's an absolute steal. The quality of the hardware is amazing for a £138 instrument and the guitar is very well built with a good durable matt black finish. The frets are well finished and the action is just under 3mm at the 12th fret which is just about perfect for slide playing yet is still low enough to play chords and notes with your fingers. Tonally the sound is loud and ringing with no buzzing or rattles of the kind often heard on cheap resonators. Delivery to the UK took 5 days which included a weekend in the run up to Xmas which is fantastic. If you're looking for a quality inexpensive resonator give this one a try.

It's ok but it has something loose floating around inside it, that sometimes falls on to places that make the guitar buzz on the bass strings. I little shake to move whatever it is, does the trick. Eventually, I will get it out of there, but I don't want to change the strings yet, because I'm not sure how big I want to go (Dobro strings are usually YUGE). Plus, I will have to take the resonator apart to get in there, which is new territory for me, that I'm fearful of. To be fair, I'm not sure I could get much further from Germany, and still be on land, so the blame could be on UPS.

As for the actual instrument, I'm not blown away. The amount of "resonator tone" is a bit thin, but it could be my play, or the small strings. I don't regret buying it; I always wanted one, and the price is right.

It is a pretty weird guitar. Mine came in HEAVY, but other than that it is a pretty neat instrument in itself.

Couple of lightly sharp frets, and the pickup seems to be busted. Luckily, I never needed one, but buyer beware.

What saves the picture for me, is that it's a very pronounced and loud acoustic guitar in itself. It SCREAMS. Not particularly fully in terms of frequencies, but it SCREAMS nevertheless, which comes very useful as a accompanying instrument in some applications where you wouldn't wanna use something small or expensive.

The acoustic sound in itself isn't "resonatory", like, at all. A little bit of metallic overtones, and that's it. Just a very loud, heavy and fun acoustic.

Despite everything, the acoustic sound isn't too bad, and for the price, I kept it even with the busted pickup.

It is a good enough fit for unplugged-style activities also (i.e. Ovations and such).

What can we truthfully expect from a resonator for under £200. ? The answer….is not very much. I bought this as a project to see if I could improve it enough to make it a useable gigging instrument. I like the cutaway access for slide playing. In short, the fret ends were rough, as were the crowns of the frets. The nut was poorly cut, and the action was too low for any serious slide playing. The pickup was weedy, thin and weak, and the pots were scratchy and of very poor quality. The acoustic tone was thin and lacking any real body , warmth or sustain.
I cut a new nut, tweaked the truss Rod, refitted the bridge, and upgraded the pickup and pots. Overall cost was about £100, so for under £300, I now have a a guitar that is reasonably ok without being a world beater, though it obviously can’t compare to high quality resos. The physical construction is quite heavy, and I’m not convinced that buying any more new parts is going to make a cost effective improvement in tones.
It plays ok, without being outstanding, and would do for a couple of songs in a gig. I’m sure that at this price, quality control is going to vary immensely….. so it will be down to pure luck when your guitar arrives. Having said that, it is certainly the sort of instrument that can benefit from a small amount of work and investment.
Be realistic in your expectations, and this guitar will serve its purpose.

Well, so I thought I'd get me a resonator without paying too much. I have later bought the ResoElectric, and if your wallet allows it I recommend you go for that one straight away. This guitar is nice, neck is good, action fine, sound is ok, though not as loud as you might think when played acoustically. But all in all, it is what it is and if you are disappointed with a resonator at this price range you should stop whining and start saving up to buy a high end guitar in stead.

What did disappoint me though was revealed the moment I plugged it in. It was just noise and statics and buzzing and havoc coming out. Ok, so what to do. I could of course just send it back and get Thomann to fix the problem, or I could smash the instrument to pieces while screaming how I hated the world. Or I could try to fix the problem myself. I did the latter and found a broken wire inside it's belly. Fixed the wire and then everything was peachy creamy. Question is, did anybody really check this guitar before it was sent to the customer? Someone sleeping on the job, maybe?

Conclusion: It's a fine guitar when everything is like it should be. If you're looking for that metallic/banjo-like sound you should go for the ResoElectric, but if you'd like it to sound more like a normal acoustic guitar, but with a slight metallic resonator twist to it, this is totally fine. I don't do slide playing, so I can't help you valuing it as such. But, Thomann, please get your quality control guys to sharpen their game.