Harley Benton Custom Line CLD-16S

60

Acoustic Guitar

  • style: Dreadnought
  • Solid Sitka spruce top
  • Scalloped X-bracing
  • Sapele body
  • Okoumeneck
  • Pau Ferro fretboard
  • Dovetail construction
  • Modified Oval C neck profile
  • Mother-of-Pearl dot inlays
  • Black body binding
  • 20 Frets
  • Scale: 643 mm
  • Nut width: 43 mm
  • Bone nut
  • Compensated bone saddle
  • Pau Ferro bridge
  • Chrome-plated die-cast DLX machine heads
  • D'Addario XTAPB1253 Light strings, .012 - .053 (Article Nr # 471307#)
  • Colour: Natural Satin
Available since November 2013
Item number 318345
Sales Unit 1 piece(s)
Top Spruce, Solid
Back and Sides Sapelli, Mahogany
Cutaway No
Fretboard Pau Ferro
Nut width in mm 43,00 mm
Frets 20
Pickups No
Colour Natural
Case No
Incl. Gigbag No
189 €
Free shipping incl. VAT
In stock
In stock

This product is in stock and can be shipped immediately.

Standard Delivery Times
Dispatch expected by Wednesday, 20.03.
1

Mainstream appeal

Dreadnought Western guitar Harley Benton CLD-16S front

Acoustic guitars don’t come much more mainstream than with a “dreadnought” body shape and a solid spruce top – and that is what the Harley Benton Custom Line CLD-16S delivers. And why not? After all, millions of guitarists can’t be wrong. The CLD-16S gives price-conscious players one of the most popular types of steel-string guitar – a status that this design has enjoyed for 100 years and that this guitar’s rich, transparent sound and natural charm will ensure that it also retains for a long time to come. In visual terms, the CLD-16S is designed with understated elegance in mind and is characterised by its simple and stylish natural wood finish and tasteful inlays.

Large body size, full sound

It is common knowledge by now that the secret of a guitar’s tone is the wood used, particularly where solid wood is concerned, and the guitar’s top is of central importance. The Harley Benton Custom Line CLD-16S features a top made from solid Sitka spruce, a wood also used to ensure a good sound in guitars at much higher price points. This is combined with X bracing, which ensures that the string tension is effectively supported and, like the body shape itself, has been in widespread use for over 100 years. The guitar’s back and sides are made from sapele mahogany, and the okoume neck features a pau ferro fingerboard. All of this together produces a full-sounding, characterful tone with an excellent bass response.

mahogany back on the Harley Benton CLD-16S

Ideal for the transition to steel strings

The days when guitars were divided into “beginner” and “advanced” models are long gone – and that is a good thing. Its affordable price alone makes the Harley Benton Custom Line CLD-16S ideal for beginners, and the guitar also gives them the perfect instrument on which to vastly improve their playing. However, it will also be a blessing for more experienced players making the move from nylon to steel strings – and should your journey eventually lead to the stage, this guitar will prove itself a technically and sonically capable companion up to semi-professional level.

headstock with HB logo and tuners

About Harley Benton

Since 1998, the Harley Benton brand has been catering for the needs of numerous guitarists and bassists. In addition to an extensive range of stringed instruments, Thomann's house brand also offers a wide choice of amplifiers, speakers, effect pedals, and other accessories. In total, the range includes over 1,500 products. Built by established names in the industry, all Harley Benton products combine quality and reliability at attractive and affordable prices. The continuous expansion of the range ensures that Harley Benton always provides new, exciting, and innovative products that keep players perfectly in tune with the musical world, day after day.

Solid spruce top and pickguard on the Harley Benton CLD-16S

Part of the group

The Harley Benton Custom Line CLD-16S is an ideal instrument for accompanying vocals of all kinds thanks to its full sound, which has plenty of clarity and excellent dynamics. Whether you are strumming chords with an extra-light pick to provide backing for a singer or fingerpicking in the finest Folk music tradition, this guitar can do it all and will remain audible even behind multiple voices – perfect for those performances around the campfire. What is more, the solid top and large body size deliver a thoroughly convincing sound in every application, with the added bonus that spruce tops are known to sound better and better as they age.

60 Customer ratings

4.7 / 5

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44 Reviews

A
Simply stunning
Anonymous 23.02.2017
This guitar is simply unbelievable value, it sounds amazing and the top hasn't had time to open up yet, so I'm guessing with regular playing it will get even better.

First off, 4 stars for quality, nothing really bad, a tiny scrape near the sound hole, just under the fret board, you only would notice if really looking, a small concave on the top, again very hard to see, and last of all, I pulled the pick guard off and I'm waiting for one I ordered, it was bent/misshapen at the thinnest point, could have left it, but it was more annoying like that, as it could be seen more easily.

Having said all that, this is easily a 5* dread, it sounds sparkly and warm at the same time, tuners, nut and saddle all good, frets well finished, no buzzes or dead notes, even with the action sitting just over 2 mm, all I had to do was adjust the truss rod, Thomann obviously ship them like this to take the strain off the neck while in transit, which is a good idea, the guitar is in tune with itself, and when you adjust the relief you can more or less get it into standard tuning without touching the tuning pegs!

Honestly, I have never played anything that gets close to this sound and feel that is deemed a budget guitar, even at 4 or 5 times the price, first class, the minor blemishes, are just that, minor, on an otherwise excellent guitar.
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PW
Tremendous Value
Phelim's World 10.09.2020
This is a very well-constructed guitar. It sounds great straight out of the box. It has been nicely set up. It also looks very good in an understated way (no shiny acoutrements, which is how I prefer it). For the price it's absolutely amazing. Highly recommended for everyday guitarists such as me.
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GR
Harley Benton Custom Line CLD-16S
Grant R. 29.12.2016
I am very impressed with the sound quality of this guitar. Given its price range, you don't normally expect to get great sound, but this guitar pleasantly surprised me.

The workmanship is very good. I can't fault the construction of the guitar. It is very well finished.

The only let down, is the cutting of the string slots in the nut. That has not been done well at all, and because of that issue it makes tuning stability an issue.

The intonation is really good. The fretboard was dry, as you could expect in a guitar of this price. A little lemon oil has sorted that out.

The frets are well finished. There is no fretting out anywhere. Having said that, the action could probably come down a little bit - for my taste. The edges of the frets are dressed well. It is nice to play, and has a shallow 'C' neck, which would suit most players.

I would recommend this guitar to anyone, but don't expect perfection. Your mileage may vary, but I would consider that it will need some tweaking to be a very good guitar.

It does sound nice !!!
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S
A Good Sort-of Clone
Steviemusic1 15.06.2019
I researched the Gibson acoustics The Beatles used and this uses similar woods in construction. For the price, I think this is an excellent guitar which sounds good and stays in tune
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