Harley Benton Custom Line CLA-15M

Denne guitar er et røverkøb. For den lille sum penge får man så meget guitar. Lyden er stor og klinger flot. Den bærer dog lidt præg af træet, den er bygget af. Lidt karakter af papkasse, men det kommer også af den lille krop, som resonerer så meget kraft.

Stemmer virkelig godt! Dog har den lidt buzzing og resonerer overtoner gennem hele guitaren i b. MEN det løste jeg hurtigt ved at binde lidt garn rundt om strengene ved hovedet.

Klart anbefaling.

Denne guitar sætter helt nye standarder for begrebet "Bang for the buck". Jeg pakkede den ud, stemte den op og blev ovenud glad. Køn er den vel egentlig ikke, men den er virkelig god at spille på og lyder godt og afbalanceret. Hvad man forventer af en mahogny, uden at den dog kan sammenlignes med f.eks. en Martin. Justeringen var meget fin – jeg har kun strammet halsen en anelse, og så står den faktisk perfekt. Det vil give god mening at give båndene en polering og justere lidt på strengehøjden over sadlen og fjerne lidt skarpe kanter, men så er det også det. Halsens shape er perfekt – i hvert fald for mig – og kan vel bedst beskrives som en medium/slim C shape. Guitaren har god sustain og en fin, mellow balance. Den lyder dog lidt anstrengt, når man trykker til/spiller højt på den, men det kan ændre sig, når den er spillet til. Hvordan det kan lade sig gøre at lave en guitar i den kvalitet til den pris er mig en gåde, og jeg er ikke sikker på, at jeg bryder mig om at vide det. Nogen må have fået alt for lidt for deres arbejde. Jeg har spillet guitar i ca. 50 år og dette er absolut den billigste akustiske guitar, jeg har nogensinde har ejet, men samtidig en af de bedste. Køb den!

Tilføjelse den 5. juli 2022:
Jeg bliver nødt til at korrigere min positive anmeldelse. Efter at spillet flittigt på guitaren i lidt over halvandet år må jeg desværre sige, at guitaren ikke var god nok. Lyden var god, halsen var perfekt til min hånd, men den var umulig at justere korrekt. Guitaren havde en anstrengt buzzing, særligt på G-strengen mellem 4 og 9 bånd, som jeg efter lang tid opdagede skyldtes, 1) at båndende ikke var banket ordentligt ned og dermed ikke havde god kontakt med gribebrættet, 2) at gribebrættets kurve var forkert og dermed umulig at justere korrekt ved brug af truss rod'en og, 3) at halsen ikke holdt sin justering. Så efter halvandet års baksen endte jeg med at kassere guitaren, da jeg ikke syntes, at jeg kunne tillade mig at sælge den videre. Virkelig ærgerligt, for den guitar var på mange måder en virkelig fornøjelse, og havde den ikke haft de om ikke uoprettelige så i hvert fald ret bekostelige fejl, ville den have været perfekt for mig. Jeg håber, at det bare er mig, der har været uheldig med mit eksemplar, og at andre har haft større held med deres. For et sundt eksemplar af denne guitar er virkelig et scoop.

Jeg havde længe hungret efter en akkustisk guitar, men gad ikke bruge alverdens penge på en, da jeg primært spiller elektrisk, og en akkustisk ville kun blive brugt hjemme på sofaen!

Så efter at have læst anmeldelser og set videoer på YouTube valgte jeg at tage chancen med denne model, hvilket jeg absolut ikke fortryder!

Den eneste dårlige ting jeg har at udsætte på guitaren er stemmeskruerne; de fungerer som de skal, men føles lidt billige i det. Men ok, et eller andet sted må der jo være besparet :)

Man skal selvfølgelig heller ikke forvente en guitar af prima kvalitet til denne pris, men jeg er dog stadig meget positivt overrasket! Guitaren føles rigtigt godt, og havde et rigtigt fornuftigt setup direkte ud af papkassen. Jeg er specielt fan af valget af en satin-finish, da dette i min optik altid giver et bedre feel.
Dertil lyder den også rigtig flot, med en stor og åben klang, der giver en lyst til at spille åbne akkorder i dagevis!

Kan klart anbefales, hvis man er på udkig efter en billig akkustisk guitar, der stadig formår at levere varen!
Der er ihvertfald ikke meget konkurrence at komme efter i dette prisleje :)

Ok, first off I love this guitar.
In the early 90's I went into Andy's guitar shop, London, and tried a Martin 150th anniversary all mahogany 000-15 (or 00) and a '68 Gibson hummingbird. Both gorgeous guitars, the Martin was the 2nd best acoustic I've played (the best being a 60's Martin 00/000 made with Brazilian rosewood and spruce or cedar top). I loved it but it was £950, which I didn't have back then - to put that into context the '68 hummingbird was £100 cheaper. Fast forward to now and Martin had reissued the all mahogany 000-15s a few years ago, which I didn't realise - at a bargaintastic £1200. Post Brexit vote however and they are now £1500 or more, due to our devalued currency and exchange rate. So while I'm waiting for Sterling to improve, I got this Harley Benton version.
Straight out of the box, this guitar was in tune and immediately playable. I mean seriously playable. I immediately recognised the tone from that old Martin I tried. It doesn't have all the complex timbre of the Martin, or quite the sweetness of the notes - but It was instantly in that tonal family. I recognised the tone; not just that, it has warmth but also a surprising punch to it - out of the box it blew me away.

Set up, out of the box, is excellent. This is the first of my Harley Bentons to actually come with a set up card. It's really easy to play, excellent action. The strings sing out clearly and evenly (the Martin is probably a bit clearer) - it's really well balanced like that across the whole guitar, nothing jumping at you or hiding away. The intonation is pretty much spot on, across the fret board, straight out of the box. Impressively precise. Construction is simple and clean. No extra heavy bracing added by accountants worried about warranty periods (like certain acoustics have had). This is a really light guitar. The bracing is scalloped to reduce weight and allow the guitar to vibrate and resonate. And boy does it do that. A lovely warm, rich tone with it's own complexities and resonances and timbre - and plenty of punch if you drive it. This is so much lighter than my other acoustics (which are worth a good bit more). I can't remember playing a lighter one.

The one thing that surprised me a little was that mine is a little headstock heavy - no more so than my other acoustics but a lot of HB's a very well balanced this way - the old Martin sat perfectly balanced on my leg. To be fair - it's so light it would need a very light weight set of tuners to counterbalance that lovely resonant body. Also, I suspect the nut was cut for strings a gauge lighter - as this is strung with 12's and only needs 11's to drive it. A couple of the strings catch on it - but it's no biggy, a bit of graphite will probably fix it - the nut is well cut for the string heights - the tuners do their job well. The strings had also been bedded in properly - no tugging on them required.

Did I mention how good this guitar sounds, feels and plays?
I was hoping for a good guitar but was taken aback by it and by the set-up and the simple quality and precision of the construction (ok, the nut wasn't cut for this gauge of strings but I really don't care, the strings sound great on it and are surprisingly easy to play).
Mine looked pretty much like the pictures on the site - I thought it might have a closer grain but it sounds great (and looks great) and it will only get better. It already sounds like it's opened up so how good will it be when it does.

This will suit a variety of styles from quiet, introspective fingerstyle to punchy strumming and anything in between. I'm sure this will be a good recording guitar. (I'll be recording with it)
I have it in an open D tuning at the moment - it loves lower tunings.
Forget all the stuff about this being a good guitar for the money - this is a good guitar.
And an absolute bargain.
Get one - while they still can do them in mahogany.
(Makes me feel unfaithful but - my new go to acoustic)