Harley Benton HBO-600NT

So… i have had my share of expensive and midrange steel string acoustics and had to conclude that acoustics would never become my thing. Always trouble with hard strings, stupid bridges that was unable to intonate, impossible truss rods, too high string action…. You know what i mean….
But for this price i was prepared to try it.
First of all it pretty nice to look at, it is built ok, without impressing, but the factory strings was a waste of natural ressources. .
New strings, a slight adjusment on the truss rod and this thing plays its heart out. The action is spot on, the intonation is spot on, the weight is spot on and the tuners are actually not as bad as i feared… The craftsmanship is absolutely accepted as well as the tuners.
But the round back shape makes it extremely difficult to sit with the guitar.
The fretboard was extremely dry, but it still played very well. Easy fixed though…
The acoustic tone is very nice and clear, but if something should be opgraded it wound be the electronics. The amplification of the built in preamp is very low but it sounds ok…. Nothing fantastic but enough for home play. In the studio the acoustic tone is absolutely acceptable, but dont use the preamp….

With thin strings and a very light adjustment this cheap guitar definately has taken my heart.
All i need to do now is to polish the frets which are very rough, and sand a little on the rough wood a few places. Then we are good to go live…. Later i might upgrade the tuners.
If i miss something it should be a a tuner in the preamp section.

Giant recommandation for this absurd low price….
The four stars are for the parameters listed and i have not taken the price into consideration !!