Harley Benton Nashville Nylon NT

I have been playing guitar now for about 46 yrs. I had a career with my local government education department for a number of years teaching music and music technology to young people from about 12 to 25 yrs of age. Now, because of a serious spinal injury (please, no tap jokes),write and record mainly from home with a view to some wheelchair bound future gigs showcasing my own compositions.
Like a number of guitarist, I have not owned a nylon strung guitar for a great number of years and decided that it was about time that I did. My first ever guitar was a nylon classical and I wanted this sound instead of playing classical and barque pieces on steel strings. Browsing through the Thomann guitars I found this one coming in at just under £200 and gave it a go, I have not been disappointed.
The guitar arrived three days from dispatch to the UK, in Thomann's usual bomb proof, padded and double boxed packaging. The guitar out of the box was in good condition and almost in tune, just a very dry fret board that after a coat or two of lemon oil, was fine.
The guitar has a heavy mahogany body with a well matched solid spruce top, a very well set mahogany neck and Roseacer fret board. The two "sound holes" nice as they are, are for no more than show, being only a few mm deep and offering no real acoustic value at all. This guitar is really a solid bodied instrument, though in the silence of the night, it can be heard slightly unplugged and the aesthetics of the pseudo sound holes give a very classy vibe. It has a nicely cut nut and, for a classical type guitar, a very low action. The bridge is walnut and with a nice cream binding on the body and neck, all this adds up to a great looking, fantastically playable instrument.
Coming to the sound. I have tried this guitar through a number of amps, acoustic simulation F/X and straight in to my desk, so, this is a fairly well rounded review of the sound. I do not know the make or type of Piezo pickup but it works well. The volume sweep is good and smooth with no hint of distortion when flat out and produces a superb representation of all the main aspects of a good professional nylon classical guitar. The bass and treble do what they say and I found the bass at 40 to 50% and the treble at about 50 to 60% seems to work well for me.The sound then over all with just a hint of reverb, is super clean, lush, very well rounded and of a quality that sounds a great, great deal more than just under £200, by and large with this sound, build and ease of playing you feel like you have a five to £600 guitar, in your hands. A bit more reverb and volume and I had Bach swirling and dancing in my ears with a truly amazing tonality and timbre, fantastic. It is an instrument I would be happy and confident to use live in any situation and look forward to the day when I can again.
Once again, I have an absolutely unbeatable guitar for £196 and in terms of price, quality and service all I can say is, many thanks Thomann, you have done it yet again.

I needed a portable acoustic guitar that would not have the bulkiness of a standard acoustic, this model came to my attention and I am glad it did, This guitar is very well built, Sounds better than I could have imagined, Holds tuning, works well with pedals and looks great to boot, It's my 1st Harley and gotta be honest if 1st impressions is any indication this one makes a good one, really impressed with the overall quality of this guitar, Going to show it off to some brand doubters,

Pros
very portable
sounds as an acoustic guitar should
can be used with pedals
solid build quality

Cons
thus far I do not see any downsides

I had been looking at this for a while and eventually took the plunge.
Overall verdict - Very Happy with this puchase.

First impression: The guitar plays extremely well, I also have a Taylor Nylon and its not far off the mark although I feel I need to maybe use harder tension on the high strings to give more or less the same feel I experience with the Taylor.

Finish: A fine if not curious looking instrument although there is one area of the cosmetic cutouts thats a little bit ragged on close examination. Otherwise it's immaculate and setup well. I believe one of the earlier reviews also mentioned this so there's probably a problem with the jig in manufacture that could be easily solved? It doesn't worry me as I'm so pleased with the playability and I'm only aware of the flaw when I'm looking for it.

Electrics: A little bit disappointed with the amplified sound up to now, although I may find optimum settings the more I play with it. I have found best setting so far to be bass and treble neutral and the Volume way down otherwise there is an element of unpleasant distortion. If I can't get the sound out of it I want I will seriously consider paying a luthier to put a high end pick up in there maybe, particularly as rhe acquisition cost was so reasonable.

Playability: Great for near silent practicing but took me a few sessions to get used to the Aural response you experience of not 'hearing' the sound amplified naturally through an acoustic body and soundhole as you play despite the strings feeling the same.

First of all I would like to say that the delivery from Germany to me in the UK was excellent. It was despatched on Monday morning and was put in my hands first thing on Thursday. Packaging was first class.

Upon opening the package I was immediately very pleased by the guitars finish and appearance, it looks great, it feels good in the hands and its quite light too. The 'solid' body has had cavities machined into it for this reason I guess, not to mention housing the electronics of course.

Regarding sound, unplugged the guitar is rather quiet as one might expect but it is loud enough for quiet practise but wow! plug it in and now hear it go. I play through a Roland Micro cube amplifier for practise, busking and even on gigs I plug the P.A. into my Cube so I have control of my sound. This guitar sounds fabulous through this amplifier. Not just for clean nylon sound, it is possible to overdrive too without fear of feedback.

Now for my one complaint, the action was too high at the nut end for my preference, so, very carefully, with a standard hacksaw blade, I have deepened the grooves in the nut where the strings sit thus lowering the action substantially. Tip, I also used the blade to set the gap between strings and top of the first fret. Please, only attempt this if you are very confident in your skills. I take no responsibility.

I bought this guitar as a backup really but having tried it, it will now be my first choice, particularly when playing with my band as I find it very comfortable for playing whilst I am standing up, due to the thin body, at last I am not the only one sitting down.

Another feature I really like is the positioning and type of controls for volume, tone and bass. It is SO much easier to make a quick adjustment on the fly rather than trying to do it on the usual sliders mounted on the top side of all other electro acoustics.

Summing up then, I consider this guitar better than the Stagg equivalent which costs more and in my opinion has a 'thinner' sound on the treble strings and far too much sustain on the bass strings. For the price of the Harley Benton Nylon it is a really nice instrument and I love it.

Sooo this guitar is something unique. For the pricepoint the quality is great! However you have to plug this puppy in for it to make a sound!

I wish this was a hollow body, then I'd truly be in love. ;)

Playablility is amazing since it's a very thin nylon stringed instrument.

The neck isn't as wide as a classical spanish guitar, however it is wide enough to play your classical parts. If you're looking for a unique acoustic sound on your record or live performance, this guitar will not let you down.

Also for the price, it's stunning.

After returning several guitars of this type which were much more expensive, I am totally impressed with this guitar.

Fit and finish perfect, no finish flaws. Fret work perfect. No sharp edges, no high frets, no buzzing. The nut and fret board are smooth, no over hang or undercut.

The pickup is the big surprise, the output is very powerful, clean and crisp. I will eventually change the saddle to bone but the sound is so good I might leave it alone. The controls work great as do the string tuners.

Although the mahogany back is not perfectly matched, it is very close to a perfect match. No complaints.

The Harley Benton Custom Line Nashville Nylon is almost unique but at the price, it is absolutely unique and totally worth the meagre price tag.

First of all, this is a solid mahogany body with a spruce top. Acoustically, it produces a quiet, late night practice volume but no more. Don’t complain about it: what do you expect, it’s a solid body! It’s meant to be played through an amp the same as your electric guitar.

Now that’s out of the way, here are my observations and thoughts after a couple of months.

Playability is very good, it’s comfortable, the neck is great and, for someone used to electrics, the feel of the neck, especially the few extra millimetres of nut-width, is a lot easier to adjust to than a full width, fat-necked, traditional classical guitar. As is the action. It is a lot easier to jump from a Les Paul or Strat to this than a normal nylon-strung acoustic.

Through an amp the Nashville nylon sounds great, it took me a while to find the sweet spot with the guitars controls and amp settings but this was new territory. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting when I bought this so to say I am not at all disappointed must be a very good positive. Yes, it lacks the resonance of an acoustic body, but doesn’t have feedback issues. A little reverb, even a tiny bit of low key, low mix delay makes a big difference. No, it doesn’t have the same level of output from the bass strings - it’s a solid body, it’s not going to have a booming low end. If you have an EQ pedal on your board, you can fix that too.

I’m sure this will always be a Marmite guitar, you either love it or hate it. Personally I love it (and Marmite!) It is what it is, it’s comfortable and playable, gives you a sound that you can’t get from a steel strung electric and it looks and feels fantastic doing it and, for the money, this is no mean feat.

Well done and thank you Thomann for having the balls to invest in producing such a very niche style instrument when nobody else has. To do so and, to such a high standard, well, that’s just showing off but hey, credit where credit is due, you’ve earned it.

This guitar is very rare on the market. Especially because the guitar is so cheap for the quality of the instrument. It's a solid nylon body guitar.
I bought this guitar because I need a great stage guitar with a good playability neck. This guitar has a shorter neck width of a classical guitar. This is a rare hybrid of classical and electric guitar. The neck feels so good.
Mostly, I play steel guitars. I decided to buy a nylon guitar, because I realize that I really like to play a lot of songs with my fingers. It's obviously fingerstyle playing.
My setup is simple, I use a Samson DI and Behringer mixer for this guitar. I'm really amazed with clarity and color of the tone. Bass is so hard and loud. For the strumming it isn't the best solution, but if you play it often, you will like this tone in most situations. For me, it's great guitar for singer-songwriter ballad songs.
This is good choice for steel guitarists who want a great nylon guitar to play fingerstyle songs.
If you compare this item with high-end classical solid guitars, the tone is very close to these models and if you don't care about the aesthetics and details, you should probably buy this guitar. If you want something like this guitar, you must give up with the acoustic tone.
Great value for money!