Harley Benton Custom Line ResoKing BK

I came to Thomman to buy a different guitar, but when I saw this resonator for such a low price, I couldn't resist and now I have two new guitars.
Bad things first. The wost thing I found on this guitar is the nut. It is visibly unfinished and ugly, also it is too low resulting in too low action, especially for slide. Also, I am not satisfied with the strings provided. They are rather light and sort of sharp on touch (actually, they do grind my brass slide). There are some minor flaws in painting on the body that I consider irrelevant.
The most advantage is that it is the most affordable resonator guitar that is actually joy to play. The body is small, so it does not sound as loud as a regular resophonic guitar. I mark this as a good thing necause I usually play alone in a rather small room. And the look... it is just beautiful.
Overall I really do like this guitar. The sound of resonator without the loudness. And it is just too cheap to not buy it.
I only played it unplugged, so I can not tell anything about the pickups, but I consider them as a nice bonus.
EDIT: I just changed the nut and the strings and now the guitar is amazing!

The ResoKing is just plain awesome. Easy and fun to play. Looks cool. How awesome is it? Just about in tune out of the box awesome...playing it a week later with no need for additional setup. Only one small flaw in the binding that may as well be a trick of the light. As you might expect, the ResoKing can be really loud...then plug it in to an amp! But, it also has a sweet tone when played softly with finesse. The humbucker has some very nice tones, and the piezo sounds good too (rolling the reverb off your amp makes the piezo sound even better). I looked at resonators for several months and had narrowed my choice to three that met the neck specs I prefer...one was well beyond my budget, the second was 2.5 times the ResoKing, and of course, the ResoKing. The ResoKing had a much stronger following in reviews than the 2.5x unit. Decision made. Very happy with it and highly recommend the ResoKing to anyone---I'd step on stage with this tonight if the opportunity were offered.

Thomann packing and shipping were outstanding. I ordered my ResoKing on a Friday evening (Germany time) and it was on my doorstep in East Tennessee, USA, exactly five days and one hour later---wow.

My new ResoKing is the best part of this story...but, a side note is the remaining cushion in my guitar budget can now be turned to additional HB guitars of interest. Bwahahahahahaha.

This is such an amazing quality guitar for the price, first thing I did when I recieved it was to re-tune to open G, strings are perhaps a little light and action a little low for slide....that said, I have persevered as is but I think if you are new to slide guitar or are a on the heavy handed side, maybe a heavier set of strings are in order.

It's nicely balanced, and has a nice neck, acoustic sound is very authentic, obviously can also be plugged in and with the pick-up options, can be more versatile, insofar as being a more general electric guitar (albeit a very bright sounding one).

If you are looking for a dobro sound on a budget , you could do a lot worse, this has one advantage by the way that should be mentioned, it's slimness, much more comfortable than many acoustic guitars to play. Great to play, beautiful to look at, amazing quality for the price, great service.

Das teil sieht wirklich klasse aus und ist auch recht gut verarbeitet. Ich habe als erstes das griffbrett geölt und neue 10-46 saiten aufgezogen, da ich das gerät wie eine normale gitarre spielen möchte. In den hohen lagen liegen die saiten zu hoch, und man kann an der brücke die höhe nur dadurch verstellen, dass man das holzbrettchen, über das die saiten laufen, niedriger macht. Die hohe e-saite war zu dicht am griffbrettrand, besonders in den höhen. Dann habe ich festgestellt, dass man das brettchen, das die brücke darstellt, ganz einfach lateral verschieben kann, wenn man die saiten lose dreht - jetzt sitzen die saiten lateral gesehen korrekt. Der sound.... durch die zu hoch liegenden saiten sind diese auch zu weit weg vom mini humbucker. Der sound des mini-humbuckers reisst wirklich nichts vom hocker (sehr dumpf und unprickelnd). Der piezo dagegen ist zu scharf und bringt auch nicht besonders den resonator sound rüber. Beide pickups zusammen könnten ganz vielleicht bei einem recording einsatz finden, wer weiss. Der akustische sound klingt nach resonator, ich finde ihn aber zu leise. Am ehesten wird dieses gerät vielleicht bei einem musikvideo einsatz finden, zur musik vom playback...

So I just unboxed this guitar and after very close inspection, I can only say this build quality goes far beyond the price you pay. You definitely feel as though you're playing something much more costly.
Finish is perfect, fretwork is very good though a good fret polish is needed; action and intonation are just about spot on.
It plays very well and it may not be a high end instrument but it definitely gives me the tones only a resonator can (good enough to record convincingly) at a fraction of the normal cost.
The only downside are the tuners which are quite stiff and will be replaced, but they still work well enough for use at home.
Be careful which shipping method you choose, I inadvertantly chose UPS instead of DHL...it arrived within 3 days to Canada but the charges were about $40 higher AND they hit me for an additional $112 CDN for duty! They are vultures.
I would rather have waited the extra week, I could have bought another HB with the difference.
Still, happy with all 4 of my HB instruments and will surely wind up with a couple more, I'll just be sure to double check the shipping method at checkout.

I ordered this when it was out of stock, it was well worth waiting for. It stands next to my Ovation and a beautiful pair they make. Not only does this guitar look the part it fulfils the promise.
Played acoustically it has great tone, easy fingering with a high enough action to make even me hit the right sound with a slide. I played it straight from the box, there's no setting up needed with this.
Plugged into my amp (Harley Benton HBAC-20) I can pretend that I'm Ry Cooder.
The guitar feels great and has good balance despite being a good bit heavier than my other acoustics.
If you want, as I did, to ease your way into slide guitar you cannot do better than invest in this Harley Benton. The tone (the strings that come with the guitar are pretty good, but I'll probably change to D'addario strings in time, just because I like them), the sustain, the amazing sounds that you can get through a decent amp and the generously low price make this instrument a must have. It's no wonder that Thomann sold out of this model a day or two before I pressed" add to basket", I am delighted with my purchase.

After watching a lot of HB reviews on YouTube, I decided to get one myself and despite those videos I was not ready for the great quality. Very well packed btw. The guitar came out of the box almost in tune and with a great set-up. It looks amazing and stands out in many ways. There are some minor flaws (this speaker thing was not attached, and some very minor finishing issues) but they do not diminish the overall experience at all. It sounds bloody amazing and is such fun to play. I ordered two more guitars after getting this one, and so will you. These prices are just too tempting!
Stop reading this and buy it, you will not regret it!