Harley Benton Delta Blues O

While the world was going to hell in a handbasket, I serendipitously found myself stranded in a beautiful part of Greece and decided to ride out the pandemic living beside a remote deserted beach. But I missed my guitars. Thomann to the rescue! Shipping took about a week - which is amazing really - and the contents arrived well packaged and undamaged.

The Delta Blues O is actually the second acoustic guitar I ordered from Thomann whilst here. The first was a Harley Benton CLJ-503CE WN, which is a stunning instrument. So good that I want to protect it and keep it safe beside my sofa, out of the sun and salty air. So, after a lot of research, I opted for the Delta Blues O as my cheap throw-around beach guitar.

Out of the box it was almost perfectly setup. Just a quarter turn of the truss rod required. The action and intonation are pretty much spot-on. Apart from a few minor cosmetic blemishes - which you would need to look very closely to see - the guitar is a real looker. The frets needed a little polish and the fretboard and bridge needed some oil, then it was ready to rock. The guitar is a real joy to play!

Although billed as a mahogany guitar, I have my doubts. Is it a really thin mahogany top or a stained laminate? I suspect the latter. The body is really light and gives a bold, deep bass response, almost a little too boomy for strumming. I play fingerstyle mostly, and even my boom-chicks were a little too bass heavy, causing the top strings to less prominent than I would like. Overall, it was somewhat muddy and did not project well. It can sound bluesy for sure, but it doesn't strike me as a typical delta blues guitar. Needs more jangle.

Long story short, I fitted a Tusq saddle and brass bridge pins. These 2 changes went some way towards balancing the tone, allowing a more pronounced treble and improved sustain. I was honestly surprised at how much positive difference the brass pins made. They really help to add clarity to my picked notes, however volume is not much increased. I've solved this by learning to use metal fingerpicks and I have finally arrived at a tone that makes me smile. I like my guitars bright, YMMV.

The tuners are just OK, they do their job but can be a little fiddly. Other than that, no real complaints for the money.I spend a lot of time playing this guitar sitting outside and it makes me happy.

I'm not sure that I would recommend this as a first guitar - I would tend to stretch a little more and get a nice sprucetop, but that's just my opinion. But if you want a cheap, decent sounding secondary practice guitar with head-turning looks to sling over your shoulder,and it easy to play, then this should be on your consideration list.

Budget guitars(when done right) can be grouped in 2 categories, 1: To give you good fundamentals, and a solid platform(allowing you to build up the guitar), and 2: To do something 'off label', and allow guitarists to take a risk, and maybe find something special.

This guitar is something special, and mine is perfect(from the woods, the construction, the paint, the finishes, it's flawless, literally).
Being a guitar without binding, without wood-filler, and without PU-finish, it really allows the wood to sound-out, and that it does, it's a very lively guitar-sound, and it's very loud(even though the O is a smaller guitar than the regular Dreadnought, it can easily keep up with normal Dreadnoughts).
The tuners are solid die-cast, nice and heavy, good grip(on the string, and the buttons), which makes them very stable.
The nut/saddle/pins are very neutral(no muddling of the strings at all), and have a finish(that makes them look a lot more classy, than the normal ABS stuff).
The blackwood(fingerboard/saddle construction) is great, it's a more natural wood(sometimes blackwood can be very dried out(very 'toasted'), this is very healthy-, almost 'juicy'-blackwood, with a very gentle, natural touch, that plays out-of-the-box, like you played it for years.
The construction on mine is very clean, and very precise(the bridge is perfect, the neck is perfect, and the binding-free construction is perfect.

In short, I love this guitar, it does something unusual in being very natural, very raw in it's build, and it works out perfectly, allowing for a very natural guitar, that plays out-of-the-box, as if it's been in your family for generations.

I was after a cheap guitar for playing some acoustic blues on, something with a bit more ‘soul’ at the bass end and with less ‘twang’ at the top. I had been looking at something almost exactly the same as this guitar from another company that was priced about 1/3 more. However, at the time it was out of stock and, I was too impatient to wait!

Thomann to the rescue! Exactly what I wanted, an orchestra sized, mahogany acoustic with a natural finish, on my doorstep within three days AND still cheaper than what I was originally after. Thank you Thomann.

I LOVE this guitar SO much.... So much, that my other acoustics haven’t been played for months now, it’s always this one I pick up. The tone is warm, with loads of bass, the treble is rich, not over bright. It feels nice, it looks great, it sounds wonderful and I wouldn’t want to part with it. Not bad going for a budget guitar eh?!

I bought this as a living room guitar. You know, the one that lives behind the sofa, within easy reach when you have a spare 5 mins. The one where the kids get hold of it and bash it about and have sing songs without the worry of breaking it. In all honesty though it's a much better guitar than that.

This is a proper musical instrument and not a toy. It's a decent all rounder, sounds nice strummed, although it's definitely not in the same league as a jumbo. For me it is suited brilliantly to fingerpicking or a delicate strum/fingerpick mix. Have recorded it and it sounds good.

Feels good too, the neck is fantastic, smallish, more akin to an electric, and the finish feels nice under hand. Perfectly playable straight out of the box, good action ect.

Tuning stability is good, like I said the guitar lives behind a sofa, stood up against a wall, and can stay there for days/a week at a time. Stays in tune! I can play it, bend and bash the strings and generally wring its neck, stays in tune!

To sum up: When I started playing 30-odd years ago you would've had to pay 3-4 times the price for a guitar of similar quality. I honestly thought all this "Harley Benton guitars are great" internet talk was fanboys shouting...seems I was wrong!

Ordered this model since I wanted a light and bright guitar. One of my favorite guitars to play, period.
Pros:
* Really lightweight, can stand for hours with this around my neck
* Beautiful finish, good looking headstock. Surprisingly ornate, while still with a minimalistic design
* Sounds great out of the box, even the strings seemed pretty fresh for a factory set. No setup was needed specifically, although the frets seemed slightly rough at first, but this went away after a few days of playing
* The sound is clear, bright, almost surprisingly loud. Bass is clearly heard but not overwhelming

Cons:
* The wooden bridge arrived slightly cracked. To be honest, I considered sending the guitar back for replacement, as this seemed like a potential weak point in the structure - the crack touches the saddle. However, I didn't want to go through the trouble of packing and shipping for a cheap guitar that I picked up for 89 eur. So the crack is still there and the guitar has not broken still, so I'm assuming it's only a visual issue, as it has not affected the performance in any way.

In conclusion, a fantastic guitar. I highly recommend it for beginners or for seasoned players who need a lightweight instrument that doesn't need special care and will sound pretty good in any situation.

Neck is mishaped and adjustment doesn't provide relief. I've allowed the guitar to get acclimated but no joy with the problems. Frets are not installed at same height and buzz is ever present on 4th and 5th frets as well as 13 and 14. The first fret is so low that the high e string is usually muted at that fret. I have to leave the action very high for there to be no buzz which really reduces playability. Frets are jagged at ends. I have discovered that under $100 guitars from HB are not very good (or at least the two I bought). I actually love most of the products I've purchased. The simple solution is ignore sub $100 dollar guitars and spend a little more if you want one that's playable. I want to like it, I just can't. I hate to throw away an instrument so I leave it hanging on my wall but it's not really playable it and I won't even give it to someone else. I wouldn't want them to hate me.