Harley Benton HB-35Plus Lemon

I had wanted a semi hollow for some time. A Starfire lV or a D'Angelico DC deluxe were defiantly on my radar but the price was a real barrier. Enter the Harley Benton HB-35 plus. With favorable reviews, sounding good on YouTube and coming in at only £175 - I took a chance and ordered one in a Lemon Drop finish.?I was resigned to the inevitable flaws that would come with such a low priced instrument so I waited anxiously in the UK for 48 hours while it came from Germany by road (yes, pre Brexit)?
On unboxing I was in for a shock. I could find NOTHING wrong. Nothing!?The finish was immaculate, no glue lines under the stain, no loose nuts or screws, no stickers under the pots (just paper rings) and the well documented pick guard issue had been addressed. These newer models also have block inlays instead of dots and a pau ferro fingerboard with a bone nut. (It says ?Pau Furro? on the box)?Mine has a lovely (almost) book-matched flame maple top and the scarf joint in the neck is barley visible. The neck is a sort of chunky round back (not for you if you are a wizard fan) This neck is very reminiscent of a '65 Starfire that I had recently tried.
Plugging in, the trend continued with all the hardware working. The Roswell pickups are adequate, maybe a bit hot, with the back pickup sounding harsh when the coil tap is engaged. However, the tone and volume controls work well, which can tame the pickups for a more relaxed jazz tone. I am not a fan of top hat knobs and want to replace them. Because of this I found that the knobs are VERY securely attached (not all bad if you have to pull on them for coil tapping)?I lowered the bridge and still have no buzzing.
Pros: Unbeatable value for money. Good playability out of the box (after tuning). A range of very useable tones.?Awesome sustain. Good QC on mine. Beautiful finish all round with no orange peel or glue lines
Cons: You may need to upgrade the pickups and tuners to match the big leagues like Gibson, Guild and D'Angelico but already the HB-35 is there alongside, no, dare I say AHEAD of an Epiphone with non USA pups.?The fingerboard was a bit dry but nothing a dash of lemon oil couldn't fix. You may want to polish the frets.
Overall: I'm not a beginner. I have owned / still own Gibsons, Fenders, Ibanez, Peerless, custom built guitars - the works! The HB-35 plus may be inexpensive but it is not a "cheap" guitar. It's a great instrument. I would not be at all embarrassed to show up at a gathering of Gibsons with it.?Five stars. Don't hesitate?*****

I had been hearing so much about Harley Benton instruments from friends in Europe, as well as going down the You Tube rabbit hole, that I felt it was time to give one a try. I chose the HB-35 Plus because I wanted a semi-hollow with a great color, as well as some versatility.
This Guitar did not disappoint in any way. The fit and finish is great, no blemishes or defects. The binding is done very well and the inlays are impeccable. This is the first guitar that I've owned with a pao ferro fingerboard, and I must say that I really like it. The feel is just like rosewood, but with a lighter, more woodsy color that really matches well with the Lemon color of the guitar. This guitar also came to me set up with perfect action, intonation, and was packed very well. The pickups are very decent, better than I was expecting. They are a little hot for my taste in this type of guitar (when maxed out), but backing off the volume and/or tone takes care of that and puts it in the jazzy/warm zone. This would be a great semi-hollow for rock/blues players looking for something unique.
The only complaints that I have about this particular guitar is
1: 3 way toggle is slightly loose and feels cheap.
2: Fretboard was dry.
3: Very small finish cracks at the neck joint, but very superficial and only in the clear coat.
Aside from these small issues the guitar is absolutely wonderful, and I truly feel the HB-35Plus is on par with similar offerings from Epiphone, but at a fraction of the price of those instruments. This guitar easily outperforms all of the semi-hollow guitars from most other manufacturers in the 300 - 600 range.
I would highly recommend this guitar to literally any player due to it's price, quality, and versatility.
Great job and a sincere thank you to Harley Benton and especially to Thomann for the great set up on this instrument!

All right, let’s cut to the chase. I own, and have owned, a LOT of guitars – a LOT, and I’ve played and gigged for over 45 years. So what I’m going to tell you is worth a reading so listen up. I’ve played some expensive stuff and I’ve played some not so expensive stuff and for the most part you can feel and hear a difference between the two. However, keep in mind, you can own either and it can sound great or it can be lousy. Name brands are no indication of a great instrument. Those who buy because it says this or that high end brand name can easily end up with something pretty average. Also, if your skill level is not that of a virtuoso or you’re not gigging for a living, why the hell pay thousands for a guitar that only gets played in your bedroom? Because it “looks” nice? Really?? But I digress.
I decided to renew my love affair with semi-hollow body electrics, BUT on a budget. Guitar reviewers online almost unanimously praised the Harley Benton HB-35. So I pulled the trigger and bought a “HB-35 Plus” in yellow for around $225 (plus shipping). It arrived one week from the day of order. It was very well packaged and when I unboxed it I was surprised at how much better the guitar looks compared to the online photos. But beauty doesn’t make the player. So here is a quick rundown review of what I received:
1. Cosmetics: Flawless finish.
2. Neck: Comfortable
3. Frets: Needed slight polishing, but no sharp edges.
4. Fret Board: smooth but dry – fret board oil took care of it.
5. Knobs: Tone knobs are fine.
6. Tuners: They okay but they have a low turn ratio which makes fine tuning tricky. My personal ratio preference is 19:1 so I will probably swap these out
7. Strings: They’re okay but I always change out new guitar strings anyway
8. Set-up: Again, personal preference, I lowered the action and had to adjust intonation.
9. Pick-ups: The Roswell Alnico 5’s are really nice.

Bottom line: what a great instrument! I really like this guitar and I can honestly say, if you’re looking for a semi-hollow body guitar you would be crazy not to look into the HB-35. You get high end playability, a stunning appearance and you don’t break the bank.

Voor de prijs, 1 woord.. wow! Ik sta er toch echt wel versteld van, je krijgt heel veel gitaar voor weinig geld. Heb deze gitaar gekocht als oefengitaar en om bekend te geraken in de semi-akoustische wereld. Ten eerste, als ik geen zin heb alles in te pluggen en mijn versterker op zetten met de kans de buren te ergeren kan ik perfect akoustisch oefenen op dit instrument. Zal nooit zo luid klinken als een gewone akoustische klankkast maar er komt deftig geluid uit, mooi geluid ook.
Qua gewicht iets meer aan de zwaardere kant maar niet storend. De nek voelt goed aan en gewoon algemene looks vind ik echt wauw. Fretboard misschien net iets te licht naar mijn smaak maar nog steeds ok, kwam wel in erg droge toestand aan. In online filmpjes hoor ik veel mensen klagen over kleine foutjes in de afwerking maar zelf niets opgemerkt, enigste storende in de afwerking zijn de frets die krassen bij het buigen maar dit is iets dat vanzelf verdwjint hopelijk.
Ingeplugd vind ik de sound iets minder : de pickups klinken donker, modderig misschien zelfs een beetje? Vind de klank gewoon niet zo mooi dat er uit komt. Ben zelf iemand dat normaal single's speelt dus dit zal ook wel invloed hebben dat ik deze humbuckers niet zo goed aanvoel. natuurlijk voor deze prijs is dat ook te verwachten dat de pickups minder zijn. De gitaar heeft er in ieder geval veel baat bij de pickups te upgraden. Ik zou zelfs durven menen met een upgrade van pickups dat je echt een heel goed instrument hebt waar je live met kan spelen als het HB logo je niet te hard stoord. De push-pull functie om coils te splitten is leuk als extra maar eigenlijk door de ondermaatse picpups (in mijn opinie) merk ik eigenlijk erg weinig verschil in sound, de pickups blijven gewoon hol klinken.. Buiten dat de volume gewoon daalt veranderd er weinig. Daarvoor gebruik ik deze functie dan ook vooral, om snel van volume te kunnen veranderen. Tuners zijn huismerk maar ik kan goed doorspelen zonder te moeten tunen, heb de gitaar nu enkele maanden en de brug blijft mooi op zijn plaats. Al bij al een heel goed instrument, zeker als eerste gitaar of oefeninstrument. Heb al enkele HB gitaren gekocht maar telkens weg gedaan, dit is er toch eentje dat ik nog lang niet ga weg doen en evt. upgraden, waar dit instrument ideaal voor is.