Harley Benton HB-35Plus LH Cherry

I’ve had my HB-35Plus LH Cherry for about a month now….so , I’m not much of a player .I started later in life so I get dissuaded often but always come back for more …decided awhile back no more higher end guitars ,they don’t help anymore than a inexpensive one setup well.which I’ve learned how to do. Well with this guitar that learned skill was all but unneeded . Very small tweaks to get it where I like it and it was / is about perfect. I know every one says how great they are for the money and they are ,but I say just great forget what you paid.. literally the only negative I have is the frets needed polishing ,they were very rough .that being said the fret ends are the smoothest I’ve had ,or at least equal to guitars I’ve paid multiple thousands for …it baffles me they’re so well finished on the ends but fret tops are like untouched .but it’s how I’d prefer any inexpensive guitar to be skimped on if I had a choice .it takes very little to polish frets ,but a ton of labor to finish fret ends ,so no complaints here.. the front pickup volume knob was broken but still stayed on (barely) so I changed em all out for some old epiphone LP custom knobs I had laying around. Doing this broke basically all the original knobs , they’re very cheap but would’ve been fine and looked fine if none were broken during shipping …the only what I’d call a complaint( for lack of better wording only) I have is the mounting of the stop Tail Piece. Because of the archtop they don’t seat all the way down and made me nervous at first.. seeing the splines that are normally hidden showing above the top is discerning …I tried setting them further but notice there is one point on the inside corner area that is touching the top,with no spline showing .so they’re in as well as they can be when put in perfectly straight (@ a perfect 45* angle to top ) .so I’ve learned not to look a it . …enough of that negative searching … fret board and frets are level / even ,more so than my squire classic vibes (50’s tele &60’s strat) which I paid a lot more for …maybe that is just I got lucky but I mean they’re perfectly flat /even / level or however you would describe it . I don’t know what electronics are in it aside from the description on thomann website. I have no need to take em apart as all work well and tone is to die for …seriously great tone ! The top is very very nice. It’s not an AAAA top as it says in the description but there is no issue with it ,it looks very nice. I can’t really think of anything that “needs” fixing or replacement …guitars are subjective in many ways so maybe some would have a need to switch out pups ,pots etc etc which is fine . So if that’s something you’d normally do I think this is an awesome starting point . Or if you can forget it was so inexpensive and not be a headstock snob it is absolutely great as is …I may be a shitty player but I know enough to say this is a great guitar for beginners and way beyond . You would not be disappointed if you paid high end epiphone prices for this and very worthy of trying out . I highly recommend and only took a star off quality because of top not being what was described,and the need for fret polishing .

Being a left handed guitar player, it is almost impossible to find a decent guitar for decent price.
At first I was skeptical about the Harley Benton guitars from Thomann, but for that price I gave it a try.

The build quality is just excellent. Nice heavy wood, feels like a real guitar :-) The frets have no sharp edges and the binding is flawless.
The sound is top notch: full and with a lot air (what you expect from a semi-hollow). It looks like the neck has a C-profile, like they used in 50's. I like this kind of neck it provides a good grip , unlike those flat and fast necks of late. The split-coil option makes the sound options even more interesting.

Although for this price it is unjustified to have any complaints, but there a few opportunities for improvements:
- The tuner pegs feels loose. Although they do not result in any de-tuning of the strings
- Although you can see the maple stripes the lacquer could be more transparent to my taste
- The pots for tone and volume are reversed, i.e. 0 = open , 10 = closed. Looks like they installed it for a right handed guitar.

All in all great value for money, even if you are a more experienced player!

The budget guitars surely improved over the past years. This thing is phenomenal for the price. Now I expected a flaw here and there, and the only things I could find were 2 block inlays mislplaced a bit from the center and a tiny, almost unnoticeable rough edge in one f hole that can easily be smoothened.

The setup is decent, action is good. I had to adjust the intonation a bit.

The sound is absolutely amazing, it is a 355 style fat but present tone especially on the neck pickup. The added coil split options are a big surprise too, getting a "strat" style tone easily. Prior to receiving the guitar I already failed a blind test so I knew it will sound good.

Pots are decent. Volume pots could have a bit more resiststance to them. The only con is, similar to HB bass I have, the tone knob sound changes very exponentially. From 1-9 sounds keep changing only at around 7. Considering the fact its the same problem as with their tele-bass clone I have, they are obviously choosing wrong pots, or have an enormous batch of wrong ones they need to lose... Its not personally a big issue to me.

All in all, considering the price point the guitar is a steal and most importantly worth investing more to make it even better.

I've been playing guitar for over 45 years and have had my fair share of budget and professional guitars, about twenty. After reading so many positive reviews I thought I'd take a chance and buy a Harley Benton H-35Plus. It was one of the best decisions I have made buying a guitar.
This now is one of my favourite guitars in my collection, the cherry Red finish and maple top are so striking. If you are looking for a reasonably priced ES type guitar that looks and plays well, you really can't go wrong with this guitar, it is an absolute joy to play and look at.
I have made two mods, one out of preference than quality, I installed AlNiCO II pickups and upgraded the tuners, which were not too bad, but wanted good quality locking ones. The upgrades only cost me £55.00 and well worth it. I also oiled the fretboard, which was a bit dry when I got it and polished the frets with special metal polish used in the motor trade. They were a bit rough when I got the guitar, you could hear the strings scratch on the frets when doing pull ups, but know after polishing them, they are super shinny and smooth. I also did myself a professional set-up, which you should do with any guitar, more so to make it play and feel how you like. The set up out of the box was fair.
In all this a striking lovely to play guitar, superb value for money, better than a Epiphone for sure.

Comment:
As a Left Handed player I've found the Harley Benton lineup to be very refreshing and well worth it. It's about time Left Hand players were recognized more! Keep 'em coming PLEASE!

THIS HB 35 plus LH in Maple Cherry Red:
Wow what a beauty! The website pics don't do the maple top on this any justice at all. The flame top really comes through the finish just right. I especially like the binding at the f-holes. Nice touch.
I'm still on the fence with the pick guard, and may take it off and let the whole guitar ..just BE ya know?

For me, this guitar really shines playing blues. The neck pup is my fav tone position.
If you split the coils and experiment, you can dial in nicely for a brighter sound that will cover a wide genre. The bridge humbucker has a crisp underlying need for a tube amp volume knob swell, where it wants to live at the edge of break up, AND this guitar responds nice to a tube driver pedal and plays very well with a guitar processor and Daw impulse responses.
The neck feels naturally comfortable and smooth. I play with 9 gauge XL's and was very impressed at the tone clarity while bending notes a lot.
It's balanced well.
To me, this has soul just waiting to be expressed.

The only cons for me would be the tuners, because I love to bend - so I always upgrade to locking tuners anyway. If your not a bend-a-holic like me, you are good to go.

Thanks HB (wherever you are…) haha.

I'm pushing 70 and have only started to play 6 months ago, due to covid etc, so I know very little about guitars, hence my reluctance to comment on the equipment and the 14 or 15 left handed guitars I have bought from Harley Benton over the recent few years. That said, when I recieved my HB35 + yesterday I was to say impressed at the very least. I tend to ignore the bull of advertising and I have to admit this time I was completely wrong. It is not only beautiful to look at, with the grain showing through, it sounds wonderful as well, the only thing I had to do was lower the action and wow, even my wife who normally doesn't remark on my kit, was impressed, high praise indeed.